Thursday, November 30, 2006
When Fiction Meets Reality - Pt. 3
Kiefer took a deep breath and held it for a moment, gathering his thoughts.
"It started about 3 months ago. I got home one evening after work and the moment I walked in, my phone started to ring. I picked up just before my machine kicked in and an electronically altered voice came on, telling me to be careful because the Muslim world would not accept any insults. I asked who I was talking to, but the line went dead. I thought it was a prank and disregarded it. It happened again the next evening, again, the very moment I walked through my door, so I figured it was someone in the neighbourhood playing a prank on me and I didn't think any more of it. But I got the call twice more that night. Each time the exact same voice saying the exact same words, so I'm guessing they used a recording. I got more of the same calls throughout the weekend and my daughter was getting upset so-"
"How old is she?" Jack interrupted him.
"She's 14."
"How did this upset her? Did you react angrily or in an aggravated way?"
"She picked it up a few times." Kiefer replied softly.
Jack could tell it bugged the man to know his daughter was pulled into such a sick game.
"When I got to work on Monday, I asked around a little, trying to determine if it was someone on the crew playing a joke on me."
"Why did you think it was someone on your crew?"
"Well, we had only started filming a few weeks prior to that, we were working on the third episode and I didn't think anybody knew anything about it. Well, everybody knew we had started filming again, that is common knowledge, but none of the story was known outside of the cast and crew. It's all over TV now because the season is about to start, so we're getting red-flagged from all over the place, but 3 months ago, nobody was supposed to know anything at all about the story."
"Which made you think it was someone who works on the project?"
"Yes."
"Or maybe someone who got kicked off it? Did you lay anybody off in the days prior to the first call?"
"I wouldn't know. I don't usually get involved in that. I do have a say in the final decision, but I'm usually not involved in taking on or laying off personnel."
"Unless he got laid off because of you." Jack thought out loud.
"Excuse me?"
"Do you remember if you had any issues with anyone around that time? A stand-in maybe? Or a stuntman?"
"Not that I can recall. It has been 3 months."
"Yes of course, but I think it could be interesting to give that a bit of thought. Try to remember if there were problems which may have led to someone getting laid off."
"I can't think of anything." Kiefer replied, rubbing his forehead. "Not off the top of my head anyway."
"That's alright. I'll ask Nina to get me the information when we're done. Did those calls persist?"
"Yes, for three more days."
"Did your daughter witness any more of those?"
"No, she stays with her mother during the week because of my schedule. I'm not home a lot during the week, so I pick her up on Friday and drop her off in school on Monday."
"Okay, so she wasn't confronted with those calls anymore. That's good."
"Do you have children Special Agent Bauer?"
Jack hesitated for a moment, but then he met the man's eyes. "I have a 15 year old daughter."
Kiefer understood his concern about his daughter. He had one of his own.
Jack looked down at his hands and noticed he was rubbing them together. He only did that when he was nervous. "She really likes you." he added softly, looking up again.
Kiefer chuckled, dipped his head. "I guess that explains why you don't."
Their eyes met again and Jack suddenly saw a different man. He didn't see him as a Hollywood smart-ass any longer, there was much more to this man and Jack decided to level with him. "I got pulled off an important investigation for this … I don't like it. But like you said before, we're stuck with it. Let's see if we can find out who's doing this so we can both get on with our lives."
"Let's." Kiefer agreed.
"So, after the phone calls, what happened next?"
"The first letter came exactly one week after the first call. An unstamped, unmarked envelope, slipped under the door after I got back from work."
"It's obviously someone who knows where you live and who can see you coming and going." Jack thought aloud. "We'll still look into the cast and crew, but I'd like to explore a different thread. Do you have new neighbours? Did anybody move in recently in the immediate neighbourhood?"
"I'm not sure if it's related." Kiefer said thinking.
"Me either, but if we don't check into it, we might miss a lead. Tell me what you're thinking."
"There are new tenants in an apartment about half a block down the street. They're really nice people though, I've seen them at a bar on a few occasions and there's never been any trouble."
"Do you know their names?"
"Only first names."
"Not good enough. What's the exact address?"
"I'm not quite sure what number, I could check when I get back."
"That's okay, I'm not leaving your side until this thing is solved, so I suppose I can check on that myself."
"What do you mean ‘not leaving my side'?" Kiefer asked a little baffled. "I thought you were just going to look into the case and run your investigation."
"I've been assigned to protect you until we solve this problem."
"But I already have a bodyguard and he's done a pretty good job so far."
"Why did you come to us sir?"
"I didn't." Kiefer replied, "The network did. They've been getting threats too and they're worried something will happen to me."
"So you weren't kidding when you said we were both stuck with this."
"Unfortunately not." Kiefer sighed. "They've already imposed a number of precautions on me."
"What kind of precautions?"
"They got me a driver. And along with the driver a bullet-proof limo."
"That's nice and inconspicuous."
Kiefer chuckled at his sarcasm. "Yeah, I know. I feel like an idiot getting into that limo every day."
"Is it always the same driver?"
"Yes. Some ex-military. Navy Seals I think."
"What else?"
"I'm not supposed to stay by myself at any time, especially not when we're shooting on location. And they've installed security cameras in my dressing room and trailer, so even if I go in there to have a moment to myself, someone's watching me."
"Not very relaxing."
"No, I'm getting sick of this."
"And now they're imposing this on you."
"Don't worry about me, I've got a pretty thick skin."
"I thought the same when this first started, but it's really getting to me now."
"I was in Special Forces for nearly 15 years, I think I'm a little better prepared to deal with things like this."
"I guess. 15 years huh? That's impressive."
It was Jack's turn to dip his head. "Yeah well, it didn't look impressive doing it." He proceeded to save the information he had gathered on top of what Chapelle had already saved and exited the program.
"I think there's not much more we can do here. I'll get Nina to check on the flow of personnel around the time the threats started and then we'll swing by those new neighbours."
"You lead the way."
"It started about 3 months ago. I got home one evening after work and the moment I walked in, my phone started to ring. I picked up just before my machine kicked in and an electronically altered voice came on, telling me to be careful because the Muslim world would not accept any insults. I asked who I was talking to, but the line went dead. I thought it was a prank and disregarded it. It happened again the next evening, again, the very moment I walked through my door, so I figured it was someone in the neighbourhood playing a prank on me and I didn't think any more of it. But I got the call twice more that night. Each time the exact same voice saying the exact same words, so I'm guessing they used a recording. I got more of the same calls throughout the weekend and my daughter was getting upset so-"
"How old is she?" Jack interrupted him.
"She's 14."
"How did this upset her? Did you react angrily or in an aggravated way?"
"She picked it up a few times." Kiefer replied softly.
Jack could tell it bugged the man to know his daughter was pulled into such a sick game.
"When I got to work on Monday, I asked around a little, trying to determine if it was someone on the crew playing a joke on me."
"Why did you think it was someone on your crew?"
"Well, we had only started filming a few weeks prior to that, we were working on the third episode and I didn't think anybody knew anything about it. Well, everybody knew we had started filming again, that is common knowledge, but none of the story was known outside of the cast and crew. It's all over TV now because the season is about to start, so we're getting red-flagged from all over the place, but 3 months ago, nobody was supposed to know anything at all about the story."
"Which made you think it was someone who works on the project?"
"Yes."
"Or maybe someone who got kicked off it? Did you lay anybody off in the days prior to the first call?"
"I wouldn't know. I don't usually get involved in that. I do have a say in the final decision, but I'm usually not involved in taking on or laying off personnel."
"Unless he got laid off because of you." Jack thought out loud.
"Excuse me?"
"Do you remember if you had any issues with anyone around that time? A stand-in maybe? Or a stuntman?"
"Not that I can recall. It has been 3 months."
"Yes of course, but I think it could be interesting to give that a bit of thought. Try to remember if there were problems which may have led to someone getting laid off."
"I can't think of anything." Kiefer replied, rubbing his forehead. "Not off the top of my head anyway."
"That's alright. I'll ask Nina to get me the information when we're done. Did those calls persist?"
"Yes, for three more days."
"Did your daughter witness any more of those?"
"No, she stays with her mother during the week because of my schedule. I'm not home a lot during the week, so I pick her up on Friday and drop her off in school on Monday."
"Okay, so she wasn't confronted with those calls anymore. That's good."
"Do you have children Special Agent Bauer?"
Jack hesitated for a moment, but then he met the man's eyes. "I have a 15 year old daughter."
Kiefer understood his concern about his daughter. He had one of his own.
Jack looked down at his hands and noticed he was rubbing them together. He only did that when he was nervous. "She really likes you." he added softly, looking up again.
Kiefer chuckled, dipped his head. "I guess that explains why you don't."
Their eyes met again and Jack suddenly saw a different man. He didn't see him as a Hollywood smart-ass any longer, there was much more to this man and Jack decided to level with him. "I got pulled off an important investigation for this … I don't like it. But like you said before, we're stuck with it. Let's see if we can find out who's doing this so we can both get on with our lives."
"Let's." Kiefer agreed.
"So, after the phone calls, what happened next?"
"The first letter came exactly one week after the first call. An unstamped, unmarked envelope, slipped under the door after I got back from work."
"It's obviously someone who knows where you live and who can see you coming and going." Jack thought aloud. "We'll still look into the cast and crew, but I'd like to explore a different thread. Do you have new neighbours? Did anybody move in recently in the immediate neighbourhood?"
"I'm not sure if it's related." Kiefer said thinking.
"Me either, but if we don't check into it, we might miss a lead. Tell me what you're thinking."
"There are new tenants in an apartment about half a block down the street. They're really nice people though, I've seen them at a bar on a few occasions and there's never been any trouble."
"Do you know their names?"
"Only first names."
"Not good enough. What's the exact address?"
"I'm not quite sure what number, I could check when I get back."
"That's okay, I'm not leaving your side until this thing is solved, so I suppose I can check on that myself."
"What do you mean ‘not leaving my side'?" Kiefer asked a little baffled. "I thought you were just going to look into the case and run your investigation."
"I've been assigned to protect you until we solve this problem."
"But I already have a bodyguard and he's done a pretty good job so far."
"Why did you come to us sir?"
"I didn't." Kiefer replied, "The network did. They've been getting threats too and they're worried something will happen to me."
"So you weren't kidding when you said we were both stuck with this."
"Unfortunately not." Kiefer sighed. "They've already imposed a number of precautions on me."
"What kind of precautions?"
"They got me a driver. And along with the driver a bullet-proof limo."
"That's nice and inconspicuous."
Kiefer chuckled at his sarcasm. "Yeah, I know. I feel like an idiot getting into that limo every day."
"Is it always the same driver?"
"Yes. Some ex-military. Navy Seals I think."
"What else?"
"I'm not supposed to stay by myself at any time, especially not when we're shooting on location. And they've installed security cameras in my dressing room and trailer, so even if I go in there to have a moment to myself, someone's watching me."
"Not very relaxing."
"No, I'm getting sick of this."
"And now they're imposing this on you."
"Don't worry about me, I've got a pretty thick skin."
"I thought the same when this first started, but it's really getting to me now."
"I was in Special Forces for nearly 15 years, I think I'm a little better prepared to deal with things like this."
"I guess. 15 years huh? That's impressive."
It was Jack's turn to dip his head. "Yeah well, it didn't look impressive doing it." He proceeded to save the information he had gathered on top of what Chapelle had already saved and exited the program.
"I think there's not much more we can do here. I'll get Nina to check on the flow of personnel around the time the threats started and then we'll swing by those new neighbours."
"You lead the way."
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1 Comments:
Well well well, give them some time and they'll start like each other ;)
I really like it! Great job! :)
Greetings!
Jo The Reader :)
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