Sunday, December 03, 2006
When Fiction Meets Reality - Pt. 7
Jack came up to the dressing room door, which was closed. He listened for a moment, hearing nothing at all. He drew his gun and tried the knob, it turned smoothly without any noise and he eased the door open, slipping through it like a snake and quickly scanning the room as it came into view. He saw the two technicians hunched over one of their monitors, studying the screen intently. Jack knew they would jump in surprise if he spoke or approached them, so he pulled out his flashlight and shone it between them on the monitor. It still startled them, but they turned without a word, signalling for him to be quiet. Jack nodded, holstered his gun and went over to them. The oldest one of both gave him another warning to be quiet by placing his finger across his lips, then he pointed to a small device they had uncovered. He tapped his colleague on the shoulder and then motioned for Jack to follow him. The technician showed him three more spying devices they had found, then motioned for him to go outside where they would be able to talk freely.
"Tell me what you've got." Jack said the moment the door closed.
"We did a scan and found multiple signals coming from all over the place, so we decided to tap into them before we did anything else. We managed to isolate three cameras and taped the empty dressing room, then looped it and hooked it up so it will run continuously. We disconnected the cameras and we'll be taking them in for further examination, maybe we'll get prints off them if they've been sloppy. We'll probably be able to find something to work with."
"Okay that's great, what else?"
"Well there's the microphone."
"What about it?"
"It's very sensitive, but it's got a big flaw."
"What flaw?"
"Well, it records everything and sends out the signal only when the user connects to it."
"Why is that a flaw?"
"Because they weren't connected when we first got here. We managed to intercept the recording and replace it by the static of an empty room."
"So whoever connects to it will think nobody's been in the room all day?"
"Exactly."
"Good. And what's going on now?"
"Well we were trying to disable it when the user connected. That's why we have to be silent, it's emitting a live feed as long as the user is connected. We'll have to wait for them to disconnect before we can take it out of the loop."
"Which is why you guys are still here."
"Yes."
"Can you trace the signal to the user?"
"We're trying to."
"Could you find the user even if he's disconnected?"
"That depends on what equipment he's using and if he's going through the trouble of using a scrambler."
"Okay, stay on it and keep me posted as soon as you have something."
The technician went back inside and Jack turned to the make-up room, finding the door still closed and Kiefer still inside. He was tense but not overly so and when their eyes met, he eased up again. There was no danger. Jack took a seat next to him and told him in short what had been discovered in his dressing room.
"So they've been watching me?" Kiefer asked in disbelief.
"It sure looks like it. Do you ever discuss anything about the show in your dressing room? Or rehearse your text in there?"
"Not usually. It may have happened at times."
"Maybe that's how they got the information about what was going to happen on the show. I'm going to request a sweep of the whole building."
"That is going to take ages." Kiefer exclaimed, "Besides we're in here shooting for the largest part of the day, our equipment will interfere with yours or the other way around."
"I want to know if your work is being monitored. It might explain why these threats keep getting worse and more specific. I'm sure those guys will be able to come up with a way to check this building for bugs. Are you going back into the studio right now?"
"As soon as I'm done here." Kiefer replied.
"I'll wait."
He didn't have to wait long, ten minutes later, the hairdresser put the finishing touch and let him get on his way. Jack walked back to the studio with him but left him at the door. Kiefer went inside and Jack went back to the office where the letters were waiting for him to read through them. It didn't take him long to get through the rest of them. The threats against the network were vague and didn't change much in intensity, unlike those against Kiefer. Jack went back to the first pile and picked a few of the latest letters out, Xeroxed them and handed everything back to Linda.
He thanked her for her help and went back into the studio.
They were shooting another scene with Kiefer and Jack watched closely, having learned more about the man over lunch, he was now interested in what he did for a living. Time and time again, they went over the same scene, until he was satisfied with how it looked on screen. He wasn't afraid to admit he hadn't pulled it off, or hadn't delivered his text the way he should've. Twice he said it looked like crap, nobody would buy it; twice he made them take it from the top because his own performance wasn't satisfactory in his opinion.
He demanded nothing but the best from those working with him, but he gave nothing but the best himself. If he didn't meet the standards, nobody else had to; he was the first who had to meet them. They finally wrapped the scene and Kiefer grabbed his cigarettes and a can of soda, heading for the door and Jack followed him while the crew got busy setting up for the next scene.
Kiefer went over to a resting area and stretched out on a bench, cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth, eyes closed, relishing the feeling of the warm sun on him. He looked completely relaxed and Jack decided against trying to make small talk. For minutes at length, he didn't stir and for a moment Jack thought he had fallen asleep, but he was slowly finishing the cigarette, so he knew that wasn't true. After a while, Kiefer sat up slowly, flicked the cigarette butt away and ran his hands through his hair, then rolled his head and finally opened his eyes again, locking on Jack's gaze.
"Did you find anything interesting in those letters?" Kiefer asked out of the blue.
"Not really, but I'm not a behavioural analyst." Jack replied in a reflex.
"Behavioural analyst?"
"They'll be able to draw up a profile based on those letters."
"What kind of a profile?"
"The kind of person we're dealing with. It might help up to find him."
"What are the chances?"
"If I had to choose between using a sniffing dog or base my investigation on the results of such an analysis, I'll take the dog any day of the week."
"You don't have much confidence in those techniques?"
"Let's just say I have a lot more confidence in the persuasive powers of this little baby here." Jack replied, pulling out his gun and placing it on the table in front of him.
"Can I see that?" Kiefer asked.
"Sure." Jack replied, pushing the gun across the table.
This would be interesting.
Kiefer felt the intensity of Jack's gaze on him as he reached for the gun but he did nothing to acknowledge it. His fingers closed around the gun and the first thing he did was angle the barrel away from Jack. He tilted it and found the safety switch, flicked his thumb across it and switched it to the 'on'position, then found the release button and released the clip and checked the barrel, finding a bullet in there and placing it next to the clip on the table. Only then did he have a closer look at the gun, aiming it at the ground beyond the tables. It was pretty heavy and he wondered how powerful the kick would be, but he knew he would probably never find out. After a short moment, he put the gun down, inserted the stray bullet into the clip, slid the clip into the gun and chambered the bullet like it had been, then carefully replaced the hammer and switched the safety off, placing the gun between him and Jack, barrel pointed away from both of them.
"You know your way around guns." Jack said appraisingly, holstering his weapon again. He felt more comfortable around him now.
"We have a bunch of pretty good advisors on the show." Kiefer replied, "When I pull a gun on screen, I want it to look real. I want people to believe that what I'm doing is real and I don't settle for second best."
"So I've noticed. Can you fire?"
"We've all put in our hours at the firing range, so yes, I can fire a gun."
"That's good to know."
"What's going to happen next?"
"I don't know, we'll have to wait and see if we can find any leads. I'm waiting to hear from Nina, she's doing a background check on those four names I showed you earlier and I hope the technicians will come up with an interesting lead." Jack startled at the buzzing in his pocket and he fished out his cellphone.
"Excuse me. ”
"Bauer. ...Did you manage to trace it? ... Okay that's perfect, I'll be there in a minute."
He ended the conversation and pocketed his cellphone again.
"They've got something." he said, addressing Kiefer, "I think we should get you back inside so I can check on what they have."
"Do you think I'm in any danger out here?"
"I don't know, but I prefer to be safe rather than sorry. Let's go."
"Tell me what you've got." Jack said the moment the door closed.
"We did a scan and found multiple signals coming from all over the place, so we decided to tap into them before we did anything else. We managed to isolate three cameras and taped the empty dressing room, then looped it and hooked it up so it will run continuously. We disconnected the cameras and we'll be taking them in for further examination, maybe we'll get prints off them if they've been sloppy. We'll probably be able to find something to work with."
"Okay that's great, what else?"
"Well there's the microphone."
"What about it?"
"It's very sensitive, but it's got a big flaw."
"What flaw?"
"Well, it records everything and sends out the signal only when the user connects to it."
"Why is that a flaw?"
"Because they weren't connected when we first got here. We managed to intercept the recording and replace it by the static of an empty room."
"So whoever connects to it will think nobody's been in the room all day?"
"Exactly."
"Good. And what's going on now?"
"Well we were trying to disable it when the user connected. That's why we have to be silent, it's emitting a live feed as long as the user is connected. We'll have to wait for them to disconnect before we can take it out of the loop."
"Which is why you guys are still here."
"Yes."
"Can you trace the signal to the user?"
"We're trying to."
"Could you find the user even if he's disconnected?"
"That depends on what equipment he's using and if he's going through the trouble of using a scrambler."
"Okay, stay on it and keep me posted as soon as you have something."
The technician went back inside and Jack turned to the make-up room, finding the door still closed and Kiefer still inside. He was tense but not overly so and when their eyes met, he eased up again. There was no danger. Jack took a seat next to him and told him in short what had been discovered in his dressing room.
"So they've been watching me?" Kiefer asked in disbelief.
"It sure looks like it. Do you ever discuss anything about the show in your dressing room? Or rehearse your text in there?"
"Not usually. It may have happened at times."
"Maybe that's how they got the information about what was going to happen on the show. I'm going to request a sweep of the whole building."
"That is going to take ages." Kiefer exclaimed, "Besides we're in here shooting for the largest part of the day, our equipment will interfere with yours or the other way around."
"I want to know if your work is being monitored. It might explain why these threats keep getting worse and more specific. I'm sure those guys will be able to come up with a way to check this building for bugs. Are you going back into the studio right now?"
"As soon as I'm done here." Kiefer replied.
"I'll wait."
He didn't have to wait long, ten minutes later, the hairdresser put the finishing touch and let him get on his way. Jack walked back to the studio with him but left him at the door. Kiefer went inside and Jack went back to the office where the letters were waiting for him to read through them. It didn't take him long to get through the rest of them. The threats against the network were vague and didn't change much in intensity, unlike those against Kiefer. Jack went back to the first pile and picked a few of the latest letters out, Xeroxed them and handed everything back to Linda.
He thanked her for her help and went back into the studio.
They were shooting another scene with Kiefer and Jack watched closely, having learned more about the man over lunch, he was now interested in what he did for a living. Time and time again, they went over the same scene, until he was satisfied with how it looked on screen. He wasn't afraid to admit he hadn't pulled it off, or hadn't delivered his text the way he should've. Twice he said it looked like crap, nobody would buy it; twice he made them take it from the top because his own performance wasn't satisfactory in his opinion.
He demanded nothing but the best from those working with him, but he gave nothing but the best himself. If he didn't meet the standards, nobody else had to; he was the first who had to meet them. They finally wrapped the scene and Kiefer grabbed his cigarettes and a can of soda, heading for the door and Jack followed him while the crew got busy setting up for the next scene.
Kiefer went over to a resting area and stretched out on a bench, cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth, eyes closed, relishing the feeling of the warm sun on him. He looked completely relaxed and Jack decided against trying to make small talk. For minutes at length, he didn't stir and for a moment Jack thought he had fallen asleep, but he was slowly finishing the cigarette, so he knew that wasn't true. After a while, Kiefer sat up slowly, flicked the cigarette butt away and ran his hands through his hair, then rolled his head and finally opened his eyes again, locking on Jack's gaze.
"Did you find anything interesting in those letters?" Kiefer asked out of the blue.
"Not really, but I'm not a behavioural analyst." Jack replied in a reflex.
"Behavioural analyst?"
"They'll be able to draw up a profile based on those letters."
"What kind of a profile?"
"The kind of person we're dealing with. It might help up to find him."
"What are the chances?"
"If I had to choose between using a sniffing dog or base my investigation on the results of such an analysis, I'll take the dog any day of the week."
"You don't have much confidence in those techniques?"
"Let's just say I have a lot more confidence in the persuasive powers of this little baby here." Jack replied, pulling out his gun and placing it on the table in front of him.
"Can I see that?" Kiefer asked.
"Sure." Jack replied, pushing the gun across the table.
This would be interesting.
Kiefer felt the intensity of Jack's gaze on him as he reached for the gun but he did nothing to acknowledge it. His fingers closed around the gun and the first thing he did was angle the barrel away from Jack. He tilted it and found the safety switch, flicked his thumb across it and switched it to the 'on'position, then found the release button and released the clip and checked the barrel, finding a bullet in there and placing it next to the clip on the table. Only then did he have a closer look at the gun, aiming it at the ground beyond the tables. It was pretty heavy and he wondered how powerful the kick would be, but he knew he would probably never find out. After a short moment, he put the gun down, inserted the stray bullet into the clip, slid the clip into the gun and chambered the bullet like it had been, then carefully replaced the hammer and switched the safety off, placing the gun between him and Jack, barrel pointed away from both of them.
"You know your way around guns." Jack said appraisingly, holstering his weapon again. He felt more comfortable around him now.
"We have a bunch of pretty good advisors on the show." Kiefer replied, "When I pull a gun on screen, I want it to look real. I want people to believe that what I'm doing is real and I don't settle for second best."
"So I've noticed. Can you fire?"
"We've all put in our hours at the firing range, so yes, I can fire a gun."
"That's good to know."
"What's going to happen next?"
"I don't know, we'll have to wait and see if we can find any leads. I'm waiting to hear from Nina, she's doing a background check on those four names I showed you earlier and I hope the technicians will come up with an interesting lead." Jack startled at the buzzing in his pocket and he fished out his cellphone.
"Excuse me. ”
"Bauer. ...Did you manage to trace it? ... Okay that's perfect, I'll be there in a minute."
He ended the conversation and pocketed his cellphone again.
"They've got something." he said, addressing Kiefer, "I think we should get you back inside so I can check on what they have."
"Do you think I'm in any danger out here?"
"I don't know, but I prefer to be safe rather than sorry. Let's go."
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