Night Show Read Free Page B

said.
    ‘Bull-fuckin’-shit! You said he could handle it. Nobody touches the goddamn trigger but your boy here. Requires precision, all that bullshit. All right. Okay. Christ! Now let’s get it together, huh? That too much to ask?’
    ‘You okay, Jack?’ Dani asked, burning from the tirade, embarrassed for herself and Jack, furious with Roger.
    Jack nodded.
    ‘Okay,’ Roger said in a calm, almost cheerful voice. ‘Let’s try it again.’
    Dani blew out a long breath. She felt drained, as if Roger’s tantrum had shaken out all her energy.
    ‘Feathers a bit singed?’ Michael whispered.
    She glared at him, then turned her attention to Jack.
    ‘The gun loaded?’ Michael asked her.
    She ignored him.
    ‘Quiet on the set. Scene forty-four, take two.’
    Jack was crouched off-camera, waiting.
    ‘Action.’
    He ran forward, crouched in front of the window, shouldered the shotgun and fired. The blast stunned Dani’s ears. She saw the window blow in. Buckshot slammed into the right side of Ingrid’s face, into Michael’s forehead as he kissed her neck. Their latex skin disintegrated into pulp. Ingrid’s eye vanished. Red, clotted gore exploded from both heads as the two figures flew backwards and vanished from the window.
    ‘Cut, cut! Beautiful!’
    ‘Not bad,’ Michael said.
    Dani realised she was holding the side of her face, covering her eye. She quickly lowered her hand. It was trembling.
    She hurried toward Jack. He was bending down to pick up the spent, red cartridge.
    ‘Great shot,’ Dani said. ‘Right on the mark.’
    He straightened up, and turned to her. He dropped the shell into a pocket. ‘Like I said, the pits.’
    He handed the shotgun to Bruce, the prop master.
    ‘You did fine,’ Dani told him. She took his arm, and led him off to the side.
    ‘Sorry I screwed up,’ he said.
    ‘Roger’s a bastard.’
    ‘No, he was right. I screwed up.’
    ‘That’s no reason for him to fly off the handle. He’s a spoiled baby.’
    Jack pulled the ski mask off his head, and rubbed his face. Stroking his ruffled beard, he shook his head. ‘I am sorry. It made you look bad.’
    ‘Hey, we’re doing great work for that turkey. Our efforts are the only saving grace in his stupid, harebrained movie, and he’d better realise it.’
    Jack appeared, for an instant, as if he might laugh. Then his face darkened. He gnawed his lower lip, and looked into Dani’s eyes. ‘That first time, when I was taking aim . . . Hell, you’ll think I’m crazy, but I got the feeling it was you in the window. Really you . A switch got pulled, or something. I just couldn’t shoot. I had to make sure . . . and then I saw you standing over there with Michael, and I was all right.’
    Dani stared at Jack. She remembered the day, only two months ago, when he had entered her house for the job interview. His size and shaggy beard had intimidated her, at first; he looked like a wild mountain man. But his mild, intelligent eyes and quiet voice quickly won her over. She liked him, hired him over thirty-two other applicants who’d responded to her ad in the Reporter . He soon proved himself to be a competent employee – better than competent: energetic and eager, a fast learner, innovative and usually cheerful. But he’d been an employee, nothing more. They’d kept their emotional distance, stayed safely impersonal.
    Until now.
    Looking into his eyes, Dani felt a warm tremor of excitement.
    ‘Guess it’s out of the bag,’ he said, a worried, glad look on his face.
    ‘I guess so,’ Dani said. ‘What’ll we do about it?’
    ‘How about a kiss?’
    She stepped close to Jack, felt his arms wrap around her, pull her snugly against his parka. Hugging him, she tipped back her head. He smiled down at her. His lips and beard pressed her mouth.
    She knew that others might be watching, but she didn’t care. It only mattered that this man she had worked with, joked with, had wanted her all along and kept it to himself. If he hadn’t