Capture the Rainbow (14 page)

“One pill, one time,” Kendra said desperately. “And you said yourself that I was doing a good job. Do you think I could have functioned like that if I was stoned?”

“Will someone please tell me what the devil Darvocet-N is?” Joel bit out between clenched teeth.

“A painkiller,” Skip answered succinctly, shaking his head in disgust. “I heard rumors that you had come back too soon from that back injury, but I couldn’t believe them. Never thought you’d be so stupid, Ken.”

“It wasn’t stupidity; it was necessity,” she answered tersely. “You know damn well why I was pressured into doing it.”

“Casey?” Skip’s voice was empty of sympathy. “Will it help him if you get yourself killed? That’s not a valid argument and you know it!”

“You’re acting as if Kendra was some kind of junkie,” Billie interjected indignantly. “It was medicine, for Pete’s sake.”

“The result is the same despite the reason behind it,” Skip answered. “Do you think I don’t know what it’s like? Hell, I think I’d broken every bone in my body by the time I was thirty-five. No matter how careful you are, injuries happen. It’s part of the game. But I’ll be damned if any of my people start off with one strike against them.” Skip suddenly realized that the horse trainer was still there and gazing at them with avid curiosity. “It was a good run, Jim. I’ll be using you both again.” Then as the man reluctantly led the horse away, Skip turned back to Kendra. “I’m not sure I can say the same for you, Ken. I don’t like having my rules flouted.”

“Let me get this straight.” There was soft menace in Joel’s voice. “You’re telling me that all the time Kendra’s been working on
Venture
she’s been in pain so severe she’s had to use drugs to relieve it?”

“No! I told you I only used it once,” Kendra protested. “I’m almost well now.”

“Almost,” Joel repeated, his green eyes smoldering. “You let me run you ragged for two solid weeks without saying a word when you were going through God knows what kind of pain? You’ve got to be some kind of masochistic idiot. Why the hell would you do something like that?”

“The reason is clear enough,” Skip said sharply, acting with his usual instinctive protectiveness when one of his team was under attack. “Everyone knows Kendra’s had money troubles paying for all those medical bills since her brother crashed into that wall in
Death Race
four years ago. He made the mistake of signing an insurance waiver with the production company and they held him to it. Kendra was left holding the bag.” He smiled grimly. “You won’t find a professional in the business who’ll work for that company again. But it was too late to help Casey or Ken.”

“Not everyone knew,” Joel said slowly, the smolder a full-fledged flame now. “She didn’t see fit to tell
me
why she was so eager to break her neck.”

“Why should I?” Kendra asked defiantly. “What difference does it make why I did it? The only important thing was that it had to be done.”

“It makes a difference,” Joel said between clenched teeth. “You know damn well it makes a difference. I want to talk to you, Kendra.
Now.
”

“This isn’t any of your concern, Joel,” Kendra said curtly. “This is only between Skip and me. Stay out of it.”

“The hell I will!”

Trying to ignore Joel’s menacing figure, Kendra took a step toward Skip. She was relieved to find that the dizziness was almost gone now. “Okay, I wasn’t entirely honest with you,” she said earnestly. “You said yourself you were happy with my work. You know I worked my fanny off trying to turn in a really professional job for you. I
deserve
that jump, Skip. You know I do.”

She heard a brief angry expletive from Joel, but she purposely blocked him out. She had to concentrate only on persuading Skip to give her the jump. She needed that special more desperately than ever now that her stunting would be curtailed entirely within a few months. “I’m not asking any favors. I earned that jump, Skip.”

“And if I give it to you now, everyone in the business is going to wonder if I’m relaxing my own rules about drugs on the job,” Skip said with flinty hardness. “It will look like an actual reward for breaking the rules. How the hell can I do that?”

“You can’t do it,” Joel declared. “There’s no way Kendra’s going to make that jump.”

“Can’t?”
Skip drawled softly. “I told you I didn’t like that word. You’re trespassing on my territory, Joel. This is my decision, not yours.”

“You’re wrong. This is very much my territory,” Joel said. “It was crazy enough to consider letting her do it before you knew she was on medication. It’s totally unacceptable now. You said yourself it could mean the difference between life and death.”

“But she said she had only used one pill on one occasion and there was some justification then,” Skip said coolly. “And if I remember correctly, a good deal of the blame rests at your feet. You were being pretty rough on her at the time.”

Joel flinched. “Do you think I don’t know that? Do you think I don’t realize I behaved like a bastard to her?”

“The personal games you and Kendra are playing aren’t my concern,” Skip said. “Except when they interfere with my prerogatives.” He turned to Kendra. “You’re right; you’ve earned the jump.” His lips tightened. “And I can handle any flak I’ll get from the rest of the team. I’ll be damned if I’ll let anyone challenge my authority here.”

“You’re going to let me do it?” Kendra said, her face alight with hope.

Skip nodded curtly. “You’ve got it.” He turned away. “Come on, I’ll drive you back to the location. We’re going to spend the rest of the day in my trailer studying the diagram of the stunt, and then we’ll go over the terrain up to the actual jump itself.”

“
Damn
you, Skip.” Joel’s voice was so charged with anger that Kendra’s eyes opened wide in shock. “If anything happens to her in that canyon tomorrow, I’ll strangle you with my bare hands.”

“Nothing’s going to happen to her,” Skip said. “I take care of my people. I’ll wait for you in the jeep, Ken.” Then he was striding swiftly away.

Kendra started to follow him, but she was halted by Joel’s iron grip on her wrists. “I said I wanted to talk to you, Kendra. That hasn’t changed.” His gaze remained on Kendra’s face as he said, “If you’ll excuse us, Billie?”

Billie gave Kendra a helpless glance before she shrugged and started for the jeep. “If you need me, just call, Kendra.”

“What does she think I’m going to do, beat you?” Joel asked in a bitter tone. “The idea has a certain merit, but at present all I’m trying to do is keep you from killing yourself. I’d think Billie would understand that.”

“She does,” Kendra said wearily. “She’s just a little overprotective. You know how Billie loves the underdog.”

“Then she should be trying to protect you from yourself and not from me.” His hands tightened even more around her wrists. “That night at Rainbow Keep you hadn’t had too much to drink as you let me think, had you? It was those damn pills you were taking.”

“I don’t really know,” she answered with a shrug. “What difference does it make? It probably was a combination of the two.”

“Terrific,” Joel said ironically. “How stupid can you get? Don’t you know you should never mix drugs and alcohol? You’re lucky you didn’t kill yourself.”

“So it wasn’t very bright of me. Why can’t you just drop it? Nothing irrevocable happened as a result of the mistake I made.”

“Didn’t it?” His lips twisted bitterly. “I think it did.” His expression became even grimmer. “Why didn’t you tell me about your brother? You know I would have let you have any amount of money you needed with no strings attached. Did you think I’d exact some sort of cheap sexual blackmail if you let me help you?” There was a flicker of pain in the depths of his eyes.

She glanced away. “What did you want me to do? Should I have begged you to pity the poor hardworking stuntgirl slaving to support her disabled brother? That’s too corny to be real. Too corny and too degrading. I’ve taken care of Casey ever since the accident and I don’t need charity to care for him now. I pay my own way, Joel.”

“With your blood? With your life, dammit?”

“It’s my life,” she said flippantly, then instantly sobered. It wasn’t only her life now, it was the baby’s! Oh God, she prayed silently, let her make the jump safely tomorrow.

“You won’t listen, will you?” Suddenly the anger and hurt disappeared behind a mask of granite. “Well, you may not think I deserve to be given any say in your life. You’ve made my bit role in your future very clear. But I’m dealing myself in, Kendra. I’m giving you an ultimatum and you’d be wise to believe that I mean it.”

“An ultimatum?”

“I want you to promise not to make that jump tomorrow. I want you to let me give you the money you need for your brother and to finance your training in any other career you select. No strings attached. You don’t even have to see me again if you don’t choose to.” As she began to shake her head, he continued harshly. “I haven’t finished. Now we come to the ultimatum. If you
do
make that jump tomorrow, I’ll see that you’re blacklisted on every set in the film world. I think you know I have the power to do it. I’ll pass the word that you’re uncooperative and unreliable, and the drug rumor will do the rest. And I assure you I won’t be as generous about giving you your freedom from me if you force me to do that. I’ll have to find a way to make sure you’re well taken care of and secure, even if it means forcing you to be my mistress.”

“You wouldn’t do that,” Kendra whispered.

“Try me,” he said, a reckless smile on his face. “I’ll do whatever I have to do and take as much pleasure as I can for myself along the way. It’s not the role I had in mind for you, but who knows, I might learn to enjoy playing sheik to your captive mistress. It always makes a damn good story line. Maybe it has something going for it.”

“I don’t think you’d find it to your taste,” Kendra said, lifting her chin defiantly. “You’re a little too civilized to appreciate that type of situation.”

“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

J
OEL’S TALL, SLENDER
body 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 of
Venture.
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’ve
got
to 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 it
was
time 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?”

“I’ll be ready,” she said, trying to smile lightly. “I wouldn’t think of disappointing you by messing up the most dramatic shot in the picture. Besides, I’ll enjoy the switch of driving into a sunrise instead of riding off into the sunset.” She was babbling and she couldn’t seem to stop. If he would only go away so that she wouldn’t have to see that flinty look in his eyes, the muscle working in his jaw. “The last two pictures I did were westerns and I always seemed—”

“Be quiet.” Joel’s hands were heavy on her shoulders. “For heaven’s sake, be quiet. After watching half the people on the set bidding you a fond farewell as if you were the star of an Irish wake, I can do without your flippant remarks.”

She found his face oddly blurred and it was hard to speak over the tightness in her throat. “There was nothing funereal about it. They were just trying to give me comfort and strength in the only way they know how. I’m sorry if you don’t approve.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t approve.” His voice was husky and his olive eyes oddly bright in the misty morning light. “I’m just jealous as hell you need anyone else but me. I want to be the only one you turn to for help.”

He drew her into his arms carefully, as if she were very fragile and might break at the slightest touch. His cheek was hard and cold against her own, but his lashes pressed against her temple were warm and moist. Moist?

“Take from me, rainbow lady. Use me. I want to give you all the strength and skill you need to get across that canyon.” He was rocking her with the most exquisite tenderness she had ever known. “Oh God, I feel as if I could lift you over it myself by sheer force of will. Know that, Kendra. Know that I’ll be willing you across that damned abyss with everything that’s in me.” He kissed her with desperation and ferocity. “You’ve got to make it, dammit!” Then he released her and strode quickly toward the camera truck. He didn’t look at her again as he jumped in the back and shouted. “Let’s go” to the driver.

Kendra drew a deep breath, feeling a little dazed as she watched the truck turn and race down the road to the canyon floor. Dazed and yet she was experiencing an inner fire that seemed to warm every atom of her being, banishing the cold, banishing the fear she wouldn’t admit even to herself. Perhaps Joel really was the sorcerer she had thought him that first night. She could almost believe he could lift her over the canyon by will alone. By will…or was it something else? The question brought such a wild soaring hope she found herself trembling. No, she mustn’t start to think of that possibility now when all her concentration must be on the job.

She turned and climbed into the driver’s seat of the jeep, fastening the special seat belt before leaning back in the seat and closing her eyes. She cleared her mind of everything but what lay ahead of her, mentally going over the route and focusing on the point where she must gun the accelerator to gain enough momentum to make the jump. She forced herself to relax the tense muscles of her neck and shoulders. Hang loose. In a few minutes it would all be over and she’d be zooming over the chasm. She wouldn’t be alone for long. She’d be able to see Joel and the camera crew even as she made the jump. She would see him on the truck and know that he was making his own special magic and willing her to come to him. Then she’d be landing on the other side of the canyon where Joel was waiting. Where love was waiting.

She heard the crackle from the mobile phone—Ron from the helicopter with the signal for her to start. She opened her eyes and turned on the ignition of the jeep before reaching with a steady hand for the receiver to tell him she was ready.

The film sequence of the jeep soaring over the canyon won the camera crew on the helicopter an Oscar nomination. It was unforgettable: a small, black car silhouetted against the glory of the scarlet sunrise. The valiant sturdiness of the small jeep and the fragile figure of the woman at the wheel pitting their strength against the emptiness that yawned below caused the heart of a viewer to leap. It wasn’t only the sheer marvel of the feat that created such excitement, but also the incredible beauty of the concept itself.

To Joel, watching Kendra hurl herself into nothingness from the other side of the canyon, it seemed as if the jeep were suspended in midair for centuries instead of seconds before it began its descent. Then it moved in ultra slow motion until it hovered over the safety of the cliff. Suddenly the air was rent with violent sound and spewing of earth as the wheels of the jeep landed in a bone-jarring crash and skidded for an eternity before coming to a halt less than a hundred yards from where the cameras were set up near the truck.

He dimly heard the roar that went up from the crew and felt Billie grab his arm and squeeze it in a rapture of relief and delight. But he saw only the slim delicate woman in the driver’s seat, the copper curls of her wig bright in the sunlight as she bent forward. What was she staring at so intently? Then he realized her body slumped oddly.