Sins of the Father (20 page)

The smile he threw in her
direction had her heart rolling in her chest. He had a great smile.
Oddly, there were times when it felt like a gift.

“
There’s a
reason people call me big man, and it has no relation to a teddy
bear!”

“
I can’t
imagine anyone thinking you earned the name for that reason.” As
soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wished them back. She
wanted to be angry when he laughed softly at her, but she couldn’t.
“You know what I mean,” she mumbled. It made Brad laugh harder
still.

“
Yeah, I
caught the interview. If only someone had told me I could have
skipped the training.”

She felt her cheeks heat.
“Sorry about that. I was being facetious.”

“
You were
funny. I enjoyed the interview, especially being objectified by
you.”

That got her attention –
he was teasing her, which was, as far as she could remember, a
first. To tame the excited dancing bugs in her belly she changed
the subject.

“
Okay, I
deserved that. So tell me how you earned the nickname?”

Brad sobered so quickly,
she almost wished she hadn’t asked. “I gained a reputation early in
my career. If there was a job no one wanted, they would send in
‘the big man’. It kind of stuck.”

“
Why did you
leave? I always presumed that once a marine, always a
marine.”

“
That’s true
enough. It’s a way of life; a family. I’m fortunate that I still
have that.”

“
But you
risked losing it when you left.”

“
Not really.
The guys I served with will always be my brothers. But the internal
politics became too much and I was beginning to forget why we were
there in the first place.”

“
Is that why
Kelvin left too?”

“
Kelvin’s
story is a little different, but it boils down to the same thing.
It wasn’t a good time – we nearly lost him.”

“
I’m sorry,”
Alicia said, and meant it. On the outside, Kelvin looked like the
kind of man at peace with himself and the rest of the world. She
obviously hadn’t looked closely enough.

“
He’s okay,
and we’re both doing what we love. We don’t know how to do anything
else.”

“
Lucky
me.”

Her words embarrassed him
a little. She couldn’t say how, but she knew he was feeling
vulnerable after sharing a part of himself he usually kept
hidden.

“
Seriously, I
may have joked about it to get a cheap laugh. But I felt safe today
in a way that had everything to do with my faith in your
abilities.”

He was distracted for
only a moment as he escorted her to the waiting car. “It means a
lot to have your trust.”

Alicia wanted to say more
but it wasn’t the time. She sat in contemplative silence as Justin
filled the air with talk of the show.

As soon as they pulled
back into the studios, she saw Sarah marching towards the car; the
same laptop from earlier was clutched under her arm.

Justin did the honours
and wound down the window, but Sarah wasn’t interested in
pleasantries. She was a woman on a mission.

“
I’ve had Dad
on the phone every half hour, and this moron insisted on bugging
the hell out of me until you got back.”

Alicia took the laptop
that Sarah was forcing through the window and smiled at the faces
Josh was pulling when he thought she wasn’t looking.

“
Sorry, I
meant to call you. I was going to.”

“
Yeah, yeah –
I’ve heard it all before.” He turned to someone off camera. It gave
her time to mouth an apology to a still irate Sarah.

“
I heard the
radio interview. You did good, kid.”

“
Is that
because you were mentioned or because you’re genuinely impressed?”
Sarah asked, making him howl with delight.

Brad and Justin tried to
blend into the jeeps interior as the three friends threw insults at
each other, all in the name of affection.

It didn’t look like
Alicia was going to move anytime soon so Brad relaxed back against
his seat and tried not to get dragged into their
discussion.

“
You never
got a chance to tell everyone about our postal fun and games,” Josh
said, wiping the humour from his eyes.

“
I got
side-tracked.”

“
Maybe it’s a
good thing. The comfort packages you send one another are only
funny to the two of you.” Sarah leant further into the car. “Now
beat it so we can all get some work done around here.”

“
Okay. Call
me later,” Josh said, without much emphasis.

“
I
will.”

Before she’d even had
time to say goodbye, Sarah had exchanged the laptop for a
Smartphone. “I picked this up personally so it hasn’t been tampered
with. Use it.”

Alicia moved to kiss her
cheek before she could duck back out. “Thanks. I’ll call Greg right
now. I postponed my visit to Jack because he’s resting. He had a
bad night.”

A worry frown sprang up
on Sarah’s forehead. “Is there a problem?”

“
No, Becks
said he’s overdoing things because he’s anxious to get back on his
feet. I’ll drop by later and do the sisterly thing.”

As Sarah pulled the door
open, Brad signalled to his colleagues – they were on the
move.

“
Okay then,
let’s get you fed and watered before your appointment with hair and
makeup.”

Justin gave a salute and
watched Brad trying to stretch out his limbs as he followed closely
behind Alicia.

It was a distraction
technique because his instincts had kicked in the moment he’d
alighted from the car. They were being watched, he was sure of it.
He just had to figure out his next move.

Chapter
14

Paul Meeks sat in his car
watching the action. He knew they would soon realise the dialect
coach, Thomas Morley, was fake. That particular character had taken
the longest to set-up. He’d created a false agency, some bogus
recommendations and spent the entire week with a whiny American
actress, just so the production company trusted him enough to work
on the movie.

The industry’s finest
dialect coach – the best according to most sources - had
conveniently taken a leave of absence. Before sealing his fate,
he’d persuaded Nicholas Tomlinson to write him a letter of the
highest recommendation.

Being Thomas Morley
required a lot of energy. He spent hours on the makeup required for
such a part, and made sure he never looked anyone in the eye for a
prolonged period. He was the shy artist, the eccentric son of a
whole generation of actors.

Now it was time for
Thomas Morley to meet a timely end. Paul needed to get Alicia away
from Lundwood Studios and that meant sacrificing one of his finest
characters. He had to choose his timing carefully. Morley was a
respected part of the team. If he wasn’t whispering into the
actor’s ear to make sure they had the accent just right, he was
editing and advising on script issues.

He would normally enjoy
that particular function, but too much was at stake and the
security team were on the ball. They were beginning to dig a little
deeper into his past – before long they would find holes in his
back-story.

Paul looked at his watch.
He was looking forward to wiping that smug look off Alicia’s face.
The marine had caused him a bit of trouble so far, but he wouldn’t
be able to stop him today. He intended to time it so that,
regardless of his reaction time, he wouldn’t be able to step in
until it was too late.

***

Alicia sighed heavily as
she wiped stray tendrils of hair from her face. Stuart was
irritable and dissatisfied with every shoot. She was growing weary
driving around in circles. The external tank was an impressive
resource. They had used it for most of the afternoon and were now
utilising the lake that backed onto the studio.

She looked across at Brad
who was circling in another boat. He wasn’t happy about the setup -
that much was obvious. His two colleagues, Frank and Alvin, were on
opposite sides of the bank, observing quietly.

Despite his views on the
subject, he looked perfectly at ease on the water. He was wearing
khaki pants and a matching t-shirt – very much the action hero. She
blinked in surprise when their eyes met; there was a new intensity
in the dark depths, something akin to fear. It was hard to
interpret.

“
Let’s go
again,” Doug screamed, sounding as frustrated as she
felt.

They were filming close
ups – reaction shots which would form part of a water
pursuit.

The studio owned the
lake, but it wasn’t exclusive. The biggest portion was sectioned
off from the public, but they had a generous area for their own
leisure pursuits. It was the main reason for Brad’s objection to
his positioning. He wanted to be in the same boat, almost insisted
on it, but she’d managed to talk him down.

“
ACTION,”
Stuart called, and Alicia immediately stepped into
character.

She gave it everything
she had, until he was finally satisfied. It was a relief when he
beckoned them ashore. Their well-earned break was almost upon
them.

Chase Masters, a member
of the water sports association, took the wheel. He looped around
and headed towards the specially built jetty. As he opened the
throttle, neither of them noticed one of the other boats change
trajectory. Even if they had, they had no way of knowing the
driver’s intentions.

It wasn’t until Brad
called out that Alicia realised what was happening. Chase turned
the wheel to divert their course. He was a skilled driver but he
was too late to avoid a collision. The impact was sudden and
powerful; one minute Alicia was standing beside Chase, and the next
she was airborne. She flew over the side of the boat, towards the
water below. Her body fell awkwardly, and although she was in the
air only seconds, it felt like an eternity. The cracking sound
frightened her - she couldn’t understand what it was or why
everything had turned white. It was as if someone had shut off the
picture. An odd thought, and her last before the darkness engulfed
her.

Brad was in the water a
second before the two boats collided. He saw the moment Alicia went
overboard, feeling rather than hearing the crack her skull made
when she hit the other craft on her way down. A cold chill rushed
over him, the impact had tossed her like a ragdoll – he couldn’t
get the image out of his head.

He cut through the water,
intent on getting to Alicia. At the same time, he saw Frank and
Alvin heading towards the action, hell bent on catching Thomas
Morley before he could escape. The moment Brad spotted him in the
other boat he knew something was wrong. He’d ordered his colleagues
to be on full alert, even though he couldn’t prove what was in his
gut. There was no logical reason for Morley to be on the water,
whatever excuse he used. Something about the man screamed
fraud.

He saw Chase dive under
the water to the left of the wreckage, and recognised Theo when he
brought him back up. Morley was climbing over the dam wall that
separated one part of the lake from the public domain. Another boat
had entered the water. It was hurtling towards them as Brad reached
the point where Alicia fell.

Before he dove under, he
heard Chase calling to the colleague steering Brad’s craft. Their
co-worker was missing. He’d been with Morley and Theo. Chase
couldn’t go back under the water because he was already supporting
an injured Theo.

Brad didn’t miss the
blood already seeping down the kid’s face. But he couldn’t think
about that, not yet. His priority was Alicia. He turned left and
right, struggling to see, even with the torch strapped to his belt.
In his mind, he was trying to calculate Alicia’s route, but he was
running out of oxygen.

As he broke the surface
to take a huge lungful of air, his heart hammered against his
chest; it had nothing to do with shortness of breath. He dived
again, frantic now; he couldn’t understand why he couldn’t see her.
As he turned, he felt something brush against his fingertips and he
grabbed onto it, without really thinking about what it was.
Luckily, his hand curled around an arm. When he saw Alicia’s small
frame, he pulled her to him and rushed back up for air, relief
flooding over him with the water from the lake.

The rescue craft was
ready and waiting to bring Alicia aboard. He pulled himself up and
dropped down beside her, checking for vitals. She wasn’t breathing,
so he worked with the onboard paramedic to resuscitate
her.

Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty...breathe, Alicia, just
breathe.
It wasn’t until he
heard her gasp for air and felt her body convulse under his hand,
that he realised he’d been holding his own breath. There was a
chorus of cheers from across the lake, which somehow summed up what
was in his heart – they were celebrating some kind of gala, he was
just happy Alicia was alive. He sat back to let the paramedic do
his job, glancing towards the party on the other
side.