January 28th, 9:15 AM

      Walking through the gates of the studio, Ashley and Briar made their way toward the soundstage, with Briar pointing out different buildings and fenced-off areas, explaining which movie was being filmed at each location. As they passed a cluster of food trucks, a voice called out, "Hey there, Briar! Got another newbie for the movie?"

      "Hey, Reuben, this is my friend Ash. Today is his birthday, so I invited him out to watch us film," she called back. "Say, do you have any of those fruity things today?"

      "Sure do! You want the strawberry cream, the blueberry, or the peach?"

      Ashley turned to Briar with a puzzled expression, and she explained, "They have this really good fruit covered pizza-like thing, and the 'sauce' is flavored cream cheese. I figured we could grab a slice and eat it while we walk. That way you can indulge and still be healthy. So which one sounds good?"

      "They all do, actually, but I guess I'll go with the peach," he decided, and Briar turned back to the truck.

      "Okay then, Reuben, make that one peach and one strawberry." The teenager nodded, turned around, and reached into a small refrigerator, removing what looked like a pizza until he placed it on the counter, where Ashley was able to see that it was topped with concentric rings of bananas, kiwi, raspberries, orange segments, and small red grapes. Reuben sliced it, placed a wedge on a small cardboard tray, and passed it to Briar. He then repeated the process with a second pie and handed that one to Ashley, while Briar gave Reuben's co-worker her debit card.

      As Ashley accepted the tray, the young man said, "Happy Birthday, dude. I gotta tell ya, when I saw you walk through the gate with Briar, I was thinking that maybe you'd sort of decided to diversify, get into something besides music."

      "Oh, I have, I've got my own clothing line going now, and I did a bit of the acting thing when I was in college, some bit parts to make a little extra cash," Ashley informed him. "Maybe I'll give it another shot one day, but right now I'm just enjoying some free time until we decide to start work on the next album."

      Glancing at her watch, Briar realized that they were running behind schedule, and said goodbye to Reuben as she grasped Ashley's arm with her free hand, guiding him toward the set where she would be filming the days stunts. She basically inhaled her pastry, tossing the tray into the recycling bin by the fence which enclosed the area, while Ashley enjoyed his more slowly. As they entered the enclosed area, a voice called out, "Hey, Pix, you're running behind! You're right on time, which for you is late."

      Giving her a quizzical look, Ashley said, "Did he just call you 'Pix'? Should I ask why?"

      "Dude, have you actually looked at her?" the other man inquired as he approached them. "Is this, or is this not, an overgrown pixie?"

      Ashley turned and scanned the young woman, taking in her short mahogany-colored hair, high-cheekboned face with its large blue-gray eyes and pointed chin, and slim figure, and replied, "Y'know, I hadn't thought about it before, but I do see your point. Whaddya know, I'm friends with Tinkerbell."

      "Great, now look what you've started," she sighed, as the stunt coordinator chuckled. "Thanks a lot, Ted." She introduced Ashley to Ted, Dalton, and the rest of the crew, and the director's assistant guided him to a spot where he would have an unobstructed view of the scene, but wouldn't be in the way. He finished the last bit of his snack, disposed of the tray, and took a seat as Ted asked Briar if she wanted to warm up.

      She nodded, walked to a corner scattered with large, padded mats, and Ashley's mouth dropped open as she proceeded to make her way from one end to the other in a series of cartwheels, twists, and backflips, and then returned the same way, ending the display by walking the last few feet on her hands, legs perfectly straight in the air, until she pushed herself off of the mat and landed on her feet.

      Ted, who was standing near Ashley, noted his surprise and said, "Yeah, she got a full athletic scholarship to college out of that. Definitely gives her an edge in this job, that's for damn sure!"

      Ashley watched with interest as she, Ted, and another man engaged in a fight scene, and once that was finished, Dalton directed her through a scene in which she dangled in the air from a helicopter skid. Once that was finished, the director announced, "Okay, folks, that's lunch! I need the crew back here in an hour to set up for the chase. Briar, that'll give you a bit more time, so one of us will text you when they get everything ready."

      Everyone scattered to go have their meal before going back to work, and with all of the activity taking place, no one noticed the individual who had been standing in the shadows of a pile of scaffolding, watching Briar's every move ...

                              **************************************************************

      As Briar Malveaux passed out of his range of vision, into an area concealed by a large awning, he slipped quietly away from the area, moving toward the large garage, which he had already scouted out the previous day. With the mechanic's coveralls he had pilfered, and the skullcap he had donned, which gave him the appearance of being bald, he had thus far managed to avoid attracting undue attention to himself. Slipping into the bay containing the car that Briar was scheduled to drive, he reached into the vehicle, released the latch, opened the hood, and began tinkering with the engine. Removing something from the pocket of his coveralls, he began connecting the device to the wires that he had already loosened. Then as he worked, he heard footsteps nearby. They paused, and a voice called out, "Hey, Earl, when you finish up with what you're doin', the boss man wants you to replace that broken window in the Beetle. I'm gonna go take care of the busted gearshift in the Dodge, then I'm taking lunch, okay?"

      Keeping his head under the raised hood, and not wanting to speak, revealing that he wasn't, in fact, "Earl", he merely grunted, lifting a gloved hand in a thumbs-up gesture. This was apparently sufficient, as the footsteps resumed, continuing until they receded in the distance. Releasing a sigh, he finished his task, then inspected his work, giving a nod of satisfaction. Sanger, and perhaps some of the others, might suspect his involvement in the tragic "accident", but they would never be able to prove it, and as he had decided that Ashley Purdy would simply disappear, there would be nothing to link him there, either.

      But, as he closed the hood, another voice, this one deeper and more gravelly, inquired, "Okay, asshole, who the fuck are you? You sure as shit ain't part of our crew, so whaddya think you're doing messing around with this car?"

      Turning around, he came face-to-face with a burly, gray-bearded man, wearing coveralls whose embroidered patch revealed him to be "Earl". Momentarily taken aback, he scrambled for an answer before realizing that his plan for slipping in and out unnoticed had failed miserably, and that he would now have to tie up another loose end.

      "Hey, I asked you a question, pal!" Earl growled. "You'd better have some ID, and a damn good explanation, or I'm calling for security, you got me?"

      "Sure thing, just let me get it," he replied, reaching into his pocket. Deliberately fumbling for a few seconds as the mechanic glared at him, he muttered, "A-ha, here we are," as he whipped the knife from its hiding place and buried it in the other man's throat, just below his Adam's apple. 

      His eyes widened in shock as he desperately tried to grab the weapon, but his attacker gave the blade a slight jerk to the side, causing further damage to Earl's windpipe and weakening his struggles. Removing the knife from the wound, he then stabbed his victim several more times in the torso, before letting him slump to the floor. Swearing softly to himself, he gazed down at his victim, debating with himself about whether he had time to clean the blood from the floor and hide the body, when he heard another set of footsteps making their way rapidly through the next room.

      Before he could even think about concealing himself or the body, the door flew open, and a petite young blonde stormed in, shrieking, "Okay, bitch, I know you're here somewhere, and you're not gonna get away with thinking that you're gonna take what's mine. I don't care what fucking Dalton thinks, he doesn't get to..." The sentence trailed off with a wheeze as the gruesome sight in front of her finally registered.

      She turned back in the direction she had come from and broke into a run, but almost instantly stumbled in the five-inch heels that she was wearing. This allowed him to catch her easily, preventing her from escaping, but not from releasing one long, earsplitting scream before he drove the blade into the soft spot at the base of her skull. She stiffened in his grip, jerking spasmotically for several seconds before going limp and sliding to the concrete floor, just a few inches from Earl's blood-soaked body.

      Realizing that everything had gone sideways, and unsure if the girl's screams had been heard, he quickly shed the bloody coveralls, stuffing them into the canvas tote he had brought them in and hurrying to leave the area. Managing to make it almost to the front gate without being challenged, he was forced to take cover behind a food truck when he spotted the director making his way past the security booth, on his way back to the set.

      After waiting several minutes, he emerged from his hiding place and slipped through the gate while the guard was engaged with a group of tourists. Doing his best to appear nonchalant as he began the walk to his vehicle, he consoled himself with the thought that even though things hadn't followed his carefully crafted plan, that the resulting chaos should keep Sanger and his minions occupied long enough for him to carry out the next part of the plan uninterrupted.

      Climbing into his car, he tossed the tote into the passenger seat, keeping it in sight so there was no chance of him forgetting to dispose of it in some out-of-the-way spot at the first opportunity. Then, before starting the car, he opened the glove compartment to reassure himself that the items he needed to complete his next task were still in place. Glancing at the small pair of wire cutters and the canvas pouch of lockpicks, he smiled. "Excellent," he murmured. "Looks like you'll be having some unexpected company when you come home from work this evening, Mr. Purdy."

                     *************************************************************

      Ashley followed Briar through the maze-like studio grounds as they approached the enormous multi-vehicle garage. He stopped for a second to take a good look at the building, and pronounced, "Holy shit, this place is fuckin' huge! I've got an uncle back home who's a mechanic, and a setup like this would practically be fuel for a wet dream."

      Briar snickered at the description, and replied, "Yeah, there's thirty-five bays, fifteen mechanics, and probably enough parts to make Auto Zone jealous. Which is a good thing, as fast as things get wrecked and broken around here." Glancing over his shoulder, she said, "Oh, good, here come Dalton and the others. Now we can get this show on the road, so to speak."

      The two men approached them, and Ted clapped Ashley on the shoulder, asking, "So, have we interested you in chucking your music career and deciding to live dangerously, like us?"

      "No, not quite. Definitely interesting, but not my thing," he replied with a grin. "Truthfully, if he wasn't so accident-prone, I'd suggest that you talk to our singer, since he does seem to have a fondness for flinging himself off of high places."

      He and Briar were still chuckling at the statement when Dalton pressed the garage-door opener and the metal door began to rise. He ducked underneath, saying, "Earl told me that they got the speedometer problem fixed yesterday, so everything should be ready to..."

      His words trailed off, and everyone saw him stop in mid-step, then slowly back up, with his mouth moving wordlessly and his face drained of color. Ted frowned, inquiring, "Dalton, buddy, are you all right? What's going on?" 

      The director didn't respond, merely shaking his head, so Ted, followed closely by Briar and Ashley, entered the garage and approached Dalton, stopping abruptly at the sight of two blood-soaked forms lying motionless near the car. Ted's face froze momentarily in a grimace, then he bolted for a nearby trash can, where he proceeded to deposit his lunch. 

      Briar and Ashley turned away from the sight and managed to force back their nausea, sharing shocked, disbelieving looks. "Holy fuck, what the hell happened here?" he questioned.

      "I think we know what, we just need somebody to figure out who and why," Briar responded. "And since those two seem to be out of commission right now, I guess I'll work on that."

      Pulling out her phone, she managed, on her third attempt, to punch the correct number, and soon heard, "911, please state the nature of your emergency."

      "Yeah, we need the police at Paramount Studio right away. We've just found a couple of dead people."