PART 15

That afternoon, the whole environment seemed to have changed. It was like everything was brighter, and cleaner. Everyone was in a much better spirits, acting playful, fun and exuberant, confident the police had their attacker in custody. Laughter could be heard on the set for the first time since Angie and Rollie arrived.

Rollie, however, was an exception. He was in a terrible, dark mood. He just didn’t have the energy to put on a jovial persona, not when his heart was breaking. Those around him could feel the tension radiating from him. Anger was reflected in all his movements. No one wanted to get too close to the brooding F/X artist so he was given an opportunity to be alone with his thoughts. His thoughts revolved around a single solitary point, what he saw outside Angie’s door earlier that day. If I had just acted sooner. He never thought this would happen. He never thought Angela would do something like this.

He kept replaying that morning’s encounter in his head. What had he really seen? Was he just jumping to conclusions? Were his own emotions and feelings tainting how he viewed the situation? Did he project what he wanted onto Alex, assuming the intern wanted the same thing? He knew he was obsessing about this but he couldn’t help himself. This was too important. Should I try to talk things out with her now? Or wait until we’re back home? Later, he decided. That was probably a bad idea considering what he’s already gone through because of his procrastination. All he knew was that he wouldn’t be able to deal with Angie saying she preferred Alex right now. He fell back against the wall. Life, why did it have to be so complicated?

********

Back in the lodge, Angie was doing some deep thinking of her own. Why is Rollie acting this way? What is going on inside that head of his? He’s never been like this before. He’s always been willing to talk. He always wanted to have her help on the set, even when it wasn’t necessary. I mean, we’re friends as well as co-workers. At least we were, most of the time we still are but sometimes… Sometimes she got the impression that he shared her feelings, other times, it seemed like he couldn’t stand to be in the same room as her. Oh, why did he have to find out about her feeling for him? Everything would have been so much easier if he never knew. And then there was Alex. He complicated the picture as he definitely affected her feelings for Rollie.

She looked across the room to where Alex was playing cards with some of the guys. Then she looked out the window at the F/X workshop where Rollie was supposed to be. With a sigh, she returned to her room to continue working on the computer simulation. At least, IT only involved her brain, not her heart.

**********

Work on the movie progressed smoothly the remainder of that day, and the next. Everyone worked extremely hard to finalize all the details of the few remaining shots. Angie and Rollie were both grateful for that. It meant they could focus on their work and pretend that their problems and feelings didn’t exist.

Just before dawn of the following morning, the entire filming crew was on hand and eager to work, as they wanted the last scene to be perfect. At long last, the cameras started rolling. Rollie and Angie cued up all the effects. Initially, they were required to create a snowstorm. To get the right look, they had hidden blowers under the snow the previous day. It would take a lot of concentration on Angie’s part to make it look realistic while still allowing the camera to get a clear shot. She had to adjust the strength of each blower based on where the actors were standing. That was why she was stationed approximately 2000 meters up a snowy slope well above the action. She had to be able to see where the actors were at all times. The actors did have trackers on them, but Rollie and Angie didn’t want to leave anything to chance. She wasn’t alone either. Over 30 others joined her, wanting to watch everything from above.

At the bottom of the hill, Rollie was busy controlling some of the other special effects. He kept an eye on a monitor that was hooked up to all the different cameras so he could ensure the effect looked acceptable on film. He took a quick look at the screen and thought everything looked pretty good. He sent some instructions to Angie about a few minor changes he wanted, but was pretty satisfied overall. He was just about to turn away when he noticed some movement by the tree line.

That’s odd, Rollie thought. However, he wasn’t sure if anyone was supposed to be there or not as he never witnessed a full rehearsal. He magnified the image to confirm that it was a person, not some animal. He proceeded to wander over to where Taryn was conferring with some of his camera operators and sound engineers.

"Hey, Taryn. Are you supposed to have a person in the trees?"

"A person? Where?"

"I’ll show you."

Together, they went over to the monitor.

"There," Rollie said while pointing to a specific area on the screen. "Should he be there?"

"No, who is that?"

"I don’t know. I was hoping you could tell me. He’s not part of your team then."

"No. "

Taryn summoned two guys over to where he and Rollie stood. He instructed them to get that guy, but to be careful and not disturb the filming.

"Shouldn’t we stop filming? We don’t know what that guy’s doing up there. You could be endangering the lives of everyone here."

"I’d like to but, we have to be out of here by the end of the weekend. If we don’t shoot now, we’d be in serious trouble."

Through the monitor, Rollie and Taryn watched the guys moving stealthily towards the unidentified figure. It was difficult to monitor the progress because Rollie and Taryn still had to perform their regular duties. Taryn was watching nervously, knowing this had the potential to bring his project to a screeching halt. He kept flicking his fingers, a sure sign of his growing anxiety. Others, noticing this odd behavior, realized something wasn’t right. People started congregating around Rollie and Taryn, hoping to get some information out of the pair. The noise level of the area increased noticeably, as rumors circulated among the crowd.

Suddenly, there were several bright flashes of light, illuminating the entire set. Taryn and Rollie saw the unknown man’s head jerk upwards, frantically searching for the source of the light. Before he could pinpoint the light’s origin, he noticed the two men approaching him.

Realizing he has been spotted, and possibly trapped, he pulled something small and black out of his pocket. Rollie observed this motion and instructed a camera to zoom into the object. He was able to get a clear picture of it. He digitally enhanced the resulting image, magnified the part he was interested in and realized it's an explosive trigger.

With a blank expression on his face, the unknown man stared with a look of pure hatred in his eyes at the people at the bottom of the hill. Then, he slowly and calmly raised his arm above his head. It was like he was operating at half speed, as if he wanted everyone to be aware of what he was doing. He wanted them to know death was approaching. With a slight movement of his thumb, he flipped the switch.

Everyone was anticipating a huge explosion from a bomb. Instead, clouds of snow developed, obscuring everyone’s view of the area. There was an intense rumbling feeling accompanied by a loud, defining roar. Avalanche!

Panic reined over the set. People were screaming and running in every direction in an attempt to escape the oncoming wall of snow. Everyone had a hard time maintaining their balance and were constantly being thrown to the ground because the ground was shaking so much. Those at the bottom of the hill were the lucky ones. The snow only came up to their knees. The fate of those further up the hill was unknown. No one could see through the powder snow that still floated through the air.

Rollie concentrated on extracting himself from the snow that kept his legs immobile. By the time he was free, most of the powder had settled on the ground, allowing for an unobstructed view of the mountainside. He looked up the slope to where Angie was supposed to be. There was no trace of her, the Ambler, anything, just huge piles on snow replacing the people and objects that were there a short while ago. Rollie’s heart dropped as he sunk to his knees.

"Angela," he roared.