Merrick: Harlequins MC Read online

  As they hauled the boat out of the water and carried it behind the cameras, the cast and crew began to clap, all but Poppy, who sat under an umbrella and glared at Merrick. He ignored her as he grabbed a water out of the cooler and chugged half of it down. Paddling a boat was hard work when you didn’t know what you were doing.

  “If we have to go out there again, you go,” Merrick said to Jason as he stepped up. “You obviously know a lot more about boats than I do.”

  Jason laughed. “I used to fish with my dad. Randy and I were laughing at you and Tim. You two looked like you were drunk the way you were paddling. You paddled twice as far as you had to because you couldn’t go straight.”

  Merrick grinned at Jason’s ribbing. You couldn’t be good at everything, and if he was going to suck at something, paddling a boat was a good a choice as any.

  He and Jason had just finished their water when Taylor approached with Blake on his heels. “I can’t say I approve of your methods, but you’re effective, I’ll give you that.”

  “Personally, I thought it was awesome. I wanted to go out there and deal with them myself, but Taylor wouldn’t let me,” Blake said.

  Taylor rolled his eyes. “Leave the security to the experts. The last thing I want is to have you get hurt and delay production any more than it already is.”

  “Yeah, whatever,” Blake said with a dismissive wave of his hand, fished a bottle of water out of the cooler, then turned and walked away.

  Taylor shook his head. “You’re a bad influence on him. He’s been hounding me to listen to some idea he has about a biker movie, and he thinks he’s some kind of tough guy now.”

  Merrick chuckled. “I haven’t done anything to encourage him.”

  “I didn’t say you have. Before I called you back he confronted some of the troublemakers and I think had his PA not pulled him back he would have taken a swing at one of them. That’s the problem with action hero types. Some of them try to live up to their on-screen image.”

  “Blake?”

  Taylor shrugged. “I didn’t think so, but the last few days…Maybe. I know he’s been acting like he was spoiling for a fight. It’s almost like he thinks he has something to prove. Anyway, thanks for getting us moving again.”

  “Lock it down!” a voice called before Merrick could answer.

  “Speed!”

  “Action!” Will said, and Merrick watched Poppy run down to the edge of the water and splash out to her knees to pull a very soggy Danielle out of the river, falling to her knees on the bank and crying pitifully.

  Chapter Ten

  It took the rest of the day and part of the next to finish all the shots at the river. The Laredo PD had shown up and questioned Merrick about the incident on the river, but he’d stretched and distorted the truth enough, claiming everything happened after the guy took a swing at him with the paddle, and the police let him go with a warning. It helped that the production crew either pled ignorance or supported Merrick’s story.

  Even Poppy had stopped glaring at him all the time and had mellowed some, the shots happening as fast as the crew could set up improving her mood.

  They’d left the river three hours earlier and the crew was scrambling to try to get set up for the big gunfight that happened early in the movie to launch Abigail into the story. The scene was scheduled for two days, but they were trying like hell to get it done in only one and a half days of shooting to make up some lost time.

  Paul was made up with squibs so he could be shot on camera and the camera dollied into close. “Lock it down!”

  “Speed!”

  “Action!” Will called. Gunshots popped and Merrick smiled. The prop pistols sounded like cap guns as Poppy and Paul crouched behind their squad car, firing over the hood.

  “Cut!” Will called. “Let’s do it again.”

  Merrick knew he wasn’t supposed to speak during lock down, but he couldn’t stand it and he stepped up behind Will.

  “Excuse me, Will.”

  Will turned to look at him. “Yes, Merrick?”

  “Poppy and Paul are shooting revolvers. I don’t know how many rounds they fired, but it was a hell of a lot more than six. I know it’s a just a movie, but don’t you think they should have to reload at some point?”

  Will looked at him a moment. “Merrick, nobody cares about that kind of stuff.”

  “I care. Anybody who knows guns cares. Same thing with every motorcycle that sounds like a Harley and cars and trucks that shift fifteen times during a car chase. It seems like such little things. I don’t understand why movies can’t get it right.”

  “It slows the scene down.”

  “It doesn’t have to. People who shoot revolvers carry speed loaders.”

  Will stared at him a moment. “Patricia, where’s the Armorer? I need to see him.”

  “I’ll find him,” she said then hurried away.

  “You think it’s that important?”

  “Important? No. But it’s one of my pet peeves. You spend all this money on making a movie, then screw up the little details that should be easy to get right. A Honda sounds nothing like a Harley, so why does every bike sound like a Harley? Why does a car that is shown with an automatic sound like it has a stick? Why does every car sound like it has a V8? Why do a .22 and a .45 sound the same? Why do movie guns have unlimited ammo and nobody ever reloads? In fact, if this were my movie, that’s when I’d have Paul shot, while Poppy was reloading. It’s a perfect excuse to blame her. She was too slow to reload.” He saw Will’s eyes light up.

  “Now that’s an idea,” he said slowly. “The script cut out all the internal investigation from the book for time. In the book they decided her shot placement—is that the right term?—was poor. We were just going to gloss over that, but his is a good shorthand. Ah, Pete, do you have any speed loaders for the guns Poppy and Paul are using?”

  “Yeah. They each have two on their service belts already.”

  “They do? Ten minute break everyone,” Will said. “Poppy! Paul! Come over here a minute. Merrick, thanks for the idea. Poppy, Paul, Pete is going to show you how to quickly reload the guns. I’m going to dolly in close and I want you to count six shots, then reload, okay? Rick! I want you to setup a pan around Poppy to focus on Paul as he reloads. I want to hold that shot then pull back into a two shot for when Poppy begins to reload again. That’s when I want to pop the squibs.”

  Merrick stepped back out of the way as Pete instructed the actors on what to do. Patricia gave him a smile and a thumbs up, which made him grin.

  He watched as Pete showed the actors how to reload. He could do it seconds, obviously very comfortable with the weapons. Paul was pretty fast, as well, but it took Poppy several tries to get smooth and proficient.

  “Okay people! Here we go! Lock it down!” Jeff called.

  “Speed!”

  “Action!” Will said. Gunfire erupted on the set as Poppy and Paul shot it out with the bad guys.

  “Fuck! Why can’t I do this?” Poppy yelled, causing the entire crew to snicker. This was the third time she’d botched the reload as the camera dollied in.

  “Reset! Ready? And…action!” Will ordered. If she even got it one time he was going to take the shot because her hands were trembling as she wrestled with the weapon and the loader. He didn’t know if she was making her hands shake on purpose or it was the stress of trying to reload the gun quickly, but it looked fantastic.

  She turned her back to the car as Pete instructed and slid down behind the tire as she slipped the loader from her belt, and immediately dropped it. Again the entire crew chuckled as she shrieked her annoyance and banged the back of her head against the fender of the car.

  Merrick stepped up behind Will again. “Tell her to slow down a little. She’s rushing it and that’s why she’s having such a hard time.”

  “Again!” Will waited until the camera was back. “Poppy, slow down a little, okay? Don’t rush it so much. Ready? And…action!”

  Poppy fired over
the top of the car, counting her shots. She saw the camera roll in and pan down out of the corner of her eye as she slid down behind the tire. She focused on her hands as she slipped the speed loader from her belt. She didn’t move slowly, but she stopped trying to do it as fast as she could and made sure of her movements. She slapped the ejection rod as Pete had shown her and smoothly slid the shells into the weapon. She remembered to twist the knob to release the bullets from the loader this time, dropped the loader as she was instructed, and slapped the cylinder shut. She rose back up and turned, bringing the weapon to bear on the imaginary bad guy in the store window and squeezed the trigger.

  “Cut! Great take! Good job, Poppy!”

  She grinned at the crew. “It took me long enough.”

  “Okay, again. This time, Paul, I want you to do the same thing. Poppy, this will be right after your reload, so only shoot six times. You’re covering him while he reloads.”

  “Got it.”

  “Ready? Action!”

  The cap guns were popping away and Merrick smiled as Paul dropped behind the car and started to reload. It looked silly now as a second camera swung around to focus on Paul as he dropped behind the car, but it would probably look amazing once it was all cut together.

  Suddenly a small caliber weapon barked from the side and the back window on the cruiser spider webbed. Paul’s head snapped around at the sound of the breaking glass, but Poppy didn’t seem to notice.

  “Get down!” Merrick roared as he shoved through the crew, running the twenty steps between the prop car and the crew line to throw himself over Poppy, dragging her down to land on Paul. He held the actors against the car, shielding them with his body.

  There was a lot of screaming and yelling as he held them down, his face buried in Poppy’s back. When there were no more shots, he turned, looking over his shoulder in the direction of the commotion. The Harlequins were converging on a spot on the run.

  “Stay down,” he ordered as he left to his feet and ran toward his men. They seemed to be heading to the wrong spot from where he heard the shot, but they had obviously found something.

  He arrived at the spot, the crowd having backed away from the man Kyle had face down on the ground.

  “I didn’t do anything!”

  “You never learn do you?” Merrick growled.

  “I didn’t do anything!” Charlie repeated. “I was watching, just like everyone else!”

  “Did anyone see anything?” Kyle asked.

  “Get him up,” Merrick ordered as the crowd shook their heads.

  “He was just standing there. What happened?” a woman asked.

  “Someone took a shot at Poppy or Paul. Probably Poppy since she was closer. You didn’t see him with a gun or anything?”

  “I wasn’t really paying attention, but no. Did he really do it?”

  “What?” Charlie cried as he tried to shake off the men holding his arms. “I don’t even own a gun! I would never do anything to hurt Poppy!”

  “Anyone see a gun? Anybody see a gun or see him throw something away?”

  The crowd backed up a bit more, everyone shaking their heads.

  “Who was first here?”

  “I was,” Kyle said.

  “Did you see anything?” Merrick asked.

  “No. But it sounded like the shot came from over here, somewhere. Then I saw him. I knew you’d had trouble out of him. When I yelled at him, he started to run.”

  “I didn’t do it!” Charlie cried again. “I swear!”

  “Then why’d you try to run?” Merrick demanded.

  “Because I didn’t want you or one of your goons hitting me again!”

  “Look around and see if you can find a gun.”

  “We’ve been looking,” Tim said. “Nothing.”

  Merrick stared at Charlie a moment. Something seemed off. Charlie didn’t strike him as the coldblooded murderer type, and the location was wrong from what he heard. It sounded like to him the shot came from farther around, away from the crowd.

  “What’s going on?” Taylor demanded as he walked up.

  “Somebody took a shot at your actors.”

  “What?” Taylor cried, his face going pale and his eyes wide. “Are you sure?”

  Merrick rolled his eyes. “Of course I’m fucking sure! Look at the back window on the car! It happened right in front of me!”

  “Is he the one?”

  “No!” Charlie yelled. “No! I didn’t do it! I swear!”

  Merrick looked at him. “I don’t know. Maybe. We’ve had trouble out of him before.”

  “I didn’t do it!” Charlie screamed, his face twisting in panic. “I swear! Ask anyone! They said they didn’t see me with a gun! I’m innocent! I swear! Please!”

  “Hold him,” Merrick said, then pulled out his phone and walked away.

  “911 dispatch. State the nature of your emergency.”

  “We’ve had someone discharge a weapon into a crowd.”

  “Any injuries?”

  “No, I don’t believe so. We’re holding the person we believe did it,” Merrick explained as he listened to the clicking of keys.

  “Do you have the weapon?”

  “No. We’re looking for it.”

  “What is your location?”

  Merrick looked around until he saw the address numbers on the building. “906 Madison Street.”

  “I’m dispatching a unit now. If you find the weapon, don’t touch it and show it to the officer.”

  “We’ll watch for him,” Merrick said as he stopped at the car. He ended the call and tucked the phone away as he looked at the shattered glass in the rear door, then looked over his shoulder to where the Harlequins were standing. The angle was very bad for the shot. If Charlie was the shooter, the bullet should have missed the car completely, or hit the windshield. His eyes scanned farther around, stopping on the generator powering the lights and camera. It was a long way away so it’s soft growl didn’t affect the sound, but the angle was more right, and the trailer-mounted unit was large enough that a man could easily hide behind it. A man stepped out from behind the bulk of the machine, his head down, as if looking for something.

  He squinted, trying to see who it was as he moved in toward him. He was about halfway to the generator when he recognized Blake just before he bent and picked something up.

  “Found it!” Blake called, holding the weapon up, his face breaking into a smile as he saw Merrick approaching. “Found the gun!” he called again as he began walking toward Blake, the small pistol pointed at the ground.

  “You shouldn’t have picked it up,” Merrick said as he and Blake stopped. “Do you remember exactly where you found it?”

  “Yeah.” Blake turned and walked back the way he came, stopping beside the growling generator. “Right here, by the tire.”

  Merrick turned and looked back toward the crew and prop car. The direction seemed right for the sound of the shot, and the rear window being shot out made a lot more sense from this position. “The cops are on the way. Put the weapon back just as you found it.”

  Blake nodded and put the gun down.

  Merrick turned and walked back to where his men were gathered. They needed to tell them to let Charlie go and get someone to watch the gun so nobody picked it up again.

  ***

  “I was standing over there, out of the way, watching Poppy and Paul work, when I heard this shot,” Blake explained. “I looked to where I thought I heard the shot, and I saw this guy with a gun. I shouted at him and he turned to run. I ran after him, but he had too much of a head start. I saw him get into a white Ford pickup and drive away. I couldn’t get the plate.”

  “Did you see what the man looked like?” the cop asked.

  “No. He was too far away. Big guy, dark hair, wearing sunglasses. Long pants, uh, light-colored short sleeve shirt. That’s all I can tell you.”

  “Show me where you found the gun.”

  “Right this way. I’m sorry to say I wasn’t thinking and
picked up the gun, but I put it back just as I found it,” Blake explained as he led the cop to the gun and the Harlequin who had been stationed there.

  Merrick watched Blake lead the officer toward the generator. Taylor had called a stop to filming for the day, and Blake had been telling everyone who would listen the story of him trying to chase down the mysterious gunman. Nothing about this sat well with him. None of his men had seen a big guy with sunglasses anywhere around, and they couldn’t explain how he’d gotten inside the parameter. Besides, what kind of gunman carries a .22 revolver? There was something very off about this entire thing.