Chapter 20: Not In The Script

With the Kalinin's requirements well in hand, I had some time to spend on the video. I'd sketched out the framework for Rachel and she'd already let me have a storyboard and I'd set up to visit the Prep Centre to run through the script.

I'd told them to let her have some decent clothes as long as she was behaving. When I got there I could see that she was making an effort to impress, she'd obviously been well enough behaved to keep the guards happy. Or maybe she'd been using some other talents to achieve the same ends.

One thing that I'd found while working for Clegg was there wasn't much time for civilised conversation with the guests. It was a pretty much relentless production line that ran them from the pick up point to the Sales Centre and out. A shame really, I thought, as I looked at Rachel.

They'd put her to work in one of the Prep Centre cells. She was sitting at the table that held her computer. She had a brown manila folder in front of her. "Well, Miss Kernow," I said. "You look rather better than when I last saw you." The bruises had gone and the cuts had healed. She'd managed to find a colourful, knee length skirt and a pale blue sweater from somewhere. She looked, well, attractive, in a girl-next-door sort of way. Of course, she still had the leather collar and tag on, which spoiled the effect somewhat.

"They stopped raping me," she said. "Thank you."

"That was the deal," I said. "You write for me and you don't get raped. I bet you didn't get as good an offer as that from your regular literary agent."

She gave me a humourless grin. "Does the same thing go when I give you the script or does that mean you just take your turn then?"

"That's not very kind," I said, though I'd been thinking she look a whole lot cuter with the skirt up around her waist and the sweater up around her neck. But that's what working for Clegg does — it tends to change the way you look at girls. "There will be other projects," I said. "Maybe we can keep the arrangement going." I sat down at the desk. "Show me what you've done."

She hesitated a moment before pushing the folder across to me. I opened it. The neatly printed sheets inside were clearly laid out. Scenes, camera angles and shots, dialogue, sound effects, it all seemed to be there. I started reading through it.

[Scene 100: Graphics : Logo and titles

SFX AUDIO TRACK: "Weapon of Choice"

We see the opening credit sequence, finishing on the logo of Clegg Enterprises and the title : "CHOICE"

Scene 110: Exterior : a car parked in a dark country lane.

FADE-IN

SFX: AUDIO TRACK: "Just what you've always wanted"

CLOSE UP OF CAR BOOT LID

We see the boot lid open. Inside there is a blanket. A hand appears from out of shot and pulls the blanket away. Beneath is the face of a girl. She is gagged.

VOICE OVER: "She's here."

TRACK TO CLOSE UP OF GIRL'S FACE.

Her eyes are wide in terror. She shakes her head.

VOICE OVER: "This is how it begins for her and, of course, for you."

Scene 120: Interior : a dark room with a small circular podium in the centre.

MIX TO MEDIUM SHOT OF GIRL STANDING ON PODIUM

We see she is standing with her wrists chained over her head, She is still gagged.

VOICE OVER: "What you wanted. When you wanted it. How you wanted it. But how do you get just what you want?"

ZOOM TO CLOSE UP OF GIRL'S CHAINED WRISTS & TRACK TO CLOSE UP ON GAG.

Scene 130: Interior : an office desk and comfortable arm chair.

SFX: FADE DOWN AUDIO TRACK

MIX TO WIDE SHOT OF OFFICE.

We see the narrator seated in the armchair.

ZOOM TO MEDIUM SHOT OF NARRATOR.

NARRATOR: "Hi...

I read it through to the end. I expected that there would need to be changes but it looked as though she had done a good job to start with. "This looks fine," I said.

"Great," she replied without enthusiasm. "Does it get to win an award?"

I let the irony pass. "I could get you a drink, if you like. I've got some vodka in my bag."

She thought about it for a moment and then said, "Why not?"

I turned around and bent down to get the bottle out.

You should never turn your back on a writer. You never know what will happen to the plot.

What is it with girls, me and drink, I wonder? I mean Amanda brained me with a vodka bottle and it was while I was finding a drink for Rachel that she hit me too.

Not with a bottle admittedly. This time it was the edge of her computer keyboard. It slammed into the back of my head with a very painful impact. I toppled forward over the bag and then fell to the floor. I didn't quite lose consciousness, which was a shame as Rachel was shouting "Bastard!" and kicking seven kinds of excrement out of me. However, I was sufficiently disorientated not to put up any sort of struggle as she pulled the lead from the computer keyboard around my wrists and the power cable around my ankles.