Page 34 of Nico

A few seconds later, another voice checked in from the southern gate. Every thing was normal and secure, at least for now. Movement near the western access road suddenly caught my attention.

A production assistant was guiding a small group of fans through the set. I remembered hearing about that. Some kind of promotional contest run through Shadowfall's official channels.

The winners received signed merchandise, meet-and-greets, and a guided tour of the filming location. There were maybe ten of them altogether. Umbrellas tucked beneath arms, phones already in hand.

Excited voices carried through the evening air. Under normal circumstances, I probably wouldn't have thought twice about them. Unfortunately, normal circumstances no longer existed.

My gaze moved automatically from face to face. There was a young woman in a red jacket, and a teenage boy carrying enough merchandise to open his own store.

There was also a middle-aged couple, two university students, and another man in a bright acid green Shadowfall shirt that could probably be seen from orbit.

Nothing immediately stood out, but that didn't mean anything. The stalker had managed to remain anonymous for years. If one of them was our problem, they certainly weren't going to announce it.

I forced myself to keep moving. Paranoia only helped if it stayed useful.

Within seconds the storm arrived in earnest. The sky opened. Rain hammered against trailers, equipment, and asphalt hard enough to blur the distant treeline into a wall of gray.

Wonderful, I thought in irritation. My radio erupted with updates as crew members scrambled to secure equipment.

I adjusted my jacket and continued my patrol. Lightning flashed somewhere overhead. Several seconds later thunder rolled across the valley hard enough that I felt it in my chest.

The storm wasn't playing around. By the time I circled back toward the western side of the set, rainwater had already begun collecting in shallow pools along the road. The fans were still there.

I stopped. They huddled beneath temporary awnings while the production assistant continued talking enthusiastically over the storm.

I frowned, as that didn't seem right. I waved over one of the nearby crew members.

"Why are they still here?" I asked.

The staff member followed my gaze. "Oh, the contest winners?"

"It's pouring,” I pointed out.

He shrugged. "You know how die-hard fans are."

Fair enough. He checked his watch, then added, “they'll be out of our hair soon anyway."

Another flash of lightning split the sky, and this one much closer. The thunder followed almost immediately. Then everything went dark. The entire set vanished into blackness.

For a fraction of a second, silence settled over the storm, then came shouting. My hand flew to my radio.

"Power outage across the set," someone reported.

"Backup generators activating."

My first immediate thought was Logan and Nico, who were both in Logan’s trailer. They were probably safe, but I wanted to be certain.

My feet had already started moving in that direction when a scream tore through the rain. It wasn’t the startled shout of someone caught in a storm, but a real scream, filled with fear and pain.

I spun toward the sound. The world flashed white as lightning illuminated the set. I spotted a camera crane and silently swore. The massive boom arm swayed violently in the wind.

Without power, whatever stabilization system had been holding it in place had apparently failed. One of the support locks snapped with an audible crack.

The arm lurched sideways, and metal collided with overhead power cables. Sparks exploded into the rain. For one surreal second, the entire set lit up blue-white.

People screamed, someone yelled to get back. The crane groaned as thousands of pounds of equipment shifted dangerously close to the fans. I silently cursed.

Most of them had already started running, which was really the smart thing to do. Then I spotted the guy in the acid green Shadowfall shirt.