Tonya Muir - Exposure Season 1

"Have you restricted their access to town?"

Sam looks shocked at such a question. "No, of course not. They’re there today."

I meet Kelsey’s curious green gaze over the betacam and I shrug. I’m not a parent. I don’t know crap about disciplining teenaged boys. Now, give me a few teenaged girls and I could come up with something. Well, college girls. Gotta be legal.

I can tell we’re wrapping up this very boring interview and I hear Kelsey ask for permission to film the grounds and talk with some of the residents. Sam agrees easily and asks Chris to show us around.

When I turn off the camera, I get it ready for our short interview work. I will shoot off the shoulder and not bother sending the 13 gig feed back to the truck, it’s too hard to maneuver the pole around with us.

Kelsey saunters over to me and shakes her head. She’s wondering why we came to middle America for nothing and I have to admit, I’m wondering the same. Oh well. Some stories pan out and some don’t. No beer at the bar for my source this time around.

It’s getting late in the afternoon when Kelsey finishes up yet another interview with yet another happy camper. We have gotten some dirty looks from a few and refusals to speak from some others, but that’s not so unusual in the media business.

We’re wrapping up and talking about heading down the dirt road when a loud rumble and dust come over the crest and down into the compound. A red four door pickup screeches to a halt and a handful of young men jump out of the vehicle, laughing loudly and pounding each other on backs.

I suppose we should try to get some words from them before we head back to the hotel. Kelsey’s silent nod tells me she agrees and we’re on our way over.

Kelsey does the intro and permission spiel, which the boys are thrilled to hear. She’s much more professional with this group than she was with Football and the memory makes me grin before I start taping. Jimmy groans in my ear.

"You were in town just now?"

"Yeah," says the apparent leader. "What a blast. Got us some important things back there. We have an important job."

"Did you start anything while you were there? I understand you’ve had some run-ins recently?"

The kid scuffs his toe in the dirt for awhile and shrugs. "We only do what we’re told."

Kelsey raises one fine eyebrow. "What were you told to do?"

"Alan-" a voice from the back of the group calls out in warning but the speaker waves him off.

"It’s almost time, man. I don’t care if the lady knows. We were told to get the town worried about us. Like we were a threat. So we start fights and we talk like we’re all a buncha kooks. No big deal."

"Did Sam tell you to do this?"

"Sam? That bag of wind? He ain’t nothing," Alan shakes his head. "Come on, guys," he motions to his buddies and they start to move to the back of the truck.

I follow them with the camera and continue taping while they pull wrapped bundles from the bed and drop them in the dirt. The packages clatter noisily.

"So who told you to do these things?" Kelsey persists, leaning against the vehicle.

Alan stops his motion and watches my partner and glances at me and the camera before deciding to answer. "See, living here is a lot like living anywhere. You have groups of people who don’t get along and you have minorities who might have better ideas and more promises for the future but the old politics don’t allow for those changes."

I’m struck by how articulate our young friend is, as if he has someone speaking in his ear. Or he’s memorized this speech from previous encounters.

"So it’s a minority leader? Trying for a coup?"

Alan grins. "Something like that, yeah. We have work to do, Ms. Stanton."

She thanks him for his time and comes back over to me.

I lower the betacam from my shoulder, shifting my grip on it. "What do you think?"

"I think we should ask Chris a couple more questions."

I nod my agreement and we head back to the large building where Chris disappeared once deeming us unworthy an escort. We’re barely in the upstairs hallway when we hear a heated argument coming from Sam’s office. I quirk an eyebrow at Kels and turn on the camera so we can at least get sound, and Kels aims the antenna back toward the truck.

"You’re taping nothing," Jimmy’s voice pipes up helpfully in my ear.

"Shut up and listen, Olson," I whisper.

I really can’t pick up much but muffled voices through the thick door. I hear ‘fanatic’ in Sam’s deep booming tones and a higher voice responds with a jumble of words and ‘what the people want.’

Suddenly things are more interesting and I’m grinning again. Kelsey shakes her head but a slight smile graces her features. Jimmy is whining about something in my ear but I pop it out and let it dangle, not wanting to miss the fun in front of me.

We don’t get too much time to respond to this new development because the door bursts open and out stomp Chris, Sam, and a tall skinny man. They’re still yelling at each other and Sam is telling the third man to go home and cool off.

"Then we’ll call a meeting and decide if this is a place for you and your followers to live, Scamp."

Scamp? There’s a classy name if I’ve ever heard one. It fits the man, though. He’s tall and lanky with long hair and a scruffy beard. He’s dressed in denim and flannel and parades a ‘world-be-damned’ attitude if I’ve ever seen one. And I have a pretty good idea of what one looks like since I consider myself a pro.

"That’s what you think, Sam," he grumbles in response.

Interrupting our friendly little gathering, a small group of men comes flying up the stairs and into the hallway.

"Sam! There are cops at the gate. They’re demanding entrance, wielding weapons," the shortest of the group pants while sliding to a halt.

"Do they have a subpoena?" Sam asks reasonably. I’m glad the camera is running and I know Jimmy is getting an eyeful. This must be what he was trying to tell me when I tuned him out. Oh well. I sure hope the kid has enough sense to grab the extra betacam and catch the action at the gate with it.

"No. They said they have probable cause and they’re not taking no for an answer."

As I pan back from Sam’s close-up to take in the whole group, I see an odd smile on Scamp’s thin lips. "And so it begins."

Huh?

We don’t consider his vague statement for very long before the men in the group that just came up the stairs all pull guns. In a blink of an eye, their short spokesman is shot in the back. Another crack of gunshot leaves Sam on the ground.

"Jesus Christ," I yell. I reach out my free hand towards Kelsey and am relieved when I feel the soft flesh of her hand meet my palm.

I close my fingers and pull her towards me, wanting her close to me and far away from them. When I take the time to focus again through the camera, I see a gun pointed right at us and Scamp grinning behind the barrel.

Jimmy’s babbling in my ear again and I try to tune him out as I tuck Kelsey behind me. She’s not willing to be protected and stubbornly remains at my side.

"You! Camera ladies," Scamp calls out. "You’ll come in handy. Pete, lock ‘em up."

Pete steps forward with a semi-automatic weapon and jabs me in the ribs.

"Turn that off for now," Scamp demands.

I think about arguing with him but something tells me this isn’t wise, and the batteries are almost completely drained by now. Protesting will get me nothing but broken ribs and no good footage. Not a good exchange. I take the camera off my shoulder without stopping it and let it focus on the linoleum at our feet but giving Jimmy all the sound he wants.

"Move it," Pete grabs for Kelsey’s arm but that damn chivalry I find in me when the blonde’s around makes me reach out and knock his hand away.

"Don’t touch us," I warn him. "We’ll do what you want."

Pete eyes me for a long moment, as if determining some kind of response. I wonder briefly if I’ve made a mistake.

"Get moving!" Scamp shouts over Sam’s shouts of pain. "Don’t mess with ‘em, Pete."

Our captor seems to be willing to abide by his leader’s requests and motions to the stairwell with his weapon.

We’re escorted from the building, across the chaotic compound, and to a smaller structure. I switch off the camera now, the antenna won’t work inside the building.

Once inside, our ‘escort’ points to a soiled corner. "Camera goes there."

"No way."

He levels the gun at my midsection. "Camera goes there."

I glance at Kelsey. "Can’t argue with that logic, can I?" I put the camera, the kit, the tripod, the antenna and everything else we’ve been carrying down in the corner gently. That’s a helluva lot of money invested in that squalid space right now.

Pete opens a door and shoves us into a tiny room, slamming the door behind us.

The room is nothing more than an oversized closet and is lit from a bare dangling bulb in the middle. The walls and floor are all seamless grey concrete. Looking up proves to me the ceiling offers no better possibilities. We hear the ominous sound of a deadbolt and chain behind us.

I glance over to Kelsey who is also taking in our surroundings, shaking her head. Slowly our eyes meet and hers look suddenly sad.

"Just another story, huh?" she asks with a raised eyebrow.

<to be continued>

Scenes from last week’s episode

"What’s up, Little Roo?" I nod to the package she has in her hand.