Chapter Seven Hundred and Sixty Sixth Emergencies

"Cameron jumped into the sea in a heated argument with the producers of 'Titanic'."

"The 'Titanic' project got out of control, Eric Williams went to Rosarito himself, Cameron was overwhelmed and tried to commit suicide by jumping into the sea."

"Eric Williams and James Cameron Rosarito had a physical conflict on the set, pushing each other into the sea, and the 'Titanic' project may be completely grounded."

"..."

Because there was no video data flowing out of the scene, many people spread the rumors and rumors. In the following days, the incident about Cameron jumping into the sea in the American media became more and more outrageous. Spread, more and more media reporters began to converge towards Rosarito, Mexico.

In desperation, Eric simply asked abc TV station to send reporters to the set to record some footage of the crew. Although the spread of rumors was not completely suppressed, those absurd remarks were not attacked after the related videos were broadcast. break.

The day after Eric went to Rosarito, Stan Winston, the CEO of Digital, came over to discuss the post-production issues of the film.

Because "Titanic" will use a lot of very novel special effects production methods, according to the development ideas that Eric determined when he established the digital field, these new special effects technologies will be specially sorted out, and if possible, a patent will be applied for. Although many special effects techniques were produced under Cameron's whimsy, after receiving Eric's sufficient budget support, Cameron, who was completely immersed in the film, did not care about these at all.

It was another morning of shooting. At this time, Eric had been on the Rosarito set for five days, and there was no depressing atmosphere under the tight budget. Although Cameron occasionally still showed a bit of irritability, it seemed that The breath that was on the verge of eruption at any time disappeared completely, and the interpersonal relationship of the crew from top to bottom was much more harmonious.

At lunchtime, Eric was eating in the restaurant with Cameron and others, when Jon Landau walked in in a hurry.

After eating, he came to sit at the table on Eric's side, and Jon Landau said to Eric, "Eric, are you going back this afternoon?"

"Yeah, things here are almost over, and I can't help much by staying here."

Jon Landau nodded, hesitated for a moment, and reminded, "I think you'd better be careful when you go back."

"Huh?" Eric looked up suspiciously.

Jon Landau said: "I've heard there's been quite a few robberies out there lately against those journalists, and even two hapless guys with broken ribs, you know, their professional camera equipment. It’s all very expensive. Also, I just had a chat with Victor, who is in charge of on-set security, and he said that there have been a lot of unidentified people around the set lately. So, you know.”

Eric nodded earnestly. He knew the security situation in Mexico. The country only has more than 100,000 regular troops, but the number of illegal armed forces led by drug dealers is not much less than the regular army. It's a bit better for now. In the next few years, with the further deterioration of public security, Mexico is even classified by the United Nations as a "state of war" country at the same level as Somalia, Yugoslavia and other countries. Coupled with Rosarito's proximity to the Mexico-US border, the security situation in the vicinity is even worse. Under the advice of the security team, Eric did not step out of the studio for the past few days when he came to Mexico.

Cameron heard Jon Landau's words, and said with a solemn expression: "Eric, it's really not good, you can go back by helicopter, um, although it's a little more troublesome, it's definitely safer."

Mexico is no better than the United States. Helicopters are basically in the hands of government departments. It is very difficult for ordinary people to obtain flight permits. Eric shook his head with a smile and said: "There is no need to be so inspiring, from here The distance to the border is only 30 kilometers, so drive faster.

It took half an hour to arrive, and the helicopter might not have the safety of my convoy. "

Eric is not arrogant. The 23 bodyguards who came with him this time are basically ex-Marines with rich practical experience. The facilities are as complete as the presidential car level, but they are not inferior to the other party in terms of safety protection. As long as they do not encounter a frenzied heavy fire attack, even if they are temporarily trapped, they can rely on the protection of the car to stand by and wait for help.

After lunch and chatting for a while, Eric said goodbye to everyone, and left the Rosarito studio with the female assistant by car.

It was still the highway along the coast of Baja California. After the vehicle was running smoothly, Eric looked down at the latest version of the script of "Casino Royale 007" from Los Angeles. Kelly, who was sitting next to him, accidentally caught a glimpse in the rearview mirror. There were a few small tails behind the convoy, remembering Jon Landau's reminder when they were in the restaurant at noon, and patted Eric uneasily, pointing to the back.

Before Eric could answer, Carter Moen, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, said, "Ms. Haynes, it's okay, that's the reporter's car, and they may want to go back with us."

"Oh, that's what happened," Kelly smiled, a little embarrassed at her own paranoia.

The convoy passed through the town of Rosarito shortly after driving, and continued to move forward. Eric read a few pages of the script, raised his head and moved his neck, and chatted with Kelly for a while, and was about to lower his head to continue reading the script. The Carter Moen suddenly pressed his earphone, exchanged a few words in a low voice, then turned his head and said, "Eric, there may be some situation ahead."

Eric looked up suspiciously: "Huh?"

Kelly scratched Eric's sleeve sensitively, with a nervous look on her face.

"A container truck was parked about a kilometer ahead, blocking the way," Carter Moen explained, adding: "It's a very old-fashioned way."

Eric looked out of the car window. Although it was a four-lane highway, there was a barrier composed of concrete piers in the middle of the road. A container truck could almost block half of the lanes.

Eric knew that he had no time to panic, and he did not hesitate. He said calmly and decisively: "I don't understand this, you can deal with it."

Carter Moen nodded and instructed the two to fasten their seat belts. While deploying quickly into the earphones, he took out a pistol from the storage box and handed it to the driver next to him, and then took out a semi-automatic rifle to play with. stand up.

Eric took a deep breath, noticed Kelly's nervous look beside him, patted her on the shoulder, and reassured: "Don't worry, it's alright. Even if there is any trouble, it will be fine within ten minutes at the border. Someone will come."

"Well," Kelly's face became calmer, holding Eric's hand, while the other hand reached into her bag and touched the mobile phone. After thinking about it, she realized that this mobile phone can't make calls in Mexico. Had to give up.

During the simple conversation, the speed of the entire team suddenly accelerated. A few seconds later, Carter Moen turned his head and instructed Eric: "Everyone sit down."

Immediately, at the front of the convoy, there was a loud bang.

Eric sat on the left side of the rear compartment, feeling that it was not a gunshot, and looked out suspiciously close to the window glass.

The SUV at the front had arrogantly smashed a gap in the cement stone pier in the center of the road, forcibly changed lanes, and entered the other side of the road. Immediately, the second and third SUVs followed suit. During the turbulence, the fourth SUV that Eric was riding in also changed lanes, and rubbed against the cement stone pier that was still standing. There was a harsh rubbing sound in his ears. .

In the front row, Carter Moen, holding a semi-automatic rifle, looked vigilantly out of the window on the right. Eric retracted his attention from the bump, and then looked to the right. A blue container truck was parked in the center of the right lane. The moment they passed by, Eric also noticed the surprised expressions on the faces of the two Mexican-American men standing beside the truck.

The convoy overtook the container truck and did not choose to change lanes again. Fortunately, there are few vehicles on this road near the sea. Even if there are several oncoming cars, it can be easily staggered.

Although no one was found to be chasing after him, Carter Moen remained vigilant and kept communicating with the bodyguards in several cars until about ten minutes later, the figures of the towns on the border appeared in everyone's field of vision. Relax.

Kelly took a deep breath, looked at Eric next to him, and then at Carter Moen who was taking apart his weapon and stuffing it into a backpack, thought for a moment, and said, "I just saw ... Maybe it's a misunderstanding?"

Eric remembered the expressions of the two Mexican men he saw just now, and he was a little puzzled, but he didn't mean to question Carter Moen's judgment. The son of a daughter can't sit down and be cautious. There will be no problem.

Carter Moen put away his weapon and said through the rear-view mirror: "It's not a misunderstanding, Ms. Haynes, if you look closely, you should be able to notice that the guy in the blue coat just now has a micro punch in his arms, Also, the door of the container is clearly open, which would never have happened if they had stopped to fix the car because of a breakdown."

Kelly still wondered, "Why?"

Carter Moen suddenly changed the subject and said to Kelly: "Ms. Haynes, do you know what the most important thing is when driving at night in Mexico?"

"Um?"

Carter Moen said: "The most important thing is to run through a red light if you can, and never stop. Because if you stop for a few seconds, there will often be robbers armed with guns. You ransacked you out of your car window. The situation we just encountered was similar to this situation, if we parked, I assure you, dozens of militants will soon jump out of the container, and we will be in trouble by then ."

Kelly glanced at the serious look on Carter Moen's face in the rearview mirror, then glanced at Eric, saw Eric nodded in agreement, patted her chest with lingering fear, and said, "I also heard that Mexico It's quite chaotic, but it's too wild, aren't they afraid of causing strong suppression from the government?"

Carter Moen said: "Seriously, they are really not afraid. This country is already rotten, and it is difficult to return to normal social order."

When Eric heard Carter Moen say this, he also remembered something. In his memory, the Mexican president Cadelron tried to take tough measures to fight crime, but it backfired. Not only did he fail to achieve his goals during the few years he was in power, Instead, it caused more violent social unrest, and more than 20,000 civilians were killed by Chiyu alone.

Recalling this information, Eric suddenly felt that he was too careless this time, his goals were too big, and it would be better not to come to Mexico in the future.

Passing through the town next to the border line, the customs entrance can be seen far away. Eric felt the vehicle suddenly slowed down, raised his head, saw Carter Moen rolling down the window, and handed a black backpack to a middle-aged man outside the window, he didn't care, he had to go through customs, he must take these' Contraband' thrown away.

Mexico bans guns, but in fact, because of its proximity to the United States and social chaos, this kind of ban is almost nonexistent. Rick revealed that there are probably more than 200 gun dealers in this border town alone.

As the convoy joined the inbound and outbound traffic, Kelly completely relaxed, remembering something, and suddenly said, "By the way, Eric, didn't you say that there are a few reporters driving behind us, will they be okay?"

Eric forgot about this, and looked at Carter in front of him. Carter asked a few words into the earphone, then turned his head and said, "It's okay, they are all behind."

"That's good, but," Kelly glanced at Eric and said, "Perhaps, the media will be lively again after I go back." 》≠miào》≠bi》≠gé》≠,

Eric also knew what Kelly meant. Faced with what just happened, if he was a little smarter, those guys would definitely do something.

Sure enough, on the day Eric returned to Los Angeles, some evening newspapers had the news that 'Eric Williams was nearly hijacked in Mexico', with a large number of illustrations, a container truck stopped in the middle of the road and was caught. The smashed concrete guardrail, the eye-catching scratches on the SUV, etc., under the clever illustration, the whole thing was rendered by the media as a thrilling experience.

Things really got lively. As the world's richest man with a net worth of tens of billions of dollars, Eric's influence is self-evident. Of course, the Mexican government does not want this kind of thing that destroys its own international image to spread, and responded quickly, claiming that It was just a misunderstanding, and even accused Eric's car of destroying public facilities and asked him to compensate for the damaged concrete fence.

However, this refutation and clarification had no effect, because the identities of the two Mexican-American men who appeared next to the container truck were soon discovered by the media with great powers. A gang member wanted by the Mexican government.

So, everything became more lively.

Naturally, the Mexican government no longer mentions any compensation, but just faltered, published some official articles that would bring criminals to justice as soon as possible, and then died.

Compared with the liveliness of the outside world, Eric didn't have time to pay attention to this little episode. At least, this incident covered the wind caused by Cameron jumping into the sea. He just handed over the matters that need to be dealt with the media to Firefly's public relations team and continued to work on his own.