Freedom Downtime Page #14

We had gotten him out

but it sure didn't feel like a victory

And the scars were permanent.

They had to put a....

The surgeons mounted...

a titanium bar in my arm.

l don't know if you can see it or not.

A nice scar from here to here

where they put this titanium bar in...

and seven stainless-steel screws.

This is how much my arm opens now.

That's it. That's my full range of motion

in my left arm.

Unlike my good arm which straightens out.

Anyway, that's what l got.

My jaw doesn't open as much as it used to.

lf l'm trying to bite an apple,

l can't get it in like l used to.

But l live with it.

We crossed the entire country and

were finally closing in on the Takedown set.

We crossed the entire country and

were finally closing in on the Takedown set.

But there was a problem.

lt seems that the hurricane...

is making a beeline for the set

at this point in time.

ln fact, it's estimated that it will reach

and destroy the set by sometime tomorrow.

And, that's something

that causes me concern...

because it's not like that's something

we wanted to have happen.

l fear that one of the listeners

or one of the subscribers or somebody...

may have called upon almightyAllah...

or Christ or whatever...

to rain forth upon these people

with all kinds of venom.

l'd like to stress at this point

that that's not what we meant to do.

That's not exactly how

l want things to turn out.

l fear that the Takedown people

aren't taking this seriously.

lf you look at the map,

if you look at the news reports...

you will see the eye of the hurricane,

you will see the direction it's heading for...

you will see a little dot that indicates

Takedown being produced there.

That is where it's heading.

This is like the scene in Twister...

where the rival gangs of twister watchers

are trying to warn each other:

''This is the big one!''

Well, this is the big one.

They were looking at this thing...

and they saw another hurricane

contained within this hurricane.

And they say they've never seen that before.

And, if that's not enough for you,

Hurricane Bonnie.

Bonnie is the name

of Kevin Mitnick's ex-wife.

Nowthe metaphor just could not

be more perfect for me.

Of course, we didn't take our own advice

and drove straight into the storm.

We thought we might be able to get

a lot closer to the set if nobody was around.

We were right.

They seemed to have a real fixation

on gun safety in this place.

You had to wonder what had happened.

We took a little tour of the restricted area

past the unguarded guardhouse.

The storm passed.

And while we were exploring the next day...

we made a discovery.

And they all want Free Kevin stickers.

The whole crew.

lf you give me some, l will send it to them.

They will put them on their cars.

Was it really this easy?

Had we discovered where

the Takedown people were...

through our own bumper sticker?

-l have Mr. Wong in Number 9.

-Russell Wong.

Yeah. He's in Number 9.

-ls he still here?

-l think he is.

The receptionist went out of her way

to tell us where everyone was staying.

And while the guy playing

Shimomura wasn't in...

we found the producer who promised us

an interviewthat coming Sunday.

The place was swarming with celebrities...

like cast members from Dawson's Creek

engaging in decadent behavior.

We wandered around town,

taking in the carnage from Bonnie...

seeing the desperate people.

We witnessed civilization

brought to a standstill.

Roads were closed...

power was out...

trees were knocked down.

But it didn't matter.

We were going to finally talk

to the Takedown people!

There was nothing to do,

the computer store was closed.

We had four days to kill

so we drove all the way to Raleigh...

to see the town where Kevin Mitnick

was captured.

The cellular towers where Markoff

and Shimomura tracked Kevin's signal.

And this was the apartment complex

it led them to.

And this was Kevin's actual apartment.

-You have a computer yourself?

-Yeah.

Be careful.

l'll keep that in mind.

We foundTakedown crew members in

Wilmington where the power was restored.

You have to remember that

film is usually for fourth-grade mentalities.

Skeet is definitely.... He's a great actor.

He's the most natural actor,

so Kevin's lucky.

He's very charismatic.

There's nothing you can do to Skeet Ulrich

that makes him uncharismatic.

So that's kind of, l mean,

from your side, it's kind of...

he's lucky, you know?

l promised to tell Kevin how lucky he was

next time l talked to him.

But now it was time for our interview.

We had been in North Carolina for five days.

But something was wrong.

Miramax had changed their mind

and nowthey didn't want to talk to us.

So we staged an impromptu protest

outside the studio.

And as we were leaving,

destiny hit us again.

This time we wouldn't let them escape.

This time we wouldn't let them escape.

We drove next door

and waited for them to leave.

There he goes. Yeah.

And off he goes into the wild blue yonder

This is the realTakedown!

We had two cars on our side...

we would outflank them, chase them,

ambush them, whatever it took.

-l wish l didn't have these running lights.

-Close enough. Go.

For six weeks

we'd been trying to talk to these people...

and we hadn't even gotten

a phone call back.

So this is what it came down to:

A cat-and-mouse game

in the streets of Wilmington.

They didn't know

who they were dealing with.

He's making a U-turn.

He's making a U-turn, that motherf***er

-Oh, God.

-No, he's getting gas.

-Man, there's a boat in the way.

-And only eight minutes left on this tape.

What do we do now?This is just great.

This is just so typical North Carolina-ish.

F***ing boat blocking us on the street.

-He's not there.

-Oh, man!

This guy's good.This guy's real good.

They took off that way.

l think they know we're behind them.

They made a U-turn

and went into the gas station.

Really? That's why.

-Did they then go that way?

-They did go that way.

After they made the U-turn?

They left the gas station and went that way?

-They went that way.

-When? After the gas station?

A few minutes ago. l waited.

l thought maybe you'd come by

So they're headed that way

and l don't know where.

So let's go.

-Where are we gonna go?

-Forward.

Even if we go forward at maximum warp...

we can't catch them

because they're doing the same thing.

Let's face it guys, we lost.They beat us.

-Shakes?

-Yeah.

Shakes.

There's always the outside chance

they'll get a shake too.

We had failed.

We never found Shimomura...

we never got to talk

to the Takedown people...

and we never got past the lobby

in any of the corporations we visited.

Worst of all, Kevin was still in prison.

reach a fever pitch.

reach a fever pitch.

The media wouldn't cover it,

so the message went on hacked web pages.

And for the first time...

hackers marched in the streets

in 15 cities all over the world...

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