The Wolf of Los Angeles.

Chapter 143 Horrible Video
The Cadillac stopped on Beverly Boulevard. Edward got out of the car and ran hurriedly to the door. When he entered the villa, he saw Hawke and Caroline whispering about something. He waited for a while.

Hawke ended his private conversation with Caroline, looked at the sweat on Edward's head, and asked, "What's going on?"

"I was instigated!" Edward said, then realized that something was wrong and corrected himself, "Someone was instigating me to rebel."

He pointed at Caroline and said, "Miss Mee's female assistant wants to give me $3."

Hawke said directly: "Ask her for $5."

Caroline agreed: "Since Sarah is doing it, there is a good chance that she will get the money."

Hawke asked, "She's waiting for your reply?"

Edward said, "She called me about ten minutes ago and I said I'd think about it."

Hawke said directly: "Ask her out for an interview, ask her to bring money, and tell her what I told you before as a secret."

Edward left in a hurry.

Caroline said, "It seems that the information is working."

Hawke nodded, but before he could say anything, Brian came back from outside.

When he saw Hawke, he frowned and said, "You were right. Rachel's mother called me and unilaterally terminated the contract and wanted to withdraw from the lawsuit."

Hawke had anticipated this outcome: "You can't defend. If you want to win, you can only attack."

"It took me two weeks to convince Rachel and her daughter." Brian shook his head. "In just two days, I lost the most important position."

Hawke consoled himself: "It's not our fault, because our opponents can provide the resources they desperately need, but we can't."

Brian said: "I notified Sandra and Bacon and asked them to contact the child actors who had worked with Wagner and Redford as soon as possible."

Caroline interrupted, "We are completely passive. Of the media I contacted, except for forums where people can post messages themselves, from newspapers to TV stations and the Internet, no one is willing to publish related news."

She added: "The Los Angeles Parents and Teachers Association, which claims to be extremely concerned about child actors and often visits the sets to check whether the crew is ensuring the rights of child actors, only said they would conduct an investigation after receiving my call, but one of my informants inside said the association did not take any action."

Hawke stated a fact: "If they really did their job conscientiously, would there still be so many cases of child stars being molested in Hollywood?"

“They were like a rock,” Bryan said.

Hawke specifically said: “You haven’t done a good enough job in the media over the years.”

This is of course also related to the fact that Brian received too little resource support.

It is better to experience it once than to say it a hundred times. Brian nodded and said, "It is true. We have news clues but cannot form a public opinion offensive."

Hawke said: "Regarding the media, I have an idea. Maybe we can talk about it after this is over."

Brian knew he had many options: "Sure."

Hawke's cell phone rang at this time. He answered it and asked, "Did you find anything?"

Campos on the other side said, "We mainly tracked Wagner and Redford. They are both very careful. Wagner has not left the Four Seasons Hotel in recent days. Carlos took the opportunity of the hotel recruiting cleaners to sneak into the hotel. Redford was traveling between home and the hotel, so he has not been discovered yet."

Hawke said, "Be safe."

Campos responded, “Yes.”

"That's it for now." Hawke hung up the phone.

Brian asked, "No progress?"

Hawke shook his head: "We need to think of another way to mobilize them."

He looked at Caroline, who shook her head.

Hawke had a hidden trick there, but if he wanted it to work, he had to wait until the opponent revealed a flaw.

Brian has filed legal proceedings, and now that Rachel has withdrawn, a lot of things have to be started over again. Judy and Amanda might also withdraw.

Hawke came to the security room and looked at the surveillance video. There were at least two cars outside, monitoring this place.

Brian followed in and asked, "Do you think they will definitely take a video?"

"It's not them, but the organizer Wagren." Hawke asked back: "Why do you take pictures of those models and celebrities when you play with them?"

Brian said: "It's fun and memorable."

Hawke said: "People in Hollywood also like to have fun. How can Wagner, a director who was a photographer, not take any secret photos? Can he resist? Especially when he organized the party for other purposes. Without the video and the list of names, what if the other party reneges on the promised help?"

Brian thought about himself: "If someone invites me to party, I have to be on guard!"

Hawke patted him on the shoulder: "If the goal is too big, don't go."

Caroline came over and knocked on the door. When Brian opened the door, she reminded him, "Watch TV."

The three of them came to the living room, where the TV had been turned on and switched to a news program on NBC.

The person who appeared on the TV screen was Rachel.

There is a short interview on the show.

The female host asked, "Recently, there was news that you accused director Van Wageren, who you had worked with, of sexual assault through the media. Is that true?"

Both sides had rehearsed this beforehand, and Rachel responded, "That's not true. I made a terrible mistake. I lied."

Although she is young, she has many years of acting experience. Tears immediately flowed down her cheeks. "I am a bad girl. I was provoked and seduced into saying some things that were unfair to Director Wagner. In fact, those were all false. They were taught to me by my lawyer."

Rachel's tears seemed to be unable to be held back, and they kept rolling down her cheeks. "The lawyer told me that I could get a lot of money this way, and I could take more than half of it."

Rooney is very resourceful. She knows that at this time, she needs to let Rachel establish a reliable personality so that people can believe what she says: "Over the years, in order to help me realize my dream of becoming an actor, my mother has continuously sent me to various acting classes. In order to make my life better, she even took out a loan to buy a big house. Although my mother never told me, I know that she took out debts for me and owed a lot of money."

She wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand, trying to control the tears rolling in her eye sockets: "I don't want my mother to have such a hard life, and I don't want her to bear so much pressure because of me. I want to help my mother pay off her debts."

The female host said: "Although you made a mistake, you recognized it in time."

Rachel stood up, bowed deeply to the camera, and cried, "I'm sorry, Director Wagner, I framed you for my own selfish interests. I dare not ask for your forgiveness, but just want to apologize to you publicly."

Near the backstage exit, Rooney pushed Mrs. Wood and gestured to the stage with her eyes.

Mrs. Wood reacted, rushed onto the stage from backstage, came in front of the camera, and hugged her daughter.

The mother and daughter hugged each other and cried in front of the camera.

This is not the end yet. The female host took the opportunity to interview the mother: "You don't know about this?"

Mrs. Wood cried and said: "I thought Rachel was really violated and I went to Director Wagner's house to scold him... I'm sorry, Director Wagner."

She wiped the tears from her face and said, "After the show, I will take Rachel to the police. The LAPD should investigate this lawyer who instigated minors to commit crimes!"

The show ended successfully and the on-site effect was excellent.

Backstage, Mrs. Wood asked Rooney, "Ms. Chasen, are we doing okay?"

Rooney smiled and nodded, encouragingly: "You did a great job." She rubbed Rachel's head: "You are a good girl."

Mrs Wood asked: "Are we really going to call the police?"

Rooney said very seriously: "Why not go?"

Rachel was a little worried.

"Your promises," Mrs. Wood asked.

"You talked to Redford on the phone, signed the contract, and filed it with the Screen Actors Guild." Rooney's resources were not used, so she was generous and would not violate the agreement. She urged, "We should go to the police station and report it."

A group of people came out of the TV station and got into two cars.

Rooney asked the driver to drive to the nearest police station, took out her cell phone and sent two messages in succession: "Solve it as soon as possible!"

At the homes of the other two victims, Judy and Amanda, the public relations manager from Full Speed ​​had accompanied them to watch the entire show, and it was only a matter of time before he convinced them.

Rooney received a call from Sasha.

The latter said quickly, "Director, I persuaded that black bastard. He wanted $5 as a token of sincerity. He told me an important piece of news. Hawke Osment and Brian Ferguson are mobilizing people to carefully check the child actors who appeared in the past works of Wagner and Redford, and they are going to visit them one by one."

"Are they done yet?" Rooney was a little annoyed, but the news was indeed important, and Sasha had also proved her ability. Without the key information she collected, today would not have been so smooth.

Rooney thought for a moment and said, "Give him $5. The money will be paid from the client account. Tell him that he can provide such important news later. He will not be shortchanged by the money."

"Okay." Sasha hung up the phone.

Rooney quickly entered the police station.

…………Beverly Boulevard, inside the villa.

Hawke took the microphone from his laptop, handed it to Caroline, and said, "Just shout a few times."

Caroline took it and opened her mouth and called out, "Mee--"

After she finished, she asked, "Are you done?"

Hawke said, "Do it again."

Caroline was so thick-skinned that she opened her mouth and imitated the sound of a sheep: "Baa--"

After the recording was completed, Hawke clicked on the play button, and a strange sheep sound came from the laptop speakers.

Hearing this voice, Caroline covered her face with her hands.

Hawke connected the storage disk and copied the audio file into it.

Caroline noticed and quickly asked, "What are you going to do?"

"Take it to a TV station and broadcast it on TV." Hawke said casually, "Shock the whole United States."

Caroline tried to come over to grab it, but Hawke pushed her back by the shoulder.

She said viciously: "If you make me angry, I will really bite you!"

Hawke waited until the audio file was copied, unplugged the storage disk, put it in his pocket, and said, "Don't worry, it won't be broadcast on TV. It's just a show to mobilize the people over there."

He was also a little anxious, and quickly calmed himself down: "If they don't move, we won't find a good opportunity."

Brian, who had gone out to answer the phone, came back at this time, looking a little disappointed: "Our opponent is very strong this time."

Hawke could guess: "Both Judy and Amanda are going to quit?"

Brian was also mentally prepared, and the blow he received was not too great: "Yes, their guardians called me one after another, apologized to me, and terminated the attorney agency contract with me. I had to pay the PR fee promised to you out of my own pocket."

He sighed, "Just like you said, we were vulnerable on the front battlefield and were completely defeated. Even God can't save us."

Hawke said, "Now it's our turn to strike."

The war of public opinion was lost miserably, but Hawke was good at more than that.

He called Edward: "Are you back?"

Edward said, "I'll be there soon."

Hawke packed his bag and said to Caroline first: "From now on, don't go out. You are only responsible for communication."

He reminded Brian emphatically: "You should be alert. It is best to drive a bulletproof car when going out and bring bodyguards with you. Be careful of dump trucks and don't get hit and killed."

Brian knew what Hawke was going to do: "It's not that easy to kill me."

Hawke heard the electronic prompt tone and looked towards the door, where Edward was standing.

He took out his pistol, checked the magazine, put it back into the gun pocket under his coat, and strode out.

Edward took the Mercedes key from Hawke, got in the driver's seat, waited for Hawke to get in the car, and drove straight to the Fox Television Center.

The tail behind followed quietly.

The Mercedes entered the underground parking lot of Fox. Before Hawke got out of the car, he said to Edward, "Call them in 15 minutes and tell them the news."

Edward took out his phone and checked the time: "I remember it."

Hawke went upstairs and went straight into Megan's office.

The two had talked on the phone before, and Megan said when she saw him, "The news you sent me these two times was all meaningless. The last time it was barely broadcast, but this time it can't even be broadcast."

Hawke pulled out the storage disk and said, "There's only a sheep bleating in it. How do I play it?"

Megan said, "Then you can only return it tonight." She took the storage disk and asked, "Tell me, how do we do it?"

"Hold a meeting and announce that this will be the headline of tonight's Ace News." Hawke roughly explained his idea: "Because the news is too sensitive and involves confidentiality, you have to wait until one hour before the live broadcast to prepare the copy. When the time is almost right, cancel it."

Megan took the storage disk, took out a label from the drawer and put it on, which read "Level 1 Top Secret News".

She said to Hawke solemnly: "This is the last time. If you do this too often, it will affect my prestige in the program team."

Hawke nodded and asked, "How do I repay the favor?"

Megan said unceremoniously: “Use your lamp pole to pay it back.”

She picked up the storage disk and walked towards the door: "You rest here first, I'm going to the meeting."

Downstairs, Edward took out his cell phone, found Sasha's number and called her.

The call was answered quickly: "What's up?"

"Very important news." Edward said, "Brian got a video about Wagner from a little actor."

Sasha asked, "What's in the video?"

Edward didn't mention this: "We agreed on it."

"Wait a moment." Sasha hung up the phone, looked at Rooney who was in the same car, said a few words, and asked: "Director, he wants money."

Rooney whispered, "About the Wagner video?"

It was normal for the other party to ask for money. She didn't believe it even though he didn't want money. "Tell him, $3, what the content of the video is, and how Hawk Osment plans to deal with it."

Sasha called Edward again and said, "3 US dollars will be transferred to your account immediately. Tell me what the video content is and how Hawke plans to deal with it."

Edward waited for the text message to arrive, took a look, and then said, "The video was copied from Wagner's computer by a young actor when Wagner wasn't paying attention. The content is very explosive. It shows how Wagner violated him in a selfie. As for how to deal with it, I'm at Fox Center now. Hawke Osment went to Channel 11 to find Megan from Ace News."

He paused for a moment and added: "Let me remind you, if you don't act quickly enough, you should be able to see the specific content of the video on the headlines of Ace News tonight."

After saying that, Edward hung up the phone.

In the car on the other side, Rooney cursed: "Fuck! These perverts in Hollywood are as stupid as pigs!"

She took out her cell phone and made a call: "It's me, Rooney. Please help me find out something. Has your channel's Ace News received any big news? Yes, it's very important. Please find out quietly without attracting attention."

The other side agreed, and not long after, the phone call came in: "Yes, the news seems to be sent by the West Coast studio. Megan Taylor just held a meeting to prepare it as the headline of tonight's show. And in order to keep it confidential, the video will be brought out one hour before the show starts for people to do the copywriting."

"Thank you." Rooney hung up the phone, no longer relaxed, and told the driver: "Hurry to the Four Seasons Hotel."

Soon, the car arrived at the Four Seasons Hotel. Rooney and Sasha walked very quickly, almost jogging into the lobby, and took the elevator straight to Wagner's private room.

When they came out of the elevator, they saw a Mexican man cleaning and moved away from him.

Rooney knocked on the door and found Wagner, Redford and Cheryl all there.

Everyone held a glass of champagne in their hands.

Wagren laughed and poured two glasses of champagne, handed them to Rooney and Sasha respectively, and said: "It's wonderful, you did a great job, we should toast to this."

Redford continued, "You are the director of Full Tilt PR. Your reputation is well-deserved. West Coast Studio is no match for you."

Meryl said: "I just got the news that LAPD has subpoenaed Brian Ferguson. Although it won't have a big negative impact on him, it will make him a laughing stock in the industry."

Rooney couldn't refuse her clients, so she patiently drank a glass of champagne with them.

She put down her glass and said, "There was an emergency just now. Brian got a video from a young actor who had worked with you..."

Rooney recounted in detail what she had learned.

Redford's gaze instantly became like a sharp arrow, falling on Wagren's face, unable to suppress his anger: "You promised me that you never secretly filmed any videos! Is this what you promised?"

Wagren shook his head: "Impossible, impossible."

Redford understood immediately: "You are still lying to me!"

Wagren refused to admit it: "I only filmed myself a few years ago. That was the only time I filmed myself!"

In fact, he had taken so many secret photos that he couldn't remember the specific circumstances.

Why shoot? As a director who started out as a photographer, I couldn’t wait to shoot.

He felt it was a guarantee.

(It's the end of the month, please give me a monthly ticket! Please give me a monthly ticket! In view of the fact that I update 10,000 words every day, big guys, please give me a few more monthly tickets if you have them.)
(End of this chapter)