Ladies' Choice by KeepThisSecret
Summary: The term “sincere voting” refers to a situation in which a voter is able to cast a vote for their most preferred candidate. The term "insincere" or "strategic" voting; however, refers to a situation in which a voter must cast a vote for a candidate other than their first preference in order to best pursue their interests.

If the life of your favourite Backstreet Boy was at stake, would you cast a “sincere” vote or a “strategic” one?
Categories: Fanfiction > Backstreet Boys Characters: Group
Genres: Drama, Suspense
Warnings: Death, Violence
Challenges:
Series: None
Chapters: 28 Completed: Yes Word count: 63112 Read: 48515 Published: 06/14/16 Updated: 01/05/17

1. Chapter 1 - Prologue by KeepThisSecret

2. Chapter 2 by KeepThisSecret

3. Chapter 3 by KeepThisSecret

4. Chapter 4 by KeepThisSecret

5. Chapter 5 by KeepThisSecret

6. Chapter 6 by KeepThisSecret

7. Chapter 7 by KeepThisSecret

8. Chapter 8 by KeepThisSecret

9. Chapter 9 by KeepThisSecret

10. Chapter 10 by KeepThisSecret

11. Chapter 11 by KeepThisSecret

12. Chapter 12 by KeepThisSecret

13. Chapter 13 by KeepThisSecret

14. Chapter 14 by KeepThisSecret

15. Chapter 15 by KeepThisSecret

16. Chapter 16 by KeepThisSecret

17. Chapter 17 by KeepThisSecret

18. Chapter 18 by KeepThisSecret

19. Chapter 19 by KeepThisSecret

20. Chapter 20 by KeepThisSecret

21. Chapter 21 by KeepThisSecret

22. Chapter 22 by KeepThisSecret

23. Chapter 23 by KeepThisSecret

24. Chapter 24 by KeepThisSecret

25. Chapter 25 by KeepThisSecret

26. Chapter 26 by KeepThisSecret

27. Chapter 27 by KeepThisSecret

28. Chapter 28 - Epilogue by KeepThisSecret

Chapter 1 - Prologue by KeepThisSecret
It was unseasonably warm for February; the sun was parked high in the sky casting a series of long, malformed shadows across the parking lot as people sauntered to and from their vehicles enjoying the unexpected break from the cold. To most people, the sunshine was a blessing after the wild weather of the past few days, but to Kayleigh it was an annoyance; just another thing to make it take longer for people to get out of her way. She hoisted her purse higher onto her shoulder as she hustled towards the mall, cursing the fact that she had chosen to wear high-heels as her designer boots pretty much made it impossible for her to run.

The story was being broadcasted on literally every single radio station. Kayleigh had listened, repeatedly, to the chilling details during the twenty minute drive from her office to the mall. Every radio DJ in the city was talking about the website; even the ones who normally wouldn’t be caught dead discussing the Backstreet Boys. The news was big enough to overshadow Kanye West’s latest Twitter rant. This was huge.

The mall was bursting with the usual suspects; sleepy moms, shrieking toddlers, shuffling seniors, and sullen teenagers. Kayleigh ignored them all as she at long last made it through the double entrance doors and pointed herself in the direction of the food-court. The steady click of her heels drew some curious stares as she switched from speed-walking to jogging, but she didn’t care. She didn’t have time to waste.

Kayleigh reached the escalator in record time; nearly toppling over as she hurried onto the moving steps. Her eyes were busy scanning the crowded food-court for her friend. She knew that Sophia would have made it to the mall before her; she always did. Kayleigh dug her phone out of her purse and quickly called up the website. She wanted to have it ready in case Sophia hadn’t seen it yet.

“Sophia!” Kayleigh pushed her way down the last few steps of the escalator as she finally caught sight of her friend waiting with her arms folded across her chest in front of the Starbucks kiosk. “Have you seen it?!” She blurted out the question from several feet away. “Have you seen it?!”

“Have I seen what?” Sophia immediately uncrossed her arms and raised her eyebrows. Her usually even-tempered friend looked a bit wild. “Why are you out of breath?”

“It’s all over the news!” Kayleigh practically shrieked. “How can you not have seen it?!”

“Probably because I’ve been waiting for, like, forever for our lattes.” Sophia rolled her eyes in the direction of the overworked barista who was rushing around behind the counter. “This place seriously needs to hire more people.”

“Just look at this!” Kayleigh shoved her phone into her best friend’s hand and ran her fingers through her wind-blown hair. “Can you believe it?!”

Sophia’s eyes quickly flipped across the screen. She couldn’t believe it. She didn’t believe it.

“Is this a joke?” Sophia raised her eyes to Kayleigh’s. “Is this some kind of weird promo for Nick’s Dead 7 thing?”

Kayleigh shook her head. “CNN has apparently been reporting on the story all day, but I didn’t hear anything about it until I got in the car after work. It’s all over the radio; on, like, seriously every station.”

Sophia could actually feel her eyes getting wider as she digested what her friend was saying. She shifted her eyes back to Kayleigh’s phone, and her stomach dropped at the sight that greeted her. This was bad.

“Sophia! I have two grandé, skinny caramel lattes for Sophia!”

“The website is legit.” Kayleigh snatched the lattes that Sophia had ordered off of the counter and placed one of the take-out cups into her friend’s outstretched hand. “They want the fans to vote.”

Sophia shook her head and took a sip of her coffee. She winced as the too-hot liquid connected with her tongue and hastily shoved Kayleigh’s phone back into her friend’s skinny fingers. She had seen enough. “Nobody is going to vote, Kay. It has to be some kind of a hoax, a publicity gimmick.”

“People are already voting!” Kayleigh quickly navigated to the continuously changing poll and wiggled her phone in her friend’s face. “I think this is real, Soph.”


~Two Days Earlier~


‘In other entertainment news, Nick Carter has been charged with misdemeanour battery after last week's altercation involving a bouncer at a popular Florida bar. According to the police report, Carter was already intoxicated when he and a friend entered the bar around 7:00 PM. The fight broke out when the bartender refused to serve Carter …’

“This changes things.” Carlos muted the news report and took a slow sip of his rye and ginger. “The news coverage is going to make this harder.”

“It will blow over.” Angelo gently swirled the amber liquid in his own cup; the ice cubes clinking softly against the glass. “It must have been a slow day for entertainment news. Nobody really cares about these guys anymore.”

“Then why did we choose them?” Carl frowned. “This has to work, Angelo. I ain’t got time to try this shit twice.”

“We’ve been over this.” Angelo chided. “These guys are our best option. They have a strong fan base consisting mostly of women in their late twenties to early forties; a demographic that has a lot of disposable income. We’ve done our research, and we know that their fans are loyal to a fault. These women have grown up lusting after these losers. None of them are going to think twice about forking over their hard earned cash in order to save the members of their precious boyband.”

“It just makes me anxious that’s all.” Carl nodded at the television. “I think that we should turn our focus to one of the other guys first. This Carter kid is generating too much attention for my liking. What if the police are keeping an eye on him?”

“You make a fair point.” Angelo conceded. He drained the remaining liquid from his glass and set the tumbler down with a heavy thud on the wooden coffee table. “Dorough might be our best place to start.”

“The Latino?” Carl raised his eyebrows. “I don’t think he’s popular enough. What about the little southern thing? What’s his name? Little?”

“Littrell?” Angelo shook his head. “He's always with his family. His wife will get in our way; make things harder.”

Carl frowned into his drink. He didn’t like that the plans had changed. Time was running out. If they didn’t get the ball rolling within the next couple of days then there wouldn’t be any point. The first payment was due in less than a week, and if Angelo’s plan didn’t work then the claim would be denied. If the claim was denied then Carl’s life was over; plain and simple.

“I don’t care.” Carl conceded. “If you want to take Dorough first, let’s take him.”

Angelo bit at the inside of his cheek to keep his frustration in check. He didn’t like Carl’s attitude. Didn’t he realize that he was doing all of this for him? Didn’t he realize that he was putting his own life on the line so that his baby brother’s life could continue? Sometimes being the older brother came with way too much responsibility.

“You boys doing okay?”

Carl’s wife, Janet, stepped into the room just in time to see her brother-in-law’s fleeting look of anger. She roped her long, black hair into a messy bun and looked back and forth between the two men. She loved her husband more than words could describe, but his older brother made her uneasy. There was just something about the way that Angelo carried himself that made Janet suspect that he was up to no good.

“We’re fine.” Carl shot his wife a loving smile. “How was work?”

“Long.” Janet rubbed absently at a mysterious stain on her scrubs. She wished that Angelo wasn’t there. “Nobody died … so that’s good.”

Working the afternoon shift in the emergency department was not Janet’s ideal job, but the pay was good and the benefits were even better. When she had first gone into nursing, Janet’s goal had been to work in pediatrics, but things hadn’t exactly gone the way that she and Carl had planned. After the twins were born, the two of them had both committed to jobs that they disliked simply to pay the bills. Since the bills were never-ending, their dreams remained unfulfilled.

Carlos quickly changed the subject. He didn’t like it when his wife talked about her job. The thought of being around people who were dying made him uneasy. “The girls are asleep. They both ate their dinner.”

“That’s good.” Janet cast another wary look at Angelo. It was time for her to make her exit; it was clear that he didn’t want her around. “I’m going to get ready for bed. Don’t stay up too late.”

“Your wife thinks that I’m a piece of shit.” Angelo announced once Janet had disappeared upstairs. “Remind me again why I’m doing this for you?”

“Because you promised mama that you would take care of me.” Carl finished his drink and looked directly into his brother’s eyes. “Isn’t that what you said?”

The motto of the Costa family was simple; you take care of your family – no hesitation, no questions, no whining. Angelo had made a promise to his mother, on her death bed, that he would look after Carl. So, that’s what he was going to do. It didn’t matter if he wanted to do it or not; a promise was a promise.

As much as Angelo disliked Janet, he didn’t want to see Carl or his little nieces suffer. Carl’s family was an extension of Angelo’s family, so it was his responsibility to protect them. That was why he had devised the plan in the first place; so that Carl’s family could remain intact.

“I just need to know that you’re in this one hundred percent.” Carl returned his brother’s stare. “If you ain’t in this with me then you better let me know right now.”

“I’m in.” Carl’s gaze didn’t waver. “The website is ready. The Twitter account is ready. Everything is ready.”

“Okay.” Angelo nodded slowly. He still wasn’t entirely convinced that Carl was telling the truth, but he was going to have to take his little brother’s words at face value. They needed to set things in motion first thing tomorrow morning if they were going to have any chance of making the deadline. “So, we’re in agreement that we’re going to start tomorrow with Dorough?”

“Like I said, you call the shots.” Carl finally dropped his gaze from his brother’s face and stared down into his empty glass.

Angelo’s plan made Carl uneasy. He couldn’t help but wonder if there was an easier way of meeting his goal; if there was a legal way of meeting his goal. Of course, it didn’t really matter what Carl thought. With his father being gone, Angelo was the head of the family. So, Carl had no choice but to go along with whatever his older brother decided. That’s just how things worked.

“I know I do.” Angelo smirked. “It’s good to know that we’re on the same page, little brother.”
Chapter 2 by KeepThisSecret
Nick pulled one hand out of his pocket and pressed the button for the crosswalk. The cold immediately stung his skin, and he silently cursed AJ for convincing him that they didn’t need to take a cab.

“Shit, it’s cold!” AJ’s breath came out in tiny puffs that curled upwards towards his face as he spoke. “Why did you let me talk us out of taking a cab?”

Nick simply narrowed his eyes. He was too cold to come up with a decent comeback.

“Why can’t we be on the cruise right now?” AJ continued to grumble as the light finally changed and the two of them began to make their way across the street. “What’s the point of going on a cruise in May when it’s already warm? You’re supposed to go on a cruise to get away from the cold.”

“If the cruise were any earlier, Lauren could decide to have the baby while I’m drifting along in the middle of the ocean.” Nick shot back. “What the fuck would I do then? Jump off of the boat and swim back to America?!”

It was AJ’s turn to grin. “I don’t think that Lauren actually gets to decide when the baby comes. The timing is all up to your son.”

Nick’s heart skipped a beat. He was going to be a father, a daddy, a caretaker for a teeny tiny human. The thought was both thrilling and terrifying all at the same time. What if he messed up? What if he wasn’t cut out to be a dad? Lord knows that his own father hadn’t exactly been the best role model.

“I should be spending more time with her.” Nick suddenly felt guilty. “Do you think that I’m trying to do too much?”

AJ shrugged. “Yeah, but that’s just who you are. Lauren understands that. She wouldn’t have married you if she wasn’t okay with you being gone all of the time. It’s probably better that you’re getting some of our recording and the majority of your solo tour out of the way before the baby arrives. What will really matter to Lauren is that you’re there for her when she’s struggling to deal with a screaming newborn who refuses to sleep.”

“The baby’s not gonna sleep?” Nick zeroed in on the last part of AJ’s statement. “Like ever?!”

AJ laughed. “All babies sleep eventually.” He paused. “If you’re lucky.”

“Fuuuuuuuuck!” Nick cursed. “I probably should have thought this whole baby thing through a bit more before I agreed to pull the goalie.”

“It’s too late now!” AJ laughed. He pulled one gloved hand out of his pocket and patted Nick roughly on the back. “That baby is coming whether you’re ready for him or not.”

Nick rolled his eyes. He should have known better than to try and have a proper conversation with AJ. Regardless of the situation, AJ seemed to have a knack for making things worse; for making Nick feel even more anxious than he already was. He should have just talked to Howie. Talking to Howie always made him feel better.

“Is this it?” AJ stopped short. He peered upwards at a non-descript brownstone building. “I think this is it.”

Nick struggled to maintain his balance as he attempted to turn around, his sneakers slipping on the thin layer of snow that had already coated the sidewalk. “Are you sure?”

The snow had started coming down less than an hour ago, but it was already beginning to accumulate. The thick, heavy flakes were supposed to continue to fall for the next couple of days. Record-breaking accumulation totals were being predicted for New York and the surrounding states, but even the possibility of being snowed-in hadn’t stopped Kevin from booking studio time in New York City.

The older man had dismissed the potential severity of the approaching winter storm with a quick-witted, yet sternly worded email. Nick had been tempted to challenge the decision, but he knew Kevin well enough to realize that it wasn’t worth the fight. Kevin had arranged for the group to record in New York to make things easier for Brian, and there was no way that Kevin would ever inconvenience his cousin in favour of Nick.

“Yeah.” AJ squinted at the number painted above the door. He quickly pulled out his phone and used his free hand to shield the screen from the falling snow as he called up his email account. “154 East 2nd Street.” AJ looked back at the building to confirm. “This is it; unit 4A.”

“Thank God!” Nick waited as AJ shoved his phone back into his pocket and pulled open the door. “I can’t feel my fucking toes.”

“Maybe you should have worn appropriate footwear.” AJ smirked. He flipped down the fur-rimmed hood of his massive winter jacket and brushed a handful of wayward snowflakes onto the dark hardwood floor of the studio’s front entrance.

Nick glanced down at the soaking wet, and likely brand-new, Kicks that adorned AJ’s feet. “You’re one to talk.”

“I don’t have sensitive tootsies.” AJ grinned at Nick before turning towards the petite blonde co-ed who was seated behind the reception desk. “We’re here for …”

“I know.” The woman interrupted. She smacked her gum and glanced half-heartedly at her computer. “Backstreet, Studio C.” She waved her hand in the direction of the hallway. “You’re going all the way to the back.”

“Bitch.” Nick swore under his breath as he pulled back his own hood and began to follow AJ down the narrow hallway towards ‘Studio C’. “What crawled up her ass?”

AJ snorted. “You’re just upset that she didn’t throw herself at you. You gotta face it, Nicky. You’re an old man now. You’re gonna be a daddy. Nobody gives two shits about you anymore.”

Nick frowned. “Our fans still love me.”

“Well that chick is clearly not a fan.” AJ stated the obvious. “Her mom might think you’re hot though.”

“I’d bang a hot mom.” Nick grinned. “Lauren’s gonna be a MILF.”

“Jesus, Nick! I can’t think about her like that when she’s all pregnant and stuff.” AJ shook his head as he pulled open the door to the recording area. “I mean, you’re totally right, but that doesn’t mean that I need to hear about it.”

“What don’t you need to hear about?” Kevin pulled his attention away from his phone as Nick and AJ stepped into the studio. He could tell by the smirk on AJ’s face that the answer was going to be inappropriate. “Actually, I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to know.”

“Nick was just informing me that Lauren is gonna be a hot mom.” AJ answered the question despite Kevin’s retraction. “He thinks that they’re still gonna get freaky all the time after the baby is born.”

Kevin snorted and flipped his eyes towards Nick. The blonde was busy peeling off his jacket and glaring at AJ; silently begging him to stop talking. Kevin could see a tinge of pink creeping up Nick’s neck, and he had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing. The poor kid had no idea just how much his life was about to change. His cluelessness was endearing and pitiful all at the same time.

“You ain’t gonna be gettin’ anywhere near Lauren’s lady bits for months after the baby is born.” Brian swivelled in his chair so that he was facing Nick and plunked his sneaker-clad feet on top of the edge of the sound board. He crossed his legs at the ankles and leaned back as far as the chair would allow. “It doesn’t matter if you think that she’s the hottest mom in the world. She’s gonna beat your ass if you even so much as think about cuppin’ a feel.”

“That!” AJ gestured wildly in Brian’s direction. “That is exactly what’s going to happen!”

Nick frowned. He could feel his face getting hot. Why did everyone always have to act like he was completely clueless? Did the guys really believe that he was that stupid? But, seriously, was Lauren really not going to want to have sex just because she had had a baby? That couldn’t be true. AJ and Brian were just being assholes.

It never failed. Just when Nick was starting to think that their relationship was on the mend, Brian had to go and say something stupid. He hated Brian for making him doubt the future of his relationship with Lauren, and he hated AJ even more for adding fuel to the fire. It was time for AJ to pick a side when it came to him and Brian; no more flipping his loyalty back and forth whenever it suited him.

“Guys!” Kevin held up his hands to silence AJ and Brian’s laughter. He was still struggling to hold back a grin. “Let’s not scare Nick too much, okay? I mean, it’s not like he’s gonna be celibate forever. Eventually, Lauren will take pity on him and give him a half-assed blowjob.”

“You’re right.” Brian nodded, his face still stretched into a massive, condescending smile. “He’ll just have to wait like three months.”

“More like six!” AJ interjected. He turned to Nick. “Take it from someone who knows, bro. You’re gonna be waiting for a while.”

“Ya’ll don’t know what’s gonna happen.” Nick flopped down into the empty chair next to Kevin and glared at each of his band-mates in turn. “Can we just lay down this track, please?”

“Not until Howie shows up.” Kevin immediately switched back into business-mode and checked his watch. “I can’t believe he’s late. Howie is never late.”

“He’s probably trapped under a mountain of snow.” Nick mumbled. “I bet he would have been on time if we were recording in sunny California.”

“I offered to fly to L.A. for the recording sessions.” Brian held up both of his hands in self-defense. He could hear the animosity behind Nick’s words. “Nobody forced you to come here.”

“Whatever.” Nick spun absently around in his chair in order to avoid having to look directly at Brian. He had already seen the flash of pain in the older man’s eyes, and he felt bad for hurting his feelings.

“Did you text Howie?” AJ could practically feel the tension building in the room. He pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Do you want me to try calling him?”

“If you want to.” Kevin shrugged. He discreetly widened his eyes in AJ’s direction to let him know that he, too, could sense the tension between Nick and Brian. “He didn’t answer any of my texts.”

“Maybe I’ll get lucky.” AJ quickly called up Howie’s contact information and raised his phone to his ear. “After all, he likes me better than you!”
Chapter 3 by KeepThisSecret
“... and don’t forget the milk ...”

Howie stifled a yawn and tightened his grip on the steering wheel. His wife had been nattering at him for practically the entire time that he had been in the car. All he wanted to do was turn on the radio and pretend that he wasn’t stuck in New York City traffic. Perhaps, he could just disconnect the Bluetooth ...

“Howie, are you listening?”

“Yup, uh-huh, milk. I got it.” Howie flicked on the windshield wipers and stared at the snow that had already collected on top of the blades. It had been a bad decision to drive.

Leigh laughed softly. “Are you through the tunnel? Are you almost at the studio?”

“Yeah, I’m through the tunnel.” Howie acknowledged. “Traffic is terrible. I should have just taken the train in from Jersey.”

“Well, drive carefully.” Leigh warned. “I promised the boys that you would be home in time to tuck them in.”

It was Howie’s turn to chuckle. He knew that James, especially, would hold Leigh to her promise. “I’ll be home before bedtime.”

“Okay, well I better let you go.” Leigh’s voice was suddenly drowned out by a high-pitched shriek. “The boys are fighting.” She paused. “I love you, babe.”

“I love you too.” Howie grinned at the dashboard. “I won’t be late.”

The radio blasted on as soon as the call disconnected, filling the car with the steady baseline and repetitive lyrics of Selena Gomez’s latest hit. Howie’s grin intensified as he reached for the radio dial to turn up the volume.

“I’m so sick of that same old love ...” Howie drummed his hands on the wheel as he began to sing along. The song was catchy and he was alone; there was no harm in enjoying himself.

He had left early in anticipation of the approaching snow storm. So, even though the traffic was horrendous, Howie knew that he still had plenty of time to reach the studio. Even if he continued to go at a snail’s pace, he would likely still arrive before the rest of the guys.

“... my body’s had enough ...” Howie amped up his rendition of Selena’s lyrics as he looked over his shoulder to check his blind-spot and signalled to change lanes.

The SUV hit his car from behind as soon as he inched over the dotted line. Howie jerked forward against his seatbelt from the impact and instinctively slammed his foot down on the brake. The car skidded forward on the icy road and, without thinking, Howie cranked the wheel all the way to the right; narrowly missing the car in front of him as his front tires slammed into the curb.

‘Watch it, asshole!” A young man who had been standing on the edge of the sidewalk banged both of his hands down on the hood of Howie’s car and glared at him through the windshield. “Can’t you see that I’m fucking standing here?!”

Howie blinked back at the man in surprise. Was this idiot really placing the blame on him? Couldn’t he see that he had just been in an accident? As far as Howie was concerned, there was only one asshole in this situation, and it definitely wasn’t him.

“Learn to drive!” The man shot both of his middle fingers into the air before slamming his fists down on the hood of Howie’s car one more time for good measure. He flipped the hood of his heavy winter jacket over his head and stormed off into the street, ignoring the angry honks from approaching motorists as he hurried to beat the traffic light.

Howie leaned back in his seat and absently rubbed at his chest as he watched the man wander off into the snow. His ribs hurt from the force of being restrained by the seatbelt. Had that really just happened? Why hadn’t that man, or anyone else for that matter, stopped to ask if he was alright?

“Hey, buddy, are you okay?!” A man’s muffled voice drifted through the driver’s side window.

The quick knock was enough to sharpen Howie’s focus. He turned his head slowly, wincing at the pinching sensation in his neck, and nodded gratefully at the man who had knocked on the window.

“Turn off your car!” The man pulled his toque down over his ears and brushed at the snow that was beginning to collect on his shoulders. “You’re on the sidewalk, man!”

“Right, right, sorry.” Howie mumbled more to himself than to the man standing outside. He quickly killed the ignition, silencing Selena and stopping the windshield wipers mid-swipe.

“Are you okay?” The man stepped back and repeated his earlier question as Howie pushed open the driver’s side door. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t even see that you had signaled to come over.”

“I’m fine.” Howie stepped out into the snow and gave the man what he hoped was a convincing smile. His neck felt as though it had been snapped in half.

Howie turned to inspect the damage to his car and groaned inwardly. The driver’s side taillight was destroyed, the back bumper was hanging precariously by what appeared to be a single bolt, and the rear tire on the driver’s side was flat due to a dented rim. Howie could tell just by looking at his car that it was no longer driveable. Now, he was going to have to wait for a tow-truck, in the middle of New York City, in the middle of a snow storm. Perfect.

“I’m just gonna grab my insurance information.” The man bobbled his head in the direction of his vehicle that was now pulled up alongside the curb behind Howie’s car. “Just hang on for a sec.”

Howie nodded his agreement and reached up to massage his neck. Aside from a small dent to the front bumper, there didn’t appear to be any damage to the other man’s massive SUV. Figures.

Brushing the snow out of his hair, Howie yanked open the door to his own damaged vehicle and leaned inside to retrieve his phone and his insurance information. He sighed loudly as he reached across the centre console towards the glove-box. Leigh was going to be less than impressed when he told her what had happened. This wasn’t exactly the first time that he had been in an accident while driving a car that was only a few weeks old.

“What cha’ doin,’ Howwwwwwie?”

Howie froze at the mention of his name. It wasn’t the fact that the man knew his name that made him uneasy; lots of people knew who he was. It was the way that the man had drawn it out it that made his blood run cold. He was in trouble. He knew it.

“I’m gonna need you to back out of the car slowly.” The man continued. “Don’t even think about trying anything stupid, like reaching for your phone.”

Howie let his hand drop from the handle of the glove-box to the cool leather of the seat. He hesitated for a split second; his eyes lingering on his phone that was clipped to the centre console as he toyed with the idea of picking it up. The man must have sensed his hesitation because he stepped closer to him and pressed what Howie knew to be the barrel of a gun into the small of his back. Howie could feel the chill of the weapon through the down-filled lining of his jacket, and the sensation was enough to make him realize that this definitely wasn’t the time to try and be a hero.

“Do you want money?” Howie fought to keep his voice steady as he backed himself out of the car and straightened up. “You obviously know who I am, so you must know that I can give you whatever amount it is that you want.”

“Not exactly.” The man pressed the gun harder into Howie’s back and leaned over to whisper in his ear. “I need you to listen to me and to do exactly what I say. A tow-truck has just pulled up behind us. When the driver gets out, you’re going to tell him that you need your car towed to the nearest Audi dealership. You’re going to tell him that you don’t need a ride, and you’re going to pay him in cash. Understand?”

Howie nodded. He let out the breath that he didn’t even know that he had been holding as he felt the barrel of the gun pull away from his back. The whole situation was completely surreal; he was being attacked in broad daylight in the middle of one of the busiest cities in the country. People were rushing by in all directions, but he was pinned between the man and the car. The open driver’s side door was obviously blocking people on the street from seeing that he was in trouble. At least, he assumed that was the case. If someone could see that he was being threatened with a weapon, that person would have stepped in to help him. Wouldn’t they?

Despite the wind and the swirling snow, Howie was sweating. He could feel the sweat running down his back and collecting at the base of his hairline. What was he going to do? He could hear the tow-truck operator getting out of his vehicle. He only had a split-second to make a decision.

“Everyone okay?” The tow-truck driver shouted his greeting into the wind. “Anyone need a tow?”

“Y-yeah.” Howie stammered. He turned around slowly, his eyes locking with his attacker’s as he twisted towards the tow-truck driver. His attacker’s eyes were flashing with amusement; almost daring Howie to disobey the instructions that he had given him. “I don’t think that my car is driveable.”

“You’ve got that right!” The tow-truck driver laughed. “Any place special that you want me to take it?”

“Just – just to the nearest Audi dealership.”

Howie delivered the words that he had been instructed to say followed by a long, defeated sigh. He knew that he didn’t stand a chance when it came to a gun. Sure, he was in good shape, but his physical fitness wasn’t going to prevent him from getting shot. As depressing as it was, Howie understood that he had no choice but to play along.

The tow-truck driver nodded. “You want to ride along with me?”

“No thanks.” Howie once again delivered the rehearsed response. “I can pay you up front ... in cash.”

The driver shrugged. “Whatever you want, man. It’s $200.00 flat.”

Howie plastered a fake smile on his face and reached into his back pocket to retrieve his wallet. He was acutely aware of the fact that his attacker was watching his every move. He could feel the man’s eyes expertly tracking his fingers as he plucked ten twenty-dollar bills out of his wallet and handed them over to the tow-truck driver.

What was the man worried about? Howie wondered. Did he think that he was suddenly going to make a run for it? Did he think that he had a teeny-tiny weapon concealed in his wallet? What would he do if he did try to escape? Shoot him in the middle of the street in front of the tow-truck driver?

“Thanks for your help.” The man with the gun spoke up as the tow-truck operator began to hook up Howie’s car to his truck. “We’re gonna take off now, if that’s okay. Do you have everything that you need?”

“Yeah, yeah, go ahead.” The tow-truck driver waved his hand dismissively through the heavily falling snow. “I’ve got this under control.”

“Let’s go.” The man hissed directly into Howie’s ear. “We’re gonna get in the car with my friend over there. Got it”

Howie swallowed hard. He squinted through the big, wet snowflakes that were swirling around in front of his face and, for the first time, caught sight of a second man sitting in the driver’s seat of the SUV that had run him off of the road. Howie silently cursed himself as he took a tentative step forward; his shoes slipping on the slick pavement. Why hadn’t he noticed the driver when he had first looked at the SUV to inspect the damage? God, he was oblivious sometimes.

“Faster.” The man nudged Howie from behind and he stumbled forward, nearly losing his balance. “We’ve got places to be.”

This time, Howie couldn’t swallow. His mouth was too dry. His heart was hammering in his chest as his feet propelled him closer and closer towards the SUV. He wanted to run. He wanted to scream. He wanted to do anything except follow the man’s instructions, but his body was betraying him.

“Are you sure that you don’t need money?” Howie tried again. His voice was high, pitiful. “I have lots.”

The man shook his head. “Right now, all I want is you.” He pulled open the back door of the SUV and motioned for Howie to get inside. “After you, Mr. Dorough.”

Howie took one last fleeting look down the sidewalk. All of the pedestrians seemed to have disappeared. The street was deserted aside from a few people waiting to cross the street; people who were hunkered down in their parkas and scarves, people who were completely oblivious to the fact that he was about to be abducted. Even the tow-truck driver had pulled away. A few pieces of red glass from his car’s broken taillight still littered the curb, but even those were quickly becoming obscured by the rapidly falling snow.

“Nobody’s going to help you.” The man voiced Howie’s fears as he shoved him roughly towards the open door. “Nobody is even going to know that you were here.”

Howie could feel his whole body shaking as he allowed himself to be forced into the vehicle. The man climbed in behind him and slammed the door shut. The driver wasted no time pulling away from the curb. Traffic was still moving slowly and, for a brief second, Howie thought about jumping out of the car. But the thought faded just as quickly as it had arrived. Howie knew that he wasn’t that brave; he was going to play by the rules and do whatever it was that these two men wanted him to do. He figured that was the best way to keep himself alive.
Chapter 4 by KeepThisSecret
“Seriously?!” Kevin tossed his phone onto the coffee table and stared aimlessly at the television. The Wildcats were up by twelve points, but even the promise of an impending win wasn’t enough to keep his mind on the game. He was worried about Howie.

“Still nothing?” Brian wandered into the living room and handed Kevin a beer. He paused to look out the window at the heavily falling snow. “I still think that he must’a had car trouble or somethin’.”

Kevin shook his head. He accepted the beer from his cousin’s outstretched hand and took a long swallow. “He would have called.”

“It’s bad weather.” Brian sank down onto the couch next to Kevin. “Maybe he didn’t have reception. He could have gotten stuck in the tunnel.”

Kevin shook his head again. He knew that Brian was only trying to be helpful, but his forced blasé attitude was getting annoying. “I’m gonna give Leigh a call.” Kevin leaned forward to retrieve his discarded phone from the coffee table. “At least she will be able to tell us if, or when, he left New Jersey.”

“He could be sick.” Brian continued to make excuses as Kevin brought his phone to his ear and waited for Howie’s wife to pick up. “Maybe he’s sleepin’.”

The lines around Brian’s eyes deepened as he chugged his beer and turned his attention to the television. Kevin knew that Brian wasn’t really paying attention to the game. He had spent more than enough time with his younger cousin to know when he was hiding his true feelings. Kevin watched as Brian drummed his fingers against the now half-empty bottle of beer in his hands. He could practically feel the nervous energy radiating off of him; Brian was just as worried about Howie as he was.

“Hey, Kev?” Leigh answered the call with a question. “What’s going on? Everything okay? Are you guys still at the studio? I was expecting Howie to walk in the door any minute ...”

Leigh’s words were enough to make Kevin’s heart stop. Howie wasn’t sick. He wasn’t at home. His wife didn’t know where he was.

“I’m actually – I’m actually calling because Howie never showed up.” Kevin struggled to get the words out. “We thought – we thought that maybe he was sick and forgot to call us.”

“What do you mean he never showed up?” Leigh’s response came after almost a full thirty second pause. “He left – he left this morning to go to the studio ...”

“We waited for him.” Kevin continued. He could see Brian draining the rest of his beer out of the corner of his eye. “We tried texting and calling him, but he didn’t answer any of us. We were at the studio for almost two hours, but we ended up scrapping the rest of the session when he didn’t show up.”

“Oh God ...” Leigh’s voice caught in her throat. “He must have had an accident! I told him not to drive in the snow! I told him!”

Kevin tightened his grip on the phone. He was already regretting his decision to call Howie’s wife. He should have tried to figure out where Howie was before he got Leigh involved; to save her from worrying. He had just been so sure of the fact that Leigh was going to tell him that Howie was safe and sound at home that he hadn’t even considered what he was going to say if she told him the opposite.

“So, where are you guys now? Are you sure that nobody has spoken to him? Have you done a search for his car? Have you called the police? Do you want me to call the police?” Leigh was peppering Kevin with questions; her voice rising exponentially with every word. She was on the verge of completely losing it.

“Brian and I are at his apartment. Nick and AJ went back to their hotel ...” Kevin trailed off after answering Leigh’s first question. He really didn’t want to tell her that, so far, he had done absolutely nothing to attempt to locate her missing husband.

“Kevin?!” Leigh shrieked; reading into his silence. “Are you seriously telling me that none of you have done anything to try and find Howie?! He doesn’t show up for for a recording session and the four of you just go on with your day as if nothing is wrong?!”

“I guess we just assumed that he was sick ...” Kevin trailed off for the second time. “But, don’t worry; Brian is finding out how to locate Howie’s car right now.” Kevin wacked his cousin on the arm and motioned for him to grab his laptop off of the coffee table.

Brian shot his older cousin a dirty look as he set his empty beer bottle down on the table and reached for his laptop. Kevin should have known that calling Howie’s wife was a bad idea. What had he been expecting; for Leigh to react to the news that her husband was missing with a smile?

“Well, I don’t actually know how Brian was planning to find his car without knowing the licence plate.” Kevin smacked his cousin on the arm for the second time and mimicked that he needed a pen. He hastily peeled the label off of his beer bottle and turned it around so that the blank side was facing up. “Of course, I’m ready to write it down!”

Brian resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he bent down and retrieved a random Sharpie from underneath the coffee table. He had no idea how long the marker had been lying there, but he prayed that it still contained useable ink. His arm couldn’t handle being wacked for a third time.

“Yes, I’m paying attention. A ... D ...” Kevin snatched the marker out of Brian’s hand and began scribbling Howie’s licence plate number on the back of the beer label. Leigh’s voice was shaking as she delivered the information, and the tremor in her speech was making Kevin feel even worse than he already did.

“You’re going to call me as soon as you hear anything, right?” Leigh questioned as soon as she was done relaying all of the information about Howie’s car. “I think that I’m going to go – to go ahead and call the police.” She paused. “I really wish that you had called me sooner, Kevin.”

Kevin pinched the bridge of his nose and fell back against the couch cushions. He had no excuse. He should have trusted his gut and called Leigh as soon as Howie failed to show up at the studio. Howie was never late. Kevin should have known better.

“I’m really sorry, Leigh. I don’t know what I was thinking.” Kevin answered honestly. “I don’t even know what to tell you.”

“It’s okay.” Leigh’s voice softened considerably. “It’s only been a few hours. He’s probably just had a fender-bender and is stuck at some stupid collision reporting centre somewhere. It wouldn’t be the first time that he’s put a dent in a brand new car.”

“Yeah.” Kevin agreed half-heartedly. Something inside of him was telling him that the situation wasn’t that simple, but he didn’t want to put any more fear in Leigh’s already worried mind. “Yeah, I’m sure that’s what’s happened. I bet the storm is interfering with his cell reception.”

“I know that I’m being paranoid.” Leigh forced a laugh. “Howie always tells me that I worry too much.”

“Make sure that you call me if the police tell you anything that I don’t already know.” Kevin could still hear the pain and the fear in Leigh’s voice. “I’m sure he’s fine ...”

“Of course, he’s fine!” Leigh faked a confident tone. “He’s totally going to laugh at us for overreacting.”

“For sure.” Kevin glanced at Brian who was staring at him with raised eyebrows. “I gotta go, Leigh. I’ll call you soon. I promise.”

“She’s freaking out, isn’t she?” Brian asked as soon as Kevin disconnected the call. “You shouldn’t have called her.”

Kevin resisted the urge to shove his cousin off of the couch. He loved Brian to death, but sometimes he angered him more than words could describe.

“Did you figure out if Howie’s car has been in an accident?”

Brian gestured towards the laptop screen. The Google search bar was still blank. “What would you like me to type?”

“I don’t know!” Kevin sighed; exasperated. “Use your fucking brain.”

Brian clenched his teeth to keep from snapping back at his cousin. God, Kevin was annoying. Why did he always have to act like he was smarter than everyone else?

“Fine.” Brian grabbed his iPhone off of the end table and shot Kevin a nasty look. If his cousin wasn’t going to help him, he would just have to ask someone else for help. “Siri, how do I find out if a car has been in an accident in New York City?”

“Are you fucking serious?” Kevin’s mouth fell open as he listened to Brian direct his ridiculous question to Siri. “You’re a dumbass!”

‘Okay, here is what I found on the web for: ‘How do I find out if a car has been in an accident in New York City?”’ Siri’s mechanical voice sliced through the tension produced by Kevin’s words.

Brian dropped his eyes to the screen and smirked before spinning his phone around to show his cousin. The very first result that Siri had generated was a link to a website that would allow you to search a list of all of the vehicles that had been picked up by tow-trucks in NYC over the last twenty-four hours.

Kevin narrowed his massive eyebrows. Of course, Brian’s stupid idea had worked. “You’re still a dumbass.”

“You’re just jealous that you don’t have a special relationship with Siri.” Brian retorted. He jammed his finger down on his phone screen to open the link and wiggled his free hand in Kevin’s direction. “Hand me the plate information.”

Kevin pressed the torn beer label into Brian’s fingers and waited with baited breath while his cousin typed in the information. What if he found something? What if he found nothing? Kevin didn’t know which way he wanted things to go. Neither option was exactly ‘good’ as far as Howie’s well-being was concerned.

“I got a hit!” Brian moved his fingers across his phone screen to make the text bigger. “Howie’s car was picked up by a tow-truck at 12:40 this afternoon.”

Kevin let out the breath that he didn’t even know that he had been holding. He didn’t know if the knot in his stomach was growing out of relief, or worry, or both. “Does it tell you where the car was taken?”

Brian brought the phone closer to his face; squinting to make out the rest of the information. “An Audi dealership on 11th Avenue. There’s a phone number.” Brian lowered the phone in order to look into his cousin’s face. “Do we wanna call it?”

Kevin nodded, even though calling the dealership was the last thing that he wanted to do. He had a feeling that whoever answered the phone was going to give him news that he didn’t want to hear. But, he held his tongue and dutifully punched the number into his own phone as Brian rhymed off the digits.

“Audi Manhattan, service department.” A bored sounding receptionist answered the call before Kevin could even look to Brian for support. “This is Stephanie. How may I direct your call?”

“Uhhh, yeah, hi.” Kevin stammered. “I’m actually calling to check on the status of a vehicle that was brought in by a tow truck several hours ago. It’s a white A7, registered to Howard Dorough.”

“The vehicle is here, and it has already been looked at by one of our service advisors.” Kevin could hear the receptionist typing rapidly on the other end of the line. “Do you want us to go ahead and book it in to the body shop for the repairs?”

“Umm, well, actually, I was just wondering if Howie – if Mr. Dorough came in with the car when the tow-truck dropped it off?”

The typing stopped.

“I’m sorry, what did you say your name was?”

“Kevin. I’m Mr. Dorough’s ... brother ...” Kevin looked to the ceiling for help. Technically, he wasn’t lying; they always referred to themselves as brothers even though they weren’t officially related by blood.

“Oh.” The receptionist paused just long enough to make Kevin’s heart skip a beat. “Nobody accompanied the car when it was dropped off. The tow-truck operator indicated that the driver had paid cash at the collision scene. If nobody follows-up to agree to the necessary service within the next five days, the vehicle will be taken to an impound lot and the associated towing cost will be billed to the address of the registered owner.”

“I see.” Kevin wiped at his forehead with the palm of his hand. He was starting to sweat. “Th-thank you for your time. I’ll make sure that How – that my brother follows-up with you.”

“No Howie?” Having listened intently to his cousin’s side of the conversation, Brian already knew the answer as he watched Kevin lower the phone from his ear. “But his car is there?”

“No Howie.” Kevin swallowed hard against the dryness in his mouth. “No Howie.”
Chapter 5 by KeepThisSecret
Carl dared to pull his eyes away from the snow-covered road long enough to glance at his newest passenger in the rear-view mirror. He looked different than he did in pictures; older and more masculine than he came across in the media. Of course, the fine lines criss-crossing the man’s face could have something do with the fact that he and Angelo had just run his car off of the road and abducted him. Carl knew all too well that stress did nothing to enhance a person’s appearance, or their behaviour for that matter.

What Carl was still unsure about was whether or not he and Angelo were doing the right thing. The plan was solid; it was guaranteed to work. That wasn’t what Carl was worried about. Carl was worried about things getting out of hand. He didn’t like the way that Angelo was peering at their new friend. He didn’t like the fact that Angelo seemed to be getting just a little bit too much enjoyment out of Howie’s discomfort.

“Enjoying the drive?” Angelo smirked at Howie. “You want Carl to turn the radio on?”

Howie blinked back at the man. His expression remained stoic. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”

Angelo laughed; an eerily calm sort of chuckle. “You seem scared of us.”

“Do you want me to pretend like I’m not?” Howie struggled to keep the tremor out of his voice.

These two men had just taken him from the streets of New York City in broad daylight. They were calling each other by name. They weren’t making any attempt to disguise their faces or to alter their voices. Howie wasn’t stupid; either the men thought that they were too smart to get caught or they were planning to kill him. He really hoped that it wasn’t the latter.

“It’s about time.” Carl caught Angelo’s eye in the rear-view mirror. “You ready?”

“Of course.” Angelo grinned back at him. “I’ve been waiting for this part.”

Before Howie could even begin to worry about what the two men were alluding to, Angelo yanked a dark coloured pillowcase down over his head. Howie gasped in surprise and immediately wished that he hadn’t. Angelo had pulled the pillowcase hard against Howie’s neck and quickly secured it with a painfully tight knot. Not only was he overcome by the sudden darkness, but Howie could already feel his chest constricting from the limited supply of oxygen. He gulped in as much air as he could, choking on the loose fibres from the fabric that surrounded his head.

“Easy, Angelo.” Carl’s muffled voice drifted through the thick fabric. “We don’t want him to suffocate on the drive over.”

“He’s fine!” Angelo slapped Howie hard on the back. “Right, D?”

Howie could practically feel his heart hammering against the wall of his chest. He knew that he had to calm down in order to avoid passing out, but the fact that his abductors had used his nickname was making it hard for him to focus on his breathing. What else did these men know about him? Did they know where he lived? Did they know about Leigh and the boys? What was he going to do if something happened to his family?

“One more thing ...” Angelo was still talking, seemingly to himself, as he rustled around to retrieve something from underneath the front passenger seat. “... we don’t want you getting any ideas about trying to escape.”

Angelo roughly pushed Howie forward by his shoulders so that he was hunched over on the seat before grabbing his right arm and twisting it painfully behind his back. He secured one handcuff around Howie’s right wrist and quickly did the same to his left arm; tightly binding his hands together before forcing him back up into a sitting position.

Howie let out a small whimper of pain as the metal dug into his wrists. His breath was making it hot inside the pillowcase. He could feel the sweat running down his face, and he had no choice but to close his eyes against the sting of the salt. He wanted to cry, but he knew that his tears would only make his already precarious breathing situation even worse.

The two men were still speaking to each other, but Howie was no longer paying attention to what they were saying. He had already lost track of the turns, and he had no idea how long he had been in the car or how far they had travelled. All he knew for sure was that the car was now travelling at a good rate of speed; indicating that they had probably exited the downtown core. Even if he were to figure out a way to escape, Howie wasn’t sure if he would be able to find his way back to civilization. The terrain was becoming increasingly bumpy, and he just knew that the men were probably taking him to the middle of nowhere. Fleeting images of Leigh, James, and Holdon flashed through his mind and Howie bit hard at his bottom lip to keep the tears at bay. What if he never saw his family again?

“Here we are!” Angelo clapped Howie roughly on the back for the second time as Carl finally pulled the SUV into the driveway. He smirked in satisfaction as Howie’s whole body tensed from his touch. He was pretty sure by the man’s ragged breathing that he was blubbering like a baby underneath the pillowcase. “Hope you enjoyed the trip.”

“You’re an asshole.” Carl twisted his head and rolled his eyes at Angelo as he put the car in park and killed the ignition. “Are we good to take him out?”

Angelo shrugged off Carl’s half-hearted insult and pushed open his door. He stepped out of the car and took a quick look around. The snow-covered street was deserted. Perfect.

“Let’s go.” Angelo motioned for Carl to hurry up and get Howie out of the car. “There ain’t nobody around.”

Carl did as he was instructed. He swung himself out of the car and hurriedly pulled open the back driver’s side door. He grabbed Howie by the arm and helped him out of the car, waiting until he had both feet securely planted on the icy ground before leading him up the driveway. Carl knew that Angelo wouldn’t have been so gentle, but he didn’t care. A small part of him felt bad for the shaking Latino.

Howie allowed himself to be guided through the snow without a fight. He knew that he was coming across as pathetic, but what choice did he have? His hands were bound. His vision was gone. He knew that he had to be complacent, but it didn’t make the situation any less shameful or terrifying.

“Let’s go!” Angelo pulled open the door and took another quick glance up and down the street; still empty. “We don’t have all day!”

Carl rolled his eyes at Angelo for a second time as he helped Howie navigate the single step up. He waited until Angelo had closed the exterior door and was busy fumbling with the lock on the basement door before he spoke. “How are we gonna get him down the stairs?”

Angelo shrugged. He pulled forcefully on the padlock and swung the basement door open. “Push him?”

Carl felt Howie’s entire body go rigid at Angelo’s words, and his feelings of remorse returned with vengeance. Maybe they were making a mistake.

“Here.” It was Angelo’s turn to roll his eyes as he took in the pathetic look on Carl’s face. He grabbed onto Howie’s left arm and motioned for Carl to take hold of his right arm. “We’ll bring him down together.”

Although he was suitably terrified at the knowledge that he was presumably being taken underground, Howie breathed a sigh of relief as the two men began to guide him down a steep set of stairs. At least he wasn’t going to plummet head-first to his death.

After what seemed like an excessively long time, Howie felt his shoes connect with a flat surface as the three of them reached the bottom of the staircase. Angelo promptly let go of his arm, and Howie could hear him releasing another padlock and pulling open yet another door. Howie stepped forward to steady himself and Carl’s grip immediately tightened around the upper portion of his right arm. The motion was enough to bring more tears to Howie’s eyes; there was no way that he was going to be able to escape.

“Home sweet home!” Angelo cackled as he pulled Howie away from Carl and positioned him inside the room that had been painstakingly outfitted with everything that they would need to carry out the remainder of their plan. “Make yourself comfortable!” He swiftly undid the knot in the pillowcase, removed the handcuffs, and pushed Howie forward so that he fell to his knees on the cement floor. “We’ll be back in a little bit.”

Howie waited until he heard the door slam shut before he yanked the pillowcase off of his head. He gasped for air and crumpled the dark fabric in-between his fingers. The tears were now flowing freely down his cheeks, and the burning in his lungs mirrored the painful sensation in his knees from when they had connected with the floor. He manoeuvred himself into a sitting position and looked around the dank, yet strangely brightly lit room. The walls and the floor were cement. There were no windows. It was like a dungeon; a dungeon with five cots lined up neatly against the far wall.

The sight of the cots made Howie’s stomach churn. Oh God. This wasn’t just about him. He knew who the other beds were for. The tears began to fall with even more ferocity as he wrestled with the knowledge of what was about to happen. He knew that he wasn’t going to be alone for very much longer.
Chapter 6 by KeepThisSecret
“Bro, Laurie just sent me the Dead 7 trailer, and it’s the fuckin’ shit!” AJ waved his phone at Nick for emphasis. “When is it being released to the world?”

“The trailer?” Nick, who was sprawled out on the couch and almost half-asleep, barely looked up from his own phone. “Or the actual movie?”

AJ shrugged. He sat down in one of the two massive wing chairs and flung both of his legs across the armrest so that they were dangling in Nick’s face. “Both.”

Nick swatted AJ’s feet with the back of his hand and pushed himself up into a sitting position. He dropped his phone into his lap and sighed; so much for taking a nap. “Remind me again why we decided to share a room?”

“Because you left things until the last minute and couldn’t get a room of your own.” AJ smirked. “I distinctly remember you begging me to share my room with you.”

“Fuck off!” Nick frowned. “I’ve got a pregnant wife at home, man! How am I supposed to remember that I need to book a hotel room?”

“You could have stayed with Brian.” AJ’s smirk intensified. “Although your sorry ass would’a been on the couch considering Kevin called dibbs on his guestroom weeks ago.”

“I’d rather deal with your rotten-smelling feet.” Nick grumbled. “Staying with Brian and Leighanne is not my idea of a good time.”

“Leighanne isn’t even around this week.” AJ pointed out. “She and Baylee flew back to Georgia for her mom’s birthday or something like that.”

“Whatever.” Nick rolled his eyes and checked his phone for the tenth time in the past two minutes; still no message from Howie. “I still prefer your dirty feet to stupid, ugly Brian.”

AJ snorted. Nick tried to be tough; to pretend like he didn’t give a shit about Brian, but AJ could see right through him. The animosity between Nick and Brian had become almost comical. The two of them hated each other, but only in principle. When they both let their guards down and didn’t over-think their relationship, they acted like the best friends that they had been in the beginning. As far as AJ was concerned, the whole situation was getting old and tiresome. What was it going to take for the two of them to smarten up?

“Speak of the devil ...” AJ pulled his phone out of his pocket as it started to ring and glanced at the display. “It’s Brian.” He thrust his phone at Nick’s face for good measure. “You wanna answer it?”

Nick scrunched up his face as if he had just tasted something sour. “Not a chance!”

“Hey, B!” AJ rolled his eyes as he accepted the call. “Nicky and I were just talking about you.”

“Oh ... you’re with Nick?” Brian paused; his voice sounded off, strained. “That’s good. Real good.”

“Is it?” AJ swung his feet off of the armrest so that he was sitting properly in the massive, overstuffed chair. There was something about Brian’s tone that was making him uneasy. “Everything okay over there with you and Kev?”

“Ya’ll haven’t heard from Howie, have ya?” Brian ignored AJ’s question. “Like, since we left the studio?”

“We haven’t heard anything from Howie.” AJ leaned forward in the chair and shot a quick glance at Nick. “I’m gonna put you on speaker.”

“Kev and I talked to Leigh.” Brian’s voice blasted out of the small speaker; filling the room with its eerily tinny quality. “We did some searching and found out that Howie’s car has been in a wreck.”

“Howie was in an accident?” Nick shoved his face forward so that it was only inches from the phone. “Where is he? In the hospital? Is he okay? Why didn’t the call us?”

“We – we dunno where he is.” Brian’s voice grew softer, more worried as he addressed Nick’s questions. “Kev called the dealership that’s currently holding on to his car, but the lady who answered the phone said that Howie didn’t come in with the tow truck driver.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Nick looked to AJ for confirmation. He could feel the contents of his stomach starting to swirl. “Why would Howie just abandon his car like that? Where is he?”

“I – we – nobody knows where he is.” Brian stumbled through a response. “Leigh’s calling the police as we speak.”

“Fuuuuck.” AJ let out a low groan and ran his fingers through his hair with his free hand. He didn’t know what to do or what to say. He dropped his eyes to his darkened phone screen. He couldn’t look at Nick; the sight of his pale face was making him feel uneasy.

“We should come over there.” Nick suddenly announced. “Right?” he nudged AJ in the ribs, forcing the older man to look at him. “Do you want us to come over there, Bri?”

“Yeah, Nick.” Brian answered after a brief pause. “Ya’ll should come over here. Leigh is supposed to call us back when she’s done talkin’ to the police anyway.”

“Okay.” AJ sighed. He didn’t want to go over to Brian’s apartment. Going over there would make the situation real. Going over there would force him to think about all of the bad things that could have possibly happened to Howie. Going over there would make him feel sick. Too bad he didn’t really have a choice. “We’re on our way.”

“We should get a cab.” Nick was already shoving his arms into his jacket as AJ disconnected the call. “Or should we walk? It’s-snowing-really-hard. Maybe-walking-would-be-faster. What do you think?”

“I dunno, Nick. Whatever you want.”

AJ struggled to make sense of what his friend was saying as he slipped his phone back into his pocket and picked up his own jacket. Nick was slurring his words; stringing his questions together into an almost unintelligible mess. It was easy to tell that he was agitated; that he was working himself up in his own head.

Nick forced himself to take several deep breaths as he watched AJ search for his toque and then his room card. He had a bad habit of jumping to the worst possible conclusion. In his mind, Howie was dead; lying in a ditch somewhere while the snow piled up on top of his body and hid it from the world. One of these days, he was going to give himself a heart attack.

“Let’s go!” AJ jammed his hat down over his ears and dangled his hotel card in Nick’s face. “And stop looking so nervous. You’re freakin’ me out.”

Nick narrowed his eyes at AJ’s back as he followed him out of the room. He had every right to be nervous. Howie was missing. He was probably clinging to life and waiting to be rescued...

“Nick?” AJ snapped his fingers in front of the blonde’s face as the elevator doors popped open. “Are you still with me?”

“Huh?” Nick’s expression was eerily vacant as he stepped into the elevator after AJ. “Sorry. What?”

“I asked if you had made a decision about a cab.” AJ spoke slowly, purposefully drawing out every word. Nick looked as though he were completely lost in his own world.

“Oh.” Nick shook his head as the elevator arrived on the ground floor. He trailed after AJ as the older man began striding quickly across the lobby. “I guess we can just walk until we find one.”

Nick instantly realized that his idea of hailing a random cab would be next to impossible as he stepped through the hotel doors and into the night. The snow was worse than he had expected. There was no way that they were going to be able to find a ride in this type of weather.

AJ followed Nick’s lead and immediately hunched his shoulders against the wind as they stepped outside. The snow was coming down faster than he had ever seen; the flakes were thick and heavy and they were coating everything in their path. The glow from the streetlights was barely visible beyond the swirling snow as the wind whipped giant piles of wet snowflakes into the night.

The two men fell into step next to each other; heads bowed against the wind as they pointed themselves in the direction of Brian’s temporary New York accommodations. The building was less than two blocks away, but the blowing snow slowed their progress. The wet flakes invaded their shoes with every step and the wind whipped at their faces, obscuring their sight. The streets were all but deserted, and their hopes of hailing a cab diminished with each treacherous step.

“This wouldn’t have happened if we had recorded in L.A.. Stupid Brian and his stupid ...”

Nick cut himself off mid complaint as his feet hit a patch of ice and suddenly shot out from under him. He let out a small yelp of surprise and grabbed for AJ’s shoulder to steady himself; nearly taking the smaller man down with him as he landed hard on his backside in the middle of the snow-covered sidewalk.

“Smooth.” AJ couldn’t help it; he grinned as he held out his hand to help Nick off of the ground. “You okay?”

“Do I look like I’m okay?” Nick demanded. “My ass is fucking soaked.” He accepted AJ’s outstretched hand and got gingerly to his feet. “I hate snow!”

“Says the guy who goes snowboarding on vacation.” AJ smirked. “You can put on some dry pants when we get to Brian’s.”

“I won’t fit into Brian’s hobbit sized pants!” Nick threw his hands into the air and nearly lost his balance for a second time. “I’m not twelve!”

“I meant that you could borrow some of Kevin’s pants.” AJ resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He wasn’t sure if Nick could see his face clearly through the snow and the darkness, but he didn’t want to make the situation worse. He knew that Nick’s little outburst wasn’t about his wet jeans; it was about Howie and about the fact that he was worried and imagining that the worst had happened to him.

“Right.” Nick dropped his hands to his sides. “Yeah, okay.”

“Let’s just go.” AJ turned and began to, once again, shuffle his way through the snow drifts. “I would like to get to Brian’s before my balls freeze and fall off.”

Nick snorted and hurried to catch up with AJ. His friend might not have been the most sensitive person in the world, but he was definitely perceptive. Nick knew that AJ was trying to lighten the mood for his benefit; that he was trying to draw his mind away from the fact that Howie was, for all intents and purposes, missing.

“Hey! Look!” AJ suddenly slapped Nick’s shoulder and gestured towards the street. “I think that’s a car! Maybe it’s a taxi!”

Nick squinted in the direction that AJ was pointing, struggling to determine if he was looking at a pair of headlights or simply a reflection of the streetlights in the snow. After a few seconds, it became clear that the lights were indeed getting closer. Nick’s heart surged with relief at the prospect of a cab. He was pretty sure that he had already contracted frostbite on all ten of his toes.

“It is!” Nick’s voice rose in excitement as he caught sight of the glowing ‘TAXI’ sign on top of the approaching vehicle. “Thank, God!”

“Taxi!” AJ immediately shot both of his arms into the air and began waving them obnoxiously above his head as he hustled towards the curb. “Taxi!”

“Relax, J.” Nick laughed as he watched the SUV begin to slowly make its way towards them. “It’s not like we’re competing with anyone else. We’ve seen, like, maybe three other people this entire time.”

“Well, one of those other people might want our cab.” AJ lowered his arms as the vehicle slowed to a stop in front of them; its tires crunching on the fresh snow that lined the side of the curb. “We could always continue walking if you want.”

“You guys need a ride?” The passenger side window lowered quickly, interrupting their bickering. The driver, a large burly man, was leaning over another, even bigger, man who was sitting in the passenger seat. “I just picked up this gentleman, and I forgot to turn my light off. He said that he’s willing to split the fare if you’re going in the same direction.”

“We’re just going a block and a half east.” AJ motioned in the direction that they had been walking. “We’re willing to pay the whole fare if it’s out of your way.”

“Yup. We’ll pay the whole thing.” Nick nodded in agreement; his teeth were starting to chatter from the cold. “Whatever it is.”

The driver shrugged and looked at his passenger. “You okay with that?”

“It’s a free ride!” The bigger man laughed. “Who wouldn’t be okay with that?”

“Okay.” The driver shifted the vehicle into park and undid his seatbelt. “Hang on. I’ll come around and open the door for you. The stupid thing always sticks in the cold.”

AJ’s heart-rate inexplicably quickened as soon as the driver stepped out into the snow. Something suddenly seemed off. He glanced at the vehicle; a newer model SUV with no cab decals aside from the ‘TAXI’ sign on the roof. He quickly flipped his eyes to the open passenger window. The man in the passenger seat was taking off his own seatbelt. There was no meter box on the dash.

It was a trap.

“RUN!”

AJ grabbed Nick’s wrist and dragged him away from the curb just as the man in the passenger seat jumped out of the car. AJ’s wet sneakers struggled to grip the icy pavement and he fell to his knees as the driver came around the side of the vehicle. Not knowing what else to do, AJ grabbed a handful of wet snow and flung it in the direction of the driver’s face as he got back on his feet.

“Son of a bitch!” The ice-filled snowball nailed the driver directly in the forehead, causing him to stumble backwards. “Get ‘em, Angelo!”

“Let’s go, Nick! Let’s go!”

AJ checked to make sure that the blonde was right behind him before he took off down the lonely, snow-covered street. He wasn’t sure why two large, angry looking men were trying to attack them, but he definitely didn’t want to stick around to try and figure it out either. The winter air burned his lungs as he ramped up his speed; his shoes crunching through the thin layer of ice that coated the freshly-fallen snow. AJ couldn’t remember the last time that he had run this fast, but the adrenalin made it easy for him to keep going. He could hear the men shouting as they gave chase, he could hear Nick’s laboured breathing a few paces behind him as he struggled to keep up, and he could definitely hear the single gunshot that rang out through the stillness of the night.

“Shit!” Nick hit the ground hard. He slid several feet on his stomach as he threw his hands up to cover his head. The bullet whizzed by the side of his face; he could see the little cylindrical hole that it carved into the snow as it lodged in a snow-bank that lined the street corner.

“Got’cha!” The man who had been sitting in the passenger seat clamped his beefy hand down on Nick’s ankle and yanked him backwards.

“AJ! AJ, shit! AJ, help me!” Nick dug his fingers into the snow and clawed frantically at the slippery sidewalk as the man dragged him backwards on his stomach. He kicked his free leg wildly in an attempt to get the man to let go, but he could tell by the sheer strength of the man’s grip that he was fighting a losing battle.

AJ skidded to a stop and whipped around at the sound of Nick’s voice. His friend was being dragged backwards on his stomach by the bigger of their two assailants. The second man was rapidly coming up behind them; gun still drawn and at the ready. AJ hesitated. He was far enough ahead of the men to be able to escape, but he couldn’t just leave Nick. He didn’t know what to do. What if the man fired a second shot? How was he going to fight off two men who were clearly bigger than he was, especially when at least one of them was armed?

“Forget it!” Nick was still screaming and motioning hysterically for AJ to keep going. “Leave me! Don’t let them take both of us!”

AJ watched helplessly as the man who was pulling Nick along the ground managed to grab hold of Nick’s other leg, further reducing his ability to fight back. The man was now pulling Nick backwards at an accelerated pace; widening the gap between him and AJ. The man with the gun was now walking backwards as well. Although the barrel of the gun was still pointed in AJ’s direction, it was clear that the men weren’t going to come after him.

Making a split-second decision that he knew he was going to regret, AJ turned and continued to run. He knew that he was no longer being pursued, but that knowledge wasn’t enough to stop the tears from running down his face and freezing to his cheeks as he listened to Nick’s frantic screams fade away into the snow. What if he had just left one of his brothers to die?
Chapter 7 by KeepThisSecret
“What’s taking them so long?”

Kevin looked at his watch. Not even a minute had passed since the last time that he had checked the time. He was growing increasingly agitated and significantly more impatient as the seconds ticked by. AJ and Nick clearly weren’t taking the situation seriously. If they were at all concerned about Howie then they wouldn’t have been dawdling.

“Kev, what do you think is taking them so long?” Brian turned away from the window and repeated his question.

“Do I look like a mind-reader?” Kevin snapped. “They’re probably goofing off; having a fucking snowball fight in the street.”

Brian pursed his lips and pushed a stream of air out through his nose. He felt that his cousin was being unfair, but he didn’t have the energy or the courage to tell him. Fighting with Kevin was useless; it always had been, and it always would be.

Turning his attention back to the window and the snow-covered streets, Brian could feel the uneasiness settling in his stomach. It was true that AJ and Nick were often unreliable, especially when they were together, but Kevin had it wrong this time. Brian had heard the worry in Nick’s voice when he had delivered the news about Howie’s car. The two of them may have drifted apart in recent years, but Brian would always know when Nick was upset, or worried, or angry, or scared. The blonde’s tell-tale mannerisms and vocal inflections were forever etched in his mind, whether he wanted them to be or not.

“I’m going to find them.” Kevin abruptly stood up and reached for his jacket that was draped over the back of the couch. “Text me if Leigh calls back while I’m gone.”

“What?!” Brian once again turned his attention away from the window. “Don’t be stupid, cuz. What are you gonna do? Wander around the city until you find them?”

“Nick sent me a text saying that they were walking.” Kevin shrugged his jacket over his shoulders and began to rapidly wind a scarf around his neck. “So, I’m gonna start walking towards the hotel and check every single bar and restaurant with an ‘open’ sign along the way. I’ll bet you a thousand bucks that they got tired of trudging through the snow and called it quits at the first bar that they saw.”

“Nick sounded worried, Kev.” Brian licked his lips and forced himself to look his older cousin in the face. “He cares about Howie way too much to not take this seriously.”

“It’s unbelievable.” Kevin crammed his toque onto his head and narrowed his eyes at Brian. “You don’t even like Nick, but yet you still feel the need to defend him. When are you going to start holding him accountable for his behaviour?”

“You’re one to talk!” Brian shot back. “When are you going to stop jumping to conclusions based on his past behaviour? You always assume that Nick is the one who has fucked up before you know the facts.”

Brian was struggling to keep his emotions in check. He didn’t want Kevin to know the hurt that his words had caused. Of course he liked Nick; he loved him. The fact that Kevin apparently didn’t know that caused Brian’s stomach to swell with a different kind of anxiety. Nick knew that he still cared about him, didn’t he?

“Besides, I like AJ and I trust him to keep Nick in line.” Brian added, rolling his eyes. “The snow has probably just slowed them down.”

“Well, if that’s the case, then I’ll be back in no time.” Kevin shoved his feet into his shoes and rolled his own eyes to mock his cousin. “Like I said, let me know if you hear from Leigh.”

“Kev, why do you ...”

Kevin stepped out into the hallway and closed the apartment door before Brian could finish. He bypassed the elevator and hustled towards the stairwell, taking the stairs two at a time and hurrying out the side door into the rapidly falling snow. The wind stung his cheeks and he immediately pulled his scarf up to protect his skin from the harshness of the weather. His cousin’s behaviour had annoyed him, and he took his anger out on the snowdrifts; stomping down on the growing piles with shattering force.

As irrational as the feeling was, Kevin hated it when his little cousin took anyone’s side over his. Kevin was the one who had brought Brian into the band. He was the one who had made Brian rich and famous. Without him, Brian would be nothing more than a typical southern dad with a mundane job, a stay-at-home wife, and a couple of kids. In Kevin’s mind, the situation was clear-cut; Brian should always show loyalty to him because he was the only reason that the world even knew who Brian Littrell was.

“Children; they’re all a bunch of fucking kids.” Kevin mumbled to himself as he strode purposefully into the wind. “It’s like I have six little boys ...”

Kevin stopped grumbling as he caught sight of the headlights. The SUV was slowing as it approached him; the ‘TAXI’ sign on the roof was dark. Kevin shuddered as a blast of wind rocked his body, and he slowly raised one of his gloved hands into the air. If this cabbie was crazy enough to be driving around the streets of New York City on a night like this, than he would be crazy not to accept a ride. Besides, maybe the driver would have some idea about which bars were the most likely to be open on a night like this.

“Hey ...” The driver rolled down the window as he navigated the vehicle up alongside the curb. “You’re getting in the back.”

Kevin’s eyes narrowed. Why had the man just phrased his words as a statement as opposed to a question? Kevin quickly took in the man’s disgruntled face, his eyes lingering on the strangely shaped welt in the centre of his forehead. It looked as though he had just taken a hit to the head.

“Nah, man, I’m good.” Kevin held up his hands and took a step backwards; his shoes sliding on the icy sidewalk. He had quickly changed his mind; now he felt as though it would be crazy if he did get into the cab. “I don’t need a ride.”

“You sure about that?” The driver grinned and nodded his head towards the backseat.

The backdoor flung open to reveal two men; one with his hands bound and a pillowcase over his head and the other with a gun in his hand and a smug expression on his face. Kevin’s stomach dropped. Even without seeing the other man’s face, he knew that it was Nick. He had danced alongside that lanky frame for decades. There was no way that he was mistaken.

“Get in.” The driver nodded towards the backseat for a second time. “Get in, or my buddy is gonna put a bullet in your little brother’s head.”

Kevin’s heart was racing just as fast as his brain. He dared a quick glance up and down the street. It was completely deserted; all of the storefronts were dark, and the curtains on the upper apartments were all drawn against the storm. If he were to run, he would have nowhere to go and nobody to help him. If he were to run, he would almost certainly be leaving Nick for dead.

“Let’s go.” The man in the backseat spoke for the first time. He raised the gun to Nick’s temple and cocked it into position for good measure. “That wind is cold.”

Kevin watched as his youngest friend’s body flinched in fear. Nick jerked his head away from the barrel of the gun. He knocked the side of his face against the SUV’s tinted window in the process and let out a small whimper.

“It’s okay, Nick.” Kevin took a deep breath in an effort to keep his voice steady. “I’m getting in the car.”

“Welcome aboard.” The driver laughed as Kevin reluctantly hoisted himself into the backseat. “Make yourself comfortable. It’s gonna be a long, slow ride.”

As soon as the words were out of the driver’s mouth, the second man shoved Kevin back against the final row of seats and twisted his hands behind his back in one well-practiced motion. Kevin hadn’t planned on fighting back, but he wouldn’t have had time to react even if he had wanted to. The second man painfully clasped a pair of handcuffs around Kevin’s wrists as the driver pulled away from the curb. The pillow case followed immediately after the handcuffs had been secured; covering Kevin’s face before the car reached second gear.

Kevin gasped at the sudden lack of oxygen and instinctively twisted away from his assailant as the pillowcase tightened around his neck. What was happening? Who were these people? What did they want with him and Nick? Kevin’s mind immediately jumped to Howie after his last thought. What if these men were also responsible for Howie’s car accident?

“Don’t fight it, Kev.” Nick’s voice was small; muffled, defeated. “They’ve already got us.”

Kevin let out a ragged breath and tried to force himself to calm down. He needed to think. He needed to determine why this was happening. If he could somehow piece together what these men wanted than maybe he could figure out what to say in order to convince them to let him and Nick go free.

The driver had referred to Nick as his ‘little brother’; a term which suggested that their abductors had more than just a basic understanding of who they were. More importantly, Kevin had been picked up on Brian’s street; another indication that these men had done their research. This wasn’t a random attack. Although he was unsure of the men’s motive, Kevin was sure that he had been targeted.

The first, and the most logical, conclusion that Kevin could come up with was that their abductors were after money and were planning on holding them for ransom. Unfortunately, their captors didn’t seem to care about concealing their identities. This was the fact that was making Kevin’s blood run cold. These men were clearly smart enough to have planned out their abduction, so they would have made a conscious effort to hide their faces if they were at all worried about getting caught.

The other reality that was turning Kevin’s blood to ice was the fact that AJ was missing. If these man had, indeed, already captured Howie than it was fair enough to assume that they were after all five of them. So, why hadn’t they abducted AJ and Nick at the same time? Had the two of them, for some reason, not been walking together? Had AJ somehow managed to escape? Had AJ tried to fight back and; subsequently, been killed in the process? Were these two men part of a larger group? If he and Nick were already caught and AJ and Howie were missing than what did that mean for Brian?

Kevin squeezed his eyes shut against the darkness of the pillowcase that was covering his face. The thoughts were rattling around in his head; tugging at his sanity and threatening to give him a migraine. He needed to turn his mind off for a minute and regroup. He needed to take control, but for the first time in his life he had no idea how he was going to take over the situation.
Chapter 8 by KeepThisSecret
AJ literally fell into the lobby of Brian’s apartment building; his knees hitting the marble tiles as he scrambled to catch his breath and to regain his composure. His lungs were burning from the combination of the cold and the adrenaline, and it took almost all of AJ’s remaining strength to pull himself back into a stranding position and stumble towards the elevator. He jabbed at the upwards arrow with all of the force that he could muster and leaned against the wall to steady himself. The elevator doors parted and AJ lurched inside. He pushed the button for the third floor and closed his eyes along with the doors.

Had had made it. He was safe – for now. AJ’s stomach churned. What about Nick? Nick hadn’t made it. Nick wasn’t safe, and it was all his fault. He shouldn’t have left him. He shouldn’t have run away like a coward.

The elevator arrived on the third floor and AJ dragged his feet down the hallway towards Brian’s unit. His legs felt abnormally heavy. His jeans were soaked and practically frozen to his skin, and he could actually see the ice crystals clinging to his beard. For the first time since he had started to run, AJ realized that he was freezing; that his body was dangerously cold.

After what seemed like an eternity, AJ reached Brian’s apartment. He lifted his fist and banged on the door as loudly as he could, his body sagging against the frame. He had never felt so cold and exhausted in his entire life.

“AJ, what hap ...?”

Brian pulled open the door and stopped short as his friend’s body swayed towards him. There was too much for him to take in all at once. AJ was trembling. His clothes were soaked. His face was streaked with ice, and his eyes were wide and wild.

“I left him.” AJ wheezed. His legs gave out as he moved to step into the apartment and he welcomed the warmth and tightness of Brian’s embrace as his friend’s arms stopped him from hitting the floor. “I left Nick all alone.”

Brian gasped. Not from AJ’s words, but from the bitterness of the cold that was radiating off of the other man’s body. He stumbled under AJ’s weight as the front door swung shut with a loud bang. “AJ, you’re freezing!”

“They-they came and they-they took him.” AJ sank to the floor, taking Brian down with him. “I-I just ran away.”

“You ran away from what?” Brian was barely listening. He was too preoccupied with the fact that AJ was now shivering uncontrollably on the floor. “Never mind, you can tell me later.”

Brian untangled his arms from around AJ’s torso and leaned his friend gently against the wall. He pushed himself off of the floor and hurried down the small hallway into his temporary master bedroom. He yanked a random assortment of clothes out of the closet before turning towards the dresser in search of socks. Brian could actually feel his heart beating against the confines of his chest as he gathered the clothing and ran back down the hallway to where AJ was waiting for him by the front door. Something was terribly wrong. What did AJ mean when he said that he had ‘left Nick all alone’?

“Here!” Brian tossed a pair of his jeans and a hooded sweatshirt in AJ’s general direction. “Take your clothes off!”

“Aren’t you at least going to make me dinner first?” AJ feigned shock as he snatched Brian’s clothes out of the air. His skin was starting to tingle as it warmed up, and he could feel his heart rate gradually returning to normal as the adrenaline slowly left his body.

Brian rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t stop the smile from creeping across his face. The fact that AJ was cracking jokes was a good sign. “There’s no time for dinner.” He drawled. “I need you to get naked right now!”

“I always knew that you had a thing for my butt.” AJ got tentatively to his feet; fighting against the weakness in his legs. He tugged at the zipper of his jacket and shrugged it off of his shoulders before depositing it in a wet pile on the hardwood floor.

“AJ, what happened?” Brian’s voice had lost its easy tone. He instinctively held his breath as he watched his friend continue to shed his wet clothes. “Where’s Nick?”

AJ clenched his teeth as he buttoned Brian’s jeans around his hips. Nick’s earlier reference to Brian’s ‘hobbit sized pants’ flashed through his mind. Nick had made that comment less than an hour ago, but it seemed like a lifetime ago. The fear and the dread immediately came rushing back as he pulled Brian’s oversized sweatshirt over his head. Where was Nick?

“These two guys ...” AJ took a long, shaky breath and started over. “We were walking over here to your place and we hailed down what we thought was a cab. These two guys got out of the car and started chasing us down the street. I mean, like, for real running after as like they wanted to kill us or something. I mean, I guess they kinda did want to kill us seeing as how they were shooting at us. Anyway, we were running and Nick slipped on the ice and then one of the guys caught him by the leg ...”

Brian’s mouth fell open. “AJ, are you trying to tell me that Nick has been kidnapped?!”

“I wanted to help him, Bri!” AJ took another ragged breath. Fat, wet tears were starting to slide down his cheeks. “Like I said, he fell and one of the guys was on him so fast that I didn’t have a chance to help him. There’s no way that I could have fought these guys off by myself; they were massive! Nick – he – he – told me to run. I shouldn’t have run though, Brian! I should have tried harder to help him. Now’s he’s gone and it’s all my fault! What if they kill him?! If Nick ends up dead, it will be my fault!”

“They’re not gonna kill him.” Brian felt as though he were operating on autopilot. He didn’t believe a word that was coming out of his own mouth, but he couldn’t think of anything else to say.

For the second time that night, Brian allowed AJ’s body to sag against his. He twisted his arms around his friend’s back; his fingers clutching at the fabric of his own Kentucky Wildcats sweatshirt as he struggled to keep his tears at bay. The thought of Nick alone, and scared, and fighting for his life was too much for him to handle. His mind felt fuzzy; he didn’t know which thought to concentrate on. As worried as he was about Nick, he knew that AJ needed him to be strong; to reassure him that he had done the right thing.

“This isn’t your fault, AJ.” This time, Brian believed the words as he said them. “You did what you needed to do. At least, now, you can tell the police about what happened. If these men, whoever they are, had managed to capture both of you than I would have been left here alone with nothing to go on.”

AJ wiped frantically at his tears with the back of his hand as he forced himself to pull out of Brian’s embrace. Brian’s words had made him feel slightly more confident that he had done the right thing by running away, but nothing would ever be able to ease the guilt that was growing in the pit of his stomach. Nothing, that is, aside from the sight of Nick standing unharmed in front of him.

“I should call now. The police; I mean, I should call the police.” AJ stumbled over his words. “Not that I really know what to say. I’m no good at describing shit man. This is why we have Kevin ...”

“Kevin!” Brian’s head snapped up at the mention of his cousin’s name. He had completely forgotten that Kevin had left; that Kevin had yet to come back.”

“Where is ...” AJ trailed off as he watched Brian’s face grow pale. “Oh shit ...”

“He – he – went out to look for you and Nick.” Brian filled AJ in, his voice breaking in the process. “He got all pissed off with me. He thought that you guys were goofing off instead of worrying about Howie. I don’t – I don’t – he hasn’t come back.”

AJ knew that his face was turning as pale as Brian’s. He could practically feel the blood draining away from his skin as his brain processed the implication of Brian’s words. “Howie’s accident ...”

“We’ve gotta call the police!” Brian scanned the apartment for his phone and hurried to retrieve it from the coffee table. “What’s happening? Do you really think that they’ve all been – that they’re all together?”

“Oh God ...”

Brian whipped around just in time to see AJ launch himself in the direction of the kitchen sink and begin to dry heave. AJ must have taken his own phone out of his jacket pocket because the device was now lying on the counter. Brian took a tentative step towards the glowing screen, his own phone clutched tightly between his fingers. Whatever AJ had just seen on the screen was responsible for the fact that he was now being violently ill in the middle of the kitchen.

As much as he didn’t want to look, Brian knew that he ultimately had no choice. His whole body tensed as he forced himself to look at the phone; to take in the image that would likely haunt him for the rest of his life.

A notification generated by AJ’s Twitter account was open on the screen. A message from someone with the handle ‘NetPhantom’ was on full display, and below the message was a three-paned, collage-style photograph depicting solo shots of Howie, Kevin, and Nick. They had each been photographed in some sort of vehicle, and they all clearly had their hands bound behind their backs and pillowcases pulled down over their heads. Brian gripped the edge of the counter for support as he read the accompanying message over and over again. He swallowed hard against the bile that was rising in his throat. He was inches away from joining AJ at the sink.

Phantom @NetPhantom (3 mins)
‘You’re next @brian_littrell and @skulleeroz. You’re next.’
Chapter 9 by KeepThisSecret
Howie balanced himself precariously on the metal edge of the cot; his fingers splayed against the cinderblock wall. Why did he have to be so damn short? If he were just a few inches taller, he would be able to tell for sure if the small black object mounted on the ceiling was a camera. He flattened himself against the wall and craned his neck upwards as far as his muscles would allow. The circular object was the only thing that seemed out of place in the grey, sterile room. Hell, it was the only other thing in the room aside from the cots, a small sink, and a stainless steel prison-issued toilet. Even still, it had taken him over five hours to notice it. If the object was, indeed, a camera, someone had gone out of their way to make it look as inconspicuous as possible.

“It’s a camera, Howie.”

The voice caught Howie off guard, causing him to lose his balance. His shoes slipped on the thin metal frame of the cot and he pitched forward into the wall. Despite the ungraceful movement, Howie somehow managed to land on his feet; a good thing, considering his knees couldn’t afford to take another hit, even from a short distance.

“It took you a while to notice it.” The voice continued. “I’m surprised. I thought that you were more observant.”

Howie stayed silent; raising his eyes to the black disc. The voice was clear but distorted; purposefully disguised to be indistinguishable in terms of gender or age. Howie struggled to keep his expression neutral. Now that he knew for sure that he was being watched, he didn’t want to let his captors know just how scared he actually was. The camera had obviously been installed for a purpose, but he wasn’t sure if he was ready to find out the reason.

“The camera acts as a two-way speaker. Kinda like a baby monitor.” The voice chuckled. “I bet you know all about baby monitors, don’t ya, Howie? You must have used them with James and Holden when they were little.”

Howie swallowed hard. He could feel his forced neutral expression falter at the mention of his sons’ names, and he quickly broke his self-imposed silence. “How do you know about my kids?”

The voice let out a long, tinny laugh. “I know a lot more about you than you think, Howie. Have you forgotten that you’re a celebrity? Have you forgotten that Google never forgets anything?”

Right. Howie could have kicked himself for being so stupid. The creepy voice made a good point; practically every single detail of his life was available to anyone who had the time and the desire to look hard enough.

“But don’t worry. This has nothing to do with your boys. Your family is safe and they’ll stay safe ...” The voice paused. “... as long as you and your friends continue to cooperate.”

“In fact ...” The voice ploughed ahead before Howie could open his mouth to interject. “I’m pretty sure that two of your buddies are here to join you right now.”

The words were still reverberating off of the walls as the door opened. Howie was so stunned that he didn’t even think to try to escape. Hell, he didn’t even think to take a single step forward. He just stood there with his mouth hanging open like an idiot as Kevin and Nick tripped into the room. The two of them still had pillowcases over their heads and their hands were still firmly cuffed behind their backs, so they inevitably knocked against one another as they each struggled to keep their balance.

The door slammed shut as soon as Nick and Kevin had both cleared the doorway, and it took Howie a good thirty more seconds to convince his feet that they needed to move. He heard the industrial lock on the door slide into place with a heavy clunk as he reached up and tugged the pillowcase off of Kevin’s head before doing the same for Nick.

“Howie?!” Nick gasped for air as the fabric was pulled away from his face. He had never been so relieved yet so terrified at the same time. “You’re okay!”

“I knew it!” Kevin delivered his own exclamation in-between his gulps for air. “I knew that they had taken you too!”

Howie flipped his eyes back and forth between Nick and Kevin. They both looked rattled; their faces were flushed and puffy and their eyes were red-rimmed from fear and a lack of oxygen.

Howie didn’t know what to say or what to do. Part of him was happy that he was no longer alone, while the other part of him was feeling guilty that his abduction had clearly been the start of this whole ordeal.

“How long have you been here?” What’s happening? Have they hurt you? Who are these people? What do they want?” Kevin let loose a string of questions as he darted his eyes around the room. He didn’t like what he saw. He especially didn’t like the sight of the five cots.

“A few hours. I don’t know. Not really. I have no idea. They haven’t said.” Howie answered Kevin’s questions with practically no emotion. He didn’t know much more than Kevin did at this point.

“How come they took your handcuffs off?” Nick interrupted the terse exchange between Kevin and Howie. He stared longingly at Howie’s unbound wrists. “These things hurt.”

Kevin snorted. “You act like this is the first time you’ve been in handcuffs.”

“Kevin!” Howie admonished the older man as he saw a wounded expression overtake Nick’s face. “Really, Kev?! Do you really think that now is a good time to say shit like that?”

“Sorry.” Kevin directed his apology at Nick. He actually did feel bad for being so insensitive. “I’m just ...”

“Whatever, Kev. It’s cool.” Nick shrugged. He walked away from the two older men and sank down onto one of the cots. He glanced briefly at the four empty beds. “I guess that we should be expecting AJ and Brian to join us.”

“Excellent observation, Nick.” The creepy mechanical voice was back. “I’m a bit confused as to why everyone seems to think that you’re the dumb one.”

Kevin’s eyes flew to the ceiling before coming to rest on Howie. “What the ...”

“They’re watching us.” Howie nodded his head in the direction of the tiny, almost completely hidden camera. “And listening to us too, I suppose.”

“You’re shitting with me!” Nick locked eyes with Howie before twisting his neck upwards to try and locate the camera. “So, we can’t say nothin’ because whatever we say they’re gonna be able to hear?”

“You can say all that you want.” The voice laughed. “We’re here to answer all of your questions.”

“Is that so?” Kevin balled his tightly bound hands into fists; ignoring the pain that shot through his wrists as the handcuffs cut into his flesh. “Does that mean that you’re going to tell us what we’re doing here? Does that mean that you’re going to tell us what you want?”

“You want to know why you’re here, Kevin?” The voice laughed again. “You’re here to play a game.”

“A game?” Kevin’s voice had lost some of its bravado. “What do you mean?”

“Take a look for yourself.”

Kevin, Howie, and Nick all directed their attention to the soft, scraping sound that started coming from the door as the eerie mechanical voice boomed off of the walls. An iPad Mini suddenly shot through the small space between the floor and the bottom of the door, and Howie instinctively hustled to retrieve the tablet before it could smash against the far wall.

“Turn it on.” The voice instructed.

His fingers shaking, Howie pressed the circular button on the bottom of the tablet and swiped right to access the screen. The device had been cued to a webpage broadcasting a live video feed.

“Oh God ...” Howie could barely get the words out as he stared at the image of himself on the screen. He watched as Kevin and Nick hurried towards him to find out what he was looking at; their movements on the screen delayed by just a matter of seconds.

Kevin started down at the tablet and let out a strangled grunt of fear and surprise. He glanced up and stared directly into the small camera that was mounted on the ceiling; resisting the urge to vomit as he saw his face come into full view on the screen. What was going on?

“Take a look at the poll.” The voice sounded gleeful despite its distortion. “That will answer your earlier question about the handcuffs, Nick.”

Howie licked his lips. His mouth had suddenly become painfully dry. He didn’t want to look beyond the video, but his eyes betrayed him; flipping to the left side of the screen to take in the quickly changing bar graph.

“Who should get their handcuffs taken off?” Nick read the words as if he didn’t know what they meant. “Is this some kind of fucking joke?”

The creepy voice actually snorted with laughter. “Of course not! People, your fans, are voting for you, and in just a few minutes we’ll have a winner. You should be happy, Nick. Can’t you see that you’re winning?”

Nick looked down at the bar graph. The voice was right; he was in the lead. Out of the 1876 votes, he had 1102 of them. The little timer positioned underneath the graph indicated that there were only two minutes left for people to cast a vote.

Nick squeezed his eyes shut and leaned against Howie’s shoulder to maintain his balance. The knowledge that these men were asking people to choose between him and Kevin was making him feel sick to his stomach. The fact that people were actually voting was making him feel even worse.

“Fifty cents?” Kevin’s disgusted voice cut through Nick’s unhappy thoughts. “People are paying fifty cents to cast a vote to determine if Nick or I get our handcuffs taken off?!”

“That’s right!” The voice’s gleeful tone had returned. “But this is just a trial run. Don’t worry; the price of a vote will increase once the real game gets started. We just had to make sure that people were interested.”

“This is sick.” Howie choked. “You’re sick!”

“Maybe.” The voice deadpanned. “But, by the looks of things, we’re also going to be very rich.”

“If all you want is money, we’ll give it to you.” Nick opened his eyes and looked to Howie and Kevin for confirmation. “Just tell us how much you want.”

Howie nodded hastily in agreement to Nick’s offer. “Exactly! You guys name your price and we’ll pay it. Then, you can let us go and all of this comes to an end.”

“It’s a nice offer, but we don’t really want this to end.” The voice let out a cringe-worthy, overly dramatic sigh. “We want to have a bit of fun first. Plus, it wouldn’t be fair to AJ and Brian; they haven’t even had the chance to join you yet.”

“I’m sure they’d get over it.” Kevin mumbled. He glanced at the timer just as it expired. Over two thousand people had cast a vote and he had only earned 826 of them. He wasn’t surprised that people had chosen Nick over him, but that didn’t stop the hybrid feeling of disappointment and dread from bubbling up in his stomach. If each challenge was a popularity contest, he was going to lose every time.

“Looks like we have a winner!” The voice announced. “Howie, you can do the honours.”

A single key promptly slid under the door. It skidded along the cement and came to a stop less than an inch from Howie’s left foot.

Sucking in his breath, Howie bent down to pick up the key. He could practically feel the tension radiating off of Kevin and see the guilt seeping out of Nick’s body. With one quick motion, Howie slipped the key into the slot on Nick’s handcuffs and easily removed them from the younger man’s wrists. Even though he knew what the outcome was going to be, Howie turned and tried to do the same for Kevin.

The key wouldn’t fit.

“I’m sorry, Kev.” Nick resisted the urge to rub at his sore wrists. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Kevin lied. The hurt in his voice was obvious. “I didn’t expect to win against you.”

Nick opened his mouth to offer some useless comment, but the mystery voice beat him to it.

“No need to be sad, Kevin. I’m sure that you’ll win the next one. Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait a few more hours for the next challenge to begin. Until then, you can enjoy reading our special Twitter feed.”

“Twitter?” Kevin couldn’t help it; he raised his eyebrows in disbelief. “You can’t be fucking serious?!”

Everyone has Twitter!” The voice shot back. “We thought that it would make it easier for people to stay in the loop. So, in case you’re at all interested in what we have to say, the timeline will stay on your screen until the next challenge is ready to go.”

Howie dropped his eyes to the iPad that he was still clutching in his left hand. He positioned the screen so that Nick and Kevin could read the feed over his shoulder. He could feel his whole body tense as he read the words.

This really was a game, and they really were the pawns.

Phantom @NetPhantom (2 min)
@nickcarter for the win! Stay tuned to find out what happens when @brian_littrell & @skulleeroz show up!

Phantom @NetPhantom (1 h)
You’re next @brian_littrell and @skulleeroz. You’re next.

Phantom @NetPhantom (4 h)
Who wants to play a game with @backstreetboys?
Chapter 10 by KeepThisSecret
Julie knew the two men sitting in front of her. Well, she didn’t technically know them, but she definitely knew of them. She had even seen them in concert once; years and years ago when she had done her parents a favour by taking her younger sister to see their show. Julie would never admit it to anyone, but she had enjoyed that night almost as much as her younger sister. Of course, while her baby sister had spent the night screaming her heart out for Nick, Julie had found herself singing along and daydreaming about how amazing it would be to roll around in the sheets with Kevin.

“Did you get a good look at the man who chased you? Would you be able to describe him to a sketch artist?”

Julie pulled herself back to the present as her partner, Nate, continued to pepper the two Backstreet Boys with questions. AJ and Brian did not look the way that Julie remembered them from that show back in 1999. The two of them looked worn out, defeated, and sick with fear. It was heartbreaking to see the way that they kept glancing at each other for reassurance; to see the worry in their eyes as they struggled to answer the questions that were being hurled at them.

“I dunno ... no ... yes ... I could try.” AJ changed his answer several times before letting out a long sigh. “Do you want me to try?”

“It would be helpful.” Nate looked to Julie for confirmation. “Right, Detective Gallagher?”

Julie nodded her agreement. She dropped her eyes to her notes. She was a bit unsure of where to begin. The bizarre Twitter message, Nick’s kidnapping, Kevin’s apparent disappearance, Howie’s mysterious car accident; the whole situation was unnerving and more than a little confusing. Why the Backstreet Boys? These guys weren’t exactly at the peak of their career. At the risk of being insensitive, Julie just didn’t get it.

“Detective Hurley?” A young, uniformed officer stepped up next to Nate. “Sorry to interrupt, but I think that you and Detective Gallagher need to take a look at this.” The officer placed an open laptop on the table and took a step backwards to exit the room. “Chief Parker would like to speak to both of you after you’re done with the Back – with Mr. McLean and Mr. Littrell.”

“What is that?” Brian leaned forward in his chair, his voice shaking ever-so-slightly. “What’s on the screen?”

Julie stayed silent. She kept one eye trained on AJ and Brian while the other quickly took in the image on the laptop screen. She tried to keep her expression neutral as she surveyed the live video feed and the message stating the next poll would be beginning within the next two hours. Her stomach dropped as she recognized the three men in the video feed. This was not going to go over well with the two men sitting in front of her.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?” Brian’s voice had taken on a definite tremor. He could feel AJ’s hand curl around his lower arm as he moved to stand up. “If it has something to do with our friends then you have to show us.”

“Technically, we don’t have to show you anything, Mr. Littrell.” Nate rolled his eyes, but he spun the laptop around anyway. “At least this is verification that your friends are still alive.”

“Still alive?!” AJ released his grip on Brian’s arm and moved to stand up himself as he repeated Detective Hurley’s emotionless words.

AJ didn’t know what to think or what to feel. Was he supposed to feel relieved that Nick, Kevin, and Howie were clearly being held against their will be a couple of lunatics? Was he supposed to feel happy that his friends’ fear was being broadcasted over the Internet for the world to watch? Was he supposed to feel okay with the fact that the three of them were about to be subjected to some kind of ‘game’? Was he supposed to feel at peace with the notion that he and Brian were clearly in danger?

“AJ ...” Brian reached out and grabbed his tattooed friend by his wrist, pulling him back down into his seat. “... we need their help.”

AJ stared down into Brian’s face. He could see the tears glimmering in the corners of his eyes and the wrinkles deepening in his forehead. Brian was struggling; trying desperately to hold himself together.

“Okay.” AJ relented. If Brian was trying his hardest to stay calm then he owed it to him to do the same. He turned to the two detectives sitting across the table. “What do we do now?”

“You two aren’t going to do anything at the moment.” Julie watched the exchange between AJ and Brian with measured interest. The dynamic between the two of them intrigued her. She had a feeling that it was going to be difficult to keep the two of them under control. They seemed to feed off of each other’s emotions, and that could be a bad thing in a highly stressful situation. “We’re going to send you back to Mr. Littrell’s apartment under police escort. The two of you will remain under constant surveillance until we’re able to locate your friends and resolve this ... situation.”

“So, we’re just going to hide?” AJ challenged. His resolve to try and stay calm had just gone right out the window. “You just want us to sit around and wait for these guys to kill our friends? Howie and Kevin have families and Nick has a baby on the way! There’s no way that we can just sit around and wait for something to happen!”

“Mr. McLean, I can understand that you’re upset, but you’re just going to have to trust us. This is what we do, Mr. McLean; we solve crimes. Even if you wanted to help, you’re not qualified to do so. You would only be getting in the way.” Detective Hurley rubbed at his heavy eyelids and quickly pushed himself away from the table. He had had enough of the Backstreet Boys for one night. “Detective Gallagher will arrange for your police escort.”

“Jenn called to say that our security team is downstairs.” Brian forced himself to his feet and motioned for AJ to follow him. As much as he agreed with AJ, he knew that there was no point in arguing their case any further. It was clear that their presence wasn’t wanted. “There’s no need for an escort. Mark and Joe will make sure that we get back to the apartment.”

Julie let out a long sigh. She had already been informed that the boys’ management team had contacted their private bodyguards. Still, it didn’t feel right letting AJ and Brian leave without an NYPD escort. At this point, everyone was a suspect; even the members of their security force and their management team. The case had been active for less than five hours and it was already garnering a host of media attention. One mistake on the part of the NYPD would produce a media disaster that Julie wasn’t prepared to deal with.

“Mr. Littrell, I really do think that ...”

“Just let them go.” Nate gently interrupted his partner. “Their security, our security; it doesn’t really matter as long as they don’t go anywhere by themselves. The Chief is waiting for us.”

“Fine.” Julie gave in. She turned to the two remaining Backstreet Boys. “You’re free to go. We’ll be in touch with any new details as they emerge.”

“I’m sure you will.” AJ grumbled. “I swear to God, if I end up finding out any kind of bad news on fucking Twitter ...”

“Stay off of social media!” Julie warned as Brian practically dragged AJ out of the interrogation room. “Do not respond to any tweets or direct messages!”

“We know.” Brian gave Julie an overly forced smile as AJ wrenched his arm out of his grip. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “We know the rules.”

“I wanna punch the two of them in their stupid fucking faces!” AJ announced as soon as he and Brian stepped into the elevator. “Did you see that fucking website? What the fuck was that?! Would it have killed them to explain things to us? I mean, what are we supposed to think? Howie, Nick, and Kevin have been fucking kidnapped and we’re being sent back to your apartment to hide from the bad guys like a couple of little kids! They didn’t even give us any proper information!”

“They’re just doing their job, J.” Brian leaned against the wall of the elevator and stared the younger man directly in the face. “Besides, we can just look at the website on our own as soon as we get back to the apartment.”

AJ narrowed his eyes. Brian was planning something. He could tell. “What are you thinking?”

Brian shook his head. “I dunno yet. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I know that the police are way more equipped to handle this situation than we are, but, like you said, we just can’t sit around and wait. What if – what if something happens to them?”

The elevator dinged to signal their arrival in the underground parking garage, but AJ barely heard it above the blood rushing in his ears. What if something did happen? What if he never saw Kevin, or Howie, or Nick ever again?

“We should call the wives too.” AJ forced the disturbing images of his friends being killed from his mind and returned his attention to Brian. “Ro was blowing up my phone the entire time that we were talking to the detectives.”

“Yeah, Leighanne has sent me, like, one hundred text messages.” Brian actually managed a small laugh. “She probably saw those tweets directed at our accounts and is legitimately losing her shit.”

“You want to divide and conquer when it comes to the fellas’ wives? I got Lauren, you got Kristin, and we can both call Leigh?” AJ suggested as he pulled open the heavy door to the underground.

“Sounds good.” Brian forced himself to agree. The last thing that he wanted to do was tell Kristin that Kevin was currently being held captive by some unknown psychopath. A small part of him actually hoped that she had already seen the website; that he wouldn’t have to be her primary source of information.

“This shit doesn’t even seem real.” AJ shook his head. “I feel like I’m watching a cheesy horror movie and that in a few minutes it will all be over and everyone will be ...”

“And everyone will be ... what?” Brian prodded. He turned to face AJ when he realized that he had suddenly stopped walking. “Aje, what is it?”

Brian didn’t like the fact that AJ’s skin had turned deathly white. He followed the other man’s gaze and nearly fell over at the sight. No wonder AJ had stopped walking.

“Is that ...” AJ couldn’t finish as he took a step closer to Brian.

“Yeah.” Brian nodded as he took in the body that was lying face up on the concrete floor. He could taste the bile rising in his throat as he watched the pool of blood continue to grow underneath the man’s perfectly still frame. “It’s Mark.”

“Oh God, oh God, oh God!” AJ turned around in a panic. “Where’s Joe? They were both supposed to meet us down here. Do you think ...?”

Brian couldn’t answer. He pushed AJ aside and flung himself at the nearest trash can. The sight of Mark lying in his own blood was too much for him to handle. He had known Mark for more than a decade; he was like a member of his family, and now he was dead.

AJ watched as Brian emptied the contents of his stomach into the bin; the sound of his gagging echoing through the cavernous parking garage. He grabbed at his own stomach as Brian staggered backwards and looked at him with wide, glassy eyes. It was a good thing he had already gotten rid of his dinner in Brian’s sink, or else the two of them would have been competing for space at the trash can.

“I think – I think I see Joe.” AJ nodded just beyond Mark’s lifeless body. A pair of large black shoes was just barely visible; jutting out from behind a pillar. “He’s – he’s on the ground.”

Brian took a deep, ragged breath and turned to see if what AJ was saying was true. His now empty stomach jumped violently at the sight of Joe’s sneakers. He didn’t need to look behind the pillar to know that Joe had met the same fate as Mark.

They were both dead.

AJ was still wrestling with what to say when the shot rang out. For the second time that night, AJ hurled himself to the ground to avoid being shot. He hit the ground hard and barrel rolled towards the nearest parked car as three more consecutive shots ripped through the air. AJ pushed himself onto his knees and crouched behind the car’s rear tire. He flinched as another bullet ricocheted off of one of the cement pillars only a few feet away from where he was hiding. He could hear tires squealing and footsteps pounding against the pavement, and then, suddenly, silence.

His heart was beating so loudly that AJ actually brought his hand to his chest in a futile attempt to silence it; legitimately terrified that the sound would give away his hiding place. It was too quiet now. The silence was making AJ sweat. Where was Brian? Had he managed to get away?

Desperate to find out what had happened to Brian, AJ slowly began to creep around the back bumper of the car. Where were the police? Why was nobody coming to save them? How could this possibly be happening in the visitors parking area of a New York City police station?

“Get off! Get off of me you sick fuck!”

“No, no, no, no ...” AJ whispered manically to himself as Brian’s desperate cries disrupted the silence. He bent down and peered underneath the car as Brian’s voice grew louder. He could hear shoes scuffing against the cement and, a few seconds later, Brian’s sneakers came into view along with a pair of beaten up shoes that AJ didn’t recognize.

“AJ, where arrrrrrre youuuuu?” A man’s voice sang out. “I’ve got your friend, and I’ve got a gun pointed at his head.”

AJ squeezed his eyes closed and gripped the edge of the bumper for support. This couldn’t be happening to him again. Why did he always have to be the one who managed to get away?

“If you come out now, I won’t be forced to hurt him.” The man continued. “If you’re waiting for the police, you’re going to be waiting for an awfully long time. We’ve rigged the security cameras to play old footage from last night. Nobody in the station can see that anything’s wrong, so now is definitely not the time to try to be the hero.”

“Don’t – don’t listen to him!” Brian’s voice was shaking so badly that he could barely get the words out. The mystery man’s massive forearm was pulled tightly against his neck, and the barrel of the gun was pressed painfully into his temple.

Brian knew that he had absolutely no chance of escaping, but he was also pretty sure that the man wasn’t going to kill him. If these men wanted them dead then they wouldn’t have gone to all the trouble of setting up the website. For now, their kidnappers needed all five of them to be alive in order for whatever game it was they were playing to be effective. Hopefully, AJ was smart enough to realize that and stayed quiet.

“You already left Nick to die.” The man continued. “Are you gonna do the same to Brian?”

AJ opened his eyes and wiped at the tears that he hadn’t even realized were sliding down his cheeks. He was pretty sure that the man was lying; that he wasn’t really going to put a bullet in Brian’s head. But what if he called the man’s bluff and he turned out to be wrong? If this guy really did shoot Brian, AJ would never be able to live with himself.

“Last chance ...” The man’s announcement was followed by the unmistakable click of a gun cocking into position. “I’m gonna count to three; one, two, thr ...”

“Okay!” AJ leapt to his feet and threw his arms into the air. “I give up! Are you happy? I give up! Just don’t shoot him!”

The man lowered the gun from Brian’s head and gave AJ a satisfied smirk. “So nice of you to finally agree to come with us, Mr. McLean.”

As if on cue, the same SUV that had been outfitted as a TAXI only hours before materialized from the other side of the garage and rolled to a stop next to Brian and his captor. The driver stepped out of the vehicle, and AJ immediately recognized him as the fake TAXI driver who had chased him through the snow.

“Let’s go.” The second man walked around the SUV to join his partner. He swiftly placed a black pillowcase over Brian’s head and tied the ends tightly around his neck before motioning for AJ to step forward. “This ain’t the time to try anything funny.”

AJ kept his hands in the air as he walked slowly around the car that he had been hiding behind. He could hear Brian gasping for breath as the man who was still holding him by the neck forced him into the backseat of the SUV. AJ had known Brian long enough to know that he was probably angry at him for giving himself up, but at least his conscience was clear. As the pillowcase came down over his head, AJ didn’t even bother to put up a fight. They both may have been captured, but at least Brian wasn’t dead. That was all that mattered to AJ at the moment. He would figure the rest out later.
Chapter 11 by KeepThisSecret
Phantom @NetPhantom (54 min)
@skulleeroz, @brian_littrell, @kevinrichardson, @nickcarter and @howied together again! Let’s play another game, shall we?

“It’s time to up the price.” Angelo rubbed absently at his chest as he watched the video feed. The little southern one had been stronger and faster than he had anticipated. At some point during their struggle, the little prick had kneed him in the chest. “Is the next poll ready to launch?”

Carl nodded. “It’s ready.” He paused. “Don’t you think that it’s too early to raise the price? We’ve only just gotten all five of them together.”

Angelo snorted. “Yeah, and taking them all down took us longer than we had anticipated. We’re already twenty-four hours behind schedule. The first payment is due in a few days and we’ve only brought in a little over a thousand dollars. You do the math.”

It wasn’t hard to do the math. Carl knew that they were behind. He knew that they needed to generate four thousand more dollars before Friday. He also knew that they couldn’t get too greedy too soon. They had to able to stretch this out; to generate enough money to make all three payments. This is why he had agreed to the plan in the first place. The ‘games’ would provide a continuous source of income that would be nearly impossible to trace. If they had just asked for a ransom, a lump sum payment, they would have opened themselves up to being caught almost immediately.

“Should we make it a dollar? Carl’s hands hesitated over the keyboard.

He didn’t want to drive the current voters away, and they still needed to attract new voters if their plan was going to work. Carl knew that they were free and clear in terms of remaining anonymous. He was good at what he did; he had double checked to make sure that all of the required safeguards were in place. It would take at least a week for even the most talented hackers at the NYPD to be able to pinpoint their location, and Carl was planning on being long gone before that happened.

“A dollar is good for now.” Angelo agreed. “If we double our voters with this poll then we’ll hit the target, and we can increase by another dollar per vote during the next round. The media is going crazy already, so I don’t think we’re going to have a shortage of people who are going to be willing to weigh in on this.”

“Okay.” Carl quickly inputted the higher amount and pressed the ‘enter’ key. He watched as the poll sprung to life. “We’re up and running.”

“Look at those losers.” Angelo gestured towards the monitor. They all look so dejected, so terrified ... it’s perfect!”

Carl followed his older brother’s gaze, but he stayed silent. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t shake the nagging feeling of remorse. He had felt okay when it had only been Howie. He had started to feel a bit guilty when they had added Nick and Kevin to the mix, but he had started to feel downright terrible after they had locked up AJ and Brian. Maybe they shouldn’t have taken all five of them.

“Look at that!” Angelo’s laugh cut into Carl’s thoughts. “We’ve already got over two hundred votes and the poll hasn’t even been live for three minutes yet!” He clapped his younger brother roughly on the shoulder and leaned over to access the two way microphone. “I guess it’s time to let the boys know about their resurging popularity.”

“Hello boys! It certainly is nice to see the five of you together again!”

“See! That’s what we’re talking about ...” Howie cut himself off mid sentence as the mechanical voice reappeared. He had actually been starting to worry about the silence. AJ and Brian had been brought in almost an hour ago, and this was the first time that the voice had acknowledged them since their arrival.

“Fuck you!” AJ spat. He sat down roughly on one of the cots and stared directly into the camera. “You guys are nothing but fucking cowards!”

“Tisk, tisk, Alex, watch your language!” The voice scolded playfully. “This is being broadcasted live. We wouldn’t want anyone to be offended by your use of profanity.”

“Fuuuuuckkkkk youuuuuuu!” AJ taunted. He turned around so that his back was facing the camera and stuck out both of his middle fingers; his wrists straining against the handcuffs as he tried to raise his fingers upwards. “You’re a piece of shit.”

“There’s no need to be rude.” The voice shot back. “Especially, when we’re being nice and letting you out of those pesky handcuffs.”

“I don’t ...” AJ stopped talking as a single key shot underneath the door.

“That one’s for AJ.” The voice paused as another key slid into the room. “And that one’s for Brian.”

“What about Kevin?” Howie challenged. “Why isn’t there a key for him?”

Nick reached down and picked up the key that was meant for Brian’s handcuffs as he listed to the exchange between Howie and the creepy voice. He motioned for Brian to turn around and quickly inserted the key into the lock. The cuffs popped off easily, and Brian immediately began to flex his wrists. His skin was raw from where the metal had been cutting into his flesh and Nick had to turn away as a slow trickle of blood began to make its way down Brian’s arm. He hated the sight of blood unless it was fake and part of a horror film.

The voice’s distorted laugh filled the room. “Because he lost the game! Don’t you remember, Howie?”

“Right.” Howie resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he picked up the remaining key from the floor and hastily removed the handcuffs from around AJ’s wrists. “How could I forget?”

“I sense some sarcasm from you, Howie.” The voice chided. “That’s not very nice.”

“Neither is locking us up in a room and asking people to decide about the best way to torture us!” Kevin shot back. The pain in his wrists was starting to make him testy. “But ya’ll don’t seem to care about that.”

The voice laughed again. “Speaking of torture, the next poll is up and running. You can take a look at the iPad if you’re interested to see how it’s playing out, or you can wait to be surprised. Either way, we’ll be checking in with you again once the time runs out and we have our next winner. Just remember to watch your language; the people at home can hear you.”

“Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!” This time, AJ was able to jam his middle finger into the air properly as he aimed the gesture directly at the camera. “You can go to hell! Do you hear me? Go to hell!”

“AJ!” Kevin leaned his head back against the cinderblock wall and closed his eyes. He didn’t want to look at the others with their arms dangling by their sides. His shoulders were starting to hurt from being pulled backwards, and his patience was definitely wearing thing. “That’s really not helping.”

Howie watched Kevin out of the corner of his eye as he picked up the iPad. He knew that the older man was trying his best to keep his emotions in check; to pretend like he wasn’t scared or in pain. Howie also knew that Kevin was fighting a losing battle. Kevin was on the verge of breaking down, and Howie definitely didn’t want to be on the receiving end of his eldest friend’s emotional explosion when he finally erupted.

“They gave us an iPad?” Brian stated the obvious as he looked at the device in Howie’s hands. “Seriously?”

Howie shrugged. “It only displays the information that they want us to see. We can’t navigate off of the one stupid website. It’s useless, really.”

“The website showing the video feed?” AJ moved so that he could peer over Howie’s shoulder. “Brian and I saw you guys sitting around in here while we were at the police station ...”

“That’s the one.” Howie swiped the tablet into the ‘on’ position and pointed at the screen. He opened his mouth to make some sarcastic comment about how good they all looked on camera, but he quickly changed his mind when he saw the current poll. “Shit.”

“Who wants a drink?” Brian read the words upside down as he stared down at the tablet. Before, he had been itching to get a better look at the website, but now all he wanted to do was look away. The bar graph underneath the question changed each time he glanced at it. “What the ...”

“I’m winning.” AJ’s voice was void of all emotion. “Isn’t that nice?”

“There’s still close to a whole day of voting time left.” Nick struggled to be positive as he, too, dropped his eyes to the ever-changing results. “I’m in second place by like two hundred votes. I could still win. We just need some more fans to ...”

“It’s not only the fans who are voting.” Brian cut Nick off. “Our fans wouldn’t vote for AJ to take a drink. They – they know better.”

“This has gone beyond the fandom.” Howie agreed. His fingers were shaking as he struggled to hold the tablet steady. “Five thousand people have already voted. I’m sure our fans are out there somewhere, but I think that most of these voters are sick; they want to see us get hurt.”

Nick continued to stare at the screen. He didn’t want to believe Howie’s words, but he knew that they were true. AJ’s bar was creeping higher and higher with every passing second. Brian was right; the fans wouldn’t vote for AJ to ruin his sobriety. Nick could barely swallow around the lump in his throat. If the first ‘game’ was already turning into a potentially life-altering situation, what were the rest of the ‘games’ going to be like?
Chapter 12 by KeepThisSecret
‘It makes me wanna go back in time / I know you remember when ...’

Kayleigh frowned at her phone screen as the in-car Bluetooth system kicked in and interrupted Nick’s ode to the millennium. As usual, the highway was jammed with people trying to get out of the city. Singing at the top of her lungs was the only thing that made Kayleigh’s commute tolerable. It was also the only time that she dared to pretend that she was actually capable of hitting a note that wouldn’t make her husband, her kid, and her cat run for cover.

“Hello? Helloooo? Kay? Are you there?!”

“Yeah, Soph, I’m here.” Kayleigh winced as her friend’s voice blasted through the car’s speaker system. She hastily turned down the volume and returned the majority of her attention to the slow-moving traffic. “What’s goin’ on?”

“ThewebsiteistryingtomakeAJanalcoholicagain!” Sophia shrieked; stringing her words together into an almost unintelligible mess. “What the fuck is wrong with people?”

“The website?” Kayleigh repeated as she struggled to make sense of what her friend was saying. “I don’t know what ...”

Kayleigh made the connection as she watched the driver in front of her force his car into the other lane. Of course, Sophia was talking about the Backstreet Boys and the creepy competition website. Hell, it was all anyone was talking about. Even her sixty-something year old boss had mentioned the boys’ unsettling situation during their afternoon meeting. Kayleigh had checked the website right before she had left the office, but the new poll hadn’t been uploaded yet.

“Is the new competition online?” Kayleigh inched her car forward and dropped her eyes to her phone that was propped up in the centre console. Her fingers literally twitched against the steering wheel as she mentally coached herself not to reach for it. The logical part of her knew that she couldn’t afford the fine, or the three demerit points, associated with a distracted driving charge. The die-hard Backstreet Boys fan part of her; however, was desperate to check-in on ‘her boys’ and make sure that they were still okay.

“People are voting for AJ to have a drink.” Sophia delivered the information at a more reasonable speed. “He’s in the lead!.”

“That doesn’t make sense.” Kayleigh struggled to keep at least some of her focus on the road as her brain tried to digest the notion that people were voting to for a recovering alcoholic to break his sobriety. “Who’s in second place?”

“Nick.” Sophia sighed. “But, he’s behind by more than a thousand votes. There’s no way that he’ll be able to bump AJ out of the top spot. More than five thousand people have already voted, Kay, and I don’t think that many of them are fans based on the outcome of this poll.”

Kayleigh’s stomach flipped. She had been a Backstreet Boys fan for almost twenty years, and the thought of any of them getting hurt filled her with an overwhelming sense of sadness. These five men had provided the soundtrack to her life and she, along with the rest of their fans, had a duty to protect them. It was time for the Backstreet Army to rise up and protect the boys who had given so much to them.

“The police need to hurry up and figure this shit out!” Kayleigh’s anger was growing by the second. “Did you see those two dumbass detectives on the news last night? They said that they currently have no leads! Do you believe that shit?! We can watch them online twenty-four hours a day, but the police can’t find them?!”

“I really think that whoever is behind this whole kidnapping mess clearly doesn’t think that they’re ever going to get caught. This is the first real game, or poll, or whatever it is that they’re calling it, and people are being given a whole day to vote. These creeps certainly aren’t in any rush.” The anger was also seeping into Sophia’s voice. “A bunch of girls who are super active on Twitter have already started to organize a group to try and coordinate the fan vote. I guess we aren’t the only ones who think that what’s about to happen to AJ is complete bullshit.”

“I’ll check out the Twitter thing when I get home.” Kayleigh promised. She could finally see her freeway exit in the distance, and she hastily turned on her signal to merge into the right lane of traffic. She was already debating about taking the next day off of work so that she would be home in time to see the outcome of the poll. “Who knows, maybe AJ won’t even have to drink anything. How are they going to force him to take a drink if he refuses?”

“I dunno ...” Sophia's heavy sigh reverberated through the speakers. “... but, I’m pretty sure that we’re going to find out tomorrow.”

“3 ... 2 ... 1 ... ding, ding, ding; I’m the winner!” AJ allowed the iPad to slip out of his hands and onto his stomach. He rubbed at his eyes and stared at the ceiling. He hadn’t slept at all last night; none of them had. “When do you think I’m gonna get my prize?”

“You’re not going to drink anything.” Kevin glanced quickly at the now inactive bar graph that was still displayed on the tablet and shifted positions once again. Thanks to the handcuffs, he had long since lost all feeling in his hands, arms, and shoulders. “If they hand you a bottle of liquor, I’m just going to hurl it against the wall. They can’t force you to drink it.”

“They could tie him up and force it down his throat.” Nick interjected from his position by the door.

“Thanks, Nick.” AJ rolled his eyes in the blonde’s direction. “That’s a comforting thought.”

Nick shrugged. “Also, Kev, you can’t throw anything because of the handcuffs.”

“That’s it! I’m gonna kill him.” AJ sat up and looked at each of his friends in turn. “Do you think our captors would be upset if I killed Nick before they decided to do it themselves?”

“Jesus.” Howie shook his head while trying to conceal a smirk. AJ’s comments were completely inappropriate, but at least they were providing a distraction to the stress of their current situation.

“Nobody is killing anybody.” Kevin was seriously resisting the urge to slam his head against the cement wall. “Just like nobody is getting drunk.”

“Are you sure about that, Kev?” AJ nodded in the direction of the door as the massive deadbolt suddenly clunked into the ‘open’ position. “Because I’m pretty sure that these guys have other ideas.”

“You’re right, AJ. We do have other ideas.” Angelo pulled open the heavy door and stepped inside. He was wearing a balaclava to conceal his identify from the tens of thousands of people watching the video feed, but he could still see the fear criss-crossing the faces of his prisoners through the small opening around his eyes. “We can’t disappoint your fans. We’ve promised them a good show.”

“You’re sick! Do you know that?” Howie challenged; his shaky voice betraying the fact that he was acting a lot braver than he felt. “You have mental problems!”

Angelo laughed as Carl stepped into the room behind him brandishing a very large and very impressive looking gun. “No, Howie.” Angelo lifted his own gun and pointed it directly at Nick’s head. “Shooting Nick in the face for no apparent reason would indicate that I have mental problems. Seeing as how your little blonde buddy is still alive, I think it’s safe to say that I’m only slightly unhinged.”

Nick feverishly darted his eyes back and forth between the two men. His feet were rooted to the spot; his body paralysed by fear as he looked into the barrel of the gun. Of course, it didn’t really matter if he moved. There was nowhere for him to hide even if he managed to convince his body to run. What was he going to do? Dive behind Kevin and hope for the best?

“Let’s go.” Angelo smirked. He could practically smell the terror oozing out of Nick’s body as he motioned for him to step forward. “You and AJ are coming with us.”

“Where are you taking them?” It was Brian’s turn to issue a challenge as he stood up from his cot and took a step forward. Unlike Howie, his voice was strong, determined. “I thought there could only be one winner.”

Angelo clucked his tongue in amusement. He had practically forgotten that the little southern thing existed; he had been so quiet up until this point. “AJ is the winner, but we need one of you to come along as ... insurance.” Angelo paused to size up the tiny man with the brave face. “Are you offering to go instead?”

“If that’s what you want.” Brian stood his ground. “Nick can stay and I’ll go.”

Nick pulled in his breath and turned to look at Brian. He may have been putting on a brave face, but Nick could see through his façade. The lines around the corners of his eyes were just a little too deep and his chest was rising just a little too fast; Brian was scared and Nick knew it. What Nick didn’t know was why Brian was offering to go in his place.

“Nobody is going anywhere.” Kevin stepped in; his voice dangerously low. “You can’t make any of us go with you.”

“Is that so?” Angelo loved a challenge. With one fluid motion, he dove at Nick and swiftly captured the youngest boy-bander around the neck. He tightened his grip as Nick squirmed against his fingers, relishing in the sounds of him gasping for air. “Are you going to stop me, Kevin?” Angelo pressed his gun into Nick’s temple and licked his lips. “Our plan will still work with just the four of you.”

“Kevin!” AJ held out his hand to prevent the older man from getting to his feet. Part of him was actually glad that Kevin was still in handcuffs as he watched a look of murderous rage cross his oldest friend’s face. “It’s okay. If they want me to go with them, I’ll go with them.”

The prospect of having a drink was actually starting to sound good to AJ. He didn’t know how many more times he could deal with seeing one of his brothers being threatened with a gun to their head. Just like with Brian, AJ was fairly certain that their captors weren’t actually going to kill Nick. However, just like with Brian, AJ wasn’t willing to take the risk. He would do whatever it took to ensure that he wasn’t responsible for getting someone else killed. If he happened to die in the process, then so be it.

“I knew it. I knew that you would agree.” Angelo couldn’t stop the smirk from stretching across his face as he indicated that AJ should go first.

He looked at each of the other men in turn as AJ took a few halting steps toward the door. The tiny Latino looked like he was on the verge of tears, the feisty southerner seemed to be debating about whether or not to try and be a hero, and the brooding old man was still struggling fruitlessly against his handcuffs. Angelo was intrigued by their respective reactions, but he didn’t have time to dwell on his thoughts. He didn’t want to hang around long enough for one of them to realize that they should be trying to escape.

Angelo waited until Carl had curled his fingers around AJ’s scrawny, tattooed upper arm before he began to drag Nick in the direction of the door. The fact that the blonde wasn’t even trying to put up a fight was strangely satisfying. “You boys be good until we get back.” Angelo gave the three remaining Backstreet Boys a final glance as he followed Carl and AJ out of the room. Their looks of petrified anger were even more satisfying than Nick’s compliance. “We shouldn’t be gone too long.”
Chapter 13 by KeepThisSecret
“You certainly are the agreeable one, aren’t you, AJ? You try to come across as such a tough guy, but deep down you wouldn’t be able to live with yourself if one of the other guys were to get hurt. The guilt would eat you alive.”

AJ bit at his lip so hard that he tasted blood. The asshole who currently had Nick in a chokehold had hit the nail on the head. Of course, AJ didn’t want to give his captor the satisfaction of acknowledging that he agreed with his words. If he hadn’t been so scared of a bullet ending up in Nick’s brain, he would have punched the smug little prick in the face.

“You need to sit down.”

AJ glanced at the man who was leading him by the arm. It was the first time that he had heard him speak. While he sounded tough, he wasn’t quite as convincing as his angrier-than-hell partner.

He and Nick had been led into another room only several feet away from where they were being held prisoner. There was a single wooden chair on one side of the room and five sets of hanging shackles dangling from the ceiling at the other end of the room. Four cameras were mounted on the walls; one in each corner of the room.

“You need to sit down.” The man repeated his earlier statement and gestured towards the solitary chair.

AJ allowed himself to be forced into a sitting position. He barely even registered the fact that his hands were being pulled behind his back and tied to the chair as he watched Nick being led towards the shackles at the other end of the room. He did, however, feel his heart rate quicken as the other man pulled Nick’s arms above his head and secured the metal bracelets to his wrists. Even from a distance, AJ could see Nick’s face contorting in pain as his arms immediately assumed control for the majority of his weight; only the tips of his toes were touching the floor.

“What’s happening?” AJ directed his question at the man who had just finished tying him up. “I still don’t understand why Nick is here. Why – why is he being tied up?”

“Like I said, we need him to make sure that you do as you’re told.” The bigger man answered for his partner. He finished securing Nick to the hanging shackles and strode towards the far corner of the room. He picked up a brown paper bag and waved it in AJ’s general direction. “Here’s your prize.”

AJ’s chest grew tight as the man pulled out a large bottle of vodka. He knew himself well enough to realize that it would only take one drink to send him back down the slippery slope towards addiction. AJ had relapsed several times before and each subsequent recovery had been harder than the last. He had been totally clean, one hundred percent sober, since Ava had been born, and all of his hard work and willpower was about to be destroyed. The reality of the situation was enough to give him heart palpitations.

The man twisted the cap off of the liquor bottle with one well-practiced flick of his wrist and held it up to AJ’s mouth. “Drink up.”

AJ pressed his lips together and turned his face away from the bottle. He was beginning to regret having been so compliant. He couldn’t escape with his arms tied to the chair. Ava’s face flashed into his mind as the man knocked the edge of the bottle against his closed lips. What had he been thinking? Why hadn’t he put up more of a fight? If he relapsed now, he would lose his little girl.

“I should have known that you were going to be difficult.” The big man sighed and handed the bottle of vodka over to his partner. “That’s why we brought Nicky in here with us.”

The slightly bigger man began to walk back towards where Nick was being held; suspended from the ceiling. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a piece of fabric; twirling it in his fingers to create a long cylinder. The man smirked at Nick and then turned to look at AJ as he used the rolled fabric to create a gag for Nick’s mouth; tying the two ends tight around the back of his head.

Nick’s eyes widened as the gag was pulled tight against his mouth. He instinctively jerked his body away from his attacker’s hands and let out a muffled whimper as the shackles dug into his wrists. His shoulders were already burning from the effort of supporting his shifting weight, and he began to frantically kick his legs; trying desperately to somehow lengthen his body so that his feet could remain on the floor.

“So, AJ, what’s it going to take for you to fulfill your end of the bargain?” The angry man’s smirk intensified as he reached into his other pocket and pulled out a switch blade. He popped the knife out of the handle and pressed it firmly against Nick’s temple. “Nick’s gonna look pretty good with a scar, don’t cha’ think?”

AJ shifted his eyes to Nick’s before returning his attention to the man holding the knife. His whole body was shaking against the ropes that were holding him to the chair. He was struggling to hold his ground. He knew that these men needed to keep them in one piece. He knew that the burly man was just using Nick to bait him into following the ‘rules’. Still, he was unsure; what if the man followed through with his threat?

“I’m not gonna play.” AJ forced the words out of his mouth; his voice shaking just as much as his body. “I’m not gonna agree this time.”

The big man licked his lips and curled his face up into a knowing smirk. “I thought you would have figured it out by now, AJ.” A small drop of blood appeared on Nick’s check as the man applied more pressure to the knife. “Haven’t you learned that it’s always better to agree?”

Nick screamed against the fabric that was lodged in his mouth as the blade sliced through his skin. The burning sensation intensified as the man dragged the knife along his temple. Blood leaked from the open wound; running down his neck and saturating the collar of his shirt.

“I’ll drink! I’ll drink it! Do you hear me? I said that I’ll fucking drink it!”

AJ panicked as soon as the blade pierced Nick’s skin. He turned his eyes away from the blood and the tears that were trickling down his friend’s face and fought the urge to vomit as the bottle of vodka once again appeared in front of his lips. His worst fear had just come true. He had called the man’s bluff and he had lost. AJ had been sure that tying Nick up was just for show; he had convinced himself that these men weren’t actually going to hurt them. He had been wrong, and now Nick was hanging in front of him with a slice down the side of his face.

“I heard you.” The bigger man mercifully pulled the knife away from Nick’s temple and motioned for his partner to start tipping the liquor down AJ’s throat. “It really is a shame that you waited so long to come to that decision.”

AJ said nothing. His own tears were already running down his face as he tilted his head backwards and allowed the vodka to slide down his throat. The alcohol burned as he gulped it down, and it wasn’t long before the all-too-familiar warmth began to spread through his stomach. He didn’t dare choke or stop to ask if he was going to drink the whole bottle, he just kept swallowing as the tears kept leaking from his eyes. Nick’s painful whimpers were enough to remind him that he deserved all of the negative repercussions that were about to come his way.

It was over in less than ten minutes. AJ’s head was swimming as the smaller man dropped the empty vodka bottle back into the brown paper bag and kicked it towards the far wall. He blinked hard in an attempt to focus on Nick’s face, but his vision was too blurry to distinctly make out the blonde’s features. It had been a long time since AJ had had a drink and the alcohol was already hitting him hard. He felt completely out of it; like his head was detached from his body.

“See, that wasn’t so bad.” The man standing next to Nick chuckled. He flipped the switch blade closed and stuffed it back into his pocket. “It’s unfortunate that I had to hurt Nick in order to make you so agreeable.”

AJ rolled his head loosely around on his neck. He could already feel the familiar cravings starting to surface. He was starting to enjoy the numbness. He was starting to want more. “You – yer a-asshole.”

“Let’s go. You’ve done what you needed to do.”

AJ lolled his head in the direction of the man standing next to him. Even in his intoxicated state, he could hear the hint of remorse in the man’s voice. AJ willed his brain to try and hang on to that tidbit of information as the man began to untie him from the chair. The two men may have been in this together, but it was clear that the smaller man wasn’t as tough as his friend. This guy was the weak link; the potential key to their escape.

“Where – whereare wegoin’ now?” AJ slurred. He swayed unsteadily on his feet as he was forced to stand up. “Where’s Nick?”

“He’s right beside you.” The man holding on to AJ’s elbow now sounded nothing but exasperated. “You two are going back to join the others. We’re done with you ... for now.”

“N-N-Nick is comin’ too?”

AJ could barely make sense of what the man was saying. He was suddenly overcome with an overwhelming sense of panic. His body was betraying him; he couldn’t focus his eyes or keep his balance. The effects of the alcohol were reaching a level that AJ had never experienced before. He was more than just drunk. It was like he was drugged; on the verge of completely losing touch with reality. He had absolutely no clue what was happening around him. He hadn’t seen Nick be released from the shackles. What if the men took Nick somewhere else and he wasn’t able to save him?

“I’m here, AJ.” Nick’s voice sounded small and impossibly far away. “I’m okay ...”

“Your friend really needs to be more careful. Doesn’t he know that mixing drugs and alcohol never ends well?”

“What?!” Nick struggled against the bigger man’s iron-clad grip as he turned to look into his amused face. The blood was still running down the side of his throbbing face. “What did you do to him?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” The big man smirked. He jerked Nick violently towards the door, enjoying the look of pain that crossed the blonde’s face as he stumbled forward. “It really is too bad that I can’t tell you.”

“You – you never said anything about drugs.” Nick licked away the blood that had found its way onto his lips. The side of his face was burning, but the pain was secondary to the knowledge that AJ had gone completely limp in the other man’s arms. “You lied! What have you done to him? You were just supposed to give him a drink!”

Angelo shook his head in amusement. He unlocked the door to the holding cell with one hand while maintaining an unbreakable hold on Nick’s upper arm with the other. He waited for Carl to drag AJ’s flaccid body into the room before swinging Nick forward to join the rest of his band-mates. He reached into his massive back pocket and tossed a couple of washcloths on top of AJ’s unmoving frame; struggling to hold back his laughter.

“Clean yourselves up.” Angelo instructed. “We need you to be ready for the next challenge.” He backed out of the room, but paused to address Nick directly before closing the door. “Oh, and we didn’t lie to you, Nickolas. Since we make the rules, we can change them whenever we want. It’s probably best that you keep that in mind from now on.”
Chapter 14 by KeepThisSecret
Kevin struggled to get to his feet. He was at the point where he wanted to saw his arms off just to be free of the handcuffs. He could no longer feel his arms or the majority of his upper torso, and he was sick and tired of being useless. He, along with Howie and Brian, had watched the whole terrible ordeal involving Nick and AJ unfold in real-time via the iPad screen. He had heard the desperation in AJ’s voice and seen the terror in Nick’s face. He had also seen the drugs being slipped into the bottle of vodka right before AJ drank the whole thing. He had seen the sobs racking Nick’s body as the knife had cut through his skin. He had seen absolutely everything, and he hadn’t been able to do a single, damn thing about any of it. Even now, all he was able to do was stand by and watch as Nick and AJ were returned to the room. The inability to take control of the situation was slowly doing him in, and he didn’t know how much longer he was going to be able to keep it together.

“Help AJ first!” Kevin barked at Brian and Howie as they scurried forward. He knew that he sounded like a drill sergeant, but he couldn’t stop himself. He needed to do something.

“Dear God, please let him be alive. Please let him be alive.” Dutifully following his cousin’s instructions, Brian prayed quietly to himself as he knelt down beside AJ’s lifeless body.

Brian placed his face close to AJ’s nose and tilted his head to get a clear view of the younger man’s chest. After what seemed like an eternity, AJ’s chest rose and fell in rapid succession; he was alive. “He’s breathing! He’s alive!” Brian’s announcement was shrill; a strange mixture of intense panic and relief.

“Thank God.” Howie made the sign of the cross over his chest and raised his eyes to the ceiling. “Let’s get him off of the floor.”

Brian nodded wordlessly and quickly positioned himself behind AJ’s head. He hooked both of his arms under AJ’s armpits and waited for Howie to secure his hands around AJ’s legs. Brian dared a quick glance at Nick while he waited for Howie to move into position and immediately wished that he hadn’t. The look on Nick’s face was so sad and guilt-ridden that it made him want to cry.

“Ready?” Howie’s question drew Brian’s attention back to the task at hand.

“Yeah.” Brian nodded his agreement. He got slowly to his feet; adjusting AJ’s weight in his arms as he and Howie carefully lifted him off of the floor and laid him back down on the nearest cot.

“Now what?” Howie looked to Brian for guidance as he repositioned AJ’s hands at his sides. All he wanted was for AJ to open his eyes; for him to give them some indication that he was going to be okay. “Should we, like, prop him up?”

“Try wetting one of those washcloths and putting some cold water on his face.” Kevin suggested. “Maybe the shock of the cold will help to bring him back around.”

“They drugged the shit out of him, cuz.” Brian shook his head at Kevin as Howie grabbed one of the washcloths off of the floor and moved towards the tiny sink. “I doubt that a little water is gonna make a difference.”

“I don’t see you offering up a useful suggestion.” Kevin challenged. “At least I’m trying.”

“Here.” Howie returned from the sink and handed Brian the wet washcloth. “Why don’t you take this to Nick?” Howie picked up the second washcloth from the floor and shot the Kentucky born cousins a warning look. “You two need to cool it. We can’t start fighting.”

“Fine.” Brian took the cloth from Howie’s hands and brushed past Kevin without so much as a second glance. Howie was right; the five of them couldn’t afford to start fighting. Still, he was in no mood to deal with his older cousin at that particular moment.

“AJ’s okay?” Nick drew his eyes away from the floor as Brian sank down next to him on the cold cement. “He – he’s not ...?”

“He’s breathing.” Brian fumbled with the wet square of fabric in his hands. He could tell by the wounded look on Nick’s face that the blonde was blaming himself for what had happened to AJ. “You’re still bleeding.”

Nick shrugged. “I’m okay.” He could feel the tears beginning to re-build in the corners of his eyes as Brian began to gently dab at the blood that was still oozing from his temple. “I should have been paying more attention. I should have noticed that those assholes had put drugs in the vodka.”

“Nick ...” Brian couldn’t quite decide what he wanted to say. Nick always did this; he always held himself responsible for things that weren’t his fault. “... you – you had no way of knowing. Even if you had managed to notice what was happening, you wouldn’t have been able to do anything to help AJ anyway.” Brian winced as Nick suddenly sucked in his breath and jerked his head away from his touch. “Sorry.”

“Is it really bad?” Nick let out his breath and tried to force himself to relax as Brian once again began to dab at the wound on the side of his face. “How deep is it?”

“It’s pretty deep, but I don’t think that you’re gonna need stitches or anything.” Brian gingerly wiped away the last streak of blood from Nick’s face and peered intently at the cut on his temple. He was pretty sure that the newness of the wound was making it look worse than it really was, but the sight of the angry, jagged cut still brought tears to his eyes. “You might have a scar though.”

Nick shrugged. “I don’t think the fans will mind. I hear some of them even have a preference for guys who can rock a good scar.”

Brian snorted with laughter as he stared back at Nick’s lopsided grin. This was the Nick that he knew; the Nick from his past who had been his biggest supporter, the Nick that he had somehow managed to lose sight of over the course of the past decade. Brian’s laughter suddenly caught in his throat as he watched a new trickle of blood seep out of the fresh cut on Nick’s face; he could have lost him.

The reality of their situation was finally starting to sink in, and the growing realization was making Brian’s heart beat erratically in his chest. These men needed them alive, but they definitely weren’t afraid to hurt them. Once their captors had had enough; once they had made enough money, Brian knew that they wouldn’t think twice about killing them. Their abductors may have disguised their faces for their ‘show’, but they hadn’t bothered to hide their identities when the cameras weren’t running. These men had a definite plan, and it clearly didn’t involve the five of them making it out of his room alive.

“It’s okay, Bri, I’m still here.” Nick forced a small laugh as he watched the expression on Brian’s face change. There had been a time when he could have easily read Brian’s mind based on a simple expression, but he was struggling now; trying desperately to figure out why Brian suddenly looked so sad. “It’s just a stupid cut.”

Brian swallowed hard and forced a short laugh of his own. It was obvious that Nick had yet to make the connection; that he was still hoping against all hope that the five of them weren’t going to die within the confines of these four walls. Not knowing what else to do, Brian raised the washcloth to Nick’s face and quickly dapped away the few fresh drops of blood. “Stop smiling; you’re making yourself bleed.”

“Are you worried about Bay, about Leighanne?” Nick could feel his fake smile starting to waver as he allowed Brian to clean his face once again. For the past ten years, Nick hadn’t properly given Brian’s concerns a second thought, but now he was desperate to know what was going on in the older man’s head. “I wonder what the girls are doing. Do you think they’ve seen the website?” Nick’s mind suddenly jumped to an image of his pregnant wife. His stomach flipped. “Can stress cause a woman to go into early labour?”

~****~

“Are you sure that we can’t get you a glass of water?” Nate watched as the overly pregnant brunette lowered herself onto the couch. Her face was flushed and she was definitely having trouble catching her breath, but Nate wasn’t quite sure if that was the result of her pregnancy or if her shortness of breath was due to the fact that she had been screaming at him for the past five minutes. “Do you need a minute?”

“What I need is for you to find my husband!” Lauren placed her hands against her swollen stomach and glared at the two detectives sitting across from her. She gestured wildly at the laptop that was open on the coffee table; at the real-time video of Nick and Brian huddled together on the ground. “He’s right there on the fucking Internet! Go and find him!”

“Lauren, honey, you need to breathe.” Kristin dropped down next to Lauren on the couch and patted her lightly on the arm. Her friend’s ragged breaths were starting to alarm her. “You’re going to go into labour if you don’t calm down.”

“How am I supposed to calm down when Nick has been captured by some lunatic who thinks it’s okay to drag a knife across his face?!” Lauren dissolved into tears and sagged against Kristin’s shoulder. She was well aware of the fact that her over-active hormones weren’t helping the situation, but she had long since lost all control of her thoughts. “I’m going to be a single mother! I’m going to be an ugly, fat, widow with a baby!”

“Okay, first of all, you’re not ugly or fat.” Rochelle leaned forward from her position in one of the two armchairs that were stationed next to the couch and shoved a bottle of water into Lauren’s shaking hands. “Second, you’re not going to be a widow because Nick is not going to die.” She leaned back against the paisley printed cushion of the chair, folded her arms across her chest, and looked pointedly at the detectives. “Right?”

“Right.” Julie hastily jumped in. “Nobody is going to die.”

“You can’t be sure of that.” Lauren wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand before chugging almost half of the bottle of water. “And I’m totally fat; everyone says so.”

“If, by ‘everyone’, you mean the Internet trolls who like to run their mouths on your Instagram posts, then you can direct their attention to me so that I can tell them to shove their comments up their ...” Leighanne cast a sideways glance at Baylee before she finished. “... butts.”

“Sure, mom.” Baylee rolled his eyes. “You tell those haters to shove their comments up their butts. That will really make things better.”

“Baylee, I really don’t need any attitude from you at the moment.” Leighanne let out a long sigh in an attempt to keep from lashing out at her son. Her nerves were shot. “I can always put you on a plane back to Georgia to stay with your ...”

“I’m not going home!” Baylee exploded. He sat forward on the couch and glared at this mother who was sitting next to Rochelle in the other armchair. “Dad has been fucking kidnapped! If you think that I’m getting on a plane and going home to a babysitter while you stay here to help figure out where he is then you’re all kinds of bat shit crazy! I’m not a little kid, mom! I deserve to be here too!”

“Watch your language!” Leighanne snapped. She closed her eyes briefly to compose herself. “If you can’t behave yourself, then you will be sent home. The other ladies agreed that you were old enough to be a part of this discussion, but right now you’re not demonstrating to me, or to anyone in this room, that you’re mature enough to handle what’s happening with your father.”

“That’s because nobody can tell us what is happening with dad!” Baylee flung himself backwards on the couch and turned towards Leigh who was sitting next to him. “Can you please tell my mom that she’s being unfair?”

Leigh smiled softly despite her own internal worries. The older Baylee got, the more he reminded her of Brian. The young teenager may have had a good ol’ southern boy exterior, but he was a fighter on the inside; fiercely protective of the ones that he cared about the most. “I’ll back you up if stop dropping f-bombs while your mother is in the room.”

“He does bring up a good point.” Rochelle interjected. She was still looking expectantly at the detectives. “How is it possible that the NYPD hasn’t uncovered any new information? It’s been ages since you called me to let me know that my husband had been kidnapped by a psychopath. In that time, the five of us somehow all managed to find flights into a city that is in the process of digging out of a massive snow storm, Nick has had his face slashed, and AJ has been forced to drink himself back into alcoholism. How can you sit there and tell me that there has been enough time for all of us to endure irreversible suffering, but not enough time for the police to determine the location of a video feed that’s being broadcasted live over the fucking In-ter-net?!”

Julie cringed inwardly at the blonde woman’s words. She had no answer. Well, she had no answer that would make the situation any better. She had plenty of responses that would make the situation worse.

The NYPD’s top-rated ‘hackers’ were working around the clock to try and determine the origin of the video feed; to pinpoint an IP address that would lead them to the location of the Backstreet Boys. So far, they had come up empty handed. Whoever was in charge of the video and the NetPhantom Twitter account was highly skilled; apparently even more highly skilled than the elite, hand-picked members of the NYPD’s cyber crimes unit.

“Ladies, you have to give us a little more time to ...” Nate cut himself off mid-sentence. He let out a strangled grunt as his eyes picked up rapid movement on the laptop screen. It was happening again.

“What? What are you ...” Kristin, too, cut herself off as she followed the male detective’s gaze. Her stomach dropped. The next poll had just appeared on the screen and the votes were already pouring in.

“Why is this happening?!” Lauren once again dissolved into sobs as she read the question. “I – I just can’t – I just can’t watch anything else happen to Nick!”

Phantom @NetPhantom (1 min)
It’s time for another game! Which @backstreetsboys is a liar? Cast your vote now!


End Notes:
So sorry for the delay in updating! Life has been a bit crazy lately; no time to write, even though I want to! I hope everyone who has been reading is still with me. :)
Chapter 15 by KeepThisSecret
“This is going so much better than I expected.” Angelo grinned as he looked at the account balance. “Like, a lot better.” He turned to his younger brother. “You can go ahead and make that first payment any time now.”

“I already made it.” Carl refilled his glass with scotch and raised his eyes to meet Angelo’s.

“You did?” Angelo quickly scanned the screen. Carl wasn’t lying; there was a withdrawal notification for five thousand dollars time stamped for a few hours earlier. Angelo looked at the total account balance again and his smile intensified. At this rate, Carl was going to be able to make the second payment well ahead of schedule.

“People are really into this stuff, huh?” Carl sat down at the kitchen table across from his brother. He took a long swallow of scotch before checking the other laptop screen; the one with the live video feed of the Backstreet Boys.

“This just proves how sick the world really is.” Angelo shook his head, but the smile never left his face. “The NetPhanton Twitter account already has over a million followers. Have you checked it out lately? The Backstreet fans are totally getting outnumbered by the sickos; it’s hilarious!”

“Yeah.” Carl forced a smile. “Hilarious.”

The smile left Angelo’s face. “What’s wrong with you? The plan is working, the money is rolling in. Why are you not happy?”

“I am happy.” Carl knew that he had to choose his words carefully. “I just don’t want things to get out of hand. Like, with AJ; we didn’t have to put those drugs in the vodka ...”

Angelo shrugged. “We didn’t have to kidnap them in the first place, but we did. You agreed to this, little brother. You can’t get soft now that the plan is starting to pay off. The numbers speak for themselves; the more we torture these losers, the more people are going to vote, and the more money we’re going to make.”

“I’m not arguing with any of that.” Carl sighed. “It’s just – we just agreed that we weren’t going to kill them and now it seems like ...”

Angelo interrupted his brother with a long, drawn out laugh. “What you may have assumed and what we actually agreed to do are clearly two different things. Those little shits have seen our faces. Did you really think that we were just going to let them walk away?!” Angelo laughed again. “Don’t look so sad, Carl. The Backstreet Boys were always going to die, and by the time we’re finished with them, they’re all going to be wishing for death anyway.”

“How many more times do you think he’s gonna be sick?” Nick winced as he listened to AJ retch into the stainless steel toilet for the tenth time that morning. “Listening to him puke is starting to make me feel sick.”

“Poor you!” Howie rolled his eyes at Nick as he turned away from the sink. He handed the wet washcloth to AJ and helped him sit back against the wall. “Life’s hard for you isn’t it, Nick? I’m sure AJ is totally broken up over the fact that his puking is making your tummy upset.”

“He wasn’t intentionally trying to be insensitive!” Brian immediately jumped to Nick’s defence. “He’s obviously just worried about the fact that AJ’s been puking his brains out ever since he woke up.”

Howie rolled his eyes again; this time at Brian. “So, you and Nick have your first meaningful interaction in, like, ten years and all of a sudden you’re defending his stupidity? I hate to burst your bubble Brian, but Nick bailed on the whole Frick and Frack bullshit years ago.”

“I can defend anyone I want!” Brian stood up and took a step towards Howie.

Brian could feel the anger bubbling up his throat. He didn’t completely know why, but he was suddenly feeling fiercely protective of Nick. The image of the knife cutting into Nick’s face and the notion that he could have been killed was still fresh in Brian’s mind. Even worse, the idea that Nick could have died while their relationship was still strained was eating away at Brian’s conscience.

“And, right now, you’re choosing to stand up for Nick to help ease your guilt.” Howie, too, took a step forward; closing the gap between him and Brian. “I can see it in your face, Brian. You’re worried that we’re all going to die and that you’re going to have to face God without having repented for all of your sins.” You know that you’re a self-centred, self-righteous asshole and you think that making amends with Nick is going to save you. Well, I hate to tell you, Brian, but you can’t fake your way through the pearly gates.”

Brian stared back at Howie; his mouth agape. He couldn’t believe that Howie had actually had the audacity to call him out. The other guys never challenged his behaviour, or questioned the motives behind his actions. Did they all feel the way that Howie did? Did they all think that he was a fake?

“What’s the matter, Brian?” Howie taunted. “Do you have nothing to say now that you can’t tell a lie? Maybe it’s a good thing that you’re currently in the lead for the next little game that these lunatics have planned for us.”

That was it. Brian lunged at Howie, catching him around the waist and tackling him to the cement floor. Howie grunted in surprise, but he held his own as Brian’s elbow slammed into his chest. In a matter of seconds, the two men were rolling across the width of the room; both of them fighting for control as they dodged each other’s fists.

“Brian! Brian; fuck, man, stop!” Nick threw himself into the middle of the fight. He looped his arm around Brian’s chest and jerked him away from Howie’s flailing body. The force of the movement sent them both topping over backwards onto the floor, and Nick let out a moan of regret as his back connected with the cement and absorbed most of Brian’s weight. “Fuuuuuck!”

“Let me go!” Brian struggled to break free of Nick’s iron-clad grip. “For fuck’s sake, Nick, let go of me!”

“You need to calm down!” Nick used his height to his advantage. He swung one of his long legs out and around Brian’s torso, effectively flipping Brian over onto his back and pinning him to the ground at the same time. He straddled Brian’s chest and pushed his shoulders into the cement, breathing heavily as Brian continued to twist beneath him. “Relax, Bri. Relax.”

Brian tried one more time to lift his shoulders off of the ground, but he finally allowed his body to go limp as he stared up into Nick’s wounded expression. The blonde was struggling to catch his breath, and Brian could see the pain flicker across his face as he straightened his back. Brian immediately felt guilty. He hadn’t meant to hurt Nick. He had only meant to hurt Howie. Stupid, fucking Howie; this was entirely his fault.

“Seriously!?” Kevin shot Brian an undecipherable look over the top of Nick’s head as he strode over and knelt down next to Howie who was still sprawled out on the floor, panting heavily and staring at the ceiling.

Kevin sighed heavily as he looked down into the Latino’s angry face. There wasn’t much else he could do with his hands stuck behind his back. “D, are you alright?”

Howie snorted. He pushed himself into a sitting position and gave Kevin a weak smile. He knew that Kevin was itching to help him, and he didn’t want to make the older man feel worse by telling him that he wasn’t okay. How could he possibly be okay after everything that had just transpired?

“I think that we all need to take a step back and reassess what’s happening here.” Kevin chose his words carefully as he repositioned himself on the floor. He could tell that Howie was upset; that he was feeling betrayed by the one person in the room who he had expected to stick up for him. “We’re all going to have to put our personal feelings aside if we’re going to make it through this ...”

“We don’t need a lecture, Kev.” Howie interrupted. “I should have known better.”

“Howie ...” Kevin raised his eyes to the ceiling for guidance. “I’m not saying that you can’t have an opinion. I’m saying that we all need to make a conscious effort to not take things so seriously. We’re all stressed out and at least one of us isn’t thinking clearly ...”

“I’m assuming that the one person that you’re referring to is me.” Brian spoke up from beyond Nick’s frame. He pushed himself up onto his elbows so that he could get a better view of his cousin, and Nick quickly slipped off of him. “Why are we not discussing the fact that Howie just called me a ...”

“For fuck’s sake, everyone just shut the fuck up!” AJ pleaded. He forced himself to open his eyes and to look at each of his bandmates in turn. If his head hadn’t been pounding, he probably would have screamed at all of them for being so stupid.

“AJ, we’re ...” Nick started, but AJ held up his hand to silence him.

“I don’t need to hear that you’re sorry.” AJ looked pointedly at Nick. “You all just need a fucking reality check. Nick, you miss Brian, and Brian misses you. The two of you need to just man the fuck up and hug things out so we can all move on with life. Brian, I love you man, but Howie’s right; sometimes you are a self-centered asshole and it pisses us all off when you use your faith as an excuse to be a dumb-shit. Howie, Nick will never side with you when the going gets tough. It may be a harsh blow to your ego, but you gotta deal with it. Kev, nobody needs you to solve their problems. In case you’re interested, we all want to gouge your eyes out with a spoon when you give us a lecture.”

“AJ ...” Nick tried again, but he was once again silenced by AJ’s hand.

“I’m also gonna call myself out so that the rest of you ladies don’t get your panties in a twist.” AJ rubbed at his forehead and closed his eyes briefly before continuing. The light was hurting his brain. “I hate taking sides, so I’m always gonna stay quiet until Brian or Nick backs me up. Sorry if that upsets any of you, but I guess I’m just as much of a selfish prick as Brian. Now, I’m currently fighting the need to suck back another bottle of vodka, and I really don’t give a shit about anyone else’s feelings at the moment. All I want is for you to all shut the fuck up so I can nurse my hangover in peace.”

“AJ ...”

AJ sighed. He had a splitting headache. “Yeah, Nick?”

“Thanks.”
Chapter 16 by KeepThisSecret
“Do you want some more water?”

AJ shook his head. The dull ache in the centre of his skull was finally starting to fade. He couldn’t remember the last time that he had felt this bad. He also couldn’t remember the last time he had wanted a drink this badly. The cravings were hurting him more than the pain in his head. All he wanted to do was curl up with a bottle of liquor and drink away his misery.

“You should have more water.” Brian kept talking as he stood up and moved towards the tiny sink to fill up AJ’s empty water bottle. “It will make you feel better.”

AJ rubbed at his heavy eyes and resisted the urge to groan. He knew that Brian was only trying to help; that he was trying to apologize for attacking Howie by being extra attentive.

“Stop moving! How do you expect me to get it in your mouth if you keep turning your head?”

This time, AJ fought back the desire to laugh as he redirected his attention to Nick and Kevin. The two of them were sitting on the floor; Kevin was leaning against the wall and Nick was sitting cross-legged in front of him. Every few seconds, Nick would rip off another bite-sized piece of Kevin’s sandwich and pop it into the older man’s mouth. Unfortunately for Kevin, Nick’s aim appeared to be a bit off.

“You should just be happy that I’m doing this for you.” Nick retorted in response to Kevin’s angry growl. “Hell, you should just be happy about the fact that they decided to feed us at all.”

“I hope yours was poisoned.” Kevin grumbled as Nick mashed yet another piece of the ham and cheese sandwich into his nose. “Seriously? How hard is it to get in my mouth?”

“That’s what she said!” AJ let loose a long cackle at his own joke. He immediately regretted his decision and grabbed at his forehead as his own laughter aggravated his headache. “Worth it.” He announced as Brian returned from the sink and handed him the re-filled bottle of water.

“Do you think they did poison the food?” Nick ignored AJ’s crude remark and widened his eyes at Kevin. “Why wouldn’t you say something before we all ate it?”

“It’s not poisoned!” Howie rolled his eyes at Nick. “They want to keep us alive for their stupid games, remember? Do you really think they would have gone through all of this trouble if all they wanted to do was kill us with some tainted lunch meat?”

AJ followed Howie’s lead and rolled his eyes at Brian as the older man sat down beside him. He jerked his head in Nick’s direction. “Are you really sure that you want to be friends with that again?”

Brian grinned. “His paranoia is endearing.”

“I can hear you!” Nick shot back. He crammed the final piece of sandwich into Kevin’s mouth and leaned back to glare at Brian and AJ. “I’m not paranoid. I’m realistic.”

“Sure, Nicky.” AJ rolled his eyes for a second time. He took a sip of water and swallowed hard. God, he wished that he was drinking something much stronger. Maybe if he pretended that he was drinking a beer ...

“You feeling less fuzzy yet?” Brian dropped his voice so that his conversation with AJ could be more personal. “Still feeling dizzy?”

“I feel more focused.” AJ shrugged.

“Did – do you think that the vodka messed you up?” Brian lowered his eyes to his hands as he spoke. The thought of AJ relapsing after he had been sober for so long was hard to digest.

AJ hesitated. He didn’t want to tell Brian the truth. His friend already looked so wounded, and he didn’t want to hurt him any more than he already had with his earlier bout of verbal diarrhea. Still, he felt somewhat obligated to share his true feelings after reaming out the others for not being man enough to air their grievances.

“I want a drink so bad, Bri.” AJ sighed. “I can’t – I don’t remember ever wanting one this badly. Maybe whatever drug they gave me is making the cravings worse ...”

Brian licked his lips. That was the answer that he had been afraid of. “You’ll be able to fight it.”

“Ya think?” AJ chugged some more water. His brain still felt a bit fuzzy, but the effects of whatever drug he had ingested were definitely starting to wear off. He really wished he knew what he had been given. Whatever it was, the dosage was still lingering almost forty-eight hours later. “I’m gonna have to pee again.”

“It’s Kevin’s turn to shield you.” Brian chuckled. “Try not to splash him this time.”

“We really should have started this whole blocking the camera rotation before I flashed my goods all over the Internet.” Nick grumbled. “I don’t even want to know how many people captured a screen-shot of me taking a piss.”

Kevin let out an undignified snort. “You should have thought ahead.”

“Since when do I ever think ahead?” Nick raised his eyebrows. “Ya’ll should have warned me.”

“I thought you guys didn’t need me to solve your problems.” Kevin’s voice lost its jovial tone. He looked pointedly at AJ. “I thought that my lectures made you all want to pry your eyeballs out.”

“They do.” AJ deadpanned. “But that doesn’t mean that we don’t appreciate them to some extent.” He let out a long breath before continuing. “Listen fellas, I meant every single word that I said before. We all do shit that piss each other off, but none of us can change who we are. The only thing that we can change is the way that we deal with each other.”

“What the hell did they put in that vodka? A truth serum?” Howie quipped. “What’s with all the deep, meaningful thoughts, J?”

“I dunno. Maybe I’m just trying to convince the voters that I’m not a liar so that I don’t have to play another one of these assholes’ stupid games.” AJ wiggled his eyebrows at Howie who was sitting on the ground next to Kevin. “My liver can only take so much.”

This time it was Brian who snorted. “Pretty sure I’ve won this one.” He held up the iPad for emphasis. “Two minutes to go and I’m well in the lead.”

“How many people have voted?” Nick stood up from the floor and bent his back into a deep stretch. “Would it kill these guys to give us a couple of pillows?”

“There have been over twenty-five thousand votes!” Brian’s eyes widened as he answered Nick’s question. “They even upped the price to two dollars per vote. You would think that all of these people would have better things to do with their money.”

“These jerkoffs just made fifty thousand dollars by exploiting our misery?!” Howie pressed his eyes shut. “The whole world is going to hell.”

“Now, now, Howie, that’s a very pessimistic comment.” The mechanical voice crackled to life. “The whole world isn’t going to hell ... just the people who voted.”

“And you.” Howie opened his eyes and focused his steely gaze on the camera. “You’re going to hell too.”

“You’ve already told us that, Howie.” The voice chided. “You really need to come up with some new material.”

“New material, huh? Like what? Your names?” Howie sneered. “I could let the whole world know who you guys are!”

The voice laughed. “Go ahead, Howie. Tell the world who we are.”

Howie bit at his tongue in frustration. Of course, he couldn’t actually remember the names of the two men. He had just been trying to get under their skin.

“What’s the matter, Howie? Cat got your tongue?” The voice continued to laugh.

“Assholes.” Howie folded his arms across his chest and sank back against the wall. He felt like an idiot.

“Now that Howie is done with his little tantrum, we can all get back to business.” The mechanical voice turned serious. “It’s time for the next game to commence, and it seems as though Brian is the winner. How do you feel about that, Brian?”

“Just peachy.” Brian’s sarcasm was approaching a whole new level. “Ya’ll gonna drug me too?”

“You’ll just have to wait and seeeee.” The voice drawled. “Wait for us by the door. We’re coming to get you.”

“Don’t go!” Nick grabbed a hold of Brian’s arm as soon as the static cleared from the speakers; the tell-tale sign that the man behind the voice had left. “Don’t just wait by the door and let them take you away.”

“It ain’t gonna be that bad.” Brian looked up into Nick’s determined, yet worried, face and tried to force some confidence into his own voice. “They’re probably just gonna hook me up to a lie detector and ask me some stupid questions.”

Nick ran his tongue across his lips and gripped Brian’s arm a little bit tighter. “We can’t just keep letting them control the situation. There’s five of us and only two of them. We know that they’re going to come in here with guns, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t overpower them. Kevin’s pretty much useless because of those stupid handcuffs, but the four of us can still rush them and take them down.”

“Nick’s right.” AJ stood up. He still felt a bit wobbly on his feet, but he was game for attempting an escape. “We can tackle them as soon as they open the door.”

Nick nodded eagerly at AJ. “Howie and I will go for the bigger one, and you and Brian can focus on the other guy.”

“I dunno ...” Brian was still staring up into Nick’s face. His heart was beating a mile a minute. He knew that Nick was right; he knew that they needed to at least try to break free, but he was still petrified of making their already bad situation even worse.

“Let’s do it!” Kevin slid himself up the wall and got to his feet. “I’ll wait by the door. Seeing me standing there instead of Brian should confuse them just long enough for you guys to make your move.”

“This is a gamble.” Howie clenched his teeth as he watched Kevin take up his position next to the door. “It could be a big mistake ...”

As soon as the words were out of Howie’s mouth, the massive lock clunked over in the door. The handle creaked under the pressure of someone’s hand. It was now or never.

“Please, Bri.” Nick dug his fingers into Brian’s arm and glanced anxiously at the door. “Let’s just try.”

“Fine.” Brian relented. He shrugged out of Nick’s grip and the two of them moved forward to join AJ and Howie who were both waiting with bated breath for the door to open.

“Ready?” Nick whispered as the door inched open. He waited until the bigger of the two men had put one foot inside of the room before giving his final instruction.“Go!”

As soon as the man’s eyes narrowed in confusion at the sight of Kevin standing by the door, Nick ploughed forward; catching the beefy man around the waist in a football-style tackle. The man grunted in surprise and stumbled backwards, but, much to Nick’s dismay, he remained on his feet.

Out of the corner of his eye, Nick could see AJ and Brian rushing at the other man. He could see Howie reaching for the bigger man’s neck, and then he was all of a sudden flat on his back.

“Stupid!” The bigger man screamed as he slammed Nick into the cement floor with one smooth twist of his body. “Did you really think that you would be able to fight me?!”

The man placed the bottom of his boot against Nick’s side and kicked him roughly out of the way. He then kicked at Howie who was already on the floor; crab-walking as fast as he could to get out of the way. Raising his gun in one hand, the large man used his other hand to yank AJ backwards by his shoulder; sending him tumbling to the floor next to Howie.

A single bullet dislodged from the chamber and Nick felt his blood run cold as he listened to the cry of pain that reverberated through the room only seconds later. He drew his hands up to cover his head as he rolled along the floor, but he knew that the action was pointless; the man had already hit his target.

“Take him!” The man yelled the instruction to his partner. “Leave the rest of them to deal with the consequences of their mistake.”
Chapter 17 by KeepThisSecret
Julie let out a high-pitched gasp as the gunshot rang out through the tinny laptop speakers. Her hand flew up to cover her mouth as she watched Kevin hit the floor. She felt like she was watching a movie; a terrible, gut-wrenching film with an ending that was still impossible to predict. The tears prickled Julie’s eyes as Kevin’s blood began to stain the concrete. If this was a movie, she would have been screaming at the screen; berating the fictional police for not being able to prevent one of the leading characters from getting shot. Julie hated the fact that this was reality. She hated the fact that she was the law-enforcement official who hadn’t been able to put the pieces together fast enough in order to keep Kevin from getting hurt.

“Jesus Christ!” Nate rubbed at his droopy eyes and sat forward in his chair. He leaned in towards the laptop screen and banged his fist against the well-worn desk. “What the fuck were those idiots thinking?! Did they really think that they were going to be able to escape?!”

“They’re obviously getting desperate.” Julie kept her eyes trained on the screen as she spoke. She felt her stomach churn as she listened to the frantic screams echoing through the speakers. “You don’t think he’s ...”

“Dead?” Nate shook his head. “Nah, it looks like they got him in the shoulder. Lucky bastard. He should have never listened to the blonde one – what’s his name – Carter?”

Julie finally drew her eyes away from the screen and stared at the side of her partner’s face. She resisted the urge to make a snide remark about his “lucky bastard” comment. “Where are we in terms of the tracking?”

“Nowhere.” Nate picked up his darkened phone and dropped it back down onto the desk for emphasis. He leaned back in his chair and glanced towards the timeline that was laid out on the whiteboard. There were too many gaps; too many unknowns for them to be able to make any progress. They needed a lead and they needed one fast. “Did we get anything useable out of the tow-truck guy?”

Julie shook her head. “He couldn’t tell us anything that we didn’t already know. He didn’t even want to bother with a sketch artist. Apparently, he barely recognized Howie’s photo when it was shown too him. He said that it had been snowing too heavily for him to be able to see anyone clearly.”

Nate let out a noise that was a cross between a sigh and a grunt of frustration. “Any hit on a security camera?”

Again, Julie shook her head. “We have some footage of them taking Nick – err Carter – down on the street, but we don’t have anything that clearly shows the vehicle or the licence plate.” She paused to return her eyes to the video feed; Nick was rolling along the floor with his hands over his head. “Don is still working to get the parking garage footage up and running, but he’s fairly certain that it’s a lost cause. If it hadn’t been for that small blip in the alternate footage that those guys were able to rig up, we probably still wouldn’t even know that Littrell and McLean were taken literally right out from under us.”

“This is impossible!” Nate could feel the frustration beginning to build in his chest. “They’re right there!” He jabbed his finger against the laptop screen. “I don’t think that we’ve ever worked a case like this. If we don’t produce some kind of a lead, we’re going to get lynched by their out-of-control fan base!”

“Did I just overhead that you’re still not making any progress? Please tell me that I heard wrong!”

Julie turned away from the image of Howie and AJ hurling themselves onto the cement floor and looked up into the face of the division captain. Captain Castelo was striding towards the two of them, and he looked significantly less than impressed. Her stomach lurched again. Forget the fans; Captain Castelo was going to lynch them himself.

“I’ve just finished informing two families that their loved ones will never be coming home.” Captain Castelo sank into the empty desk chair across from Nate and Julie and gave the two detectives a pointed look. “Who knew that protecting a couple of aging boy-band members could actually be deadly?”

Nate winced at the Captain’s words. He had almost forgotten about the two dead bodyguards. “Sorry, Captain. We wish that we had something new to tell you ...”

Captain Castelo pinched the bridge of his nose. He had been nursing the onset of a migraine for the past hour and the news that his two best detectives were making no headway in the most high-profile case to ever come across his desk certainly wasn’t helping the growing pain in his skull. “I have to address the media with something before the end of the day, and I do not want to look like a fool. So, I suggest that the two of you get your asses in gear and start going over ever single possible lead with a fine-toothed comb!” He nodded his head in the direction of the laptop; Brian was now being dragged from the room. “These guys are getting increasingly violent, and I do not want to be responsible for the death of a fucking Backstreet Boy!” Captain Castelo raised his eyebrows and peered intently at both Nate and Julie. “Understood?”

“Yes, Sir.” Julie and Nate mumbled their response in unison as Captain Castelo hoisted himself to his feet and pointed himself in the direction of his office.

“I mean it.” Captain Castelo paused to give the detectives one last pointed look before he opened his office door. “I want at least one solid piece of information that’s going to help us solve this case on my desk before five o’clock tonight or else I’m gonna send the two of you out to that press conference to get torn apart by the media.”

“Yes, Sir.” Julie repeated her statement to the Captain’s closed office door. She absently twisted her hair up on top of her head and cast a sideways glance at the laptop screen. The footage had flipped to the secondary room; the one in which AJ had been forced to drink the vodka. Julie sighed and bit at her lower lip. She allowed her hair to fall back down over her shoulders as she watched the two men begin to tie Brian to a chair. To echo the Captain’s sentiment; she didn’t have any desire to be responsible for the death of a fucking Backstreet Boy.

“Ya’ll just shot my cousin ...” Brian trailed off as the two men dragged him into another cavernous space and shoved him down onto a wooden chair. He was loosely aware of the fact that he was being securely tied to the chair, and he was even more loosely aware of the fact that he should be fighting back. Still, his mind was focused on Kevin; on the image of his cousin hitting the floor and the concrete turning red with his blood. “Ya’ll just shot Kevin ...”

“Just be thankful that we didn’t shoot you.” The bigger of the two men grumbled. He roughly yanked Brian’s shirt up and over his head as he pulled at the ropes to fully secure Brian’s torso to the chair. “Of course, after you’re done with our little test, you might actually wish that we had just gone ahead and shot you.”

The man’s words, combined with the sudden feeling of the ropes cutting into the bare skin on his chest, jostled Brian’s brain back into the present. He flipped his eyes to his masked captors; silently cursing himself for not having even attempted to escape. He hadn’t used the chaotic situation to his advantage; Kevin had gotten shot for nothing.

“What kind of a game are we gonna play?” Brian took note of the tremor in his own voice as he struggled to stay calm. “Ya’ll think that I’m a liar?”

“Not us.” The big man laughed again as he pushed a small table into the centre of the room. He gestured towards the small polygraph machine that was laid out neatly on top of the table next to a laptop and quickly adhered two of the sensors to Brian’s chest. “It’s the voters who think that you have something to hide.”

Brian squirmed as the man grabbed at his left hand and pushed two sensory rings down onto his fingers; one onto his index finger and the second around his ring finger next to his wedding band. He watched silently as the man then moved to secure a blood pressure cuff around his upper arm. He was already starting to sweat and the ‘game’ hadn’t even started yet.

“You ready?” The bigger man called to his partner as he finished securing the blood pressure cuff. “I’m gonna pop out and get the other thing.”

“Yeah.” The slightly smaller man stood up from binding Brian’s feet to the chair. “I’m ready.” He stepped forward and plugged the polygraph machine into the laptop. “You want me to get things going?”

“Sure.” The bigger man smirked at Brian. “There’s no point in keeping everyone waiting.”

Brian licked his lips. He watched the bigger, angrier looking man exit the room through a heavy door before turning his full attention to the second man who was tapping away at the laptop’s keyboard. After a few seconds, the rhythmic beeping of the polygraph filled the room and the remaining man smiled in satisfaction. Brian’s stomach flipped. He squirmed against the ropes that were holding him to the chair, but his struggles were futile; the bindings were too tight for him to move.

“I’m assuming that you know how this works.” The man waved his hand over top of the polygraph. “This machine will measure your respiratory rate, elctro-dermal activity, and your blood pressure to determine if you’re telling the truth.” The man paused as he took in Brian’s blank expression. “Pretty much it’s gonna beep like crazy whenever you tell a lie.”

“So, what happens if it beeps?” Brian decided to try his luck. He could feel the contents of his stomach creeping up his throat. “What happens if I tell a lie?”

The man actually grimaced, but he quickly readopted a neutral expression. “You’ll see.” He glanced towards the door before looking down at the laptop. “Let’s get started. What’s your name?” The man raised his eyes to Brian when he didn’t respond. “You have to answer.”

Brian let out a long, ragged sigh. What would happen if he chose not to say anything? Was it a chance that he was willing to take? His mind flipped to his cousin, and he squeezed his eyes shut in a useless attempt to silence the memory of Kevin’s torturous cry of pain. He probably didn’t want to put these two men to the test.

“Brian. My name is Brian.”

“Good.” The man nodded in approval as the steady beeps continued to fill the room. “Are you married?”

“Yes.”

“Do you love your wife?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have any children?”

“Yes.”

“How many children do you have?”

“Just one; a son, Baylee.”

“Do you wish that you had more children?”

Brian licked at his dry lips. He could sense that the questions were leading up to ones that he was not going to want to answer. “Yes.”

“If you could only save your wife or your son from a life-threatening situation, who would you save?”

Once again, Brian squeezed his eyes shut. The steady beep of the lie detector was pounding against the inside of his skull. “My son.”

“If it was guaranteed that nobody would ever find out, would you cheat on your wife?”

Brian took a deep breath. “No.”

The beeping immediately increased and Brian forced himself to open his eyes. The angrier sounding man had returned, and he was practically salivating at the lines that were now peaking and bouncing wildly across the steady stream of paper that was spilling out of the polygraph. He pulled a small blowtorch out from behind his back and turned it on so that a white-hot flame lit up the room. He picked up a long iron rod and held the torch out to the flattened end.

Brian’s eyes widened as he took in the iron rod. He could feel the sweat clinging to his eyebrows. It looked like a device that farmers used to brand cattle, except for the fact that this prod had been specially crafted with the word “LIAR”. Brian watched, almost hypnotized with fear, as the flame licked at the bottom of the ‘L’. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what the man was going to do if he kept lying.

“We’re going to give you three strikes.” The bigger man laughed. “How does that sound, Brian?” Would you like to change your answer?”

Brian swallowed hard. He thought about all of the times that he had snuck a second glance at an extra pretty girl, about all of the times that he had “accidentally” kissed a fan on the mouth, about all of the times that he had let other woman run their hands all over him, about all of the bodies his own hands had touched over the years.

“Yeah.” Brian changed his answer. His voice sounded thick. Leighanne was going to kill him. “Yeah, I would cheat if it was a guarantee that nobody would ever find out.”

“Have you already cheated? Is that why your wife is always around; why she never seems to leave you alone?”

Brian nodded. He was crying now. “Yeah ... it was a long time ago though. It was a mistake. I made a mistake.”

“That’s what I thought.” The bigger man laughed as the machine settled back down. “Doesn’t it feel so much better to tell the truth?”

“Not really.” Brian watched as the machine maintained its neutral stance. His tear-streaked face curved up into a soft smirk; at least he knew that the machine was working.

“If you had to sleep with one of your friends’ wives, who would it be?” The other man quickly issued the next question.

“Like, one of the other fellas’ wives? From the group?” Brian licked his lips. His heart was definitely starting to beat faster.

“That’s right.” The smaller of the two men nodded his head. “Quit stalling.”

“Jesus.” Brian cursed softly under his breath. His eyes flicked to the man with the poker; he was busy heating up the ‘A’. He was going to get lynched. “Ro – Rochelle.”

“Do you like being a Backstreet Boy?” The man suddenly flipped to a simple question.

“Yeah.”

“Has your voice been sounding different lately?”

“Yeah.” Brian raised his eyebrows at the man who was asking the questions. The queasiness in his stomach had returned. He knew that the proper questions were coming. He just knew.

“Are you upset that you don’t get to sing as much as you used to?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you feel as though the others want you out of the group?”

Brian took a deep breath. The bigger man was touching the flame to the ‘R’. “Sometimes ...yeah.”

“Who do you think is responsible for trying to push you out of the group?”

“Nick ...” Brian hurried to finish his answer as the machine started to beep faster. “... and Howie. Nick and Howie.”

“Do you think that you’re better than Nick?”

“No.”

“Do you think that you‘re better than Howie?”

Brian pressed his eyes shut. “No.”

The machine spiked as soon as the single word left Brian’s mouth. He forced himself to open his eyes. The bigger man was still brandishing the blowtorch against the iron rod. He wasn’t looking at Brian, but he was smiling.

“That’s strike two, B-Rok.”

Fuck. The sweat was running down Brian’s chest; pooling around the monitors that were stuck to his skin. What was wrong with him? Why had he lied? He should have known better. Now, he only had one strike left.

“Does it upset you that Howie is being given more opportunities to sing?” The man asking the questions pressed forward.

“Yeah; a little bit.”

“Would you be upset if Howie left the group?”

Brian sighed. “Yeah. Of course I would be upset. I don’t hate Howie. I just don’t want him to sing the parts that should be mine.” Brian wasn’t quite sure why he was still talking, but he couldn’t bring himself to stop. “I know what you guys are trying to do, and it’s not gonna work! If you think that getting me to spill my guts is going to turn us against each other, you’re wrong! The guys already know how I feel. They can read me like an open book even though I pretend that they can’t.”

“So why do you bother to pretend?”

“It makes me feel better.” Brian shrugged. “It’s easier to pretend that everything is fine.”

“What’s your biggest fear, Brian?”

“Becoming irrelevant.” Brian stared hard at the monitor; the beeps stayed steady just as he knew they would. “Of losing everything and everyone because I can no longer be the person I used to be.”

“It’s not dying?” The bigger man looked up from the blowtorch flame. “You do know that you’re going to die, right?”

“Yeah.” Brian could barely get the words out. “I know.”

“Who’s the one person in the world that you would save? If you were standing in a room with everyone that you love and they were all going to die, who would you choose to protect? It can’t be your son; you already picked him over your wife earlier.” The beefy man took a step forward and put down the blowtorch. “Who means more to you than anyone else?”

“I couldn’t pick.” Brian listened as the beeping became faster; watched as the glowing ‘LIAR’ moved towards his chest. “I don’t know who I would pick.”

“That’s strike three, Brian.” The bigger man was coming closer. “Why would you lie?”

“My wife.” Brian squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for the pain that he knew was about to come. “I would save Leighanne.”

He would take the scar; he would only make himself more vulnerable if he told the truth. He knew what the men were trying to find out, and he wasn’t going to make it easy for them. Brian wasn’t stupid. He could see that the men were planning on pitting them all against each other. If he told them the real answer, they would only use it against him later. He could handle the pain. He couldn’t handle watching the one person who he cared about more than anyone else be killed right in front of him.

The monitor was beeping like crazy. Brian could feel the heat getting closer through the layer of sweat that was coating his body. He clenched his teeth and balled his hands into fists. He wasn’t going to let these men win.

“So, so, stupid.” Angelo shook his head as he aimed the white hot piece of iron at Brian’s chest. He carefully selected the area just above his heart; right next to the scar that already marred the southerner’s skin. “You’re nothing but a pathetic, useless, LIAR!” He jabbed his arm forward with his final word, grinning in satisfaction as the heat from the iron seared Brian’s skin; forever branding the aging boy-bander with, what Angelo considered to be, his proper title – ‘LIAR’.




End Notes:
Wow. Sorry for the intense delay. What can I say? Life is crazy, work is crazy, family responsibilities are crazy; basically, everything is crazy for me at the moment!! I feel as though I have no time to do anything, so the updates are definitely going to be pretty irregular from here on out. Hopefully, people are still reading this! :)
Chapter 18 by KeepThisSecret
Rochelle felt as if her hand were literally glued to her mouth. She couldn’t convince herself to lower it, nor could she bring herself to look at Leighanne or at any of the other women who were huddled around her in shocked silence. So, she just stared at the computer screen; watching as Brian slumped forward and slowly slid to the floor as his restraints were released. Tears began to slide down Rochelle’s cheeks as she watched Brian curl himself into the fetal position and start to cry. His sobbing was making it so much worse.

“Can I open my eyes?” Lauren pressed her hands to her stomach as Odin began to kick. Odin – the name that Nick had chosen for their son, the name that was still a secret to everyone but the two of them. “Is it over?”

“Yeah.” Leigh whispered; her eyes trained on the computer screen as the footage flipped back to Howie and the other three guys. “The bit with Brian is over.”

Lauren opened her eyes and dared a quick glance at the screen. She had closed her eyes as soon as Brian had reached his third strike. Her stomach was still churning just from hearing him scream. She had no idea how Leighanne had kept her eyes open, how she had watched her husband endure so much pain.

“I think – I think I just need – I just need a break for a minute.” Leighanne stood up from her perch on the edge of the sofa as soon as Brain disappeared from the screen. Her head was pounding in time with her heart. She could feel her face heating up with a mixture of fear and embarrassment.

“Where are you ...?”

Leighanne held up her hand to silence Rochelle. She forced herself to look into the other woman’s face; to stare into the eyes of the woman who her husband had just admitted to wanting to sleep with. Leighanne knew that Rochelle wasn’t to blame for Brian’s words, but she couldn’t help the anger that was threatening to burst out of her mouth. She needed a minute to think things through and to come to terms with all of the words and admissions that had just tumbled out of her husband’s mouth. She needed to be alone before she unloaded her own bag of truths.

“I’m just going back to my room.” Leighanne drew her eyes away from Rochelle and settled them on her son who was curled up into a corner of the couch; the glow from his phone screen illuminating his tear-streaked face. “Do you want to come with me, Bay?”

“Whatever.” Baylee extricated himself from the couch and stood up to follow his mother. He didn’t want to leave. He wanted to hang around and listen to what everyone had to say about his dad, but he could sense that now was not the right time to tell his mom something that she didn’t want to hear. “Is someone gonna call us if something else, like, you know, happens?

“We’ll call you.” Kristin reached out and gave Baylee’s arm a squeeze as he moved past her. “We promise.”

“Okay.” Baylee nodded. He could feel his eyes getting hot with tears once again. For the first time in his life, he wished that he was still a little kid; that he was at home with a babysitter like the rest of his ‘Backstreet cousins’.

Kristin checked to make sure that Leighanne wasn’t paying them any attention as she tightened her grip on Baylee’s arm and lowered her voice to a whisper. “Bay, I know that all of this is hard for you. It’s hard for me too. It’s hard for all of us.” Kristin paused and checked again to ensure that Leighanne was already moving towards the door. “If you need to talk about anything that just happened, or about anything that your dad said, and your mom doesn’t want to talk, you can always talk to me. Okay?”

“Okay.” Baylee nodded again and swiped at the fresh tears that were already wetting his cheeks. He had so many questions, but right now his mind was too jumbled to say anything more.

“The poor kid.” Leigh shook her head as soon as Leighanne and Baylee had left the room. “He shouldn’t have had to witness any of that.”

“None of us should have had to witness any of that.” Kristin agreed with Leigh’s statement. She rubbed at her eyes and turned her attention back to the laptop as the sound abruptly returned to the video feed. Every time that the feed switched from one room to the other, there was a delay in the audio component.

“... it seems to have stopped bleeding.” Howie’s exhausted voice drifted through the speakers. “I don’t think the gash is very deep.”

Kristin sucked in her breath. Her full attention was now on the real-time image of her husband. The last time that she had seen Kevin, he had been lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood. The entire time that she had been watching the situation with Brian unfold, part of her mind had been consumed by her husband; waiting to see if he was dead.

“Oh, thank God!” Leigh gave voice to Kristin’s thoughts. “Kevin’s alright!”

“It just grazed my shoulder.” Kevin flinched under Howie’s touch. The wound may not have been deep, but it still hurt. “I’m fine.”

“It needs to be wrapped up.” Howie continued to inspect Kevin’s shoulder. “Would it kill these guys to bring us some gauze?”

“I’m such a fuck up.” Nick drew his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around his legs. He didn’t know where to look. He didn’t want to look at Kevin, and he definitely didn’t want to look at the iPad screen anymore. He could actually feel the contents of his stomach rising up his esophagus. He had successfully managed to scar both of the Kentucky cousins for life. “All of this is my fault.”

“Nick ...” AJ trailed off. He was at a loss for words.

As much as he wanted to make Nick feel better, AJ kind of agreed with the blonde. It was Nick’s stupid escape plan that had lead to Kevin getting shot and, even though he hadn’t admitted to it, Brian had lied to avoid having to say Nick’s name. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Brian would save Nick above anyone else. AJ could only hope that their captors weren’t smart enough to figure out Brian’s unwavering loyalty to Nick on their own.

“This is your fault, Nick.” Howie coldly delivered the words that AJ had been too chicken to say. “We should never have listened to you. I don’t know why I keep falling for your bullshit. I don’t know why I constantly let you talk me into doing things that I don’t want to do.”

“D, come on, man.” Kevin winced as he attempted to reposition himself. The skin on his shoulder stretched as he struggled to maneuver his tightly bound hands, causing a fresh trickle of blood to run down his arm. “Didn’t we just talk about not turning on each other?”

“How are we not going to turn on each other now, Kev?” Howie directed his growing hostility towards the oldest member of the group. “Were you not listening to Brian? Did you not hear what he said? Did you not hear those assholes tell him that he was going to die? We’re all going to die, Kev. So, what’s the point in keeping our feelings to ourselves?”

“I heard ...”

Howie interrupted Kevin before he could start. “Nevermind, Kev. I’m being stupid. Brian didn’t say anything about you. He wants to fuck AJ’s wife, he hates the fact that I even exist, and he apparently loves Nick more than his own mother ...”

“We’re family, Howie ...” It was Kevin’s turn to interrupt. “It’s different.”

“I thought we were all supposed to be family.” Howie shot back; his voice painfully patronizing. “Brothers; remember?”

The sound of the lock turning over in the door silenced Kevin’s rebuttal. Brian stumbled into the room and immediately sank to the floor. His chest was still bare; the angry red letters that adorned his skin were already starting to blister, and his face was so puffy that the whites of his eyes were barely visible. Brian said nothing as he assumed a position similar to Nick’s; drawing his knees up and hugging his legs. He kept his eyes down, too afraid and too embarrassed to look anyone in the face.

“Get cleaned up.” Angelo tossed a package of gauze and a bottle of antibacterial lotion into the room. He could feel his smile growing and stretching against the fabric that obscured his face. All five Backstreet Boys looked ragged. They were all wearing down and turning against each other. Everything was going according to plan. “We don’t want any of you dying from an infection before the next game starts.”

AJ got to his feet before anyone else could move. He intercepted the rolling bottle of lotion before it could disappear under the row of cots and passed it off to Howie without looking at him. He swooped down next to Brian as the door slammed shut and the lock slid back into position. Wordlessly, AJ snaked his arms around Brian’s bare shoulders; pulling him into the tightest embrace that his body would allow.

Brian’s body heaved with a new round of tears at AJ’s gentleness. He didn’t deserve any form of compassion. The stamp on his chest was warranted; he was a fake, a hypocrite, a liar. Until now, he had kept himself hidden. He had built up a wall of funny faces, stupid voices, and obnoxious behaviour to keep the real Brian a secret. Nobody was supposed to know about the insecurities and the desires that existed beyond his carefully constructed ‘good Christian boy’ persona, but now the whole world knew.

“I’m sorry, J. I’m sorry.”

AJ tightened his grip on Brian’s shaking frame. He could barely understand him through his sobs. “Why are you sorry?”

“For not letting you guys in. For – for admitting what I did about – about Ro ...”

“We already knew, Bri.” AJ dropped his voice to a whisper in the hopes that the cameras wouldn’t be able to pick up what he was saying. “As much as you think that you just revealed all of your deep, dark secrets, you didn’t say one word that took any of us by surprise. I’ve told you for years to stop pretending, to stop trying to run from the inevitable. You said it yourself; we can all read you like an open book. All of your lies and your omissions weren’t keeping the real you hidden from us. Maybe some of the fans and the better part of the media were fooled, but the people who know you, who truly care about you, always knew different.”

“But what about ...”

“Ro?” AJ squeezed Brian’s shoulder and let out a short laugh; continuing to keep his voice low. “My wife’s hot, dude! It’s not like you actually slept with her. It is what it is, man. You said what you had to say in order to keep yourself safe in that particular moment. Besides, I’m pretty much responsible for your previous extra-marital tryst, so I don’t really have any right to be pissed at you.”

Brian slowly pulled out of AJ’s embrace. His face was so swollen with shame and tears that he could barely make out the younger man’s features. Still, he managed to find AJ’s stare and to hold his gaze for several seconds. The unwavering support that radiated back gave him hope; maybe, all of the guys wouldn’t turn against him after all.

“Bri – Bri, do you want me to – do you need ...”

Brian shifted his swollen eyes upwards to where Nick was towering over him. The sight of Nick looking so awkward and unsure instantly brought more tears to his eyes. Their relationship was a mess. AJ had been right; Brian missed Nick with a ferocity that was almost frightening.

“I think you need some of this ... stuff.” Nick finally managed to string a sentence together. He held out the bottle of lotion and the gauze. “Howie’s done with Kev’s shoulder. It’s not bad. He’s not gonna, like, die or anything from it.”

AJ snorted. “Thanks for that update, Dr. Carter.” He rolled his eyes up at his youngest band-mate and gently nodded his head to suggest that Nick should be the one to help Brian. “Let me get out of your way.” AJ pushed himself off of the floor and patted Nick lightly on the arm. “You got this, Nicky.”

“The next poll is up.”

Howie delivered the news quietly and with exactly zero emotion as soon as AJ rejoined him and Kevin on the other side of the room. He was beyond the point of caring. He didn’t even bother to ask AJ what he and Brian had been whispering about. What did it matter if they were all going to die anyway?

“Already?” AJ looked to Kevin before settling his attention on Howie. The Latino’s distinct lack of emotion hadn’t been lost on him. “What is it?”

“See for yourself.” Kevin nodded in the direction of the iPad that was lying next to him on the cot. “Seems like our captors have turned all 90s fan-girl on us.”

AJ cast a sidelong glance at Kevin as he reached for the tablet, but his confusion disappeared as soon as he looked at the screen. “Which boy is your favourite?” AJ read the question aloud. “What in the actual the fuck ...?”

“Don’t even worry about it.” Howie waved his hand over his head dismissively. “We already know who the favourite is. Nick’s got this one all wrapped up.”

Phantom @NetPhantom (3 mins)
Don’t worry @brianlittrell – your wounds will heal. Now, tell us; who’s your favourite @backstreetsboys? Cast your vote now!
Chapter 19 by KeepThisSecret
“Stop whispering! Stop fucking whispering!” Rochelle dropped her phone onto the table and ran her fingers through her hair. “I hate this!”

“We all hate this.” Kristin slid a Starbucks takeout cup along the table in Rochelle’s direction and waited for the other woman to look up. “Maybe we should stop watching for a bit.”

“I just want to know what AJ said to Brian.” Rochelle sighed. She lifted the takeout cup to her lips with shaky fingers. “I just want to know ...”

Kristin glanced down at the video that was still playing on Rochelle’s phone. “Do you think AJ is upset about – about what Brian said about you?”

Rochelle shook her head. “Nah.” She forced herself to take a sip of coffee. “Brian and I are ...” She stopped; changing her mind. “AJ can’t be mad at Brian.”

“Should one of us go and check on Leighanne?” Leigh hesitated; not quite sure if Rochelle was done delivering her vague response. “I’m sure she’s upset.”

Kristin licked her lips. “Brian didn’t say anything in that room that Leighanne didn’t already know. Their relationship has been a bit rocky lately. Kevin told me as much. If anything, Leighanne is upset that Brian exposed the truth beyond their perfectly staged Instagram posts.”

“It’s still not fair to her.” Rochelle pointed out. “Regardless of what’s going on between her and Brian at the moment, he still made her look like a fool; like some pathetic little puppy who follows him around so he doesn’t stray.” She paused to take a shaky breath. “If I were in her position, I would be devastated to hear my husband admit to the world that I wouldn’t be the one person that he would save.”

“Do you think that part was a surprise to her?” Leigh directed her question to all of the other women.

“She had to have known.” Lauren quickly responded. “Even if she didn’t want to admit it to herself, I think she already knew. I know without a doubt who Nick would pick if he was put in that situation, and I can tell you all with absolute certainty that it wouldn’t be me.”

“Knowing and having your husband confirm your suspicions are two completely different things. If she truly was in denial, Brian’s admission would have been a really tough pill for her to swallow.” Rochelle paused to consider her words. “Of course, I’m not defending her behaviour. This is why AJ and I have the type of relationship that we do; it’s easier to accept the inevitable than it is to try and prevent it.”

“Speaking of things that are inevitable ...” Lauren trailed off and wiggled her phone at the others. “They’ve posted the next poll: which Backstreet Boy is your favourite?” She choked on her words as she read the question off of her Twitter feed. “Let’s all take a guess as to who is gonna win that one.”

Rochelle picked her own phone up off of the table as it pinged with an incoming Twitter notification. She instinctively went to dismiss the message, but the word ‘plan’ caught her attention. “Try not to get too worked up, Lo.” Rochelle addressed Lauren as she quickly read the rest of the message. “It seems as though the fans are mobilizing.”

Kayleigh’s fingers were flying across the screen at an alarming rate. Her thumbs were beginning to cramp from navigating her phone’s keyboard, but she barely noticed. She hadn’t even looked at her ‘To Do’ pile for the work day. She was totally consumed by the situation that was currently unfolding on Twitter.

“Are you going to vote this time?”

Kayleigh checked to make sure that the door to her office was still closed. More and more of her co-workers were beginning to trickle in for the day, and she didn’t want anyone to know that she was obsessing over the Backstreet Boys instead of writing the progress report that was due before her afternoon meeting.

“I think that I have to vote this time.” Kayleigh glanced at the video feed that occupied her entire computer screen as she addressed her answer to the phone on her desk; Sophia was on speaker. “Did you get the Twitter message from Rose?”

“Yeah.” Sophia let out a long, almost tortured sounding sigh. “I don’t know how I feel about it. Did you see that the price is now up to ten dollars per vote?!”

“I’m just going to vote once.” Kayleigh clarified. “And I think that I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna vote for Howie.”

“But what if it doesn’t work out how everyone thinks it will? What if Howie wins and it turns out that he gets to go free?” Sophia voiced the worries that were swirling around in Kayleigh’s head. “I feel like I need to vote for Nick. I need to give him a chance to get out.”

Kayleigh’s eyes honed in on Nick and Brian. The two of them were whispering together on the screen; their voices too low to be picked up by the video feed. Her stomach lurched. Brian was her favourite. Maybe Sophia was right; maybe she should ignore what the fandom was saying and vote for the man who had stolen her pre-teen heart more than two decades ago with his cheeky smile and his soft southern drawl.

“What should we do, Kay?” Sophia’s voice had lost its edge. Now, she just sounded lost.

“I’m voting for Howie, Soph. I think it’s the right choice.”

Kayleigh made her decision as she watched Brian break down yet again. The idea of a world without Brian Littrell made her heart ache, but she knew that her vote would only make a difference if she went with the majority. It was obvious from the previous polls that the men behind the kidnapping knew the boys inside and out. As the message that was circulating on Twitter suggested, the kidnappers would be expecting Nick to win. If Nick didn’t win, there was a chance that it would throw the kidnappers off; cause them to make a mistake that would open them up to the police.

“Why did you do it?” Nick practically choked on the words as he caught Brian’s eye. “Why did you let them do this to you?”

Brian slowly lowered his legs and stared down at his marred chest; at the blistering letters that would forever remind him of this whole terrible ordeal. His whole body began to shake with a new round of tears as Nick gently pressed an antibacterial drenched washcloth against the top of the inflamed ‘R’. The lotion stung with a ferocity that made Brian clench his teeth, but that wasn’t why he was crying. He was sobbing at Nick’s tenderness; at the innocence and hope behind his words.

“I did it because I had to.” Brian sucked in his breath as Nick moved the cloth over to the ‘A’. “I wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction ...”

“But ...”

“They would have used it against us, Nick.” Brian took another ragged breath; waiting for Nick to re-saturate the cloth before touching it against the ‘I’. “They’re trying to turn us against each other, but I don’t think that they know where to go from here. I mean, they seem to know a lot about us, but their understanding is all from the media; from what they’re able to read online. If it comes down to them pairing us off and making us choose or whatever ...”

“What do you mean?”

Nick looked up from tending to Brian’s wounds, and his own chest heaved at the look on the older man’s face. His fingers tightened around the cloth in his hands; squeezing out some of the medication. He watched as the liquid ran down the side of his hand and dripped onto Brian’s jeans, leaving a series of dark wet spots on the fabric. Nick swallowed hard against the lump in his throat. He had felt the other guys looking at him when Brian had said Leighanne’s name; had felt their eyes tearing him apart when the polygraph machine had started beeping. How come everyone had known but him? Why hadn’t he realized that their relationship was still very much intact?

“Nick, I’m sorry for making you believe that I had given up. I’m sorry if you thought that I didn’t care.”

Nick cautiously ran his fingers along the still tender wound on the side of his own face. The irony of the situation wasn’t lost on him. The scars that he and Brian had inflected upon each other over the past few years were finally visible, and now that they were both able to see them it seemed as though that they were both ready to admit that they had made mistakes. Nick’s heart was still hammering in his chest. Brian’s words were making things all too real for him. He had been catching fleeting glimpses of their early friendship for years, but now it was as if he was seeing Brian as a completely different person.

“Nick ...”

“I did it.” This time Nick did choke on his words. “I convinced myself that you didn’t care to make it easier for me to pretend that I didn’t care about you.” He took a much needed breath. “I did this to us.”

“You didn’t.” Brian shook his head. He reached out and grabbed a hold of Nick’s wrist, forcing the younger man to look him directly in the face. “Nick, that stupid lie detector forced me to admit what I’ve needed to say for more than ten years. I can’t keep doing this shit without you; I just can’t.”

Nick licked his lips. His heart was breaking. Brian looked so old, so beat up, so defeated. He was still crying; the tears rolling down his soaking wet and painfully puffy face. He could see the desperation shimmering in Brian’s swollen eyes, but he still held back his words.

“But, you and Leighanne ...”

“I made a mistake.” Brian interrupted. He kept his voice to a whisper to prevent the camera from picking up the conversation, even though he felt like screaming. “I love my wife, but I let her opinions dictate my own. I sided with Leighanne because a good Christian man always stands by his wife. Only, in my case, my efforts to be fiercely loyal to the woman in my life blew up in my face. It’s made me unhappy, it’s made me unfaithful, and it’s made me give up the relationships that I truly need.”

“I wouldn’t choose Lauren either.” Nick let out the admission in one breath; before he could lose his nerve. “I love her and Od – and the baby – more than I know how to say, but if I had been in your situation ...”

“I miss you, Nick!” Brian’s tearful confession came out louder than he had intended, and he hastily dropped his voice back to a whisper as the other guys all raised their heads. “I’m sorry that I fucked this all up. I’m sorry for all of it.”

“I’m sorry too, Brian.”

Nick opened his arms and tightened them around Brian’s smaller frame. Brian’s skin felt clammy under his touch, and Nick’s mind immediately jumped to the wounds on his friend’s chest. What if they were already infected? What if he and Brian didn’t get a chance to be best friends again? Nick couldn’t help it. He let out a loud guttural sob that rivaled the volume of Brian’s earlier declaration and twisted his arms around Brian’s back.

The two of them were both crying so hard that they were shaking; clinging to each other for support. It shouldn’t have come to this. They had both been stupid, arrogant, and self-centred to the point of destruction. What if it was too late? What if the past few life-changing minutes turned out to be for nothing?
Chapter 20 by KeepThisSecret
“How is this possible?” Angelo looked to Carl for an answer, even though he knew that his little brother had no more information than he did. “How could it not have worked?”

Carl shrugged. As far as he was concerned, their rapidly rising bank account balance meant that everything was working just fine. All they needed to do was bring in another eighty thousand dollars and then they could call it quits. Eighty thousand more dollars and they could be done with the Backstreet Boys forever.

“It’s not going to work properly if we can’t figure out where their true allegiances lie.” Angelo continued to grumble as he watched the five men on the screen. “That stupid southern kid has messed everything up. Who in their right mind would rather be branded with a cattle prod than tell the bloody truth?!”

“You were gonna brand him anyway.” Carl shrugged again. “Maybe he figured that out.”

“It doesn’t matter what I was going to do.” Angelo rolled his eyes and took a massive bite of his salami sandwich. “All that matters is that, now, we don’t know who to use as bait when it comes to everyone’s favourite Backstreet Boy.”

Carl glanced down at the sandwich crumbs littering the keyboard. He had always known that his big brother was callous, but this situation had quickly revealed his true colours. Part of him hoped that they reached their eighty thousand dollar target before the poll even ended, but the other half of him knew that it didn’t matter. Angelo was dead set on making sure that none of the Backstreet Boys left the basement with their hearts still beating; a notion that made Carl’s stomach churn. He knew that he was doing all of this for the good of his family, but the thought of killing five innocent men was eating away at his conscience. He had to figure out a way to make Angelo change his mind before it was too late. He wasn’t opposed to injuring one or two of them for the sake of the cause, but murdering all five of them was too much, even for him.

“Have you made the second installment already?” Angelo transferred his sandwich to his left hand and minimized the video feed in order to check the account balance. His eyes popped slightly as he looked at the total figure. “Damn.”

“I made it.” Carl nodded and pointed out the withdrawal notification on the screen. “Fifteen thousand dollars gone in a matter of seconds.”

Angelo grunted indifferently and took another bite of his sandwich. His eyes returned to the figure at the bottom of the screen; $36,730.00 and climbing. “At this rate, we’re gonna clear forty-five grand before the poll is even over. We might actually come out of this with a profit.”

Carl swallowed hard. He had known that his brother wouldn’t be willing to stop. He had known that Angelo was going to see this through to the bitter end; that he was going to milk the situation for every last cent.

“How much time is left for people to vote?”

Angelo crammed the last piece of his sandwich into his mouth and clicked back to the video feed. “Twenty-three hours.”

“Twenty-three hours!” Lauren tossed her phone onto the bed and dropped down next to Leigh as dramatically as her pregnant body would allow. “Twenty-three hours until my husband is dead!”

“Easy there, woman!” Leigh laughed as the bed bounced under Lauren’s weight. “You’re flopping for two now, remember?!”

Lauren groaned. She rolled over so that she was facing Leigh. “In less than a day, there will only be two members of the Carter family left; me and the baby!”

“I’m sure they’ll be plenty more Carters hanging around once the baby arrives.” Kristin grimaced. “In fact, I’m willing to bet that Jane will reappear almost instantly.”

“Oooookay!” Rochelle tore her attention away from her phone and looked around at the other women. “Let’s try to think positive thoughts. No Jane, no death ...”

“We don’t even know what’s going to happen to the winner.” Leigh pointed out. “They haven’t killed anyone yet ...”

“You sound like the police.” Lauren blew a strand of hair away from her face and frowned. “Did you all see that pathetic excuse for a press-conference last night?”

“You mean the one where a couple of rambling, useless, idiots stood up in front of a crowd of reporters and essentially stated that they knew absolutely nothing?” Kristin rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I saw it. Pathetic.”

“Baylee probably has more technical skills than those supposed expert hackers that the police have brought in.” It was Rochelle’s turn to roll her eyes. “I mean, how hard can it be to trace an IP address?”

“Actually, Mrs. McLean, it can be extremely challenging.”

The four women turned at the sound of Nate’s voice. He and Julie were striding into the room; Baylee trailing behind them.

“Bay, when I gave you my extra key-card, I meant that you were welcome to come in at any time, not them.” Kristin shot the detectives a disdainful look. She propped herself up into a more upright position on the bed and watched as Rochelle did the same next to her.

“They just followed me in.” Baylee sighed. He hoisted himself up onto the bed that Leigh and Lauren were lying on and began to swing his legs back and forth. “I didn’t think that I could say ‘no’ to the police.”

“Where’s your mom?” Leigh gave Baylee’s shoulder a quick squeeze; choosing to ignore the detectives’ presence.

“In our room.” Baylee paused. “Crying.”

“We’re not here to take up a lot of your time.” Julie cut in. She could feel her face heating up with embarrassment. It was painfully obvious that the Backstreet wives thought that she and Nate, and most likely the entire New York City Police Department, were completely useless. “We just wanted to let you know that we’ve finally got a lead.”

“You do?!” Lauren struggled to pull herself up into a sitting position. She grabbed at her stomach as Odin began to smash his tiny foot against her ribcage. “What is it?!”

“Well, ‘lead’ is a bit of a strong word.” Nate shot Julie a guarded look. “What Detective Gallagher meant to say is that we’ve finally had a break in terms of figuring out the location of the live broadcast.” Nate hurried to continue as he watched five mouths fall open in almost perfect unison. “Our team of specialists have been able to narrow down the signal to Hempstead; a fairly large suburb, approximately two hours outside of New York City.”

“Wait a minute!” Kristin interjected. “You’re telling us that our husbands are being tortured less than two hours away from us and that you still can’t find them?! How in the actual fuck ...”

“Mrs. Richardson, I can appreciate that you’re all very upset. However, as we’ve told you before, these people have created a very extensive and highly sophisticated broadcasting and money collecting system that has been extremely difficult to track. We only managed to get as far as we did because one of our Cyber Crime team members got a hit on a suspicious money transfer from an offshore account. While we’re still working to determine the exact account to which the money was transferred, we’ve managed to narrow it down to a well-known financial institution that has multiple branches in the Hempstead area.” Nate bit at his lower lip to keep from sounding overly agitated; the women sitting before him were getting on his last nerve.

“So, now that you do have this piece of information, how long is it going to take you to figure out exactly where the boys are being kept?” Rochelle cocked her head at Detective Hurley. She didn’t appreciate his condescending tone, but she didn’t want to rock the boat by being overly snarky.

“It’s hard to say.” Julie leapt in before her partner could continue. “All I can tell you for certain is that our team is going to need at least another forty-eight hours to ...”

“Two days?!” Lauren’s exclamation came out sounding more like a shriek. She fell back on the bed; Leigh and Baylee both bouncing from the movement. “Nick will be dead in less than a day!”

“Lo, even if Nick does win, they’re not going to kill him.” Rochelle soothed. “I mean, even if this is the last poll that these sickos have planned, the police will be able to pull their heads out of their asses and find them before anything terrible happens ...” She trailed off and looked pointedly at the detectives. “Right?”

“Nick’s not even in the lead anymore.” Baylee wiggled his phone at Lauren. “My dad’s beating him now.”

“What?! Give me that!” Lauren fought to push herself up into a sitting position for the second time in less than fifteen minutes; snatching Baylee’s phone out of his hand as she propped herself up against the pillows. She dropped her eyes to the screen before looking back up at Baylee. “Three votes? Brian is ahead by three votes? That’s not a lead!”

“Yes, it is!” Baylee retorted. “My dad is winning!”

“Okay, children, that’s enough!” Leigh pulled Baylee’s phone out of Lauren’s grip and shot them both a no-nonsense look. She opened her mouth to point out that winning, in this case, wasn’t exactly a good thing, but promptly shut it again as her brain registered the current poll results.

“What?” Kristin immediately noticed Leigh’s shocked expression. “What’s the matter?”

“It’s Howie.” Leigh shook her head in disbelief. “Howie’s in third place.” She hastily checked the numbers again to make sure that she wasn’t mistaken. “And his numbers are going up like crazy.”

“D, you’re seriously climbing in the poll.” AJ leaned back against the coolness of the cement wall and massaged his temples. The urge to down an entire bottle of vodka was still with him; especially, after having witnessed the situation with Brian. “Where have you been hiding all of these supporters?”

“It doesn’t make sense.” Howie shook his head. “I should be last. I’m always last.”

“That’s not true.” Kevin smirked. “Sometimes I’m last.”

“At this point, I would give anything to be last.” Brian gently pulled his shirt away from his chest and peeked down at the angry red welts. Thanks to Nick’s first-aid skills, the branded letters had finally stopped oozing and were beginning to scab over. He shuddered at the thought of what his chest was going to look like when they finally healed.

It was AJ’s turn to smirk. “Speaking as the person who’s actually in last place, I can safely say that ya’ll don’t want to be sitting here either. Who knows what these assholes are gonna do. For all we know, they could turn things around and take out their aggression out on the guy who comes in last.”

“Maybe whoever ends up in first place will get to leave.” Nick interjected. “You could be getting out of here, Bri.”

“Not so fast there, Nicky!” AJ laughed. “You’ve, once again, taken the lead by twelve votes.” He paused to re-check the totals. “And it looks like Mr. Howie D has officially taken over second place! D, you’re now three votes ahead of Brian. Kevin and I are still bringing up the rear.”

“Seeing as how I’m pretty sure that our new friends aren’t just going to let the first place guy go free, I can’t say that I’m excited.” Howie directed his comment at Nick. “You guys do realize the only reason that I’m getting a lot of votes is because people have probably realized that the winner is gonna be either killed or severely disfigured, right?”

“Why do you gotta be like that, Howie?” Nick sighed. “People like you, man. You’re always so down on yourself. It’s annoying.”

“People don’t like me, Nick. People like Brian, and even more people like you. That’s why they’re voting for me all of a sudden. The fans don’t want to see the two of you get hurt any more than you already have, so they’re voting for their least favourite.”

Howie stated his opinion with a distinct lack of emotion. He knew that what he was saying was true. The fans were being strategic. They were trying to run up the numbers in a way that would allow Nick and Brian to go free. Once again, he was the scapegoat; the one that everyone could live without.

Kevin stared down at the tablet in AJ’s lap as he listened to the exchange between Nick and Howie. He licked his lips and winced both from the searing pain in his shoulder and from the fact that Howie had just taken the lead in the poll. As much as he didn’t want to believe Howie’s words, he knew that what the Latino was saying was true.

The fans had obviously found some way of rallying together to ensure that Nick and Brian didn’t win. By making Howie their “favourite”, the fans were ensuring their most desirable outcome and proving to Howie that he was, in fact, the most overlooked and undervalued member of the group.

The notion made Kevin’s stomach churn. He wanted to scream at the camera; to tell the fans to vote for him instead. Of course, it didn’t matter what Kevin wanted. He was too far behind. With less than a day left to vote, and the numbers now climbing at an alarming rate, Howie’s fate was likely already sealed.
Chapter 21 by KeepThisSecret
The contents of Howie’s stomach churned. He had 5,206 votes. Nick, who was in second place, had 4,347 votes. There was less than a minute left on the clock. There was absolutely no denying it anymore; he was going to win. Howie watched as the timer ran out. His name began to flash on the screen; officially letting the entire world know that he was everyone’s least favourite Backstreet Boy.

“I’m sorry, Howie.” Kevin whispered. “It was never supposed to turn out like this.”

Howie looked at the older man in pity. “You had nothing to do with this, Kev. You didn’t tell the fans to vote the way that they did. I know that they rigged the vote to save Nick and Brian. I’m used to it by now. I’m used to coming in last even when I come in first.”

“No.” Kevin shook his head. “I am responsible. I’m the one who brought him here. I’m the one who sealed your fate.”

“That was over two decades ago.” It was Howie’s turn to shake his head. He couldn’t let Kevin continue to dwell on the past. He couldn’t let Kevin continue to blame himself. “You made the choice that you thought was right, and it was the right choice. We are who we are because you made that phone call. Even if you’d never asked Brian to come down to Florida, Nick or AJ would have eventually taken the lead. It’s always been all about the three of them, Kev. You and I are just the fillers, the background, the ones who are replaceable.”

Kevin’s voice was thick; laced with emotion that he was trying to keep to himself. “That’s just the thing, D. You’re not replaceable. As much as you don’t always see it, we need you. I shouldn’t have been so quick to listen to Lou. I should have stood up for you when he asked me if I thought that we needed another member. I should have given you more of a chance to prove yourself.”

“You don’t have to apologize for the choices that I made, cuz.” Brian interrupted. “The rest of you busted your assess to make it into the group, and I just strolled into that warehouse and opened my mouth. I felt like I was untouchable. So, when Lou started coaching me to step up and take the spotlight away from Howie, I just blindly did what he told me to do. I wanted the fame and everything that came with it so badly that I didn’t even bother to think about the consequences for me or for anyone else.”

“I don’t want to talk about any of this.” Howie looked pointedly at Brian. “Regardless of why it happened, this is the way that things are. I don’t – I don’t want to die being angry at any of you. So, if I don’t come back from whatever it is that these guys have planned for me; I just want you all to know that I love you. Regardless of what’s happened between us in the past, I wouldn’t change a minute of the past twenty-three years.”

“You’re not gonna die!” Nick captured Howie’s eyes with his own; as if pleading with him would somehow change the outcome of what their captors had planned. “They – they don’t want to kill us. They need us all for the next challenge. We just gotta keep thinking that the police are gonna come; that we’re gonna make it out of this.”

“They’re escalating.” Howie challenged. “They started by scaring the shit out of me, and they followed that by making Kevin chronically uncomfortable and physically useless. Then, they made AJ mentally and physically sick, and they gave you a superficial injury; not enough to do any real damage. Next, they mutilated Brian to the point where his body will never be the same.” Howie swallowed hard; forcing himself to continue. “Don’t you see, Nick? They thought for sure that you would be the winner of this last poll. This is the last event, the final show. You were supposed to be the player, and they never had any intention of letting you survive.”

“Fuck, that little Latino is smart.” Angelo clicked his tongue against his teeth as he loaded the bullets into the handgun’s chamber. He turned to Carl. “You almost ready to go?”

Carl nodded. He quickly attached the silencer to his own gun and checked to make sure the safety was still on. He raised his eyes to his brother. “We’re taking Howie first?”

It was Angelo’s turn to nod. “We’ve got to keep them guessing. So, we’ll take Dorough first and get him situated. Then, we’ll come back for the others and take them in pairs. After what happened last time, I doubt that they’ll be dumb enough to attempt another escape.”

“Right. So, we’re going with the pairings that we already decided on?” Carl asked the question only in a futile attempt to calm his nerves. He already knew the answer. Any hope that Howie taking the lead in the poll would cause Angelo to change his mind about killing the five men hidden in the basement had vanished. He should have known that his big brother would simply alter the plan to suit their needs.

“I’ll tell you if I change my mind.” Angelo smirked. He finished loading his gun and twisted his own silencer into position before motioning to Carl that he was ready to go. “Let’s get this show started! The fans are waiting.”

Carl nodded numbly. He picked up his weapon and followed Angelo out into the darkening winter day. The ground was frozen beneath his feet; his shoes crunching loudly on the icy grass as he trailed after his big brother. This was it. The money was in the account. The final transfer was pending approval. He had gotten what he needed. Now, all that he had left to do was to finish what he and Angelo had started.

Leighanne picked aimlessly at the pink polish on her thumb nail. It had taken all of her emotional strength to pull herself out of her self-induced ball of pity and rejoin the other wives. If it hadn’t been for Baylee, she probably wouldn’t have bothered. The words that had left Brian’s mouth had put a permanent crack in her heart; the notion that the other women pitied her because of his words made it worse.

“Oh, God, they’re coming for him!” Leigh leaned forward towards the television. Thanks to Baylee’s technical prowess and a random HDMI cable, they were now watching every chilling detail unfold on fifty inches of 1080p with surround sound. “Oh, God!”

Leighanne stopped picking at her nail polish and instinctively held out her hand to Leigh. The other woman grabbed it tightly and squeezed her fingers into a death-grip. Rochelle and Lauren had assumed a similar position on the other loveseat, while Baylee had moved himself closer to Kristin on the remaining couch. Everyone had their eyes trained on the television screen; watching and waiting for what was going to happen next.

“Looks like you’re the big winner this time, Howie.”

Leigh’s stomach leapt as the two men let themselves into the room. Their voices were muffled by the fabric that covered their faces, but that didn’t make them any less intimidating. Her eyes drifted to her husband who was sitting next to Kevin with his back against the wall. She had never seen Howie look so defeated. It was like he had already given up.

“Let’s go, Dorough.” The bigger of the two men commanded. He waved his gun in the direction of the door. “We don’t have all day.”

Howie ran his tongue along the front of his teeth and pushed himself into a standing position. It was taking every ounce of his concentration not to cry; not to break down and beg the two men to spare his life. He knew that Leigh was watching, and he wanted to make sure that she didn’t remember him as a coward. If he was going to die, he was going to die with what little dignity he still had left.

“You’re so quiet.” The bigger man laughed as he wrapped his beefy hand around Howie’s upper arm. He jerked him roughly towards the open door. “That’s a shame. It makes things more interesting when you guys are talkative.”

“I’ve got nothing to say.” Howie spoke firmly; surprising himself at his ability to keep his voice even.

Out of the corner of his eye, Howie could see the slightly smaller man keeping his gun trained on the others. He could see Nick’s bunching his fingers into fists. He knew that he had to get out of there before his youngest friend did something stupid.

“I have to say, I was very surprised to see that you won.” Angelo continued to laugh as he led Howie out of the room. He waited until Carl had securely locked the door on the other four Backstreet Boys before he let go of Howie’s arm and pushed him forward into the other room. He smirked as the tiny man tripped over his own feet. He knew that the Latino wasn’t going to try to run away; there was nowhere for him to go. “I thought that Frick and Frack were the fan favourites.”

Howie shrugged. “Sometimes our fans surprise us.” He could no longer disguise the tremor in his voice as he caught sight of the noose hanging from the ceiling.

“Well, I think it’s worth repeating, that I was very surprised to see you come out on top.” Angelo grinned beneath the fabric that covered his face. He motioned towards the stacked risers that were placed just beneath the noose. “Up you get.”

Howie darted his eyes frantically around the room. There was nowhere for him to go. Still, he debated about making a break for the only door; the one that the other man had already secured. He knew that getting shot was probably better than being hung, but something in the back of his mind made him comply.

Howie knew that if he didn’t do as he was told that the men would just take out their anger on the others. Regardless of how the poll was supposed to have turned out, he had emerged as the winner. It was his turn to play the game.

“Good boy.” Angelo taunted as Howie tentatively stepped up onto the risers. “Or, should I say, good Backstreet Boy?” He laughed manically; swiftly looping the noose around Howie’s neck and pulling it tight.

Howie gasped as the rope tightened around his neck. He instinctively brought his fingers up to claw at the rough fibers that were already digging into his skin, even though he knew that the action was useless. Right now, his feet were planted firmly on the top riser, but he knew that his toes would barely reach the second one, and that he would be dead before his shoes touched the bottom one.

“Oh, I’m sorry; did I make it too tight?” Angelo laughed. “I’m afraid that I can’t loosen it, but don’t worry; it won’t take us long to round up your friends.”

“What?!” Howie could barely get the word out. He could feel his skin heating up in panic. “But, I’m the winner! I thought that this was going to be all about me!”

Howie’s mind was racing. All of the other games had focused exclusively on one person. Why was this one different? He had complied so that nobody else would get hurt. Sure, they had used Nick to convince AJ to drink, but Howie could sense that this situation was different. He had been tricked. God, he was stupid. He should have known that they would never make this all about him. It didn’t matter that he had won the poll. These men had wanted Nick or Brian to win, and now they were going to alter the situation to suit their own needs.

“Howie, Howie, Howie, you’re so naive.” Angelo clucked as he motioned for Carl to unlock the door. “This is the final installment of our little show. It wouldn’t be fair to make this game all about you. Besides, you should be used to sharing the spotlight, Howie. After all, when are you ever allowed to be front and centre?”
Chapter 22 by KeepThisSecret
“We shouldn’t have let Howie go.” Nick ran his hands through his already dishevelled hair as he paced the length of the room. “We’re horrible people! Horrible!”

“Yeah, well, what choice did we have?” AJ nodded his head at Kevin’s wounded shoulder. “Remember what happened the last time that we tried to take those two goons down?”

“Yeah, I know.” Nick sighed. He stopped pacing and focused his attention on Kevin’s shoulder. “I just meant ...”

“We know what you meant, Nick.” Kevin confirmed. “We’re just out of options.”

“They’re coming back for us anyways. I can hear their footsteps.” Brian winced as he straightened his back against the wall; as his skin pulled against the cuts on his chest. “Howie was right when he said that this is the final event, and I don’t think that they’re going to leave any of us out of it.”

As soon as the words were out of Brian’s mouth, the industrial sized lock clunked over into the open position. The two men stepped into the room; faces covered and weapons at the ready. The bigger of the two men stepped forward, causing Nick to take a step backwards so that he was more in line with AJ, Brian, and Kevin who were still sitting on the cots.

“Stand up.” The beefy man commanded. “It’s time for some of you to join Mr. Howie D. in the other room.”

Nick held his breath as he watched Kevin lead the way. The oldest member of their group got unsteadily to his feet; the pain flickering across his face as he propelled his body upright without the proper use of his arms or his wounded shoulder. AJ and Brian followed suit; both of them attempting to keep their faces neutral in a useless attempt to hide their fear.

For a brief moment, Nick considered trying his luck and lunging at the gun-wielding man standing in front of him. But the thought disappeared almost as quickly as it had arrived. Nick knew that he would be overpowered almost instantly; that trying to be a hero would, once again, result in one of his brothers getting hurt. He had already made a stupid choice. Now, it was time to play by the rules.

“Carter, you’re coming with us.”

The muffled sound of his name drifting through the fabric covering the man’s face was enough to make Nick’s heart pound erratically in his chest. He couldn’t stop the tears that leaked from his eyes as the bigger man stepped forward and grabbed his arm; jerking him towards his partner who instantly secured his massive fingers painfully around his upper arm. Nick hung his head as he waited to be taken away. Of course, he had been chosen.

“And who should come with you?” Angelo stepped closer to the three remaining Backstreet Boys. He brought his hand up to his masked face and pretended to scratch his chin in concentration. “Does anyone want to volunteer?”

“I’ll go.” Kevin spoke up. He stared his largest captor directly in the eyes in defiance. “Take me.”

Angelo laughed. He leaned forward and returned Kevin’s stare; taking in his tightly bound hands and his poorly bandaged shoulder. What was it about this guy that made him so proud? It was obvious that he was scared. Why didn’t he show it like the others?

“I had a feeling that you would volunteer.” Angelo clucked. He turned away from Kevin and focussed his attention on AJ and Brian. “Of course, you know that means that I’m not going to pick you, now. I’m going to choose one of your friends instead.”

Brian bit at the inside of his cheeks to keep himself from breaking down as the massive man bent down to look him in the eyes. He couldn’t decide which option was worse; being chosen to go with Nick or being left behind. Either way, Brian was pretty sure that he was almost at the end. He had cheated death too many times in the past, and his luck had clearly just run out.

“How are those scars doing, Brian?” Angelo teased. He grabbed at the hem of Brian’s shirt and slowly lifted it upwards to expose the raw, red imprints. A wave of satisfaction engulfed him as he watched Brian’s face flush with embarrassment. “I bet they hurt.” Angelo reached out and ran the tip of his index finger along the ‘L’; enjoying the tremble that immediately overtook the southerner’s body as soon as he touched his skin. “I bet you wish that you had told the truth.”

“Stop touching him.”

“What’s that, AJ?” Angelo slowly moved his finger over to the ‘I’ on Brian’s chest. He glanced over at the heavily tattooed man to gage his reaction as Brian flinched under his touch. “Did you say something?”

Angelo watched intently as AJ balled his hands into fists. Although he kept his entire body facing forward, Angelo could see that AJ’s eyes were turned to the side; following his hand’s every movement. Just for fun, Angelo allowed his finger to trail down from the ‘I’ on Brian’s chest, to coast over his bellybutton, and to rest on the waistband of his jeans. His actions elicited a literal squeak from Brian as his body arched backwards in fear.

“I said stop touching him.” AJ repeated his statement through clenched teeth. If it wasn’t for the beefy man’s gun, he would have already tackled him. The contents of his stomach were slowly making their way up his esophagus as he watched the man’s swollen fingers trail their way down Brian’s body. “Don’t fucking touch him.”

“He’s okay with it.” Angelo grabbed a hold of the button on Brian’s jeans; circling his thumb over the top of it as he stared into the southerner’s now completely ashen face. The sight of the tears running down Brian’s cheeks stirred up a host of feelings that he couldn’t quite place. “You don’t mind, do you, Brian?”

“Please.” Brian swallowed loudly to keep himself from being sick. He was inches away from collapsing, but he knew that he had to stand his ground. If he passed out, there was no telling what the man might do to him while he was unconscious. “Please ... just ... don’t.”

“Would it be better if I touched AJ instead?”

“Yes!” AJ answered before Brian could force his voice to work. “I don’t care what you do to me. I can handle anything.”

“Is that so?” Angelo allowed his fingers to drop away from Brian’s body. He took a step sideways so that he was now standing directly in front of AJ. He raised his gun and pressed it into AJ’s chest. “I don’t think you understand what I could do to you.” Angelo grinned. The hand that wasn’t holding the gun was already roaming across AJ’s stomach; his fingers splayed downwards. “I could do things to you that you would never be able to forget.”

AJ closed his eyes and willed himself to focus on his breathing. He was fighting to keep his body from shaking, to keep himself from experiencing the sensation of the man’s touch as his fingers moved lower and swept over him. His entire body clenched as the man’s fingers found their target and gave him a gentle squeeze. The barrel of the gun was starting to make his chest ache. He was going to vomit.

“You’re coming with us and Nick.” Angelo breathed into AJ’s face. “Maybe, we’ll all have some fun ... together.”

AJ let out a long, unsteady breath and opened his eyes as the man removed his hand from the lower portion of his body and curled his disgusting fingers around his upper arm. He still had the urge to vomit as he tripped forward to join Nick and the other man. Nick, too, looked to be on the edge of being sick. AJ could see the younger man’s Adam’s-apple bobbing with the effort of keeping his emotions in check. Things were escalating too quickly now, and AJ’s mind was reeling as he struggled to keep up. Suddenly, the prospect of dying didn’t sound so bad when it was compared to the notion of being violated.

“Let’s go.” Angelo motioned for Carl to start leading Nick out of the room as he jerked AJ into position. He ignored the questionable look that his younger brother gave him through the slit in his face mask. “Howie’s waiting for us.”

Carl silently complied with his older brother’s instructions, despite the fact that his own stomach was churning. Angelo was taking things too far. His brother’s violent outbursts were starting to scare him. It was obvious that Angelo was getting a lot of pleasure out of terrorizing the boy-banders, and that he was allowing his need for dominance to dictate his actions. For the first time since they had put their plan into action, Carl found himself wishing that all five of the Backstreet Boys were already dead. If they didn’t kill all of them soon, it was becoming glaringly obvious that his brother would take their torture to a level that he had never even considered.

Baylee’s entire body was burning with shame. He could hear his mom and the other women talking around him; like he wasn’t even there. But, he was there. He had just witnessed the same actions that they had all seen. He wasn’t stupid. He wasn’t naive. He wasn’t a little boy who didn’t understand the implications of what had just happened to AJ and his dad.

Baylee watched in silence as Nick and AJ were brought into the room where Howie was waiting for them. He fought the urge to cry as, one by one, AJ and Nick had their feet shackled to the floor only a few feet in front of where Howie was standing with a rope around his neck. He listened as Howie pleaded with the two men to stop. He bit his lip as Nick sank to the floor sobbing. He turned his eyes away from the screen as the bigger of the two men leaned his face dangerously close to AJ’s and ran his hand across his chest for the second time.

“Baylee, maybe it’s time for you to ...”

“No.” Baylee cut his mom off before she could finish. “I’m not leaving.”

“I don’t want you to see – I don’t want you to watch if ...”

“If what?” Baylee challenged. “I don’t want to see that either, mom. If they touch any of them like – like that again ...”

“They won’t.” Kristin interjected. She looked quickly at the television to make sure that the man had backed away from AJ before she continued. “It’s just a scare tactic. It can’t actually be anything more than that. Right?”

“Jesus Christ, this is getting bad!” Nate glanced down at the computer monitor as he pulled his bullet-proof vest on overtop of his heavy sweater. “These guys better just be trying to scare them ...”

“I think it’s pretty safe to say that all of them are already scared shitless.” Julie holstered her weapon and checked to make sure that she had tucked her phone into her pocket. “This lead has to come through.”

Nate snorted in agreement. The Cyber Crimes unit had narrowed down the location of the money transfer to five possible banks within the Hempstead area. Unfortunately, they hadn’t been able to reduce the radius in order to limit the choices even more. Now, it was up to him, Julie, and the rest of their team to find the account to which the money had been transferred. Once they had the account, they would have an address. And once they had an address, they would hopefully have both kidnappers and all five Backstreet Boys. If they got really lucky, they would end up with all five Backstreet Boys still alive.

“Does everyone know where they’re going?” Julie directed her question at the small group of detectives clustered around her desk. “Like we discussed, SWAT will be following Nate and I to the Bank of America at Westbury Plaza. If any of you find the account at your branch, you need to call us immediately so that we can redirect the SWAT team. Are we all on the same page?”

“There’s no waiting on this one.” Nate added as the group of detectives nodded their understanding. “If your team finds the address, you move on it right away. Backup will be less than five minutes behind you.”

“Detective Hurley is right; minutes are going to make all the difference for this one.” Captain Castelo picked up the conversation. “We need to move quickly, but we also need to move smart. These guys aren’t stupid. If they were, it wouldn’t have taken Cyber Crimes as long as it did to intercept that money transfer. This is probably going to be our one and only chance to bring these men out of this situation alive, and I do not want to have to explain to the media circus milling around outside that we fucked things up.”

“Let’s move!” Julie nodded at Captain Castelo to indicate that his message had been fully received. She took one final look at the laptop screen; her heart breaking at the sound of Nick’s sobs. It’s two hours to Hempstead, and we don’t even know if we’ve got that much time left.”
Chapter 23 by KeepThisSecret
“Brian?” Kevin used the wall to guide himself down onto the floor next to his cousin. He could actually feel the skin on his wrists tearing against the handcuffs, but he ignored the piercing sting and the trickle of blood running down his hands. The sound of Brian crying was hurting him more than the cuts ever would. “Brian, look at me.”

Brian didn’t look up. Instead, he wrapped his arms tighter around his legs; pulling his knees into his chest in an effort to make himself as small as possible. His chest hurt from the branding. His lungs hurt from crying. His entire body hurt from trembling. He wanted to be sick, but he didn’t have the energy.

“Brian?” Kevin tried again. He shuffled closer and gently leaned his shoulder against Brian’s. It was his cousin’s immediate jerk of fear that made him start to cry. Brian was broken, and he had no idea how to fix him. “It’s me, cuz. It’s only me.”

“What’s going to happen now, Kev? Did you see? Did you see what that guy did to AJ?” Brian forced himself to stop shrinking away from his cousin’s touch; to raise his head and to blink numbly through his tears. “I would rather die than – than be – than watch ...”

“Don’t say that.” Kevin pulled in his breath. “No matter what happens, we’ll get through it.”

“They’re coming back for us. You know that, right?” Brian wiped frantically at his wet face. “We haven’t escaped anything. I mean it, Kev. If they touch me again ...”

“They won’t touch you again.” Kevin was struggling to get his tears under control; to get the memory of the man with his hands all over AJ out of his mind. “I won’t let them.”

Despite everything, Brian smirked at his cousin’s comment. “You can’t do anything, Kevin. None of us can do anything anymore. We’re trapped. They’ve got us beat; physically and mentally.”

Kevin knew that what Brian was saying was true. Still, he wasn’t ready to give up. He didn’t want to surrender; to let their captors take everything away from them. His mind flashed to Kristin and the boys, and his tears began to fall even faster. He wasn’t ready to let go of his family.

“Ahhh, Kevy-Kev, I see that you’ve finally decided to shed a few tears.” The big man’s voice boomed out over the sound of the lock clunking over into the open position; over the sound of the heavy door swinging open. “Are you upset over what I said to your little bearded friend? Don’t worry; I haven’t done anything to him ... yet.”

“You’re sick.” Kevin kept his voice dangerously low. “You’re nothing but a deranged, perverted, lunatic. I hope the cops come and shoot you in your polluted head; you sick fuck!”

“So much animosity.” Angelo motioned for Carl to haul Kevin off of the floor. He wasn’t worried about him fighting back. He could see the blood running down Kevin’s fingers and the pain criss-crossing his face. He knew that the oldest member of the group was completely useless. “You’ve clearly been spending too much time with AJ.”

Kevin let out a low growl as the other man pulled him off of the floor. He tried to twist out of the man’s grip, but he could barely even move his arm. The slightly smaller man may have been the quieter of the two, but he certainly wasn’t stupid. He had made sure to grab Kevin by his wounded arm; rendering him physically worthless.

“Why so quiet, Brian?”

Kevin’s stomach dropped as the bigger man began to address his cousin. Brian was still curled up on the floor. He didn’t even flinch when the man said his name. He just continued to stare into nothingness. The fight in his eyes was gone.

“It’s time to join your friends ...”

The contents of Kevin’s stomach continued to summersault as he watched the man reach down and dig his fingers into Brian’s upper arm. For a fleeting moment, he thought that his cousin wasn’t even going to react. But, as always, Brian’s actions surprised him. Kevin could literally see the life return to his cousin’s face as Brian sprang up from the floor and clamped his free hand down over top of the bigger man’s fingers; catching him completely off guard.

Although he was small, Brian was strong and shockingly quick. He pried the man’s fingers away from his skin and kicked with all of the strength he could muster; catching his captor directly in the knee cap and sending him stumbling backwards.

If the room had been larger, Brian’s actions would have given him a good chance at escape, but Angelo recovered too quickly and easily blocked his path. Ignoring the throbbing pain in his knee, Angelo reached out and yanked the southerner backwards. He spun him forcefully into the wall and grinned as Brian’s back connected directly with the cinder blocks. He lunged forward; closing the gap between them in a matter of seconds.

“You shouldn’t have done that.” Angelo’s adrenaline picked up as he watched Brian’s eyes widen. He pressed his body into Brian’s; enjoying the fact that he was squirming against him in fear. “Now, I’m going to have to punish you.”

Why had he done it? Brian didn’t even know the answer. His thoughts were so jumbled that it was hard to keep track of what was going on in his head. One second, he had resigned himself to the idea of dying and the next minute he was fighting the irrational urge to try and escape. He knew that he had made the wrong decision as soon as he had reacted, but by then it had already been too late to change his mind.

“There are so many ways that I could punish you, Brian.” Angelo brought his masked face even closer to Brian’s. He could feel the dampness of Brian’s tear-streaked cheek through the fabric of his mask as his cloth-covered lips brushed against the southerner’s skin. “Soooo many different ways ...”

Brian shuddered as the man trailed his hands down his sides. Even if he was stupid enough to try, there was no way that he could attempt another escape. The man was using his torso to keep him in place as his hands worked their way down to his hips. He started to cry, once again, as the man pressed the lower half of his body into him. Brian’s stomach heaved as the man’s body twitched, and then he was suddenly on his hands and knees; emptying the entire contents of his stomach onto the floor in a heap of shame for the world to watch.

“Let’s go.” Angelo at least had the decency to wait until Brian had finished being sick to speak. “We’ve wasted enough time.”

Brian allowed himself to be pulled into a standing position. He kept his head down as the bigger of the two men shoved him out of the room. He could hear Kevin being dragged along behind him, but he couldn’t bring himself to look at his cousin. He didn’t want to see his look of pity.

“Your partner is out of his God damn mind.” Kevin hissed at the man who was pulling him by the arm. “We’ve been complacent so far. What more do you want from us?”

“Shut up.” Carl delivered his generic response in what he hoped was a tough sounding grunt. He didn’t want Kevin to know that he agreed with him. He didn’t want to let Kevin know that he was the weak link; although, he could sense that Kevin had already figured that out. “You’ll do as we tell you to do.”

Kevin clenched his teeth. He could sense that the man holding on to him didn’t agree with what his partner had done to Brian. There was something about the tone of his voice that gave him away; that told Kevin that he was surprised and confused by his partner’s sudden change of behaviour.

“Here we are!”

Kevin looked up as the bigger man spoke. Against his better judgement, he let out a string of profanity as he stumbled into the room after Brian. Howie was standing on a series of precarious looking risers with a rope looped around his neck, while Nick and AJ were both chained to the floor. The situation was worse than he ever could have imagined.

“You bastard!” AJ screamed at the bigger man as soon as he looked at Brian. He tried to launch himself forward, but the shackles around his ankles stopped his movement. His knees hit the ground hard, but he recovered unexpectedly fast; swiping frantically at the space in-between him and their largest captor as the beefy man secured Brian to the floor with the available set of restraints positioned next to Nick. “I told you not to touch him! I know that you did! I know that you did something to him!”

“AJ, please ...” Brian’s voice came out as a hoarse whisper. “I’m okay.”

“Your friend tried to do something stupid.” Angelo finished securing Brian’s ankles into the shackles before turning to AJ. A grin lit up his face. “Do you want to take his punishment for him?”

“Bring it!” AJ commanded. “You can give it to me right here, right now!”

“Jesus, AJ.” Kevin swore as the men who had dragged him into the room finished fastening the shackles around his ankles. He swayed unsteadily on his feet; struggling to maintain his balance with both his hands and his feet bound together. “You need to stop talking.”

“What the hell is happening?” Howie’s voice sounded even worse than Brian’s. He darted his eyes anxiously back and forth between his four band-mates before settling his attention on Brian. “Did they ...”

“No.” Nick spoke before Howie could finish his question. He, too, had his eyes locked on Brian’s pale face. “They didn’t. R – Right?”

Brian gently shook his head. He could still taste the bile in the back of his throat. “No. No, they didn’t.”

“We haven’t done anything just yet.” Angelo laughed. “But now that we have you all in position, we can get started with our last game. As you all know, Howie was our big winner, so we’re going to get things going by having him answer a simple question. Are you up for that, Howie?”

Howie flicked his eyes in the bigger man’s direction. He didn’t dare turn his head for fear of pulling the rope more tightly around his neck. The man may have asked him a question, but he knew that he didn’t really have any choice when it came to the answer.

“What’s the question?”

“Like I said, Howie, it’s a really simple question.” Angelo smiled beneath his face mask. “Nick or Kevin?”
Chapter 24 by KeepThisSecret
“What?” Howie stared down at the burly man. Surely, he couldn’t have heard him correctly. The tension around his neck was probably cutting off the supply of oxygen to his brain. There was no way that the question could be that simple. “What do you mean?”

“I want you to pick.” The big man sounded exasperated. “Who do you pick, Howie? Nick or Kevin?”

Shit. Howie could feel the sweat running down his neck and pooling around the circumference of the rope. His skin was starting to itch, but he didn’t want to risk moving his hands upwards in order to relieve the discomfort. The risers beneath his feet already felt precarious, and he didn’t want to lose his balance and speed up his untimely death.

“Hurry up, Mr. Dorough.” It was obvious that the big man was getting impatient. “If you don’t pick, my partner and I will pick for you.”

“Okay, okay.”

Howie silently cursed himself for wasting his breath on unnecessary words. His throat burned every time that he spoke. He looked back and forth between Kevin and Nick. He knew that whatever choice he made would end up being the wrong one, but he still wanted to at least try to make things better. He racked his brain; trying to rationalize the situation based on how the men had acted in the past. More than likely, their captors would be harder on the person that he didn’t choose. They would assume that he would avoid picking the man that he cared about the most and would; therefore, inflict the most torture on him.

“Nick. I pick Nick.” Howie choked.

Nick’s entire body tensed as Howie said his name. He closed his eyes briefly before glancing upwards into Howie’s desperate face. Nick forced his lips into a small smile. He could tell that Howie felt bad. He could tell by the way that Howie’s face was twitching that there had been a rationalization behind his friend’s choice, but he couldn’t quite figure out what that reasoning was. Nick could feel his forced smile start to falter. Maybe if he could read Howie’s mind in the same way that he had always been able to read Brian’s, he would know what the older man was trying to tell him through the heavy sadness in his eyes.

“Excellent choice!”

The gruffness of the massive man’s voice snapped Nick out of his trance. He pulled his attention away from Howie, and scowled at the men who were holding them captive. Inside he was bawling like a baby, but he was tired of showing their captors that he was weak.

“It looks like Nick gets to be our star.”

“W – What?” Nick stammered. His decision to appear tough had already disappeared. His eyes were so wide that they were straining against their sockets.

“Howie picked you, so now you get to be the lead in our final production.” The big man explained the situation as if it were totally obvious. “Aren’t you excited? I thought you liked being the centre of attention. I thought you liked being the one that everyone wants so desperately to please.”

Nick made the mistake of looking at Kevin. The expression on the southerner’s face was all it took for the tears to start running down Nick’s cheeks. Kevin never let his pain show, but now it was written all over his face. The man who had always stood so tall, who had always gone out of his way to protect the rest of them, now looked completely and utterly lost.

“Don’t cry, Nicky.” Angelo feigned sympathy. He stepped forward and placed his index finger under Nick’s chin; tilting the blonde’s face upwards. “Your tears will throw off your performance.”

Nick stood rooted to the spot; his arms glued to his sides. His heart was hammering so hard that he was positive that the big man could feel it beating through his chest. The tears were still leaking out of his eyes, but they did nothing to stop the man from coming closer, from running his finger down the column of his throat and pressing his meaty palm against his chest.

“You need to calm down, Nicky.” Angelo cooed. He pressed his hand even harder against Nick’s chest; kneading the dense muscle between his fingers. He could feel the blonde’s heart slamming erratically under his touch. The notion that he was terrifying the younger man pleased him to no end. “We don’t want you to pass out.”

Nick’s vision grew fuzzy. The man’s touch was taking him back to a place that he hadn’t been in a long time, to a place that he had absolutely no desire to revisit. He was in Lou’s basement. The rest of the guys were around somewhere, but it was just him and Lou on the couch. The two of them were laughing; watching some stupid movie that his mother would have never allowed him to watch because of the restricted rating.

Lou’s motion had been so quick and so fleeting that Nick couldn’t even remember the specifics of it. But, he could remember leaping off of the couch. He could remember the burn of shame and the rush of terror that had followed. He could remember AJ busting into the room to get a Coke just a few seconds too late. He could remember running to find Brian and convincing him to stay up late playing video games because he didn’t want to close his eyes. He could remember passing out on the couch with his head on Brian’s shoulder; feeling safe simply because of the proximity of his best friend.

“Stop touching him.” It was Brian who spoke now; echoing AJ’s earlier statement. “Just stop – stop all of it.”

“I’m afraid that we can’t stop now, Brian. It wouldn’t be fair to the people who are watching at home.” Angelo laughed. “You wouldn’t want to disappoint your fans. Would you?”

Nick could feel his body swaying under the man’s touch. The desperation in Brian’s voice was too familiar. It was the same voice that had peppered him for information about Lou. It was the same voice that had confronted him about his self-destructive behaviour. It was the same voice that had admitted to missing him. It was the voice that Brian reserved exclusively for situations in which he was on the verge of losing it.

“What do I have to do?” Nick pulled himself out of the past. He refocused his eyes on the masked face that was dangerously close to his.

“That’s more like it!” Angelo stepped back from Nick and let out an exaggerated sigh of relief. He motioned for Nick to step forward as far as his shackled ankles would allow, and repositioned him so that he had a clear view of all of his band-mates. “For now, all you’re going to do is stand here and hold this gun.” Angelo withdrew the extra weapon that had been holstered to his waistband and handed it to Nick. He dropped down and quickly removed the restraints from around Nick’s ankles. “Now, don’t go getting any crazy ideas about shooting me and trying to run away.” He continued. “If you so much as aim that gun in my direction, I will have my buddy over there put a bullet in your brain.”

Nick hastily nodded his understanding. The gun felt heavy and foreign between his fingers. He was trying to hold on to it without actually touching it. The lump in his throat was growing exponentially by the second. He knew what was coming. He knew that he was going to be asked to turn the gun on one, or maybe even all, of his brothers. He started to dry heave. It was too much. It was all too much.

“This is still a bit too complicated.” Angelo looked around in mock confusion. He stepped back into position next to Carl, tapped his own gun softly against his palm, and turned his attention to Howie. “It looks like we’re going to need you to pick again, Howie.”

Howie swallowed the bile that was rising in his own throat as he watched Nick clutch his stomach with one hand and the gun with the other. This wasn’t fair. This wasn’t how things were supposed to end. None of them were supposed to have been cheated out of watching their kids grow up. Nick wasn’t supposed to have been denied the pleasure of seeing his own son being born. The five of them were supposed to have grown old together; belting out cheesy lyrics until they all simultaneously dropped dead from exertion in the middle of a performance.

“So, Howie, who do you want to pick next; Brian, AJ, or Kevin?”

Howie licked his lips. They tasted like salt. He hated himself for playing along; for giving their captors the satisfaction of making a choice. Still, he didn’t know what else to do. His whole body was trembling now. All he wanted was for the whole terrible ordeal to be over.

“We need an answer, Howie.” Angelo prompted. “I don’t think you need to be reminded that we will pick for you if you take too long to decide.”

Like with most decisions in his life, Howie found himself worrying about Nick. He knew that the blonde would never forgive him if he picked Brian. He bit at his bottom lip and muttered the name of the person who he didn’t really want to choose, but who he thought would make the situation easier for Nick.

“AJ.” Howie swallowed noisily in a painful attempt to dislodge the lump in his throat. He stared into AJ’s eyes; determined eyes that were now laced with confusion. “I’m sorry, Aje. I really am.”

“Don’t be sorry, Howie.” Angelo chided. “You made the right choice. Mr. McLean was getting pretty fucking annoying.”

The situation unfolded in a matter of seconds. Angelo clicked over the safety as the despicable words were leaving his mouth. In one fluid motion, he raised his weapon, took aim, and pulled the trigger.

The silencer muted the gun’s discharge, but it did nothing to silence the wounded cry that escaped AJ’s mouth as the bullet tore through his body. And it certainly did nothing to diminish the heavy thud of AJ’s body hitting the cement.
Chapter 25 by KeepThisSecret
Nick didn’t even recognize the sounds that were leaving his mouth. All he could do was gurgle incomprehensibly as he stared at the scene that was still unfolding before him. It hadn’t officially sunk in yet. His mind hadn’t fully processed the implications of what he was looking at. The sight of AJ lying motionless on the floor in a puddle of his own blood didn’t seem real. The angry red drops that were spattered all over Brian and Kevin looked staged. The blood stains on his own jeans seemed fake. This wasn’t real. AJ hadn’t just been shot.

“There we go!” Angelo wiped at a random droplet of blood that had landed on the back of his hand. “Things will be much easier now.”

“AJ?! What have you – What did you – Why – Oh, God, AJ, no!” Brian let out a string of words in a series of frantic puffs. He couldn’t bring himself to close his mouth; to stop gasping for breath. His legs suddenly felt too weak to support his weight, and he sank to the floor. “AJ, no! No, no, no!”

Brian could practically feel his heart breaking apart. He pulled his eyes away from AJ’s body. Ignoring the sticky feel of his friend’s blood as it congealed on his arms, Brian focused his eyes on the wall at the opposite end of the room. He didn’t want to look at anyone else’s face. He didn’t want to see his friends’ pain. He didn’t want to feel anything anymore.

“Briaaaaannn?” Angelo drew out the southerner’s name. The poor thing looked so sad. Perhaps, he had just taken out the one person in the world who he would save above anyone else. “I’m afraid that things aren’t going to work if you’re sitting down. You’re gonna have to stand back up for us.”

The remaining contents of Brian’s stomach churned as the big man called his name. He debated throwing up for the second time, but his mind convinced his body that it wasn’t worth the effort. He could still see AJ’s body out of the corner of his eye; his brand new sneakers pointing upwards towards the sky.

“Brian? Brian, sweetie, if you choose not to stand up than I’m gonna have to shoot you.” Angelo warned. He made a big show out of clicking his gun into position. “I’ll give you five seconds to decide.”

“Five ...”

Nick suddenly found his voice. “Bri, please ... you gotta – you gotta stand up.” He looked down at Brian’s tiny, shaking frame and his own legs started to tremble. There was no doubt in his mind that the massive, angry man with the gun would make good on his threat.

“Four ...”

“Brian, Nick’s right; you have to get off the floor.” Kevin joined in. He was careful not to look at AJ’s body as he stared down at his cousin. “He’ll shoot you. He’ll shoot you dead, and then you’ll be out of options.”

“Three ...”

“Brian, for the love of God, please!” Nick could hear himself entering full-blown panic mode. He shuffled as close to Brian as he felt their captors would allow; being careful to keep the gun in his hand pointed downward. He stretched his free hand out towards Brian and tried again. “Things can’t end like this.”

“Two ...”

Kevin could also hear the panic creeping into his own voice. “Brian, never in my life have I said this, but you need to listen to Nick. You need to do as he says and stand up.”

“One ...”

Brian drew his attention away from the wall just as the burly man raised his weapon. He looked up into Nick’s tear streaked face; absorbing all of the pain, fear, and desperation in one glance. The emotion on Nick’s face was so raw that it was startling. With Kevin’s heavy breathing thudding in his ears, Brian unwound his body and held out his hand to Nick. The blonde’s fingers gripped his with a strength that Brian didn’t know Nick possessed; hauling him to his feet in a matter of seconds.

“Good choice, Brian.”

Kevin breathed a sigh of relief. The blood was pounding in his ears. He desperately wanted to lunge forward and throw his arms around his cousin’s shaking frame, but AJ’s motionless body was sprawled in-between them. He couldn’t even bring himself to look down at AJ, let alone to step over him.

“Can someone – can we please get some help for AJ?” Howie spoke for the first time since the big man had discharged his weapon. “Why did you have to do that? Why did you have to shoot him?”

“I don’t think that anyone can help him now, Howie.” Angelo’s voice dripped with fake remorse. “He’s hurt pretty bad.”

Angelo took a step towards Nick and Brian. The two men were still clutching each other as if their lives depended on it. Which, in all fairness, was probably at least partially true.

“Howie, Howie, Howie ...” Angelo continued to address the blubbering Latino. “I know that you’re likely blaming yourself for what happened to poor Alex, but you can rest assured that I won’t be asking you to make any more decisions from here on out.”

Howie barely heard what the man was saying. He couldn’t look away from AJ’s lifeless body. His eyes were trained on the pool of blood that was slowly and methodically seeping out from underneath AJ’s back. Why had he said AJ’s name? Why hadn’t he been brave enough to say the name that he wanted to say? Why had he, once again, let his fear of upsetting Nick dictate his actions?

“I know that it’s not fair to you, Howie, but Nick is in charge of all of the decision making from now on.” Angelo was still talking; oblivious to the fact that Howie was slowly killing himself with guilt.

“I don’t want to be in charge.” Nick deadpanned. He continued to look at Brian instead of at the angry man who was now standing dangerously close to him. “I don’t want to make any decisions.”

“I’m afraid that you don’t have a choice, Nicky.” Angelo nodded his head quickly in Carl’s direction. “The outcome of our little show is all up to you.”

“Turn around.” Carl stepped up next to Kevin. He pulled a single key out of his pocket and dangled it in the southerner’s face. “It’s finally time for the cuffs to come off.”

Kevin turned slightly; giving the smaller man a sideways stare. He could tell by the inflection in the man’s voice that he was just as unsure about his partner’s actions as the rest of them were. The mask over the man’s face didn’t disguise his body language; didn’t cover up the fact that he was acting out of fear instead of camaraderie.

“Why are you taking them off now?” Kevin challenged. “What’s the point?”

The lesser man shrugged. “Do you want them off or not?”

Kevin sighed. He did as he was told and turned around. Within seconds, the handcuffs were removed, and his arms immediately fell parallel to his sides. The sense of relief in his wrists was instant, as well as welcoming enough to make up for the shooting pain in his shoulder as his muscles stretched to accommodate the hanging weight of his arms.

“Now step back against the wall.”

“What?” Kevin stopped inspecting his ravaged wrists long enough to stare into the smaller man’s eyes. “Why?”

“Stop asking questions!” Carl snapped. He didn’t like the way that Kevin was looking at him; as if he could sense his insecurity. “Just do as I say and put your back against the wall!” He slowly brought his gun up so that it was angled at Kevin’s chest. He dislodged the safety to show that he was serious; to make up for the slight tremor in his voice. “Get back or I’ll shoot you.”

“Fine.”

Kevin knew that, in the end, he had no choice. Even with his arms finally free, he was nowhere near close to being able to escape. His feet were still shackled to the floor. His shoulder was still throbbing. His arms were still weak. Kevin took a small step backwards towards the cinderblock wall. His eyes were trained on the barrel of the gun that was still pointed at his chest, and his mind jumped to a bitter, morbid thought; maybe he wanted to die simply to make all of this go away.

“I’m gonna need you to do what your cousin is doing.”

Kevin took another tentative step backwards as the bigger man addressed Brian. He was too far behind his cousin now to catch his attention; too far away to let Brian know that he needed to do what the man said. As much as Kevin wanted to die, he didn’t want to see anyone else lose their life. Watching AJ fall to the ground had already been too much for him to handle.

Nick tightened his grip on Brian’s hand. The big man was standing too close to him. He smelled like a putrid mixture of sweat and lunch meat. The stench was churning his stomach. He didn’t want to let go of Brian. As long as Brian was next to him, he would be okay; he would be safe.

“You have to let go of your friend, Nicky.”

It was as if the angry man had read his mind. Nick’s whole body clenched as the man’s meaty palm came to rest on his shoulder. He looked down at Brian’s fingers. They were turning white; he was holding on to them so tightly.

“It’s okay, Nick.” Brian squeezed Nick’s fingers for reassurance before allowing his hand to go slack in the blonde’s gip. “No matter what happens, it’s okay.”

Nick forced himself to let go of Brian; to allow his safety net to start backing up towards the far wall. The tears were hot under his eyelids as he watched Brian shuffle away. His fear was slowly being replaced by an overwhelming sense of sadness.

Nick allowed the big, angry man to reposition him so that he was in the middle of the room; facing the wall against which Kevin and Brian were standing. Although his back was now to Howie, Nick could hear the older man sucking in short, desperate breaths as he watched the situation unfold from his precarious position on the risers.

“Stretch your arms out to your sides.”

Nick could see Kevin trying to hide his pain as he pressed his back against the wall and slowly raised his arms. He could see the emotion distorting the older man’s features as his hand connected with Brian’s; their fingers lacing together as they both flattened themselves against the cement.

“Perfect.” Angelo grinned. He moved over to stand beside Carl so that he had a better view of all four remaining Backstreet Boys. His eyes settled on Howie. “Wait, I mean almost perfect.”

Howie could do nothing except widen his eyes as the monster of a man stepped forward. The thudding of his own heart was all consuming as he watched the man place his hands on the top riser. He braced himself for what was about to happen, but he still wasn’t prepared for the searing pain that coursed through his neck as the riser was yanked out from underneath his feat.

“Howie! No!”

Nick’s tearful cry did nothing to help the situation as Howie struggled to reach the top of the remaining riser. His body swayed and spots exploded in front of his eyes as the rope dug into his neck; cutting off his oxygen supply. For a few terrifying seconds, Howie feared that he wouldn’t be able to recover his footing, but then his right foot miraculously connected with the surface of the remaining riser and he was able to save himself; drawing himself up on the tips of his toes as much as his body would allow.

“There.” Angleo brushed his hands together as if he had just completed an immense amount of physical labour. “Now, things are perfect.” He turned to face Nick. “Are you ready to hear what you have to do, Nicky?”

Nick let out a series of unintelligible grunts in response. Although it was the last thing that he wanted to do, Nick tightened his grip on the gun. His hands were growing slick with sweat, and the last thing he wanted was for the gun to fall to the floor and discharge directly into one of his brothers’ faces. He didn’t know where to look; what do. He wanted to keep an eye on all three of his friends at the same time, but that was impossible given his position. If he faced Brian and Kevin then he would be turning his back on Howie.

“So, here’s what you’re going to do, Nicky.” Angelo powered forward without waiting for Nick to answer properly. “You’re going to make a simple choice. You’re going to shoot either Brian or Kevin.”
Chapter 26 by KeepThisSecret
“I’m sorry; what did he say?!” Lauren leapt off of the couch with surprising agility. “I’m going to fucking murder that good-for-nothing, shit-ass ...”

“Lo ...” Kristin coked her head ever-so-slightly in Rochelle’s direction. “...maybe you should just, you know, sit ...”

“What?” Lauren paused mid-rant. She swivelled her eyes to Rochelle who was standing in the middle of the room sobbing silently; her unfocused eyes trained on the television. “Oh ... oh shit! Oh my God, Ro! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean ... I just meant that ... ‘murder’ was definitely the wrong word ...”

Lauren promptly sat back down on the couch. She pressed her mouth into a thin line as she stared at her husband’s face on the screen. Nick looked absolutely destroyed; like he would rather die than choose between the Kentucky cousins. And that’s exactly what Lauren was afraid of. She could practically see the wheels turning in Nick’s head; see him toying with the idea of turning the gun on himself instead of on Brian or Kevin. As much as she loved the other guys, Lauren couldn’t help but hope that Nick would decide to be selfish. She hoped that he would think about her, about their son.

“Why aren’t the police there yet?” Baylee broke the silence. “Why are they letting all of this happen? It’s not fair! It’s not fair to make Nick pick!”

“None of this has been fair, Bay.” Leigh sighed. She had no idea what to say to the young boy sitting across from her. His raw, unfiltered pain was breaking her heart. “Life isn’t always fair. It doesn’t matter how good you are, or how much you pray, or well you follow the rules. Sometimes life just deals you a shitty hand.”

Baylee licked his lips. He felt like he was seeing the world for the first time. The relationships that he had thought were stable were not, the people who he had thought were moral were not, and the values that he had thought were important were not. The adult world had just rushed forward and beaten him with a stick; shattering his rose-coloured glasses into thousands of tiny pieces. He would never look at his life the same way again.

“I don’t understand.” Rochelle choked. “I just don’t understand. They shot him. They shot him for no reason! They shot my Alex, and now I’ll never get to see him again. I’ll never get to hug him, or kiss him, or say goodbye. I’ll never get ...”

“Ro, honey, you have to stop!” Kristin vacated her spot next to Baylee and pulled Rochelle into a crushing hug. “I don’t have any words for you right now, but I’m here for you, okay? We’re all here for you.”

Baylee lifted his head to look at his mother. He didn’t understand why his mom wasn’t talking; why she wasn’t also trying to comfort Rochelle. Leighanne was just sitting on the couch and staring at the television in a daze as if she was the only person in the room. Baylee’s stomach lurched. His mom cared about the other guys just as much as she cared about his dad, didn’t she?

“Where are the police?” Baylee repeated his earlier question to silence the doubts that were growing in his own mind. “What’s taking them so long?”

“We’re almost there.” Nate announced. “The plaza’s just after the next set of lights.”

Julie nodded. Her mind was swimming. She glanced down at her phone screen. They had lost AJ somewhere between the downtown core and their destination, but the others were still alive. All of her grand visions of bursting into the room with the SWAT team and rescuing all five Backstreet Boys had disappeared as soon as AJ’s body had hit the floor. Time definitely wasn’t on their side and, although nobody on their team was willing to admit it out loud, their mission had already switched from rescue to recovery.

“Gardner and Vasques came up empty at their branch.” Nate continued. “So did Nelson and Lewis.”

Julie nodded again. She was barely listening.

“Both teams are holding steady for now. They’ll be on route as backup as soon as we or Parker and Brown have an address.” Nate paused. He let out a small sigh as he studied his partner’s face. Something was clearly wrong. “You okay, Gallagher?”

“I’m just thinking about how we blew it.” Julie replied. “We messed this entire situation up, Nate. AJ’s death is our fault.”

Nate resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Julie had been overly invested in this case from the moment that it had come across their desks. He should have trusted his gut; he should have had her pulled off of the file at the very beginning. It was obvious that she was letting her emotions get in the way.

“I know what you’re going to say, Nate. I know that you’re going to tell me that we’re doing the best job that we can possibly do given the circumstances. I know that you’re going to tell me that it’s our responsibility to apprehend the criminals and nothing more. But you’re forgetting that all of that knowledge isn’t going to change the fact that our names are forever going to be synonymous with the death of the Backstreet Boys.” Julie let out a sigh to match her partner’s. “You do realize that if they all end up dead, our careers will be too, right?”

Nate ran his tongue along his front teeth. Julie had made a good point. Regardless of how hard they tried, the media wasn’t going to tell their side of the story if things ended badly.

“344A, this is 567A. Are you still on route? You need to redirect! I repeat; you need to redirect! We have an address! Over.”

Julie practically flung herself at the hand-held radio. She yanked it off of the dashboard before Nate could react. “567A, this is 344A. We are still on route to our initial destination, but we will redirect. What’s the address? I repeat, what’s the address? Over.”

Julie held her breath as she waited for the other pair of detectives to respond. The fact that Parker and Brown had managed to retrieve an address before she and Nate had even made it to their destination filled her with a renewed sense of optimism. She glanced down at the phone in her lap; four Backstreet Boys were still standing.

“344A, the destination is 23 Bedford Road. The primary suspect’s name is Carlos Costa, but he’s known to refer to himself as ‘Carl’. Over.”

“Copy that, 567A.” Julie’s fingers were shaking so badly that she could barely press the button on the radio. Nate was already punching the address into the GPS system. “567A, 344A is now on route to 23 Bedford Road.” Julie gripped the arm rest as Nate abruptly pulled the car into a u-turn and accelerated at an alarming rate. “We will advise SWAT of the new destination. Over.”

“344A, we copy. We will inform 278A and 459A of the change. Over.”

“567A, we are twenty-two minutes from the destination. Over.”

Julie looked to the GPS for confirmation. Her palms were sweating. This was it; they finally had an address.

The sweat was running down Nick’s face; mixing with his tears and dripping off of his chin in massive, salty drops. He didn’t want to be in this position. He didn’t want to make the choice. As soon as he had been given the ultimatum, he had thought about turning the gun on himself. But, deep down, he knew that killing himself would be selfish. Even if he were to shoot himself in the head, there would be nothing to stop the two angry men from killing Brian, Kevin, and Howie before his body had even hit the floor.

“Are you having trouble deciding, Nicky?” Angelo smirked. “Do you want them to play rock, paper, scissors?”

Nick took a deep breath in an effort to stop the tremors that were racing through his body. He knew that their captors weren’t going to wait forever. He knew that things would only get worse if he didn’t pull himself together and make a decision. Taking another gulp of air, Nick squared his shoulders and forced himself to look at Brian and Kevin.

The Kentucky cousins were still flattened against the far wall with their arms outstretched and their fingers laced together. They were both staring back at Nick with similar expressions of finality and acceptance. The sight of them looking so eerily calm made Nick cry even harder. Why couldn’t the two of them have just looked terrified? It would have made things easier. The notion that both Kevin and Brian were willing to accept whatever decision he made was too much for him to handle.

“Maybe I haven’t made myself completely clear.” Angelo rolled his eyes. He was growing increasingly impatient. “You either shoot Brian, or you shoot Kevin, or I kick the final riser out from underneath Howie’s feet.”

“You sick son of a bitch!” Howie wheezed. “Why don’t you just kick it out from under me now then?”

Angelo turned to face the struggling Latino. The expression on his face was priceless; terror laced with a tinge of bravado. It was easy to see that Howie didn’t mean what he was saying, that he was only trying to save Nick. Angelo snorted. What was it about the stupid blonde that made everyone want to protect him? Even his adoring fans had gone out of their way to make sure he didn’t win the final challenge; essentially sacrificing the life of another man to save their precious Nickolas.

Nick’s heart was straining against his chest. He knew that Howie was lying through his teeth. Howie didn’t want to die. None of them did. His eyes drifted to AJ’s body. They were already down to four.

“What’s it gonna be, Nick?” Angelo prodded. He stepped closer to Howie and tilted his foot so that the sole of his boot was resting against the riser. “Who are you going to pick? Who means the least to you? Which one of these losers could you live without?”

Nick hastily wiped at his face with the back of his free hand. He knew what he had to do. He knew that he only had one chance to make the right decision. Taking one final deep breath for good measure, he planted his feet and raised the gun.

Fighting the urge to cry even harder than he already was, Nick pulled his arms straight and gripped the handle of the gun with both hands. He pivoted slightly so that he was directly facing Brian and Kevin. The two cousins were still staring at him; Kevin had gone stone-faced and the tears were now rolling down Brian’s cheeks. Nick moved his right index finger over the trigger and removed the safety. His vision blurred slightly from the tears that he could no longer contain.

“It’s okay, Nick.” Kevin’s voice was deep; too deep for comfort. “It’s okay.”

“You guys know – you both know that I love you, right?” Nick fought to keep his arms steady. He knew that he couldn’t afford to miss his target.

“We know.” Brian’s voice was barely audible. He raised his teary eyes to Nick’s and squeezed his cousin’s hand as he answered for both of them. “We know, Nick. We love you too.”

Nick slowly let out his breath. His finger twitched against the trigger. Before he could convince himself to change his mind, he yanked his finger backwards. The gun discharged with enough force to send him stumbling back several steps. Like with the bullet that had struck AJ, the silencer muffled the sound of the bullet leaving the chamber but it did nothing to distort the heart wrenching cry of pain that followed.

Kayleigh’s heart stopped. Sophia was gripping her fingers so tightly that she was practically cutting off the circulation to her entire arm. The iPad was propped up on the coffee table amidst their empty Starbucks cups and take-out containers of Chinese food. The images on the screen were still flashing. The wounded screams were still pulsing out of the speakers. The disbelief was still so fresh.

“I just can’t ...” Sophia breathed. “I can’t believe that he actually pulled the trigger.”

“What was he thinking?” Kayleigh shook her head. She could feel the tears prickling the corners of her eyes. She knew that it was silly to cry over a group of men that she didn’t really know, but she couldn’t help herself. “Do you think that we voted the wrong way?”

“I don’t know anymore.” Sophia wiped away her own tears and reached for one of the discarded coffee cups; frowning when she realized that it was empty. “Maybe we just wanted to believe it so badly that we convinced ourselves that it was true. Maybe the two of them were never truly as close as we were made to believe that they were.”

Kayleigh was still shaking her head in denial. “I feel like my entire teenage existence was based upon a gigantic lie. How could he do it, Soph? How could he shoot him like that? How is it possible that we just watched Nick Carter shoot Brian Littrell?”
Chapter 27 by KeepThisSecret
Nick regained his footing in a matter of seconds. He tore his eyes away from Brian; away from the trail of blood that was running down the cinder block wall and whipped around to face the two men who had caused him unimaginable pain. Both men were seemingly frozen in surprise; their eyes locked on Brian’s body that was now crumpled on the floor. Nick could tell by their stance that he had made the right choice. He had succeeded in catching them off guard.

Knowing that he had only seconds to his advantage, Nick fired off two shots in rapid succession. The first caught the smaller man directly in the chest and the second ripped through the bigger man’s massive upper arm. Angry at himself for having missed his second target, Nick tried again. He fired a third shot, but their remaining captor was too quick. The bigger man dropped to the floor as the bullet sailed past him; one eye on Nick and the other on his partner who had fallen to the floor in a pool of his own blood.

“Fuck!” Nick cursed himself and brought his arms up to try again. He wasn’t sure how many bullets he had left. He couldn’t afford to keep missing.

“You little shit!” Angelo roared. He pushed himself off of the floor; narrowly missing Nick’s next attempt at shooting him in the chest. “You killed my baby brother!”

Angelo’s rage was all consuming. He could barely see beyond the red that was pressing in from the corners of his eyes and blurring his vision. He had officially had enough of the little blonde Backstreet bastard standing in front of him. With one well-practiced movement he fired off a shot at Kevin who had lunged forward in an attempt to retrieve the gun that Carl had dropped when he had been killed. His shot was on point, and Angelo curled his lip in satisfaction as he watched the tall, dark haired man fall to the floor. Then, without missing a beat, he kicked out his left leg and sent the final riser supporting Howie’s weight skidding to the far side of the room.

Nick felt as if the scene before him was unfolding in slow motion. He could feel his eyes widening as he watched the riser slide out from beneath Howie’s feet. Dropping the gun, Nick hurled himself at Howie’s legs in a desperate attempt to save him.

He missed by an inch.

Nick’s fingers groped frantically at the air, but he just couldn’t stretch his body far enough. His stomach connected roughly with the cement floor just as the rope tightened around Howie’s neck.

Howie gagged in desperation. He could feel his eyes popping out of their sockets as he instinctively began to claw at the rope that was pulling against his neck. He scratched at his skin even though he knew that his efforts were futile. His vision was already growing dark.

It was all over in a matter of seconds.

By the time Nick had managed to roll himself over onto his back, the rope supporting Howie’s weight had broken away from the ceiling. Howie’s limp body was now lying in a heap of dust, chunks of cement, and pieces of broken plaster less than a foot away from where he had fallen.

“You killed my brother!”

Nick raised his arms in a useless attempt to shield himself. The big man was lumbering towards him with his gun pointed directly at his chest. There was no way out and Nick knew it. Nick also knew that it no longer mattered what happened to him. He was the last one standing. This is probably what the men had wanted from the very beginning; for him to endure all of the suffering of watching his best friends die before meeting his own tragic end.

Nick’s mind flashed to Lauren; to her round stomach and to the son that he would never get to meet. He was ugly crying now; the tears streaming down his face and collecting at the corners of his mouth. He licked away the salt as his mind ran through all of the moments that he would miss, all of the children that he would never have, all of the songs that he would never sing, all of the relationships that he would never fix. This was his last living moment and he was all alone with no one to comfort him, to wrap their arms around him and to tell him that everything was going to be okay.

“You are so dead, Carter!”

Nick stared up at the man through his tears. His whole body tensed. He clamped down on his tongue so hard that he tasted blood. The barrel of the gun was getting closer. Nick closed his eyes. He didn’t want to know when it was coming.

The horrendous bang of the bullet leaving the chamber was so loud that Nick’s hands flew up to cover his ears. He yelped in surprise and opened his eyes just in time to see the bullet catch the angry man in the side of the neck. In another slow-motion montage, Nick watched the burly man sink to his knees almost immediately next to where he was lying; his blood-curdling scream echoing through the room.

“Police!”

Nick couldn’t move fast enough. The room was filled with people before he could even push himself into a sitting position. Everywhere he looked there were people in NYPD vests; some holding guns, some holding shields and all of them moving frantically about the room. Three men dressed in SWAT gear swooped down on the man who had been about to kill him; yanking off his face mask and dragging both of his arms behind his back.

“Are you Carlos? Carlos Costa?”

The big man didn’t answer. He just continued to emit wounded animal noises as the blood gushed from his neck. His uncovered face revealed the true extent of his rage; murderous.

“We’ve got one still alive!” Another man decked out in an NYPD vest practically screamed in Nick’s face as he offered him his hand. “You’re Carter, right? Nick Carter? Are you injured?”

Nick ignored the man’s questions, as well as his outstretched hand. He pushed himself off of the floor using his own power and staggered forward. There were too many people in the room now; too many people to look at and to distract him from his destination. He caught sight of Howie’s motionless body as he moved forward and clutched at his stomach. He had to know if he had done the right thing.

“Nick – Mr. Carter?!”

Nick held up his hand to silence the woman in an NYPD vest who was trying to get his attention. His whole body ached from hitting the floor, but he ignored the pain and continued to hobble forward. He could see clusters of people on the floor around AJ, Kevin, and Brian, and his heart swelled in his chest. He couldn’t be the only one left.

“... caught me in the side ... I can stand.”

As far as Nick was concerned, the whole world stopped. The sound of his voice gave Nick tunnel vision. Everything in the room blurred into an unintelligible mess except for him. Nick dragged himself forward until he was standing only a few feet away from where one of his brothers was being helped into a standing position. He could feel himself growing lightheaded. He wasn’t the only one left.

“Bri ...” Nick’s heart was pounding. He waited until Brian raised his head and their eyes connected before he tried again. “Brian, I ...”

Brian shrugged off the hands of the men who had helped him to his feet. His still bleeding skin burned from where the bullet had grazed the side of his chest, but the pain didn’t stop him from moving forward as far as his still shackled ankles would allow and falling into Nick’s open arms. Brian was crying before Nick was able to lock his hands behind his back. He didn’t know what he wanted to say; what he was supposed to say.

Nick’s own tears started to fall to match Brian’s. It didn’t matter that Brian was shaking, or that he was sobbing, or that he was bleeding, or that he was caked in dirt. All that mattered to Nick was that Brian was alive. Despite the chaos that was swirling around them, Nick felt safe. He always felt safe with Brian.

“You have shitty aim.” Brian choked. “You cut up my side pretty bad though.”

“I had no choice ...” Nick stopped; tried again. “They put me in the situation that you refused to answer, Bri. They put all of the people who I love the most in a room and told me that I could only save one. I knew that if I hit you just enough to draw blood that you would play along. It was – shooting you was the only way that I could pick you.”

Brian squeezed his eyes shut and tightened his grip on Nick. He felt exceptionally guilty and immensely grateful all at the same time. It had taken every ounce of willpower that he possessed to lay on the floor and pretend to be dead while he listened to Nick’s desperate attempts to save Howie and Kevin on his own.

Brian had only dared to open his eyes once it had been confirmed that one of their captors was dead. Of course, that was also the moment when his cousin had been shot and Howie had literally had the life sucked right out of him. Brian had helplessly watched the two of them die from his position on the floor, and he knew that the horrendous images would haunt him for the rest of his life.

“I had to protect you.” Nick continued through his hysterical sobs. “When they were torturing you, you could have said my name to save yourself, but you didn’t. You’ve always gone out of your way to protect me and, despite everything that’s happened between us, there was never any doubt in my mind ...”

“We have a pulse!”

Brian’s eyes fluttered open at the exclamation. He swallowed hard and dared to lift his head away from Nick’s chest. His eyes locked with Nick’s and the two of them simultaneously turned to see who the newly arrived paramedics were screaming about.

“It’s faint, but it’s definitely viable! He needs blood!”

“Oh God, AJ ... you mean he’s not ...” Brian cut himself off as his cousin’s voice drifted out amongst the commotion.

“Forget about me.” Kevin ordered the paramedics who were busy scurrying around him; attempting to bandage his oozing thigh. “I’m not the one who barely has a pulse.”

“Kev?” Nick’s voice cracked as he caught sight of the older man being slowly pulled up into a sitting position. “Kev, you’re – you’re okay?”

“He’s got a bullet lodged in his left thigh, but he’ll be fine.” The female detective who Brian recognized from the meeting that he and AJ had attended at the police station answered Nick’s question before Kevin could speak. “It would be a different story if he wasn’t so good at playing dead.” Her eyes drifted to Brian. “I guess the same can be said for you.”

“And AJ?” Nick stared after the stretcher containing AJ’s body that was hastily being carted out of the room.

“He’s been shot in the stomach, and he’s lost a lot of blood.” Julie shook her head slowly. “I haven’t been told anything more.” She paused. “The two of you need to be examined. You could both have internal injuries.”

“I’m fine.” Nick replied generically.

Emotionally, Nick was the farthest from ‘fine’ that he had ever been. He ran his tongue along the front of his teeth as he watched yet another man in an NYPD vest drop to the floor and begin to fiddle with the shackles that were still locked around Brian’s ankles. No matter how hard he tried, Nick couldn’t bring himself to say Howie’s name. He knew that he was dead. There was no way to fake death by asphyxiation.

“What about – what about D?” Brian forced himself to utter that words that he knew Nick was too scared to say. He swayed forward and tightened his grip on Nick’s arm as the man fiddling with the shackles around his ankles succeeded in getting them to pop open. It was painful to swallow beyond the lump in his throat. “Is he ...”

“The luckiest out of all of you?” Julie couldn’t help it; she allowed her lips to drift into a soft smile. It was nice to be able to deliver some good news in the midst of such a terrible situation. “The ceiling anchor broke at exactly the right moment. The sudden lack of oxygen, combined with the fall, knocked him unconscious, but he’s still very much alive. She nodded over her shoulder. “The EMTs are going to transport him to the hospital right now.”

Nick, too, swayed on his feet. If Brian hadn’t been holding on to him, he probably would have crashed to the floor. A gut wrenching sob racked his body and he, once again, pulled Brian into a bone crushing hug. The relief that was coursing through his body was almost too much for him to handle.

Julie watched the two men standing before her with measured interest. Even though there were literally people in every square inch of the room, she felt like she was somehow intruding on their private moment. She wasn’t sure what the future held for them, or for the rest of the group, but Julie was completely sure that nothing in the Backstreet realm would ever be the same.
Chapter 28 - Epilogue by KeepThisSecret
Janet stopped typing. She slammed her finger down on the backspace key and watched as the line of text that she had just composed disappeared. She stared at the little blinking curser, at the blank page; thinking about all of the words that she knew would remain forever unsaid. As much as she wanted to apologize, to say ‘thank you’, Janet knew that she could never put the words that she wanted to say on paper even if she could finally organize her thoughts well enough to get them right.

Closing her laptop, Janet stood up from the rocking chair and tip-toed over to stand next to the two identical cribs. For the first time in their short lives, her daughters were sleeping peacefully; alone in their separate beds. The surgery had gone exceptionally well, and the doctors had reassured her that both girls would go on to lead long and happy lives. They would no longer have to struggle to move about; literally joined together at the hip.

The separation of her babies was something that Janet had never allowed herself to consider because of the price tag. Conjoined twins were an anomaly and separating them was a daunting task that very few surgeons were willing to tackle. That is, unless the price was right. So, when Carl had told her to go ahead and schedule the procedure, when he had told her that he had found a way of coming up with the startling sum of money, Janet had chosen not to question him. Deep down, she had known that he and Angleo would be obtaining the money illegally. But, for the sake of her children, she had chosen to protect herself by turning a blind eye to the situation that had literally unfolded just down the street.

In the end, Carl had paid the ultimate price; he had sacrificed his own life to give his daughters the life that they deserved. Janet would be forever grateful to him and to Angelo for what they had done, but she still couldn’t prevent the deep feelings of remorse that surged through her body whenever she thought about the five men who had been locked in her basement. For her, the Backstreet Boys were no longer iconic because of their music, but because of the unintentional gift that they had bestowed upon her family.

Carl had thought of everything. He had never issued the hospital a penny directly from his account. So, while the police had been able to track the money derived from the votes to Carl, they hadn’t been able to properly determine where the money had gone after he had withdrawn it from his account. As far as the police were concerned, Carl had sunk all of the money into a phoney overseas corporation. Janet would never know how Carl had transferred the money to the hospital, and she had a feeling that she was better off not knowing. Her husband had gone out of his way to ensure that the funds would never be traced back to her or to the girls and, for that, Janet would be eternally thankful.

On that fateful day when the police had raided her late father-in-law’s empty house and found the five men in the basement, Janet had been safely tucked away in the hospital’s waiting room with her sister by her side; awaiting news of the girls’ progress. Carl had told her that he was working a double shift, so her surprise had been legitimate when the police had arrived to question her and to tell her that Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys had killed her husband.

Janet’s shock had only increased when she had learned that her brother-in-law Angelo had somehow managed to survive. She had quickly told the police everything that she knew - that her husband’s brother lived a nomadic lifestyle; working in the janitorial field on cruise ships that criss-crossed the Caribbean to avoid the trouble that always seemed to befall him whenever he stayed in one place for too long. With that information, it hadn’t taken the police long to determine that Angelo had encountered the Backstreet Boys long before he had locked them up in the basement. As it turned out, Angelo had been on staff for one of the dedicated Backstreet cruises; an assignment that had apparently encouraged him to experiment with his sexuality and to be rather rudely rebuffed by none other than Nick Carter himself.

Since Angelo clearly had motive, the police had quickly closed the case and Carl’s involvement had been deemed as supporting. Angelo was now serving a life sentence with no chance of parole for five counts of attempted murder, and Carl’s name and participation in the whole ordeal had been pushed to the side by the police, the media, and the fans. So, although she often felt guilty about the pain and suffering that the five boy-banders had endured at the hands of her family members, Janet had decided that she would take her husband’s secret to her grave. After all, that’s exactly what Carl had done.

“Did you hear about those conjoined twins?” Lauren stopped scrolling though her newsfeed as Nick walked into the room. “I think I mentioned them to you before; they were joined at the hip and doctors in New York successfully manage to separate them. Anyways, they were released from the hospital a few days ago. Apparently, it’s one of the most successful separation procedures that has ever been performed on a set of conjoined infants.”

“Yeah, sure.” Nick absently rubbed at the scar on his temple. He flashed his wife what he hoped was a convincing smile. “I remember. That’s great.”

Lauren sighed. She lowered her phone to her lap and gently moved her hands across her ever-growing stomach. “Are you nervous?”

Nick shrugged; sheepish. “A little.”

“It will be like nothing ever happened.” Lauren paused as Odin began to kick. “You guys will pick up right where you left off.”

Nick shook his head. “It’s not that simple, Lo. Nothing for us will ever be simple again.”

“Nick ...” Lauren reached out and caught him by the hand as he turned to walk by her chair. She fumbled to find the words that she wanted to say. “... this is going to be amazing. You’ll see.”

“She’s right, Nicky. This is going to be amazing.”

Nick turned away from Lauren at the sound of Kevin’s voice. He swallowed hard as he watched the Kentucky cousins step into the room. The last time that he had turned to face Brian and Kevin, he had essentially been tasked with the deciding which one of them was going to live and which one of them was going to die. The sight of the two of them standing in front of him, shoulder to shoulder, with smiles on their faces, was enough to bring him to tears.

“Hey ...” Nick flushed; embarrassed by how emotional he sounded. “You guys came together?”

“We were home visiting family to celebrate our cousin’s engagement.” Kevin answered in his typically slow fashion. “So, yeah, we flew in together.”

Nick nodded. His eyes left Kevin’s face and drifted to Brian. He returned the soft smirk that the shorter man was giving him. The ease of their initial interaction gave Nick hope. Maybe Lauren was right; maybe everything would be as simple as picking up right where they had left off.

It had been almost a full four weeks since the five of them had been together; since they had been freed from the basement. The memories were still raw for all of them, and they were all still struggling to cope with their new reality. The walls that they had carefully constructed to keep themselves hidden from each other, as well as from the world, had all come crashing down. For the first time since they had skyrocketed to fame, none of them had a place to hide. Their new found vulnerability was equal parts liberating and terrifying. Their physical scars were almost completely healed, but their emotional wounds were forever changing.

“How’s your shoulder?” Nick stepped forward as Kevin opened his arms. “Still sore?”

“A bit.” Kevin acknowledged. He wrapped his long arms around Nick and slapped his youngest friend affectionately on the back. “My dancing may suffer as a result.”

“Your dancing suffers as a result of your lack of rhythm.” Brian quipped. He playfully elbowed his cousin out of the way and pulled Nick into his own embrace. “It’s good to see you, Nick.”

Nick grinned into the top of Brian’s head. He tightened his arms around the smaller man’s back and let out a sigh of relief. It felt good to hug Brian in greeting instead of out of desperation. The two of them had spoken extensively since the ‘incident’, but they hadn’t physically seen each other since they had each been discharged from the hospital.

“Your scar looks better.” Brian leaned out of Nick’s grip ever-so-slightly to look up at his face. “Hardly noticeable.”

Nick snorted. The scar was still the first thing that he noticed every morning when he looked in the mirror. Of course, it would always be more visible to him than to anyone else; a permanent reminder of the hardships that he and his brothers had endured.

“How are yours doing?” Nick asked the question tentatively, reluctantly pulling out of Brian’s embrace. “Still sore?”

“Not really.” Brian lifted his shirt to reveal the series of now light-pink lines criss-crossing his chest. “I mean, ya’ll can still see ‘em ...”

“B, I know you’re happy to see me, but can you at least try to keep your clothes on until we’re alone?!”

Brian lowered his shirt at AJ’s words. A goofy grin spread across his face as he allowed his friend to wrap his tattooed arms around his back. “You know that I can’t control myself when you’re around.”

“Are we comparing scars?” AJ continued to laugh as he slapped Brian on the back and moved on to greet Nick. “You should see mine! It still looks like a bullet hole!”

Nick snorted again as he returned AJ’s hug. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Rochelle stepping forward to greet Brian. Nick watched as Brian hesitated before slipping one of his arms around Rochelle’s waist. He saw Brian lean forward and whisper something in her ear. Nick kept his eyes locked on their exchange as Rochelle whispered her response before gently pressing her hand against Brian’s chest and planting a swift kiss on his cheek.

“I told you, Bri.” AJ called out; seemingly having eyes in the back of his head. He stepped away from Nick and moved towards Kevin. “Everything’s good. My lady’s cool like that.”

“Hey, fellas.” Howie’s tentative voice rang out. “Ya’ll doin’ okay?”

“We’re all fine, Howie.” Rochelle smiled at the Latino. She stepped away from Brian and gave the southerner a gentle, unnoticeable push in Howie’s direction. “Like AJ said, everything’s good.”

“We’re keeping our promise, right?” Brian embraced Rochelle’s nudge and stepped forward to pull Howie into a hug. “No apologizing, no talkin’ about shit that doesn’t need to be said; just movin’ forward.”

“A promise is a promise, Bri.” Howie licked his lips to hold back his emotions. It felt so good to be back; to be welcomed back despite everything that had happened. “I’m just happy that we made it this far; that we’re all here where we’re supposed to be.”

“We’ll leave you guys to it then.” Lauren exchanged a quick hug with Rochelle. The relief she felt at seeing all five men together and smiling was indescribable. “Ro and I are going to do some shopping for the baby.”

“When you say some shopping ...” Nick trailed off.

“We really mean a lot of shopping.” Rochelle playfully rolled her eyes and gave Nick a small wave as she followed Lauren out the door. “Have fun making plans, boys!”

“We better come up with some big plans.” Nick rolled his own eyes. “This kid is already bankrupting me and he’s not even here yet!”

Kevin let out a small grunt. “Wait until you have two.”

“Or until the one you have becomes a teenager.” Brian laughed.

“Or until you have a girl.” AJ chimed in.

“Guys!” Howie grinned. “Does this mean that we’re gonna do this? It kinda sounds like none of us can afford not to do this.”

“I think it’s decided.” Kevin grinned. “Let’s have Eddie put out some feelers and see if we can gauge the public’s potential response.”

“Sophia!” Kayleigh waved to get her friend’s attention. She stifled a laugh at the look of panic that crossed the other woman’s face as she turned away from the Starbucks counter and moved to greet her. “Have you seen it?! Have you heard the rumours?!”

“Oh God ...” Sophia placed a coffee cup into Kayleigh’s outstretched hand and took a deep breath. “Is it ...”

“I think it’s true!” Kayleigh practically shrieked as she thrust her phone into her best friend’s face. “It’s all over social media! Nick even hinted in one of his tweets that it’s going to happen; Backstreet Boys are totally going to do Vegas and we are so going!”
This story archived at http://absolutechaos.net/viewstory.php?sid=11449