So you want to hear my story, huh? Let me warn you, the last few years have been the most crazy, confusing, frustrating, unbelievable and horrible years of my life. I will probably get relocated for telling you my story, but I just can’t keep it inside anymore, it’s killing me!
My name USED to be Nickolas Gene Carter and I was a member of the singing group the Backstreet Boys. I was 26 had light blonde hair with ocean blue eyes that women went nuts over. I toured around the world and sang in front of millions of people. I was rich and famous. I had a huge house and everything I wanted inside of it. I had a dysfunctional family but I still miss them. You would not believe how much I miss Brian and his son Baylee; I wasn’t really close to his wife but she is a sweet woman and I miss her some, too. Then there is Kevin, he was my make shift father and I actually long to hear him jumping down my throat for playing a prank or something. I can’t forget Howie, he is an amazing guy and I miss him terribly. Now, there is AJ. No one really understood the relationship that I had with him; we were, actually, really close. None of that exists in my life anymore, only in my memories.
When I was first thrown into the Witness Protection Program a little over two years ago my name was changed to Michael Lee Smith. My hair was dyed a natural red color and I was made to start wearing hazel colored contacts. They said that being famous was going to make it that much harder to hide my true identity. Anyways, I was shipped off to some rinky dink town in Montana.
I don’t know if they did special things for me because of who I was or if it is routine but I was allowed to return to my house and pack a couple large suitcases to take along. Most of my stuff got left behind…isn’t that a bitch? I have worked my ass off since a very young age to be able to afford that shit and I only got to take two large suitcases, a big duffel bag, and two boxes of stuff!!!!! Arg! That, in itself, aggravates me. I was also allowed to say goodbye to some of my family as well as the guys and Baylee. AJ said he would take care of the rest of my stuff, in case I was ever allowed out of the WPP. Lastly, they allowed me to withdraw most of my money out of the bank (the rest was left in AJ’s care. He set up a separate bank account in his name, where he set aside the rest of the money and that was where any other royalties or BSB earnings would go.).
So anyways, I only spent a few months in Montana, before some one was able to recognize me. I guess all the media coverage, over a disappearing Backstreet Boy, didn’t help me stay invisible. See, the four guys are the only ones who know why I am stuck in the WPP, to begin with…but I will explain that a little bit later.
I was relocated to Virginia, where my name became Kyle James Linden. My eyes stayed the fake hazel but my hair was now pitch black. Trust me when I say it did NOT look good!! I was a few years younger, too. I was a lively 23 year old, HAHA! I was living in some small apartment in the middle of Richmond. But, again, somehow I was recognized in a mall. I couldn’t believe it! My hair was friggin BLACK, dude! How are these fans picking me out?!? So…I was relocated AGAIN.
This is when I found myself in Epping, New Hampshire. This location last only a week! Then it was off to another new location. By this time, you have to be able to imagine my frustration! Now, I have been HERE for almost a year and a half.
My name is now Jonathan Reeve Oviado. I live in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Yes, I am a mother fucking Uper and I live out in BFE! My little damn cabin…yes, I did say CABIN is in Marquette County. I don’t live in a town, like I said, I live in BFE. I work at a grocery store *laughs* about 30 hours a week making slightly above minimum wage *laughs again*. See what I mean when I say my life went down the tubes? No offense to the people of working America, but this is a shock to my system and I am not dealing with it well. Any ways, would you like to hear how this all happened to me and what my life is like now?

Ah, that fateful day. I can remember it so vividly as if it just happened this afternoon. I was just kicking off a tour with the other guys and we were performing in Orlando before we headed out to Alabama for a couple shows. I stepped out of the concert arena for some fresh air before the show started. There was a lot of noise coming from the alley behind the arena so I peeked around the corner. My eyes just about popped out of my head when I saw five guys beat the shit out of some other guy. I was going to step in and help the defenseless guy but stopped when I saw one of the other guys pull out a gun. My heart stopped as I saw then gunman shoot 5 or 6 rounds into the guy’s head!
When I saw the other guys begin to scatter, I turned and made a break for the arena door. I closed the door behind me and listened as the assailants ran past. My breathing was labored and my heart was pounding.
“Nick? Are you okay? You look like you just saw a ghost,” Howie appeared in front of me.
“Cancel the concert, Howie.”
“Cancel the…are you crazy?” he looked at me as if I were insane.
“No. Cancel it, NOW. And call the cops,” I stated as I began to shake. The realization was hitting me hard. I had just seen someone get murdered.
“What are you…” he started to protest again but I cut him off.
“Look,” I whispered, afraid that one of the assailants was still near by and could hear me. “I just saw someone get murdered in the back alley. I figured the cops should know and I am REALLY not up to performing after seeing some guy get five bullets in the head!” I looked at him with wide eyes and a look of pure fear.
“Nick, that is nothing to poke fun at. You really shouldn’t make jokes like that.”
“Um…do I LOOK LIKE I AM FUCKING KIDDING? THERE IS A DEAD DUDE IN THE ALLEY AND I SAW THE WHOLE DAMN THING HAPPEN!”
“Oh my dear God. You aren’t kidding!” Howie’s eyes widened before he took off up the flight of stairs. I followed him almost on his heals.
“What is your rush, Howie?” Kevin asked as Howie plowed into him. I skidded to a stop almost winding up bumping into Howie.
“Cancel the show. I’m calling 911. We will explain afterwards,” Howie stated as he brushed past Kevin and entered the dressing room.
“What’s your deal, Nicky?” AJ raised an eyebrow as I watched Kevin hot tail it down the hall. Howie was deep into a conversation with the 911 operator.
“I uh,” I swallowed a lump in my throat and scrunched my eyebrows.
“The 911 operator wants to talk to you,” Howie interrupted and handed me the phone. I wasn’t on the phone long before Kevin re-entered the room with three police officers behind him.
“Care to fill us in now, Nick?” Kevin stood with his head tilted. “This better be good.” He seemed to be very agitated with me. Okay, so I have played a few pranks in my day but NONE of them involved canceling a show OR calling 911.
“Kevin. Chill out. Nick is having a bad night so be patient,” Howie sighed.
“I um, when I…” I took a shaky breath and looked up at the cops who were patiently waiting. “I went outside for some fresh air before the show and I heard a bunch of noise in the back alley. When I peeked around the corner I saw a guy on the ground and five other guys beating him up,” I took a deep breath. “I was getting ready to go help the guy out but then I saw one of the others pull out a gun. Before I knew it the gun went off and put like 5 or 6 bullets…” I began to shake as I balled up my fists. “…into his….head.” I finally finished and let out a long breath. So that was like the HARDEST thing I have ever had to say. The words didn’t even want to come out of my mouth and I sure as hell didn’t want to admit to the events actually happening.
“O my God, Nick!” Kevin’s jaw dropped as he ran to my side. He wrapped his arms around me. “I uh…I’m so sorry.”
“Holy shit,” AJ stood and gave me a hug as well. “You know we are here if you need to talk, man.”
“I…I know,” I nodded slightly.
“Alright, we need to ask a few questions, Mr. uh…”
“Carter. Nick Carter.” I finished for the officer.
“Well, Mr. Carter, you will need to come along with us to the precinct so that we can get a statement from you. Because of your fame and all, you may wish to have a lawyer present.”
“I think that is a good idea. Just to be safe,” Howie nodded.
“But, I didn’t do anything!” I exclaimed looking at Kevin then Brian.
“We know that, Nick,” Brian patted my shoulder. “You just tell our lawyer what happened and he will make sure that you word it right.”
“Oh,” I sighed, “I thought you were insinuating that I did it.”
“Oh no, Mr. Carter, some of your security members saw the assailants taking off. At that time, they did not realize what had happened. Your two security men said that the men looked suspicious. Evidently they thought the assailants were trying to steal equipment that belonged to your band.”
“Oh, okay,” I relaxed only a minor bit.
“We found guns on both men and have them in custody. Another officer has already taken them to be booked.”
“There were five of them,” I reminded.
“Yes and we now have a team out in search of the others.”
“This is messed up, man!” AJ shook his head in disbelief.
“Can we go down with him?” Brian questioned.
“I would not advise all of you to accompany him. One of you going along for moral support would be just fine, but I think all of you being there, along with a lawyer, and investigators may get a bit overwhelming.”
“Who do you want to go with you, Nick?” Kevin questioned from the couch where he rested his head in his hands. I just looked up at AJ with questioning eyes.
“Of course, Nick,” AJ nodded. I told you that we had a close relationship that no one understood. Hell, most people thought that we couldn’t stand each other.
“Thanks,” I whispered. The officers allowed AJ to drive me to the station rather than having to ride in the squad car. However, there were squad cars surrounding us as he carefully drove us to the station.
“It will all work out, Nick,” AJ looked at me after putting the truck in park.
“It’s really freaking me out, Aje,” I confided nervously. I had never EVER been in a situation remotely close to this before. I admit it, I was scared out of my skull! I still am sometimes. We climbed out of the truck and headed to the front doors, where the officers greeted us before escorting us into the building.

A million thoughts ran through my head when I was in the station that night. Aje was more than supportive and our lawyer was extremely helpful. I couldn’t help but feel like a criminal, though, as I sat in the harshly lit questioning room. There were two different officers in the room with me, Aje, and our lawyer. After going over the events for the twentieth time, they typed up a statement for me to sign. I read it. Aje read it over my shoulder. Then, our lawyer read it. After concluding that it covered all of what I said, the way I said it, and nothing more…I scribbled my name at the bottom of the paper.
“See, Nick,” AJ patted my back then rubbed my shoulders a bit. “Everything is just fine!”
“I guess you’re right, Aje. Thanks, man,” I turned to look at him.
“It’s cool. But you are the one who is going to explain to the guys why you chose me. They are probably each having a brain overload trying to figure it out.”
“All three of them have wives they should spend time with before we leave the state,” I shrugged.
“Touché,” he snickered. The officers had stepped out of the room but where now returning with some papers.
“Here are copies of your statement, the police report, and a few other documents that you will want to take home and put in you files.” He handed a set to me and then one to our lawyer.
“We would like for you to look at a line up.” The other officer spoke up.
“Sure,” I nodded as I stood to me feet. I followed them to the room. I looked out the two sided mirror as the first line of men walked in.
“There will be three lines of men. Both suspects that were apprehended will be in the mix somewhere. If you are not sure of any of them, we can always come back to them later. Please, do not pick anyone out unless you are sure. If you have a suspicion, you may voice it openly but we don’t want you to say it is this guy and that guy if you aren’t sure.” The female officer explained.
“Okay,” I nodded and peered at the line of men. “I don’t see either of them.”
“Alright,” she leaned close to a microphone and pressed a little button before speaking again, “next line, please.” As she requested, the next line of men came in and stood in front of the measure marked wall.
“That’s the guy! That’s him! I know it for sure!” I pointed wildly at a tall dark haired man. “He was the guy with the gun! I could see his face because of the light over the back door in the alley,” I continued.
“Number 4? You’re sure?” she asked as she wrote in her little booklet.
“A hundred percent, that’s him,” I insisted.
“Do you recognize any of the other men?”
“Um…number 7 looks like he might be but I am not for sure,” I shrugged.
“Okay, we will bring in the last line and if we need to, we can bring him back out as a part of a fourth line.” She turned the microphone back on and requested the next line. I looked at this line for about five minutes.
“Can I see that other guy, along with number 2 and number 5 from this line?”
“Sure thing.” A few minutes later I was looking at the three men who were each wearing a new number. They faced one side, then the other, and back to me again. I was thanking God, repeatedly, that they could not see me.
“Number 2. I am ninety eight percent sure.” I finally spoke as I turned to the officer.
“Well, you have correctly identified the two men that were caught by your group’s security. Now, we will be able to press charges against them and hopefully get them to talk. Thank you for your cooperation.”
Aje and I left the station. He lit up a smoke as soon as he exited the door and he didn’t put up an argument when I asked to bum one. I don’t usually smoke but I will on occasion. Normally AJ would tell me ‘no’ because he says he doesn’t want me picking up his stupid habits. Tonight was different.

It was almost a month before I heard from the station again. They called to fill me in on the trial dates and times. This was moving much faster than I had anticipated. I guess my testimony helped a lot to speed things up. They also had a truck load of physical evidence. It was only another month before the trial date and it went by WAY too damn fast!
I remember sitting in the courtroom, surrounded by the guys and my brother Aaron. They had all come to offer me words of support and comfort. Nothing could prepare me for what that afternoon held in store. Then came the words I had been dreading…
“The prosecution calls Nickolas Carter to the stand.”
“Go get ‘em, Nick,” Kevin gave me a small smile.
“You’ll be fine,” Howie winked.
“Nick,” was all AJ said as we locked eyes. That was all it took. If you are ever privileged enough to look into AJ’s eyes, you will know what I mean…that man can tell you an entire story with a glance…it’s creepy sometimes.
“Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?” the bailiff asked after I placed my hand atop the Bible he held.
“Yes, I do,” I nodded before sitting in the hard cold wooden chair. The defendant…the man I was positive, pulled the trigger, was staring a hole into me as the prosecutor began her line of questioning.
“Mr. Carter, what do you do for a living?”
“I am a musician and singer. I am a part of the group called the Backstreet Boys.”
“So what were you doing at the arena the night of August 17th?”
“We were kicking off our U.S. tour. It was our second scheduled concert.”
“And why were you outside that evening?”
“I needed to get some fresh air before we went on stage.”
“Can you tell me what happened that night? What did you see?”
“I stepped out the side door. I was just standing there, when I heard a bunch of noise from the back alley. When I peeked around the corner, I saw a guy on the ground. There were five other men beating him up. I was just moving to step in and help the man when I saw…” I trailed off as I started to shake at the pictures flashing through my brain
“It’s okay Mr. Carter. Take your time and tell us what happened next,” she politely urged me to continue.
“I saw one of the men pull out a gun, this made me freeze. That’s when the gunman pulled the trigger and fired 5 or 6 shots.” I finished and let out a long sigh.
“And where were those shots aimed?”
“At the guy on the ground.”
“Did you see if the shots hit that man?”
“Yes…” I drew in a breath, “they all went into his head.”
“Now, Mr. Carter, I need you to look around this courtroom. Please tell us if you see the man who shot the deceased victim.”
“Yes, I do. It was the defendant,” I answered nervously.
“Are you absolutely sure?”
“One hundred percent.”
“Thank you Mr. Carter,” she smiled warmly then turned to the judge, “I have no further questions, at this time.”
“Does the defense wish to question the witness?” the judge asked.
“Yes, sir. We do,” the well suited defense attorney replied as he stood to his feet. This was going to be the worst part. He was going to badger me and try to get me to slip up. As we all know…this isn’t very hard to get me to do; I am not exactly the best with words.
“What time did all of this supposedly occur, Mr. Carter?”
“Um, let’s see. I didn’t look at my watch but we would have gone on stage at 9 that night. We have to have an hour or so for preparation so that would put it at about 8 o’clock. Maybe quarter ‘till.”
“And was it dark outside yet?”
“Not completely, no. It was fairly dark though.””
“So, how did you see the gunman’s face then?” he asked in a very snotty tone.
“There was a light above the back entrance door. It was shinning right on the group of men,” I answered with a raised eyebrow. Was this all he’s got?
“And how far away, would you say, you were from the scene you claim you saw so clearly?”
“Oh, I would say, four yards…five max.”
“Really? You expect us to believe that you were only four or five yards away and none of these men saw you?”
“Yes. I already said that I just peeked around the corner. I didn’t walk around it or anything. I could tell it wasn’t a friendly argument and so I didn’t want to get into the middle of it.”
“But you said you were going to help the man until you saw this gun,” this guy was seriously pushing my buttons!
“After I peeked around the corner and saw what was going on, yes, I then decided that I should help the poor guy out.” I shrugged my shoulders and glanced over at the guys who were sending small reassuring smiles my way.
“Alright, let’s SAY all of this is true,” he rolled his eyes at me, “How can you be sure it was my client you saw, and not someone who looked like my client?” I just stared at the guy for a minute, not really believing that he was asking such a dumb question.
“Answer the question, please,” the judge spoke up.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t think he was serious,” I snickered. “Um, I would say that I am sure it was him because of the huge scar on his right cheek and the funny flower and heart tattoo across his forehead.” The rest of the court burst into chuckles and snickers. AJ smiled widely at me and nodded his head with approval.
“And you are trying to tell me that no one else could POSSIBLY fit that description?”
“Well, I could see someone having a similar scar on their right cheek and I could see someone having a tattoo across their forehead. It’s just that I can’t see another person having that exact tattoo in that exact spot. I have a few tattoos myself and one of my best friends is covered in them,” I smiled towards AJ who stuck his tongue out at me. “Trust me when I say a tattoo like that is an original. Besides, how many men would have flowers and hearts tattooed on their forehead? Honestly?” The courtroom was filled with laughter again.
“Order! I will have order in this court or everyone will be made to leave!” the judge shouted and banged his gavel. The other guys were smiling at me. I knew that they were proud of me.
“I AM GOING TO HAVE YOU KILLED FOR THIS! YOU’RE NEXT YOU FUCKING GOD DAMN ASS HOLE! YOU’RE DEAD! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?” the defendant stood and lunged toward me as he screamed. I jumped up and scrambled out of the witness box as the man surged my way. The bailiffs were on him immediately and were slapping shackles on his feet.
Of course, he was convicted. He was given life without the possibility of parole. That didn’t help, seeing as the other three men were still out and about as free men. Now do you see? I was immediately approached and told that I would be put into the Witness Protection Program.

I was only given a little over a day to pack up my things and get ready to go. Before I was able to even digest what was going on, I was standing in front of Kevin, Howie, Brian, Baylee, AJ, my brother Aaron, and my sister Leslie.
“God this sucks,” I said with tears forming in my eyes.
“I know Nick, but it is for your own safety,” Kevin looked at me in that protective fatherly way.
“Take care of yourself, Nick. Our thoughts will be with you,” Brian said pulling me into a hug.
“We’ll be looking forward to you coming out of this thing,” Howie smiled at me.
“Hey, Nick, do you remember Nickalex?” AJ asked me with a smirk. I looked at him a bit confused for a brief moment before the realization hit me.
“Yeah,” I nodded, “I think I do remember Nickalex.”
“Who is Nickalex?” Howie questioned.
“You don’t know Nickalex, D. None of you do, except Nick.”
“Why are you bringing it up?” I asked.
“Nickalex knows my email address. I expect a message soon,” AJ cocked an eyebrow and gave me a smile.
“What does this, Nickalex person, have to do with Nick leaving?” Kevin asked a bit agitated. AJ and I both ignored him.
“Really? An email?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Oh yeah,” AJ snickered. “I expect tons of them.”
“That’s fucking awesome!” I exclaimed.
“Um…I’m lost,” Brian said scrunching his nose.
“Although, Nickalex should NEVER EVER tell me any personal information that I shouldn’t know. I mean, we wouldn’t want any problems to arise from Nickalex disclosing the wrong information.” AJ stressed.
“Oh, for sure.” I nodded.
“Well, Nickalex has been known to get a bit detailed. Nickalex has to mind the things in her messages.” AJ stared at me intently to relay his intent seriousness.
“Yeah, but the circumstances are different now that we are all older. Nickalex is, no doubt, a bit more mature because we are.” I added with a smile.
“Alright, cool,” AJ nodded. “I’ll miss you blondie.”
“I’ll miss you, too, tattooed freak.” I joked before giving him a brotherly hug. I turned to Aaron and Leslie.
“Take care of each other. I love you both,” I gave them hugs and Leslie cried.
“We’ll miss you, Nick.” Aaron hugged me tightly.
“Alright, Bay Bay,” I said kneeling down to the toddler’s height.
“Unky Nicky,” he cried and latched to my neck. “I no want you go.”
“I know little buddy, but I promise I will come back as soon as I can, okay?”
“Otay,” he nodded as we pulled apart.
“You make sure to give your daddy lots of trouble,” I smiled.
“I will,” he laughed and gave me another hug. That was the end of it, the WPP people took me off. I haven’t seen my friends since that day.

Perhaps I should explain something, just so you are clear. Nickalex isn’t a woman…not a person at all. Nickalex is a language slash code that AJ and I came up with when the group first got together…thus Nick-alex. None of the other guys knew about it. We made it up so we could talk about the other guys and stuff without them knowing. Haha. I know it sounds corny but maybe that’s part of what brought me and Aje so close. *shrugs*
So anyways, Aje was basically telling me to email him using our own secret language. I figured my new identity would set up an email address and ‘become’ friends with AJ. That should explain why he was going on about Nickalex not revealing any personal information. He doesn’t want to know anything about my new identity. After all, if someone found out about it, it could create problems by putting my life AND his in danger. That was the last thing I wanted.

It was almost six months in the WPP before I got enough nerve to try contacting Aje. This was after I had been moved to Michigan. It took a lot to get internet connection to my little cabin! I never knew there were places that you COULDN’T get that kind of stuff. I am quickly learning how naive I really am, concerning the world OUT side of the Backstreet life.
After finally getting hooked up and online, I set to work on refreshing my Nickalex skills. It had been a long time since I had tried using them, but now it was my only connection to my past and my friends…well one of them, at least. We began emailing back and forth, or chatting in a chat room, on a regular basis. He was helping me to cope, even if he didn’t know it.

Oh, CRAP! I have got to get ready for work! You would not believe how weird it is for me to have a job, job. I have only been working at the grocery store for a couple months and I am still not quite used to it. All things considered, though, it really isn’t that bad. The work isn’t hard and the people I work with are alright, too. My boss is Keith. The three cashiers are Stephanie, Danielle, and Marnie. There are a couple high school kids, Nichole and Sean, who work part time. Then, there is me…I stock shelves, price items, and lift heavy stuff or whatever the girls need help with.
Marnie is a bit of a moody bitch but I don’t work with her too much. I mainly end up working with Steph and Dani. In case you are wondering about the minimal staff…it is a SMALL town and the store is only open from 9-6. *shrugs* Yep, I usually work about 4 days a week or so from 11-7. I go in later because they aren’t busy first thing in the morning and I have to stay after to finish stocking stuff.
“Heya, JR,” Steph smiled.
“Hey,” I greeted. “how’s it going, today?”
“Slow, like usual,” Dani giggled.
“Has the stock come in yet?” I took off my jacket.
“Nope.” Dani shook her head.
“Okay, I’ll be back in a second.” Turning down one of the aisles, I headed to go punch in and hang my jacket. Winters in Michigan are cold, just in case you wanted to know. After taking care of my stuff, I put on the ugly maroon apron and headed back to the girls. Dani and Steph were both really nice and right around my age so we got along pretty well.
“What the?” I questioned as I caught the small box Steph tossed at me.
“Your roots are starting to show,” she chuckled as I looked at the box of hair dye. Did I mention that my hair is a dark brown, now? Oh, and my eyes are a fake green, which is a step up from that hazel color that I had before but the green still can’t compare to my natural blues.
“Aren’t you too young to dye your hair? I thought men only did that when they were getting grey,” Dani looked at me funny.
“So? I’m not the average guy, I guess,” I shrugged.
“O my gosh, you aren’t gay are you?” Dani’s eyes widened.
“Um, let me think,” I pretended to think hard about the answer, “how about…NO!” I laughed, shaking my head.
Yep, this is my new life, living in a northern Michigan cabin, working for minimum wage as a stock boy, and having these two as my only friends. All in all, it wasn’t killing me. Now that I think about it, in a weird way, it’s kind of nice to live a normal life…but yet it sucks. Talk about mixed emotions! Anyways, I better get to stocking those shelves…

“Home at last,” I sighed throwing my keys on the side table. I collapsed in my desk chair and booted up my computer. “Alright! I have a mail from Aje!” I said aloud as I excitedly clicked on his message. The only thing that sucked was that we had a secret language AND a secret code. All of our messages were a combination of the two so that anyone else would have that much harder of a time de-coding it. This message was no different…

‘Yo-
Paylay arco jbgxi 3krnnm nickel smack. paylay dgx8qqm pkbcr chuck hgna Sharon. Hooch nay p8xj e8nrs hrkr kgian 8pb2n ark…nbn8q boomba! Xbn na8n paylay sab2qj avelec prrx s2k3kgsrj p2n, paylay h8qcrj gx bx ark hgna sber bnark i2m…gx HOOCH NAY prj, xbxr upper foot qrss! Us nagxc, na8n paylay h8s rxi8irj us ark. Ra nickel smack. Paylay i2rss, gn’s p8fc us hooch nay ikb23grs play xbh. Paylay jbx’n kr8qqm nagxc na8n paylay arco upper foot ‘srnnqgxi jbhx’ nm3r, 8dnrk 8qq. Spaghetti nickel smack. Hashneco na8n 8xm i8qs gx mb2k qgdr, kgian xbh?
Spaghetti, pm upper foot h8m, hooch nay qgnnqr xr3arh Baylee a8s prrx igogxi ags j8j 8 k2x dbk upper foot ebxrm q8nrqm. Paylay jbx’n cxbh urm a8s ibnnrx gxnb upper foot e2xfacgx p2n burger and fries crr3 ybcgxi 8kb2xj 8pb2n age prgxi 8 erssrj 23 fqbxr bd ags j8j 8xj Bumblebee Tuna. Burger and fries 8qq egss na8n fa8k8fnrk, harkrork ar jgs833r8krj nb. F8x ho prqgror paylay 8fn28qqm egss age, nbb? Paylay a8or nbqj ho urm 8 burrito pqbxjr ar ishkeli…8xj abh highing 8xxbmgxi ar f8x pr!
Snot, Labrador ishkeli f8qqgxi rule. Burger and fries hashneco ibgxi b2n fq2ppgxi, y2sn us irn b2n bd nags abnrq play 8 hagqr. Paylay avelec prrx fbb3rj chuck gx arkr play nhb outta control xbh! 2A, sberngers paylay a8nr upper foot nk8orqgxi…nickel smack, frkn8gx 38kns bd gn. Arm, paylay hgqq f8nfa ho q8nrk nab2ia.
Fingers-
Silver Ring’

“Great, Aje. It’s a long one,” I laughed. I jumped up from my seat and headed into the kitchen. Opening the refrigerator I grabbed myself a can of soda. Snagging the bag of chips off the counter I headed back to my desk chair. I set to work de-coding the message. About 45 minutes later I had an un-coded message before my eyes…

‘Yo-
I am doing pretty well. I finally broke up with Sharon. My band mates were right about her…total bitch! Not that I should have been surprised but, I walked in on her with some other guy…in MY bed, none the less! To think, that I was engaged to her?!? Eh well. I guess, it’s back to my groupies for now. I don’t really think that I am the ‘settling down’ type, after all. Oh well. Are there any gals in your life, right now?
Oh, by the way, my little nephew Baylee has been giving his dad a run for the money lately. I don’t know what has gotten into the munchkin but we keep joking around about him being a messed up clone of his dad and Nick. We all miss that character, wherever he disappeared to. Can you believe I actually miss him, too? I have told you what a damn blonde he is…and how fucking annoying he can be!
Shit, Howie is calling me. We are going out clubbing, just to get out of this hotel for a while. I have been cooped up in here for two days now! UH, sometimes I hate the traveling…well, certain parts of it. Hey, I will catch you later though.
Peace-
Aje’

“I miss you guys, too.” I spoke to the computer screen. My head whipped toward the door at the sound of a loud knocking. I quickly closed everything on my computer screen and turned the monitor off before heading to open the door. “What are you two doing here? Wait, how did you know where I even lived?” I asked as my eyes landed on Dani and Steph.
“Keith gave it to us,” Dani shrugged as she pushed past me.
“What? Why?” I questioned as I looked at her.
“You forgot the hair dye and Dani decided that you HAD to have it TONIGHT,” Steph answered from the same spot she had been standing, outside my front door.
“Oh,” I responded simply as I looked her over.
“Well aren’t you going to come in?” Dani asked from the living room. “Nice place, Oviado.”
“Thanks, Dani. By the way, go ahead and come in,” I looked at her funny. “Come on, Steph, you too.”
“Thanks, Jonathan,” she smiled as she stepped inside.
“Oh, now you know you aren’t allowed to call me that. I hate the name, Jonathan,” I scrunched my nose. “It’s either JR or Reeve.”
“Come on and let’s dye your hair already,” Dani said tapping her foot impatiently.
“Wait,” I said grabbing the box, “this isn’t my normal brown color.”
“I know. I’m not sure what your natural color IS, but I think you would look WAY better as a blonde,” Dani grinned.
“Oh no, uh uh,” I shook my head repeatedly, “not happening. I can’t be blonde. No.”
“What? What the heck not?” Dani scrunched her eyebrows.
“Dani, chill out,” Steph hit Dani’s arm. “If he doesn’t want to be blonde, you can’t make him.”
“Yeah,” I nodded with my hands on my hips.
“Uh, fine,” Dani rolled her eyes and pulled out another box. “I brought the brown, just in case.” I led the girls to the bathroom where Dani proceeded to touch up my roots. I admit, it was nice not to have to do it myself.
“There,” Dani smiled, “all done.” She grinned as she finished washing the dye from my hair. I used a towel on my hair as the two of us walked out to find Steph cooking in the kitchen.
“Hamburger Helper, anyone?” she smiled.
“Eat, Oviado. You will need your strength. We are taking you out to the club,” Dani shoved a paper plate in front of me.
“There’s a club around here?” I asked a bit surprised.
“Well, the closet one that’s any good is about an hour away,” Steph answered.
“And, it’s already almost 8:30 already…so EAT!!!!” Dani said shoveling in her food.
“I haven’t been to a club in, like, forever,” I noted as I finished cleaning my plate. “I suppose I better get changed.”
“Hurry up,” Dani called as I headed back to my room. No wonder the girls were a bit dressed up. Dani’s shoulder length black hair was curled and tied back loosly. She was in a tight pick and black mini skirt with a matching low cut, skin tight shirt. Steph, the one I thought was the most attractive, had her long dark brown hair in a simple French braid. She had on a pair of snug blue jeans and a tight flowered tank top covered by a white tank top.
“Are you ladies ready?” I asked as I re-entered the room.
“Well, damn boy,” Dani smirked. I looked down at my baggy jeans, wife beater, and open button down shirt.
“What?” I asked her a bit confused.
“The hair looks good spiked. You should do it more often, not to mention the good taste in clothes,” she responded. I looked at her funny then glanced over to Steph who just smiled.
“Well, who’s driving?”
“I will,” Steph volunteered, “Dani will, definitely, be too drunk. I don’t drink, so it’s a safe bet.” Within minutes we were on the road and headed to this club. The girls were in the front and I sat in the back. They sang along to every song that came over the stereo and it was quite amusing until…
“O my gosh! I LOVE THIS SONG!!!!” Dani shouted and turned the stereo up more. The beginning notes to ‘Backstreet’s Back’ came drifting through the speakers. Talk about a damn flashback to years long past!
“Don’t mind her,” Steph yelled, “She just has the HUGEST crush on Nick Carter! That’s probably why she wanted to dye your hair blonde,” she said smiling at me from over her shoulder.
“You DO have a bit of a resemblance, you know,” Dani smiled before the girls went back to singing the song. I groaned as I rolled my eyes.

The club pulsed with loud music as we entered the front doors. I could feel the bass thumping in my chest as the three of us made our way to the crowded dance floor. My hips started to sway a bit as I bounced my head to the music. Dani already had a drink in her hand while Steph sipped on a bottle of water. Some guy came and dragged Dani further onto the dance floor leaving Steph and I on the side of it.
“Do you like dancing, JR?” she looked up at me.
“I’m not really that good at it, but yeah I LIKE to,” I answered sending her a smile.
“Can I ask you something a bit personal?” she spoke in my ear.
“Sure,” I shrugged. She pulled me down to her and spoke into my ear at a volume loud enough for me to hear but quiet enough that ONLY I could hear.
“Would you have to leave, if I told you that I knew who you are?” she asked then pulled away to look at me. I could feel the color drain from my face.
“I…I don’t know what you are talking about,” I shook my head trying to sound convincing.
“Okay, I will take that as a yes,” she grinned. “Forget I said anything and let’s go dance.” She took a hold of my hand and pulled me to the middle of the dance floor. She wrapped her arms around my neck and leaned up to my ear again. “Amazingly, I don’t think Dani has figured it out and your secret is safe with me.”
“Alright, but I am still not sure what you are going on about,” I leaned down to her ear this time.
“Sure you don’t, Nick…I mean Jonathan Reeve,” she smirked. I took a hold of her hand and drug her off the dance floor and outside.
“I needed some fresh air,” I mumbled as we stepped outside into the briskly cold air.
“So, I was right then?” she questioned and I looked up at her from my position on the cold cement. It was snowing and if it weren’t for the outside entryway that had a roof, we would be standing in it. We both shivered a bit as the sweat from our bodies evaporated into the cold air. I could see our breath as we spoke.
“When…how…I mean,” I shook my head.
“I kind of got a bit of a hunch when you first moved to the area but I didn’t know for sure…until now, that is,” she squatted down beside me. “I haven’t told anyone yet and you can trust that I won’t now, either,” she looked into my eyes.
“That kind of information could put you in danger. I am going to have to re-locate,” I said as I tore my gaze away from her.
“NO! Please, it is so nice having you around here. Things at the store are a lot nicer and I know Dani can be a bit obnoxious, but I have come to consider you a friend. Please, no one else ever has to know that I know anything.”
“It’s for your safety, I have to do it.”
“I knew I shouldn’t have said anything,” she sighed, “I was just hoping that I could be there for you as a friend. It must be hard for you and not having anyone to confide in must make it so lonely. All the hiding and then the tabloids have found you a couple times, already. I don’t want you to have to pick up and leave again. How many people have you been so far?” She raised an eyebrow at me. I licked my lips.
“This is the fourth,” I answered quietly.
“Well, JR, I am willing to take the risk. It’s up to you. If you want to leave that’s fine, but it shouldn’t be on my account.”
“I don’t want to put you in danger, Steph,” I looked up and met her eyes. I let out a long sigh.
“Whatever the case is, JR, I would like to enjoy the evening. We brought you here to have a good time, not sit in the cold debating things. I warn you, you better forget about everything right now because Dani will know something is up.”
“Do you want to continue our dance, then?”
“I would love to,” she smiled and held out a hand to help me up. Great, this is just what I needed. How do people keep recognizing me?
“This isn’t too bad of a club,” I stated as I swayed to the music.
“It’s the best we have around these parts,” she shrugged with a smile. I pulled her close to me and rested my hands on her hips as we danced along to the beat that rumbled the floor. “I thought you said you couldn’t dance.”
“Well, I guess I can a little bit, but I definitely suck at singing so I hope you guys don’t have any karaoke bars in the area,” I looked down at her with raised eyebrows.
“I hate karaoke.” She simply stated as she turned her back to me. She was only 5’5” and like I said…VERY attractive. I wrapped my arms around her and held her to me as we danced. Sure, my legs were a bit tired from having to bend so low at the knees in order to bring me down closer to her height, but I was enjoying myself quite a bit.

It was 3 o’clock in the morning before the girls dropped me off. Dani was passed out cold, in the back seat. The woman had gotten pretty wasted that night. I walked to my front door and Steph had followed. I unlocked my door but was still standing on the porch. I turned to face her.
“So, will I see you at work tomorrow?” she questioned. Ah, yes, nothing like bringing my mind back to a place where it didn’t want to be. How was I supposed to decide, this time? She said she would keep it a secret, but could I really trust her? Could I risk putting her in that kind of danger? Ugh! This WPP thing royally sucks!
“Steph…” I trailed off, not really knowing what to say.
“At least take a day or two to think about it before deciding? I’m sorry I said anything. I just…” she shrugged her shoulders and looked at her feet. “I thought you could use a friend. Not a fake one but a real one. It doesn’t matter who you are…you’re my friend and my co-worker. As far as I am concerned, IF you stay and IF you decide you want a friend, anything you tell me stays between us…no matter what. All I wanted was to offer you the chance to have someone to confide in, not to make things worse. Okay?”
“I appreciate that, I really do,” I sighed. “You have to see it from my side, too. What if one of the creeps that want me dead find out where I am? What if they come after you? What if…” her finger came up to rest on my lips.
“What? Nick Carter lives in this area?” her green eyes grew wide in mock surprise, “Oh, I wish so badly that I could meet him! It’s too bad I was never able to make it to a concert. I would die for the chance to meet the man,” she looked up at me. Obviously she was telling me that she would cover for me. “If anything like that ever happened I would have to immediately call my best friend, JR, and tell him the news.”
“What?” I looked at her in surprise. Was she implying that she would not only cover for me but warn me of impending danger as well? Okay, so this complicates my decision a bit. Steph looked over her shoulder to check and make sure Dani was still passed out…of course, she was.
“Well, JR, we are both on the schedule for morning, so I better get moving. I sure hope to see you at work, JR. If not, well, good luck,” she pulled me into a firm hug.
“I have a lot to think about,” I told her. She was starting to walk away but paused at the sound of my voice. Her head nodded in acknowledgement. “But,” I lightly touched her shoulder and spun her to face me, “I am thankful that I got to know you and have you as a friend.”
“Me too. Good night…” she began and then leaned close to me ear finishing her sentence in a whisper, “…Nick.” She kissed my cheek lightly and headed to the car. Slowly, she pulled out of my driveway and waved before heading back to the small town.
I entered my cabin and collapsed on the couch. My head dropped back to rest on the back of the couch. What the hell was I supposed to do? Only one person has recognized me and al the things she said made me wonder if I should trust her and stay. I mean, is she didn’t tell anyone, how else would anyone know? But, then again, I haven’t really even known her that long. Some people say one thing then do the opposite. She didn’t seem to be that type, but how could I know for sure?
After a half hour of thinking in circles, I decided to write up a message for Aje. He could give me some good advice. I hope so, at least. I wasn’t going to get much sleep tonight, that was for sure.

I stayed up half the night talking to Aje in a chat room. Man, was I glad to have HIM to help me out. Last night I was some crazed fan from Iowa that was in love with Brian…good cover, huh? *laughs* Anyways, after 45 minutes of pointless chatter, I told him about this ‘hypothetical problem’ that my friend had. Okay, maybe we get a little too cautious sometimes but what do you expect?
Anyways, Aje suggested that maybe I wait it out for a while. If she squeals on me and my location gets public (again), then I will move. He thought that it would be good to have someone to confide in and that I should give her a chance. After all, not every chick is out to use us…some of our fans honestly care about us AND our well being. So…I guess that was it then…since I have been put in the WPP, I usually end up taking his advice. I am afraid that my own judgment may be clouded.

~~***~~

“Morning, girls,” I greeted quietly as I walked into the store.
“Hey, JR!” Dani smiled weakly.
“I bit hung over?” I questioned with a chuckle.
“Oh, boy is she!” Steph answered. I headed back to punch in. “I’m glad to see that you weren’t too hung over to make it in today, JR.”
“I didn’t drink much of anything,” I shrugged as I turned to face Steph.
“I’m just sayin…” she chuckled as she turned to head back out front. I took a hold of her arm and spun her back around to me.
“Thanks, Steph.” I said quietly.
“Oh, no problem. I don’t mind being the designated driver,” she winked at me. I smiled as we headed up to the registers. The day went by quickly. I ended up having the same lunch break as Steph today; most of the time I end up taking it alone.
“So, I know you girls are big Backstreet Boys fans. If Dani has a HUGE crush on Nick then who do you fancy?” I asked Steph as I took a bite of my egg salad sandwich.
“Yeah, we are both fans of the group and Dani DOES want to marry Nick,” she laughed heartily. “I have always been torn between Nick and AJ.”
“Nick and AJ? That’s a bit of a drastic difference,” I cocked an eyebrow. She chuckled and shrugged her shoulders.
“So who is YOUR favorite?”
“Aje and Rok,” I told her looking up. “Although D. and Kev aren’t far behind.”
“AJ? Really? Wow. He is so hott,” she laughed.
“Riiiiiight, well, that’s not exactly what I think of him,” I snickered and scrunched my nose.
“Of course, because you aren’t gay,” she smirked. “I think our break is about over, JR.”
“We got five, yet, actually,” I said looking at my watch.
“Alright,” she plopped back down in her chair. “So? Are you up to going to the club again, anytime soon?”
“Sure,” I shrugged, “It was pretty fun, well, besides…you know.”
“Right, well,” she shrugged before standing to throw out her trash. We both headed back up to the front of the store. Steph went back to her register by Dani’s and I headed off to stock more shelves…yay. At least the rest of the day went by as quickly as the first half did. Before I knew it, I was punching out and pulling on my jacket.
As soon as I got home, I checked my email to find nothing there. I had been hoping to here from Aje but I know they are busy. What to do now? I settled in on the couch for some good old American recreational TV watching.
“MTV is always a good choice,” I shrugged as I slouched further into the couch.
“Stay tuned for MTV News coming up after the break at ten to the hour,” the dark haired man spoke. I hopped up to grab a soda and the popcorn that had just finished in the microwave. Returning to the living room, I looked up to the TV and saw the news guy back on the screen. Listening to the man’s words caused my soda and the bowl of popcorn to drop from my hands and crash to the floor. My eyes widened and began to tear up.
“It has been confirmed that Nick Carter, of the Backstreet Boys, was indeed put into the Witness Protection Program over two years ago. This was the cause for his mysterious disappearance and was the result of him witnessing a brutal gang murder. Carter took the stand and was put into the Witness Protection Program due to threats upon his life.
“All of this has been confirmed and brought to our attention because AJ Mclean and Brian Littrell, also members of the Backstreet Boys group, along with Brian’s son Baylee, have been taken hostage by other members of the gang. The FBI is now involved and cooperating with police to work negotiations with the involved gang members. There is no word, as of yet, to what the gang member’s demands are. We will bring you more news on this situation as soon as it becomes available to us. All of us here at MTV are sending our thoughts to the hostages, their families, and Nick Carter…wherever he may be. That’s the news for now. For more news and updates, join us at ten to the hour, every hour right here on MTV.” The man finished and the screen flashed to commercial.
I was frozen. Tears streaked down my cheeks as the realization hit me that my friends were now in danger because of me. I was shaken from my thoughts by a harsh, urgent knocking at the door. After slight hesitation, I slowly made my way to the door. The demanding knocks came again. I swiped the tears from my eyes and swung the door open.
“O my god!” Steph immediately came in and engulfed me in a hug using her foot to close the door behind us. “I heard it on the radio as I was driving home.” She pulled away and her eyes met mine.
“I…I uh…” I choked on my words as I began to cry again. Yes, I cry. Can you blame me, in this kind of situation?
“Shhh, it’s okay,” she pulled me into another hug and rubbed my back. “Let it out. I just knew you would need a friend, right now. Come on,” she took a hold of my hand pulling me toward the couch. I sank down into the cushions letting my head fall into my hands. She put her arm around my shoulders. Hugging me close she let me just cry. It took me fifteen minutes for me to calm down enough to talk.
“I can’t believe this. What am I supposed to do now?” I looked up at her with bloodshot eyes.
“Have you spoken to the WPP people? Shouldn’t they have some advice?”
“I haven’t heard from them,” I shook my head. Steph had gotten up and was talking to me but cleaning up my mess at the same time. Her voice was comforting.
“Well, maybe that would be a good place to start. I mean, if you relocated right now, the people at the new location would put two and two together right away. Do you know what I mean? Everyone is going to expect you to move and they will be looking for new people to move into their town. Personally, I think it would be safer to stay here but I am not the expert in this area,” she chattered as she came back from throwing the popcorn away.
“I see your point,” I said half heartedly. I drew in a deep breath. Steph came to sit beside me again as she held out a few aspirin and a glass of water for me.
“You have GOT to have a headache. Am I right? Stress and crying ALWAYS gives me a headache.”
“Majorly,” I nodded as I took the medication and water. Steph sat with me for the next 45 minutes as we waited to see if MTV News would have any updates. Ten to the hour came and went without any further development. I was praying for the WPP office to call or the news to tell me that this was some kind of prank but my prayers were going un-answered tonight. Aje and Brian could probably handle themselves, fairly well, but I was willing to bet that poor Baylee was scared out of his little mind! My heart ached for them and I was wishing, so badly, that I could make everything go back to the way it used to be. Steph and I fell asleep on the couch, somewhere around midnight, after waiting up for further information.

I awoke to the combination of sunlight in my eyes and the smell of bacon. Slowly, I stretched out my long arms and legs and then stood to my feet. My eyes glued to the TV hoping to see the news on. Better yet, hoping to see proof that last night was an awful dream.
“Morning, JR,” Steph greeted me with two plated of food.
“Waffles and bacon, yum,” I said giving her only a half smile.
“I know what will make you give me a full smile,” she grinned.
“WHAT?!?!?!”
“Here, I recorded something off cable, for you,” she smiled widely and played it for me.
“Good morning, this is MTV News. Yesterday we reported that Nick Carter was currently in the Witness Protection Program after seeing a gang murder and that, Backstreet Boys, AJ McLean and Brian Littrell along with Brian’s son, Baylee had been taken hostage by other members of this gang. Our sources are now saying that Baylee was released from the hostage situation early this morning and has been reunited with his mother and family. The young boy has, thankfully, not been harmed and is only a bit shaken up. Baylee said that the ‘bad men’ were asking his father and AJ for information regarding Nick. At the time of the young boy’s release, Brian and AJ had not been harmed. The gang member’s demands, so far, have been that Nick give himself up. Howard Dorough and Kevin Richardson will be holding a press conference later this afternoon, which will be aired live here on MTV, and they strongly urge that Nick make sure to watch. In other news…” the TV screen went blank and Steph looked at me.
“Wow,” was all I could say. “I am so glad that Baylee is alright. I just hope that Brian and AJ get out of this okay, too.”
“I have the cable set to record the press conference. Unfortunately, we have to get ready for work.”
Do you think I could tell you anything that happened during the day at work? *laughs* Well, I can’t. Steph waited for me to finish my shift (remember she gets out an hour before me) and she came over to watch the press conference with me. We both knew that I would probably need to talk with someone after it was over.
“I don’t know if I am ready for this,” I sighed as we sat on the couch, each with a can of soda.
“It will be okay, JR. I’m right here,” she smiled and squeezed my shoulder. I pressed play.

Kevin: “Thank you all for coming. We are here to address the current situation concerning our band mates.”

Howie: “First of all, we want all three of them to know that we love them. Our thoughts, hearts, and prayers are all with them.”

Kevin: “Nick, wherever you are…stay there. It is not going to help for you to come forward and reveal your location.”

Howie: “These guys are going to do whatever they are going to do, whether you come forward or not. If they want to harm AJ or Brian, they will and you can’t stop it. Please, don’t give them a third member to do it to.”

Kevin: “Howie is right. We are hoping that no harm will be done to AJ or Brian but their odds are the same no matter what. The FBI and police are currently working on the situation. Baylee is safe now and that brings it down to only two members of our family being in danger…if you reveal yourself, we will be back up to three family members being in danger. This is a number we want to keep as low as possible.”

Howie: “Brian and AJ, if you are being able to watch this, we love you guys. Stay strong and know that we are doing everything we can for you. We all have high hopes that God will answer our prayers for you both to be un harmed.”

Reporter: “Mr. Richardson! Mr. Richardson! Are you willing to comply to any demands that are made by the gang members?”

Kevin: *deep breath* “Depending on the demands. I, along with the other members of our large family, am willing to do whatever we can that is within our power.”

Another Reporter: “Mr. Dorough, what do you know about the hostage situation? Have either of the men been hurt?”

Howie: *sigh* “You know everything we know.”

Kevin: “To our knowledge, neither of them have been harmed.”

Another Reporter: “How is Baylee handling all of this?”

Kevin: “Pretty well.”

Howie: “He is still a bit young to know everything that was going on. He is not aware of the severity of the situation.”

Kevin: “He was scared and very shaken but he is doing better now.”

Another Reporter: “Mr. Richardson, do you have anything to say to the men that are holding your friends hostage?”

Kevin: “Do I have…*laughs*…of COURSE I have words that I would LIKE to say.”

Howie: “Like, ‘go to FUCKING hell’, for instance.” *shrugs, looking at Kevin*

Kevin: *looks at Howie* “I was thinking more like, ‘kiss our fucking asses you damn pussies.’!”

Howie: *still looking at Kevin* “Good one. I think AJ would prefer something more like, ‘God damn mother fuckering pussies are gonna fucking pay for this damn shit! I’ma fuckin cut yo asses!” *face growing red with anger*

Kevin: “Ooo, I like that…let’s go with that. Okay so, we have decided on what we would like to say to the men that are keeping our friends…no, our brothers…from us…”

Howie And Kevin: *both stand and lean toward cameras* “YOU GOD DAMN MOTHER FUCKERING PUSSIES ARE GONNA FUCKIN PAY FOR THIS DAMN SHIT! I’MA FUCKING CUT YO ASSES!”

Howie: “That was for you, Aje.”

Kevin: “And, on Brian’s behalf, we would say something like,… ‘May God have mercy on your poor pitiful souls’!”

*loud noise followed by a tone of commotion*

Howie: “HE’S BEEN SHOT! GET AN AMBULANCE IN HERE…NOW! *kneels beside Kevin* Kev, man, talk to me.”

Kevin: *clutching left shoulder* “I think their aim was a bit off, I got it in the shoulder.”

*screen goes blank*

MTV anchor: “Holy shi…Oh, we are sorry but we are experiencing some tech…oh fuck, you know why the hell we cut out! Just watch some music videos and we will update you as soon as we know anything.” *shrugs and waves hand at the camera*

“I am REALLY starting to hate MTV,” I sighed still staring at the screen.

“Let’s go. I’ll drive,” Steph said standing up.
“What?” I looked at her a bit confused. “We don’t have to be to work for almost two hours.”
“Get your butt up and let’s go! I’m not going to sit here and watch the members of my favorite boy band be knocked off, one at a time. Are you crazy? We’ll come up with a plan on the way.”
“A plan? For what? What exactly do you think we are going to be able to do?” I stood up looking at her.
“I don’t know yet,” she shrugged. “But, I DO know that if AJ gets hurt, I am gonna have to kill somebody!”
“AJ, huh?” a slight crooked smiled formed on my lips, “I thought AJ and I were tied for your favorite? If we go there, I am for sure going to get knocked off.”
“Oh, please. I will protect you,” she smiled.
“You are going to protect me, huh?”
“Well, yeah. I’m tough,” she flexed her arms. Sure, she had some muscle but there was NO way she could protect me.
“Are you out of your mind? I can’t go anywhere! Kev and D are right,” I sighed. I felt so defeated. I wanted so badly to help my friends; for all of this to, just, GO AWAY!
“Hello?” she answered her ringing cell phone. I was completely baffled as to how she got any signal. I mean, I had a hard time getting internet and cable but she has signal on her cell? “Whoa, calm down. What?”
“What’s wrong?” I questioned quietly but she waved her hand and shook her head at me to get me to shut up.
“I know, Dani, I saw it. Yeah, I am a bit upset over it too…I know…yeah…WHOA! Back it up…what?” she began laughing loudly. “You…you think…” she continued laughing as she tried to speak. “You…honestly? JR? Nick? You can’t be serious! Oh, he does not! Okay, maybe he does KIND OF look like Nick…NO! I don’t think…you do? Nuh uh. Whatever! Bye, Dani!” she hung up and burst into more fits of laughter.
“Dani is freaking out and on her way over here, huh?” I had a feeling that my guess was right on the money.
“Yeah. She is totally going to jump your bones if we don’t get out of here!”
“Damn it.”
“You have about 45 minutes. She will have to find an outfit, change it ten times, do her hair and apply makeup before she comes over here. After all she wants to look good for her future husband…” she began cracking up again.
“You know, I don’t find any of this even remotely funny,” I looked at her with raised eyebrows.
“Well, the situation isn’t, but Dani’s reaction, sure as hell, is,” she told me. I gave her another glare before I began rushing around to gather my things. I hadn’t acquired much since I moved from Florida so I still only had the two suitcases, duffel bag, and 2 boxes. I was ready with in a half hour and we packed up the car. I grabbed the rest of the sodas and snack foods from the kitchen and we drove off toward Steph’s house.
“You want me to wait here?”
“Hell no, you aren’t safe by yourself! Come on,” she responded as she shut the engine off. Steph rushed around grabbing the essentials and stuffing them into a few large bags. She grabbed photos, a couple keepsakes, and a book too. I gathered sodas, bottled water, and anything else I could find for drinking or snacking plus canned goods and her can opener.
“Ready?” I asked as she zipped up her last bag.
“Yep. I will call Keith on the way to tell him we won’t be in. Did you grab the WPP number?”
“Tsh,” I scoffed, “I know it by heart.”
“Good, they need to be called, too.” She continued talking as she grabbed her purse, locked the door and we began lugging the items down to her car. It was a good thing that I had not deposited any of my money into a bank and I still hung on to a credit card from a previous identity. I let out a deep sigh as she pulled out of the parking lot heading toward the highway.
“This is going to be a long ride,” I sighed again.
“I brought pillows and a blanket,” she looked over at me.
“Why are you doing this, Steph? I mean, you said you would be a friend but this is above and beyond anything I would have asked of you.”
“It’s all good. Should we stay with our current names or come up with new ones? I brought all the cash I had…about a grand,” she shrugged. “I didn’t have much in the bank anyways. Oh, but I did bring a couple boxes of hair dye that were laying around. Dani tried getting me to let her dye my hair a few times but I refused. She ended up leaving the boxes and I kept them around.” She explained as she pulled onto US 131.
“What colors do you have?”
“Black, red, and bleach blonde,” she answered keeping her eyes on the road.
“Well, I have been all three so it doesn’t really matter. But I brought along the color contacts from my previous identities. I still have a box of green, a box and a half of hazel, and a box of brown.”
“Oooo, I want black hair and brown eyes!” she smiled.
“Okay, I will go with red hair. Since my hair is dyed a dark brown already, the red will turn out pretty dark and then I will go with…” I trailed off, thinking.
“You should do brown eyes then. I will go green.”
“Sound good.”
“Now, for names…”
“I still have a credit card from my last identity which was, Elliot Robert Strickland.” I looked over at her and we locked eyes for a moment before she turned her attention back to the road.
“Elliot it is, then.”
“What about you? You need a new name, too. How about Mariah?”
“How about…NO.” she laughed.
“Okay, you will have black hair and green eyes…so…” I looked at her picturing what she would look like. “I think Chelsea would be a fitting name.”
“Chelsea, what?”
“Chelsea Jean Strickland?”
“So what? Am I your sister now?” she started laughing.
“Nope, wife.”
“WHAT?” she choked and looked at me with wide eyes.
“If I have a wife, people are less likely to think I am Nick Carter.” I reasoned.
“But we would have to ACT like we are married.”
“Big deal. All that consists of is holding hands and pet names, when we are in public. When we get a hotel room we will have to get a king size bed or whatever but I can just sleep on the couch or something,” I shrugged. “Have any better ideas? We have to make sure no one recognizes me.”
“What about wedding bands? Huh? Don’t married people USUALLY have those?” she questioned.
“Well, I can just use this gold ring,” I said transferring said ring from my right hand to my left. “For you, I will just have to stop off and by something. After all it doesn’t have to be a REAL wedding ring…just as long as it LOOKS like one. Pawn shops would be a good place to look,” I spoke as I opened a soda for her and then one for myself.
“Well, honey bun, I am sure that will work just fine,” she said in a strong southern accent.
“I sure am glad that you agree, sweet pie,” I replied in the same accent.
“I am not sure why we moved to Michigan last month, dear. Louisiana is just so much warmer,” she smiled.
“Why do we even need to bring up Michigan?” I asked seriously.
“Our plates, dear. We have Michigan plates on the car. But why would people in Michigan have such strong accents unless they just moved to Michigan?”
“Duh. I am such a blonde,” I rolled my eyes. We were getting near Gaylord now and had been driving for quite some tome so she pulled off into a McDonald’s for some food. We ate quickly so we could get back on the road to make the best of the daylight hours. After talking about it, we decided that we shouldn’t drive a lot after dark so we agreed that our traveling would be done, taking turns, between 7am and 10 or 11pm. As we left the parking lot, my wife *wink* put some music into the car’s stereo as I was now driving.
“Turn onto the interstate up here,” she pointed to the ramp that I had to take.
“Sure thing, babe,” I chuckled. We were doing our best to talk with the accent in the car, too, so we wouldn’t forget when we were in public. Admittedly, it was kind of fun, even if we did sound like dorks. It was several more hours before we pulled into a small hotel for the night. Both of us changed into pajamas and collapsed on top of the covers. Sleep consumed both of us before I could move to the couch or either of us could cover up…we were just sprawled out on the bed and I am pretty sure both of us were snoring.

Okay, so here I am. I didn’t end up sleeping very well and now my mind was the equivalent of high school cafeteria mush on mystery meat Monday. I couldn’t help my thoughts from running laps around my skull at lightning speed. What had I gotten myself into? What had I gotten ALL of us into? The mere thought of Brian and AJ being in danger, because of me, was stressing me out, to no end. I lay on the bed staring at the ceiling letting my mind be consumed with worry. Taking a glance at the clock I knew I should wake Steph…I mean, Chelsea…up so that we could get on the road but I couldn’t bring myself to move from that spot.
Those stupid gang members are the criminals so why do I feel like I am the criminal? I feel like I have lost…no…I HAVE lost all control over my life! Here I am glued to a hotel bed next to a fake wife who is really just a friend, using some one else’s name, dying my hair, and pretending to be someone that I am not. I don’t mean to seem snobby or stuck up but I miss my life…the fame, the touring, my house, my cars…damn it, I LIKED being rich!
So what was I supposed to do? Were we really going to go down to Florida? And, what would we do when we got there? Ugh, boy, am I frustrated! I rolled over to look at the woman next to me, she really was putting herself on the line for me and I couldn’t understand why. We hadn’t been really GOOD friends, but yet, she acted like we had been best friends for years.
“Why would she do this for me?” I questioned softly to myself with my eyes fixed on the ceiling again.
“Because, everyone needs a friend,” she answered softly. I flinched not realizing that she had even woken up. She sat up on the bed and stretched out her arms above her head.
“I have friends,” I noted.
“Yeah, and the last time you spoke to them waaaaaaaas…” she looked at me with raised eyebrows.
“I chatted with AJ the night before they were taken hostage,” I said matter-of-factly.
“WHAT?!?!” her eyes practically popped out of her head.
“We have been talking ever since I moved to Michigan,” I said softly hanging my head.
“How? Are you crazy?”
“He doesn’t know where I am,” I explained. “We created a secret language and code when we were younger that no one else knows about. We used that to talk on instant messengers and stuff.”
“Oh. But you never told him where you were?”
“Nope. No personal information AT ALL.”
“I see. So what is the plan for today?” she asked with a sigh.
“You’re asking ME? YOU are the one who decided to take this little trip.”
“You’re right. We should head down to Florida and find out where the guys are being kept. My friends Erika and Kelly live down there. I haven’t seen them in a while but I am sure they would let us crash at their place. Erika said that the house they are sharing isn’t too big but they HAVE to have a couch,” she shrugged. “Then we can come up with a plan to take the gang members by force,” she jumped onto the bed and flexed her muscles again. “I could take them, and you could help!” she was now beating the living hell out of my pillow.
“Riiiiiiiiiiiight,” I snickered and she plopped next to me laughing. “Do you REALLY think that you could take ANYone by force?”
“I was trying to cheer you up, but you never know what I may be capable of,” she shrugged. Well it had worked at least some. It didn’t take us long to get our butts ready and back into the car. We had done our hair before leaving and I couldn’t understand how AJ could handle the smell. Luckily, there was a pawn shop right on the corner before we hit the interstate and I was able to find a ring that looked like a wedding band. It only cost $100, so it wasn’t too bad; then I took the first turn behind the wheel as we got back onto the interstate. Silence surrounded us as the car was filled with soft music from the stereo. So, of course, my mind began to swirl again.
“What’s wrong, Nick?”
“Huh?” I shook the thoughts from my head. “You know, it is really getting confusing with you calling me a different name every time you talk to me.”
“I know,” she giggled. “I was just seeing how long it would take you to say something.”
“Okay, let’s get one thing straight…” I glared at her briefly. “I am the annoying one, okay. No one is allowed to be more annoying than me.”
“Um,” she looked at me funny, “I can be annoying if I damn well feel like it.”
“Whatever,” I waved my hand in the air.
“Seriously, though…talk. I know it’s like against the ‘guy code’ to open up and tell a chick about your emotions, but it will help you feel better and deal with it, if you just blow off some steam. Go ahead, yell at me! Let it aaaaaall out.”
“Let WHAT out?”
“You aren’t blonde anymore, so don’t play dumb. Come on, I know there are a lot of things bugging you.”
“Way to state the obvious,” I rolled my eyes. There is no possible way that I could just…tell her. I mean, I can’t even make sense of half the things going on in my brain. How am I supposed to form my thoughts into words? Emotions are a WHOLE ‘nother story. I really hope she didn’t expect me to pour my heart out to her and cry or anything because it was NOT about to happen!
“Scared? Worried? Stressed? Confused? Upset? Guilty? Nervous? Tense? Not sure what the hell is going on or why we are doing this? Am I close?”
“Actually…” I was a bit stunned.
“All of the above?”
“Damn.”
“I can understand, Nick,” she laid a hand over mine. Okay, what the fuck was that? How the hell…that was just weird! Women creep me out when they do that kind of stuff; it’s like they can read minds or something. I shuddered at the thought of ANY woman being able to read my thoughts. “Nick?...Nick?...JR? Elliot?...” I could hear her calling me but was too spaced out in my thoughts to respond. “CARTER!!!!!”
“What?” I asked softly.
“Let’s stop off at the nest rest stop. I have to use the bathroom, plus a few minutes of stretching and fresh air would do us both some good.”
“Ok,” I shrugged. Looking at the clock, I was amazed to see that we had been driving for about three and a half hours already. There must have been a longer silence than I originally thought. I chuckled to myself causing me to receive a confused look from Steph…Chels…I’ll get it right eventually. Anyways, I pulled off the interstate so that we could take a break. It was pretty nice out, the sun was shinning and the sky was pretty clear. I quickly used the restroom then sat outside on a cold metal bench. Closing my eyes, I tried to clear my head…not that it worked. Wrapping my arms around myself for warmth I just sat there.
“Elliot? Are you ready?” she spoke softly as she sat next to me and placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Yeah, Chels, are you?” I responded as I tugged myself back to reality.
“Yes. Come on,” she smiled warmly, “I will take a turn driving.”
“Okay,” I nodded as we stood and headed back to the car. Chels didn’t say a word as we started back on our journey. She tuned the radio to a soft rock station and I reclined back in my seat as we drove. With the low music and the humming of the tires filling my ears, I found myself relaxing and soon dozing off.


~~***************~~

My eyes slowly drifted open to see that it was already dark out. Holy cow! I must have passed out for quite a long time. The car was still moving and there was still music playing softly, except it was a different station. I listened to the hum of the tires as I glanced out the window at the passing scenery. Taking a look over at Chelsea, I watched as she let out a long yawn. I sat the seat back up and that was when she finally realized that I had woken up.
“Hey,” she said not taking her eyes off the road.
“Hey. Where are we?”
“We are now in Tennessee,” she shrugged. “I am going to assume that you would like to make a pit stop?”
“Yes, please,” I nodded. She promptly pulled off at the next exit. We got gas, drinks and snacks. We also ate at Big Boy. Since it was well past dark we decided it was time to hunt down a place to crash for the night. After all, she had done a hell of a lot of driving! As long as we got a good start in the morning, we should arrive in Orlando tomorrow afternoon. Chelsea had given her friends a call and they said they would be happy to have us, so that was where we were going.



The sun was shinning brightly when I woke up, the next morning, and my legs were a bit cramped because I actually slept on the couch that night. Chelsea was already up and in the shower so I went outside to stretch my legs. There was still no news on the guys, well nothing new, at least. The gang was still demanding my life in return for AJ and Brian’s. I sighed as I returned to the room.
“There you are,” she smiled as I closed the door. Her hair was wrapped in a towel and she was bent over slipping on her shoes.
“I’m going to take a quick shower and then we will head out.”
“Okie dokie,” she responded as I grabbed a change of clothes. It only took me fifteen minutes to complete my shower and get ready to head out.
“I’m driving,” I told her as I closed the trunk of the car.
“Alright,” she nodded, “I am going to turn in the key.” She walked off toward the office and I climbed into the car shoving the seat back. Her return was prompt. We grabbed breakfast at a drive through and pulled back onto the road. Once again, the car fell silent for a while as the radio played at a moderate volume.
We made only a few stops during the day and conversations were few and far between. I think we were both stressed out trying to figure out what the next step was going to be. My mind could not even begin to come up with a plan. The WPP, of course, told me to let the authorities handle the situation…they were of no help to me! Kevin and Howie were saying the same thing but what about Brian and AJ? What would they tell me? I had been relying on AJ, so much, for advice since I had found myself in the WPP. Just when I need the biggest, most important advice, I wasn’t able to consult him.
By the look on her face, I could tell that Chelsea was trying to figure out our next move, too. She was a very sweet girl and I really enjoyed having her with me on this trip. I doubt that she will ever know just how much she has helped me, and how much I am depending on her, right now. A smile crossed my lips as the ‘You Are Now Entering Florida’ sign came into view. Home sweet home!
“Ugh, I am glad the driving is almost over,” I noted. We had stopped to eat and stuff just after crossing the border.
“I can toast to that!” she said holding up her glass of ice water. “I can’t believe that we are here. I have never been to Florida before. Erika and Kelly just moved here less that a year ago and I haven’t been able to come visit. Not that this is much of a visit.”
“Yeah. The circumstances could be a bit better,” I nodded in agreement. Our food arrived and we both shoveled it in like we hadn’t eaten for days. It was some REALLY good steak! It makes my mouth water just thinking about it. Anyways, after we finished eating we got right back to the driving.
Things were starting to look awfully familiar as we neared her friend’s house. She was giving me directions as we turned, down yet another street, in search of the house. The houses were not very big, but they were a few steps up from the cabin I had been living in. Numbers on the houses were growing, 1756…1782…1813…
“1842! There it is!” she shouted as she pointed excitedly toward the pale yellow house. It was a two story with a front porch, nice small lawn, and a stone pathway.
“Alright then,” I said as I pulled the car along the curb. Chelsea jumped out of the car and sprinted toward the house while I just sat there for a few minutes. The other girls met her on the porch and were now doing that annoying screaming / jumping thing that girls do. I took a deep breath and exited the car.
“O my gosh,” Chelsea turned toward me and was waving for me to come join them. “Kelly, Erika…this…is Elliot.” She smiled as I finally approached them. Linking her arm with mine, she looked up at me and grinned, “Elliot, this is Kelly,” she introduced the shorted brown haired girl, “and this is Erika.” Now, she was pointing to the taller black haired girl.
“Nice to meet you both,” I smiled as I shook their hands.
“Nice to meet you too, Elliot,” Kelly gave me a lopsided smile.
“It is nice to meet you but it’s really funny because you don’t look like an Elliot. I was thinking you look more like a…Nick. Maybe, a Nick Carter, perhaps?” she gave me a smirk then whispered, “the baby blues are a dead give away.” I froze. SHIT! How could I have forgotten to put those color contacts in? Aaaaah, I am so blonde!
“Whatever the case is,” Kelly turned from Erika to face me, “you are welcome and safe in our home.”
“Oh, yeah. You are definitely welcome,” Erika nodded, “you just may get asked to sign a CD or two while you are here. We are pretty big fans, in this house.”
“You guys are crazy,” Chelsea stated.
“Do we have to call you guys Chelsea and Elliot? I am going to get so confused!” Kelly stuck out her bottom lip.
“Yes,” I answered at the same time as Chelsea.
“Oh alright,” Kelly rolled her eyes and opened the front door so that all of us could go inside.
“So,” Erika began, “why didn’t you tall us that the guy friend, you were bringing along, was Nick Carter?” Erika questioned Chelsea.
“Hmmm,” Chels rolled her eyes, “maybe, because you weren’t supposed to know?”
“You didn’t think we would figure it out?” Kelly tilted her head.
“I was hoping not but, I guess, I should have known better.”
“I, kind of, forgot to put in my color contacts,” I mentioned a bit sheepishly. “That may have helped.”
“Sorry, baby, but I am such a Nickaholic…it wouldn’t have mattered,” Kelly snickered.
“But you weren’t the one who pointed out who I was,” I raised an eyebrow at her.
“Um…I was a bit shocked to see you on my front porch,” she replied hanging her head in, what looked like, embarrassment.
“Never mind, all that. You,” Erika pointed to Chelsea, “need to come with us. There is an urgent matter that we need to address.”
Next thing I knew, I was sitting in the living room, on the couch, flipping through channels. I heard Chelsea shout ‘oh my God’ a few times followed by ‘I know’s from the other girls. They were in a room down the hall for about an hour. I couldn’t hear what they were saying but it sounded pretty important as they discussed it heatedly, getting pretty loud at times. So, there I sat, in a strange house and bored. I had no idea what was going on back there and even less of a clue at to what events were going to unravel next.

~~***************~~

Alright, I know this is my story an all but I have to hand it over to my sidekick, for a bit. She told me what went on in that room that night, but I figure that it’s better if she tells you what happened. Be patient with her, it took me a lot of puppy dog looks and ‘pretty please’s to get her to do this. *wicked grin* No woman can resist me! Even if my hair is an ugly reddish brown, poopy, uckie, nasty color. Anyways, here is Chels…

Okay, so here goes. After the girls recognized him and Kelly spilled about her crush on him, they dragged me back to the little office down the hall. Erika closed the door and Kelly sat in the office chair to bring up the computer. I was oblivious as to what was going on.
“We have to pick Dani up at the airport in the morning,” Erika told me.
“WHAT?!?!?!” I practically screamed. “What is she doing, coming here?”
“That’s what we need to talk about,” Kelly swiveled in the chair, turning to look at me. “She isn’t the only one coming. Every Backstreet Boys fan that we know, is on the way here.”
“Did you tell them about Nick?” I questioned as my temper started to rise.
“No,” Erika shook her head. “As a matter of fact, we need to find him a hotel to stay in. That way no one will ever know he is here with you.”
“Read this,” Kelly told me as she stood from the chair. I replaced her, in the chair, and began to read what was on the screen. “It is from a co-worker of Erika’s.”

Attention All Backstreet Boys Fans:

My name is Sharon and most of you already know me. What you don’t know is that my older brother is the leader of the gang that is holding AJ and Brian hostage! I am outraged at my brother’s actions and, as twisted as it may seem, I am more loyal to the Backstreet Boys than I am my brother.
I know everything there is to know about this gang of my brother’s. I know all the members, their families, their hangouts, their tactics, their habits, their strategies and most importantly I now know the location where they are keeping AJ and Brian! I just overheard their location this morning while my brother was talking to another member of the gang. The police only told me they would ‘look into it’. I don’t think they believed me.
So, what am I going to do? I am going to hold a meeting in three days. All fans are encouraged to come. With enough fans and my knowledge, we can beat my brother’s gang and get our Boys out of there!!!!! KTBSBPA and meet me at 17853 S. Bendon. It’s a run down old school and will be big enough for all of us to gather. BRING ALL FELLOW FANS! MY BROTHER MUST BE STOPPED!!!!!! FREE OUR BOYS!

“Is this for real?” I questioned as I turned to face the girls.
“As real as that Backstreet Boy in the living room,” Erika smirked. “I work with Sharon and she was pissed off when she came to work, that day. She told me all about what happened and she is ready to cut throat!”
“Yeah,” Kelly snickered, “she has the major jones for Brian. But, she is more pissed off that they took poor Baylee hostage. Sure, he was freed and unharmed but seriously, who does that? I mean Baylee is so young and innocent!”
“So…” I trailed off trying to make sense of everything. “the fans are uniting to take things in our own hands?”
“Yep,” they both nodded.
“Isn’t this dangerous?” I was totally amazed by the whole idea.
“Well, I guess, it depends on how many fans show up,” Kelly shrugged. “The email was sent out two days ago and you know how fast Backstreet Boys fans can spread news. When we got it, we sent it out to every fellow fan we know, and this house is going to be busting at the seams, as soon as everyone gets here.”
“Yeah, we are picking up about twenty girls, at the airport, first thing in the morning,” Erika smiled widely.
“Whoa,” I blinked rapidly. I went to school with Erika and Kelly but they both went separate ways for college. Kelly went to UCLA and Erika went there to Florida State; so it wasn’t too surprising that they knew so many other fans. “This is insane! How do you know that she isn’t setting us all up?”
“I just know,” Erika answered. “Her face was so red with anger when she told me about it and I helped her come up with the idea for the fans to take control. Lord knows there are enough of us,” she giggled. Enough of us? Boy, wasn’t THAT the understatement of the year! Kelly took me to some chat rooms where I saw, what had to be, every Backstreet Boys fan in the world talking about it. My jaw dropped when I saw that the word had spread all over the world and there were some girls flying from other countries to help save the Boys!!!! I couldn’t believe my eyes! I mean, I know that us Backstreet fans are hardcore but I NEVER would have guessed that people would fly from other countries to try rescuing AJ and Brian.
“Crazy, isn’t it?” Kelly piped up from behind me.
“I don’t think ‘crazy’ covers it,” I shook my head and continued reading the chats that were scrolling in front of me.
“Do you think the Boys will be surprised that their fans are still so hardcore?” Kelly questioned with a laugh. “At least we don’t chase them for miles anymore or rip their hair out.”
“I tugged on Howie’s hair once,” Erika grinned.
“Ooo, I love that man’s hair!” I replied.
“Nick better watch his while he’s here,” Kelly joked with a chuckle.
“Anyways, back to the subject at hand…” I sighed turning back to the computer screen. “How does she think we are going to pull this off? I mean these guys HAVE to have guns and we are just a mob of crazy obsessed fans.”
“Hey…crazy and obsessed can be a deadly combination!” Kelly noted.
“Um, hello? What would you do if we snuck in there and you saw one of them gang punks beat on AJ?” Erika questioned with a hand on her hip. The mental picture of AJ being hurt flashed through my mind and I could feel anger well up inside my stomach.
“I’ll fucking kill somebody!” I blurted.
“Now if you have a whole big mob of crazy obsessed girls that are thinking those exact thoughts, don’t you think we could pummel a few puny gang guys?” Erika was always the aggressive type but wow, was she ready to cut someone!
“You may just have a point,” I said thinking it over. I was picturing a hundred, or so, Backstreet fans bombarding the gang members, catching them off guard, and coming to the Boys’ rescue. It was quite the pleasing picture. Hopefully, it would all turn out that well. It was hard to imagine so many girls willing to take that kind of a risk for a couple of men who happen to sing…I wonder if the Boys realize how much of an impact they have.
This could turn out one of two ways: either we are successful and help to free the Boys or there was going to be a lot of fans injured or maybe killed. I shuddered at the thought. I was sure hoping it wouldn’t be the latter.
“Hey Nick. What are you watching?” I asked rejoining him in the living room. I felt kind of bad for leaving him alone. The girls and I agreed that he shouldn’t really know what was going on because he would want to help and that was a risk we didn’t want to take. For whatever reason, we were ready to put our lives on the line for AJ and Brian but weren’t about to let Nick do it…we didn’t want him dead any more than we wanted AJ or Brian dead.

~~***~~

“Hey Nick. What are you watching?” Chelsea appeared from the hallway.
“CSI,” I answered. “Did you girls have a nice chat? I hope that you weren’t talking bad about me.”
“We would never!” she smiled and hit my arm lightly.
“So, what WAS that all about?” I questioned, not really expecting much of an answer.
“Lots of stuff. Hey, you and I are going to go grab a hotel room, okay? Erika and Kelly have some unexpected guests dropping by and we don’t want you to get recognized by anyone else.”
“Um, Okay,” I replied a bit suspicious. What the heck was going on? Before I could really object or figure out what was going on, we were back in the dumb car and headed to another damn hotel. She went to check in and we then lugged our stuff into the room. After ten minutes or so, she took a deep breath and started a conversation that upset me a bit.
“You trust me, right, Nick?”
“Um…I guess.”
“Look. I know this whole situation is fucked and I know that it is hard to trust anyone right now,” she was sitting next to me and was staring at me.
“Where are you going with this?” I asked out of complete confusion.
“I need you to teach me a little of that secret language you were talking about,” she sighed.
“WHAT?!? NO! Are you kidding me? You have got to be out of your mind! I can’t do that! No one…NO ONE knows that except me and AJ,” I responded with furrowed eyebrows.
“It’s important, Nick. I would NEVER do anything to hurt you or the other guys. You have to believe me! Please, Nick? I can’t tell you why I need to know but it could help them. I know this sounds completely fucked up, but you have to trust me,” she was pleading with me. I looked over to her and locked eyes with her. I could almost see right through her. Why was I ready to tell her everything? Why was my mind screaming at me to trust her? How could I possibly know that she wasn’t going to use this against me, somehow? All these questions and many more ran through my head but for some reason my reply was something like…
“What would you need to know?”
“I don’t know. Just a few basics, you know, so that AJ would know that I was an ally and not an enemy,” she shrugged.
“Wait a tick,” I shook my head, “do you plan to talk to AJ? What is going on?”
“I can’t tell you what is going on. Let’s just say that I might be able to get him a message but I would need to make sure no one else knew what I was saying,” she answered vaguely.
“The language and code are called Nickalex,” I began slowly. I was watching her reactions very closely. From what I knew of her, she wasn’t very good at hiding her expressions or keeping a ‘poker face’.
“Nickalex? Like Nick and Alex put together? That is so cute!”
“Give me a break, I was like 13 and AJ was like 15, okay? Anyways, his name is Silver Ring and mine is Bumblebee Tuna,” my voice grew quiet as I finished my sentence and, just as I thought, she burst into laughter.
“Bumblebee Tuna? As in Jim Carey from Ace Ventura?”
“Yes.”
“That is so funny!”
“Glad you’re amused,” I retorted a bit annoyed.
“Sorry,” she took a deep breath to calm herself.
“Brian is Shakaka…yes, that DOES refer to the bat from Ace Ventura,” I noted as she tried to hold back her giggles. “Howie’s name is Labrador and Kevin is…” I took a deep breath and prepared myself for another outburst. “Kevin’s name is Monkey Butt.”
“Monkey Butt? Why?”
“Because he is as uptight as one,” I shrugged cracking a smile.
“Nice,” she laughed.
“Okay so…” I continued to teach her some of our language but only enough to get across a message to AJ. I didn’t want her, or anyone else, to know the whole language. It was supposed to be for just me and AJ but this was a dire situation and called for drastic measures. If it meant helping Brian and AJ, then I was willing to do it.

I awoke the next morning to find Chelsea gone. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes I crawled out of the bed and headed to the bathroom. That is where I found a note taped to the mirror. It was written in a messy scribble that was almost as bad as MY handwriting. It said simply:

‘Hey, I had to split for a while. No one knows where you are or how to get a hold of you. I trust the girls but told them you were at the Super 8, you know, just to be on the safe side. I hope to be back in a few hours and will bring food with me. Lay low and play Nintendo or something. I’ll call if there are any problems.
Hugs – Chels’

“What the fuck?” I scrunched my eyebrows. “Where the bloody hell could she have gone?” Taking in a deep breath, I left the bathroom to grab a change of clothes. I took a long hot shower to relax myself and sort out my thoughts. Afterwards, I was more relaxed but had gotten none of my thoughts sorted. I wasn’t even sure why they needed to be sorted. All I knew was that I could barely think straight and that my life seemed to be on a continuous downward spiral. I settled in for a long day of watching TV and playing video games. I couldn’t help but wonder what she was up to or if I even really wanted to know.
Now, of course, I can’t really tell you what went on with her that day. Just like the last chapter of this book, I have to call her in, to tell her side of the story. I guess, when this gets published, I will have to put her down as a co-author. So, wouldn’t that make it, NOT an auto biography? It couldn’t be a biography, either, because I am writing the majority of it. Hmm, I guess I will have to do some research on that. Oh, sorry, I guess that’s not really important, right now. Here Chels, take the pen.

~~***~~

I am not exactly sure why I let him suck me into writing more but oh well. I had gotten up early that morning and met the girls at their house. The meeting was to be held at 9 am and about 45 minutes from their house. We picked up Dani and all the other girls at the airport (we had quite a few rental cars too) and headed to the meeting spot. I was anxious, to say the least. My thought kept going back to someone blurting out that I knew where Nick was. Dani obviously had to have figured out that she was right about JR being Nick and that I had run off with him to come here. Plus Erika and Kelly knew about it, too. I was a tad bit stressed over the whole situation.
“ATTENTION, PLEASE!!!” a short, chubby blonde screamed over all of the voices. For the first time, I came back to reality and realized just how many people showed up for this. Let’s just say that I was floored! “Everyone settle down! We need to talk business. As you may have figured out, my name is Sharon and I am the one who sent out the emails.”
“How do we know you aren’t faking us out and really on their side?” someone from my left shouted.
“Boy, wouldn’t that be dumb? I mean you guys outnumber me, how many to one? Anyways, I have spied on my brother a lot the past few days. Since it is something I make a habit of, he didn’t even notice,” she laughed. “I am pretty much the only one in the family that doesn’t have some sort of ties into a gang. So, needless to say, my brother was stoked when I told him I was interested in finding out more about the gang he leads.” She rolled her eyes and let out a sigh, “I have spent the last three days hanging out with these freaks and TRYING to act like I was interested. Ugh, but I was able to get a lot of information that will help us.
“The day I found out about the hostage location, I went right to the police station. They told me they would ‘look into it’ and according to the news, I haven’t seen any action. That is why we are here. If they would have done something, then we would just be sitting around eating cookies and exchanging stories but they didn’t and our Boys need our help! So here is the plan. Whoever is still game by the end of this meeting will gather back here at 10 tonight. All those who show will then be split up into groups and each group will have a specific assignment. We will initiate our plans at midnight, the gang members will be fewer and half of them will probably be snoring or too stoned to notice anything. This isn’t going to be easy girls and is potentially dangerous. Everyone needs to think about it before joining on the mission because once the plan goes into play, we CAN NOT have anyone back out! Even one person bailing on us during the operation could cause the whole plan to unravel…so think about it and don’t join unless you plan to commit 100%! Any questions?” This girl was really long winded but she seemed to be very sincere about the whole thing. Her eyes were filled with a combination of anger and determination.
“Aren’t they going to have guns?” one girl, whose ‘Hello my name is…’ tag read Jenny, asked.
“Probably,” Sharon replied. “That’s why our plan’s main objective is to catch them off guard.”
“Can’t we take in guns? Wouldn’t it be easier?” Jenny questioned.
“Absolutely not! We are not going to kill anyone. If we have to inflict pain, that is one thing, but I am not going to risk ANY of us going to jail for murder!” Sharon’s answer was firm.
“How many of them will there be?” I couldn’t see this girl’s name tag but she was tall, skinny, and had short black hair.
“From what my brother was saying, there are usually only 15 or so guys there at night. That is why we are doing it so late. I know it seems like a lot of guys to take on, but they are scattered through out the warehouse that they are keeping the guys in. They won’t all be together in the same room. I think there are only five guys in the room with Brian and AJ, at night.”
“How will we find each of them?” Dani shouted from behind me.
“We will take them down as we find them. There will be at least five girls to a team, so it should be pretty easy to overpower them,” Sharon shrugged.
“How do we know AJ and Brian will trust us?” someone shouted from the back of them room.
“I have a plan for that, as well,” she smiled.
“What are we going to do with the gang members as we take them down?” I questioned.
“There will be a couple groups just for that. They will be in charge of duct tape and rope,” she laughed. “Plus, we will be informing the cops of our actions once things get underway. Once they arrive, they will be able to take care of the gang members. But that is all in the plan that we will discuss tonight,” she explained. “Anyone else?” Silence filled the room.
“You said to meet at 10, right?” some guy shouted. I was a bit surprised that a guy showed up for this. Hmm, I guess some men aren’t afraid to admit liking the Backstreet Boys.
“Yes. Everyone should wear black pants that are not baggy, black shoes…NOT HEELS…have your hair pulled back, girls, and I would recommend that you not wear any jewelry. We don’t want anyone getting their baggy pants caught on something or an earring pulled out. Remember that this is a top secret mission that needs to be taken seriously. Brian and AJ will not be interested in a black mini skirt and hoop earrings if you are lying on the floor dead! Be reasonable and think Die Hard or Mission Impossible, not Charlie’s Angels…we are not fighting in tight leather and heels…this is for real,” she emphasized her point with a sense of authority and urgency.
“No cell phones or pagers either,” I added, “it would be pretty humiliating if we are in the room only moments away from saving them only to have to whole thing go to pot because a phone starts playing Red High Heels or something.” A couple people laughed and I just shrugged.
“Very good point,” Sharon nodded. “Just use your heads okay everyone? With all that said, I will see you tonight. Any more questions can be addressed then, too.”

“This is going to be so awesome,” Dani gushed as we climbed in the car to leave from the meeting.
“Yeah, totally cool,” I rolled my eyes not caring that my voice dripped with sarcasm.
“You aren’t amped up?” Dani questioned.
“Adrenaline wise, I am sure I will be. I will be happy if the whole thing is successful, but I don’t think it’s ‘cool’. I think it’s messed up that it is resorting to this. I mean, why are the cops not doing anything? They said they were going to do everything in their power but yet, when given the location, they do nothing!?! It’s fucked up.” I replied getting a bit annoyed.
“I just hope we all get out of this alive and no one gets hurt. I agree that it is completely messed up that we are having to do this,” Kelly piped up from the driver’s seat. I was sitting passenger while Erika and Dani were in back with another one of our friends, Meredith.
“The authorities are supposed to take extra good care of celebrities. Why aren’t they doing it for the Boys?” Erika questioned.
“Who knows,” I shrugged as we pulled into the driveway. “I will see you girls tonight,” I waved to them as I got into the driver’s seat. I pulled out and started heading towards the hotel where Nick was hiding. My nerves were on end. Excitement, nervousness, anxiousness, fear, and uncertainty all coursed through my veins as my mind reeled over what was to come.
Deciding to pick up food at Burger King, I went through the drive up and ordered food for us and some extras for Nick to eat later, if he got hungry. As I got close to the hotel, I decided to stop at the gas station and stock up on drinks and snacks. It only took me a couple minutes to arrive at the hotel. Slowly, I made my way up the stairs. I was constantly looking over my shoulder and checking my surroundings as I made my way to our room. I even went up to the next floor then took a different stairwell back down. Maybe I was going a bit overboard but I was petrified that someone would find out about Nick and follow me to where he was. Shuddering at the thought, I shook those thoughts from my head as I took one last look around me. I walked in to find him passed out on the floor with a controller in hand.
“Food is here,” I shouted only a few inches from his ear. He jumped about two feet but grinned when he saw the bags of food. We sat and ate. I was surprised that he didn’t ask about where I had been; although, I knew, he was thinking about it.
“Thanks,” he smiled at me.
“You’re welcome,” I responded. We sat in silence. Inside my head wasn’t silent, though. My thoughts were screaming at me. I had to work on preparing myself for the night that lay ahead.

Chels had just gotten back with our food when there was a sharp knock on the door. We looked at each other with concern. I immediately got up and when into the bathroom, locking the door.

“Who is it?” Chels asked sweetly, not opening the door. I pressed my ear to the door so I could hear.

“My name is Jason Forthness. I am from the witness protection program and am looking for a person or persons that are in fore mentioned program. Please open the door,” a man’s voice answered. His voice was low and sounded urgent. I let out a long sigh.

“How do I know that you are telling me the truth?” Chels questioned. I snickered to my self.

“Good job, Chels,” I whispered to myself, “don’t let him in.”

“You won’t know unless you play hopscotch, in the rain, during a stormy July day, while vacationing in Texas,” the man answered with a laugh. I unlocked the bathroom door and slowly opened it.

“What?” Chels asked in confusion.

“Let him in,” I told her as I leaned against the door jamb. She whirled around to look at me with wide, questioning eyes. “It’s okay. I know him.” I said.

“Ooookay, if you’re sure,” she gave me one last glance. After I gave her a confirming nod, she opened the door to let the guy in.

“Hello, Mr. Carter,” he greeted with a lopsided smile.

“Hey Jase. I am surprised you remembered the whole code,” I snickered.

“I have never had a participant in the program give me such a complicated pass code,” he smiled back at me as Chels closed the door behind him.

“Someone, please, fill me in?” she looked at me with her fake green eyes.

“He is my case manager,” I began to explain. “When I was getting ready to be shipped to my first location, we had to come up with a pass code. With that pass code, I can always tell if the person is really from the WPP. I got to pick my own pass code.”

“And your pass code is something to do with hopscotch and July rain?” she looked at me with both confusion and amusement.

“Specifically, playing hopscotch, in the rain, during a stormy July day, while vacationing in Texas,” I confirmed with a nod. Chels’s face went blank as she looked from me to Jase. Her eyebrow arched and a small smile formed on her lips.

“Somehow, I am not at all surprised by that,” she shook her head.

“I know…I’m good,” I gave my cheesiest grin and rubbed my nails on my shirt before turning serious again. “But, how did you find me?”

“It’s my job. Now, you both need to gather your things so that we can go,” he said crossing his arms.

“GO?” my eyes widened even though I, really, wasn’t surprised.

“Yes.”

“Why both of us?” Chels asked scrunching her eyebrows.

“First of all, you have been seen with him in public. If someone realized that it was him then they would come for you, expecting you to know something. Second of all, you have a ring on your finger, no?” he smiled over at her, motioning toward her, fake, wedding ring (that he didn’t know was fake). She opened her moth to respond but I jumped in before she had the chance to say anything.

“Yeah. She does. It was a spur of the moment thing. I didn’t need to tell you did I?” Can you blame me for lying? I mean, I didn’t want to say good bye to the first real friend that I had made since entering the program. What was I supposed to do? So…I lied.

“Alright, then pack your bags,” he smiled my way and winked at me. I looked at him oddly before following his directions. Within a half hour, we were ready. Jase and I loaded the bags into the trunk of the black Suburban.

“So where are we going, and what does this all entail?” Chels asked from beside me in the back seat.

“He’s going to take us to the office. There he will give us our new identities, ID’s, and everything else we need. Then he will, probably, give us plane tickets and keys to our new place.”

“That’s, pretty much, it,” Jase nodded.

“Well, can I call…” she began but was cut off by Jase and I.

“NO!”

“Oh,” she hung her head a little.

“I’m sorry, Steph,” I whispered looking at her out of the corner of my eye.

“It’s okay, Nick,” she gave me a soft smile. “I just don’t know how all this stuff works and I’m a little freaked out.”

“Tsh, believe me! I KNOW what you mean,” I chuckled. We kept our voices low as to keep the conversation, somewhat, between us. Jase was concentrating on the road while singing softly with the radio. “I’m not thrilled about another round in the program,” I sighed.

“Hopefully they will resolve the whole hostage situation thing and you can get yourself out of this protection stuff,” she said as she leaned to rest her head on my shoulder.

“God, I hope so. I miss the guys soooo much. Not to mention, my career,” I let out a long sigh and rested my head against hers. The drive was long and we were starting to get anxious. It was almost two hours before we got to the main WPP office. I couldn’t even fathom the concept of yet ANOTHER identity! How many am I up to now? You lost count didn’t you? I don’t blame you, but this will be the fifth…or the sixth, if you count the ‘relapse’ to being Elliot. The fact that Steph,…Chels…whoever she’s going to be next, was with me only helped to slightly ease my frustration.

“Nick? Helloooooo?” she snapped me out of my trance with a poke in the ribs.

“Huh?”

“We’re here,” Jase spoke up. “Now let’s go in and get you guys settled.” I climbed out of the Suburban and held out my hand to help her out, then we headed into the grey brick building. Jase led her in but I trailed behind a bit, trudging at a reluctantly slow pace. Once I finally caught up to where they were waiting, in the lobby, Jase took us up to his office. The familiarity of the room sent shivers down my spine as Steph and I sat in the chairs in front of his desk.

“Lay it on me, Jase,” I said with my head slumped to one side.

“Alright. Shall we start with your new names?”

“Fine, whatever,” I sighed.

“Okay. I now pronounce you Mr. Blake and Mrs. Sarah Lawrence. You can keep the rings you have,” he chuckled. Both Ch…Sarah and I looked at him un amused.

“Not funny,” I retorted.

“Sorry. Anyways, you will no longer have to be surrounded by snow because you will now resign…I mean, RESIDE in Hawaii,” Jase began laughing hard.

“Oh now, what the fuck! Who the hell DOESN’T know about that shit?” My eyebrows furrowed in agitation.

“That IS old news, Jason. You are just as lame for bringing it up now, as he was for saying it, then.”

“Sorry, sorry. My little niece just told me about that the other day and I couldn’t resist. You HAD to know that being in the WPP and moving to different places, someone was going to bring it up,” the older man continued laughing.

“Whatever, so do we get a house or an apartment or what? How about a car? What going to happen to hers?” I decided to change the subject before my irritation levels got too out of control.

“You’ll be in a two bedroom house. Another couple just got relocated, so you’ll be moving into where they just moved from. Yes, you’ll be getting a car; a newer one this time, it’s a KIA. As for her car, we’ll take possession of it just like usual. But, there’s more.”

“Do I dare ask?” I raised an eyebrow.

“You own your own company, now. It’s not huge but it’s pretty descent sized. There are already people running it so you won’t have to do much of anything. The point is for you to have income without having to be in the general public all day, every day.”

“Um…ok. Is this like, special shit just because of who I am?”

“Technically, yes. We wouldn’t normally arrange this type of thing, but with everything else going on, we cannot afford for you to be working a job. Going to the store is one thing but working 9 to 5, Monday through Friday, at the same place makes it too easy for someone to recognize you or your voice. Right now, extra precautions must be taken.”

“I see.”

“Um…” the woman next to me finally spoke up again, “will I be working?”

“Only if you want to,” Jase answered, “there will be enough income, from the company, that it will not be required. However, if you wish, we can set you up with one.”

“No,” I interjected. “If I’m not allowed to be exposed to the public every day, than neither is she.”

“What?” she looked at me strange, “why?”

“They aren’t willing to risk my life and I’m not willing to risk yours,” I answered without looking over to her. “Where are we staying tonight?”

“You’ll be put up at a nice hotel downtown.”

“So are we done?” I asked. I was really sick of being in his office, discussing this. I wanted out of the entire situation.

“Um, not quite. Here are your credit cards, already set up, like usual. Your house and utility payments are set up for automatic with drawl, again, nothing new. Let’s see, what else?” Jason sifted through papers and I slouched further down in my chair. I looked over at Sarah. She had her head hung and was fidgeting with her hands; she was obviously nervous about the whole ordeal and I didn’t blame her a bit. At this point, I would have rather thrown myself to the gang members who wanted me, rather than to drag her through this with me. All this time, she has been such a good friend to me and we were really connecting on that friendship level.

“You know what? Can’t she just go back home? I mean, no one will ever even realize it was her that was with me, if she dyes her hair back and everything.”

“Sorry,” Jase shook his head. “She’s involved and therefore she is in danger by association. It’s better for her to go with you.”

“I’m not bailing out on you, Nick,” she laid a hand over mine. “We will do this together, okay?”

“I just feel bad. You know, dragging you down with me,” I looked over at her and received a slight smile.

“There is no dragging required.”

“Let’s get back to business. I need both of you to give me all of your old identification, credit cards, and any other identifying articles.” I drew in a deep breath and started sifting through my wallet. It only took us a few minutes to hand over all of our personal shit. He gave us each different papers and stuff that we would need to assume our new identities. After all that, we were finally done and headed to the hotel. Jase stopped to let us grab some food to take to the room.

“Yo, check this shit out!” I called to Sarah after we got settled. I had the news on and was floored at what I saw on the screen. The repoter was talking at a rapid pace to describe the events being covered. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I pinched my arm, thinking that it was a dream.

“Yeah, Blake?” she walked out from the bathroom and sat next to me on the bed, where I was scarfing down a burger, my eyes glued to the TV.

“This shit is fucking crazy!” I turned to her with wide eyes.

“What’s going on?” she asked with a bit of hesitance in her voice as she turned to the TV. For the next few moments we sat and watched the news broadcast. There was a strange power outage that covered half of the city. Evidently, they couldn’t figure out the cause or source of the power outage.

“That’s nuts! They should be able to pin point where the outage started. Shouldn’t they?” I asked aloud not tearing my eyes from the screen.

“If it was because of a storm of something, probably, but not if a person or persons CUT the power. Um…I gotta go out for a bit. I’ll be back.” She stood quickly and rushed to the bathroom with a change of clothes.

“Why would anyone cut the power?” I asked from outside the door.

“Hypothetically speaking, someone may cut power to a certain grid if they are attempting a robbery or rescue operation.” She answered as she opened the door.

“Wait. A rescue operation? Spill it.”

“Spill what?”

“You know, damn well, what I am talking about. Who is involved and how are you going to do it? I am going.” I grabbed a pair of black jeans and a black BSB t-shirt after noticing that her outfit was all black.

“NO WAY! You can’t. You’ll wind up dead.”

“AHA! So I was right, there is a rescue in progress,” I shouted from the bathroom where I was now changing.

“Uuugh!” she groaned in frustration. “You can’t Nick. It is too risky for you. In case you don’t remember…YOU are the one they want!”

“I’m going, and that is final.” I said as I now stood directly in front of her. I looked down at her and placed a hand under her chin. “I have to help my brothers. It’s my fault they are there to begin with. Please?”

“Everyone will recognize you.”

“I…DON’T…CARE!” I looked at her seriously letting my eyes plead with her.

“You’d be risking your life.”

“I’m aware.”

“Fine. Stay with me. DON’T LEAVE MY SIDE.”

“Deal.” With that, we were out the door and hailing a cab. We only took the cab for 10 minutes before we got out. She made us walk the next two blocks before hailing another cab. Then we boarded a bus for a short period before walking more. I had looked at her strangely, not wanting to question her reasoning.

“We can’t risk being followed or anyone figuring what we are doing,” she answered my unasked question. After walking the last six blocks, I looked up to see a huge swarm of people.

“Who are all these people?” I asked looking from the crowd to her.

“Backstreet fans, that are taking things into their own hands. Now come on. Hold my hand so we don’t get separated and remember, stay with me at ALL COSTS!”

“I know, I know.” I said nodding. I grasped her hand as she started making her way through the crowd. Scanning over all the faces, she looked like she was searching for someone.

“Kelly! Ah, I didn’t think I would EVER find you!” she gasped as we approached three girls that I recognized: Kelly, Erika, and Dani.

“You brought HIM with you?” Erika whispered harshly.

“He didn’t give me a choice,” Sarah whispered back. I just, kind of, stood there. I didn’t really know WHAT to do…maybe this WAS a bad idea, after all.

“I knew it was him, the day I saw the news about Bri, AJ, and Bay. How did I miss that before?” Dani joined with the whispering.

“It doesn’t matter. What is the plan and when are we going in?” Sarah, thankfully, changed the subject. The other three girls filled us in on what was happening. There were a few groups already set to work and everyone else was just waiting for their, respective, cue. One large group had been responsible for the power outage. Various girls were at each exit, and there were a bunch of girls inside trying to clear out gang members. Evidently, we were in the main group that would be going up to retrieve the guys.

“What is SHE doing here?” I questioned, pointing toward the front of the crowd.

“That’s Sharon. She’s leading the whole operation. Her brother is one of the gang members and she is rebelling against him because she likes the BSB better than her own family. Isn’t that funny?” Erika explained.

“Not really. Are you SURE her brother is the gang leader?” I asked as I started getting rather agitated.

“Yeah. I work with her.”

“That lying little bitch! She’s probably behind all this fucking shit! God DAMN it!” I cursed. I turned to trudge toward the woman but a hand, around my arm, stopped me.

“What’s wrong Blake?” Sarah asked me quietly.

“THAT is AJ’s ex-GIRLFRIEND!” I answered with furrowed eyebrows. “They broke up only a couple days before this whole fucking hostage thing started!” I explained. Anger filled my veins. I couldn’t believe this!

“What? Are you serious? Do you think she is setting us up?” her eyes were wide with concern as she looked to me for answers.

“Yeah, I am serious. I don’t know all the details of their break up, so I don’t know what she is up to. I am about to find out though,” I said storming off in Sharon’s direction. Sarah was right on my heels and was trying to talk me out of a confrontation but I don’t know exactly what she was saying because I was focused on only one thing. Once I reached the blonde, I grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the crowd.

“What the…?” she looked at me in confusion.

“What is this all about, Sharon, and don’t lie,” I looked down at her with squinted eyes.

“N…N…Ni…Nick?” she stuttered in a hushed voice as she leaned to look at me closer.

“Yes. Now, out with it. Are you behind all of this hostage shit?”

“NO! I…I…I just want AJ and Brian to be okay,” she hung her head. “I know that I wasn’t exactly the best girlfriend to him and I WAS a bit of a bitch to you guys...”

“Really? I hadn’t noticed,” I responded with the utmost sarcasm and a roll of my eyes.

“Look. I know that AJ and I are over, okay? I also know that I never deserved him, and I am sorry for the way I treated all of you guys. But I never would want him, or any of you, to get hurt. When I found out who was involved, I was pissed off! AJ and Brian don’t deserve this and the fact that the gang took Baylee…UGH.”

“Yeah, right, and I am supposed to believe you? You and Aje were engaged and YOU cheated on him!” I looked at her with wide, unbelieving eyes.

“I know,” she whispered, hanging her head. “But, to my defense, he was cheating on me, too.”

“Whatever.” I shook my head and turned back to Sarah, who had been standing behind me the whole time, “let’s get out of here before she has me killed.”

“Wait, Nick,” Sharon grabbed my wrist.

“What?”

“We are here to get them out of there. I’m not going to beg him to take me back, Nick. This isn’t some stupid scheme. As a matter of fact, I am not even going in there…he’s not going to know that I was the one who organized this. It’s a lot to ask, but trust me. For once, I am not playing any games, this is for real,” she locked her eyes with mine.

“I am going in with them,” I said pointing to Sarah and the other three girls, who just walked up.

“Nick! That would be suicide!” Sharon’s eyes, actually, flickered a bit of concern…I don’t think I had ever seen THAT before! I let out a frustrated sigh. There were a few moments of awkward silence.

“I’m aware. That’s a risk I will have to take,” I answered.

“Alright, if you’re sure. Let’s get to it. You guys are going to enter on the other side of the building. There is a grate a few feet off the ground and that is where you will crawl in. Once inside, you will find yourselves in the boiler room. Here is a backpack that has various tools you may need,” she handed me a small pack that I slung over my shoulder.

“And after we are in?” I questioned.

“You’ll have to go into the hallway and go down three rooms on the right. In that room you will find a back stairwell. Take that up four floors and go into the room directly across the hall. Hoist yourselves up into the air duct grate on the left side of the room. There is a map of the air duct system in the bag; follow the directions to the room marked, that will put you right next to the room where the guys are,” she finished explaining.

“Then what?” Sarah asked from beside me.

“Improvise,” Sharon shrugged. “There should be one guy in the hall, outside the door. As for how many are actually in the room…I’m not sure, maybe three.”

“Okay, let’s go girls,” I said, beginning to walk away.

“One more thing,” Sharon called out. “They have radios, so you’ll have to make sure they don’t get the chance to use them, otherwise you will have more of them showing up. You have a radio in your bag, too. It’s off right now, but you can switch it to channel 13 to reach us, out here. Channel 5 is the emergency channel and you can use it to contact the authorities. Once you take the gang members down, let us know so we can help get all of you back out past the others.”

“Got it. Anything else?” I asked.

“I think that’s it. Good luck,” she sighed as she watched me and the girls head toward the building. We made our way to the other side and looked for our entryway.

“Here it is,” Dani called to us. We all gathered at the grate that would provide our access into the building. Looking around at each other we all took deep breaths. I fished a screwdriver from the bag and set to work removing the grate. A few moments later, I was done and sticking the screwdriver back into the bag.

“I’ll go first; then help you guys in,” I said as I tossed the bag through the hole in the wall. Taking a deep breath, I hoisted myself up into the entrance and shimmied myself through it. I landed with a bit of a ‘thud’.

“You okay?” Sarah asked. It was, kind of, nice to have someone like her to be so concerned for me.

“I’m good. Give me your hand,” I answered, sticking my hand out the opening. One by one, I helped each of the four girls into the building. Now it was time to REALLY get down to business.

Sarah slowly opened the boiler room’s door to peek out into the hallway. Quickly pulling back, she quietly closed the door. “Someone’s out there and they aren’t in black,” she whispered. All five of us scattered into potential hiding positions, just in case they decided to check into the room. The rule had been set that no one in the rescue operation was allowed in the building, unless they were wearing ALL black. This made it a little easier to spot who was the enemy.

We heard footsteps next to the door and I held my breath. Our hiding spots were not the best and we would surely be caught if someone came in. I saw Sarah move toward the door. What was going on in her mind was a mystery to me when she knocked on the door before raising her arms above her head. The door swung open and Sarah brought down the object in her hands, hard, onto the guy’s head. He instantly slumped to the floor. Poking her head out the door, she looked both ways.

“The coast is clear,” she whispered as grabbed the man’s wrists and drug his limp body into the room. I hurried over to help her.

“That’s one way of taking care of an obstacle,” Dani chuckled softly as I pulled duct tape from the bag. I quickly duct taped his writs and ankles as Sarah placed a strip over his mouth. Kelly grabbed the radio and flipped it on.

“One KO headed out the grate that we entered. Everything clear and under way,” she said softly before switching it back off. Kelly returned the radio to the bag before we all hoisted the body out the hole in the wall. From what I understood, there were a few groups designated as the ‘clean up’ crews and they would be the ones to come retrieve the unconscious gang member.

“Onward?” I questioned. After receiving four nods, we quickly and quietly made our way into the hall. I couldn’t help but think about how my life was turning into some kind of weird action movie. Hmmm, maybe Bruce Willis would play my part. He was pretty good in the Die Hard movies.

“Nick? Come on!” Sarah grabbed my hand, shaking me from my pointless thought pattern. We were safely in the stairwell and headed up the four stories we had to climb. It was not the easiest thing to climb a set of metal stairs, quietly! We all stopped suddenly at the sound of a door opening. Great, juuuust great, this is EXACTLY what we needed! We were NOT supposed to be running into this many guys! Standing there like statues, we heard the door close.

“They’re going down,” Erika mouthed and pointed with her finger after she peered over the railing. We waited for the bottom level door to open and close before we climbed the last flight of stairs. Once again, Sarah poked her head out to see if the coast was clear. I, for one, wasn’t surprised when she motioned that someone was out there. Closing the door quietly, she turned back toward us. After motioning for me to give her the bag, I took it off my shoulder and handed it to her. I am quickly coming to the conclusion that either: A, she has done this shit before or B, she watches WAY too many action movies!

“Kelly,” Sarah whispered. “You are going to help me. Erika, stand there,” she motioned to the other side of the door way. “Dani you follow behind us and Nick, you are back up. Kelly, you have to get his radio, ASAP.” We all nodded. She took a deep breath before peering into the hallway again. “Here goes.”

“Right behind you,” Kelly whispered. Sarah snuck out the door with Kelly right behind her. I couldn’t help it; I poked my head out the door and watched the scene unfold. Sarah motioned to Kelly so that Kelly would be next to her. Dani trailed behind a few feet as the other two girls crept up behind the guy who was facing the other direction, reading something.

Sarah tapped on the guy’s shoulder and he whirled around. He didn’t even fully turn around before Sarah’s fist connected with the side of the guy’s jaw. Kelly followed up with a solid kick to his gut. Kelly grabbed his radio. The guy went to stand up but Kelly dropped him with a kick in the nuts that made ME wince!

“Bitch!” Kelly scoffed as she spat in his face and kicked him in the gut again. Sarah motioned for me to bring the bag. Erika followed me to where they were. I pulled out the duct tape to place a strip on his mouth as Sarah held him down with her knee in his stomach and Dani worked on his feet. When the guy began to struggle again, Erika ground her fist into his throat.

“Shut up and cooperate, you piece of scum, or I’ll crush your jugular,” Erika’s nose was only a centimeter from his. Kelly helped me to finish duct taping the guy; since he was still conscious, we had to make sure he was bound REAL well. I had to hand it to them…these chicks were tough! Here, being a guy, I figured I would have to do all the dirty work! As usual, I was wrong.

We made it into the designated room and into the air ducts without any other obstacles. I hoisted Kelly up into the duct first, then Erika, Dani, and finally Sarah. After the girls were safely up, I stepped onto a chair and climbed in myself. With the air duct map in my hands, I quietly directed us through. We all stayed five or six feet apart so, hopefully, our weight wouldn’t collapse the duct. It wasn’t easy maneuvering my big old butt through that small space but after, almost, fifteen minutes of maneuvering, we safely hopped out of the grate.

“What now?” Erika questioned, barely above a whisper.

“First, we need to find out if there is anyone in the hall that needs to be taken care of,” Kelly answered.

“If so,” Dani piped up, “we need to get rid of them before we make another move.” Dani walked to the door and rest her ear against it. “I don’t hear anything,” she whispered.

“Hold this,” Erika tossed her shirt to Sarah. I was a bit stunned to see the woman there in her black lace bra. She unbuttoned the top of her black slacks, unzipped them just enough to show a black lace thong. “Watch this. We’ll find out if any one is out there.” I watched as she flung open the door and struck her sexiest pose, just outside the door. The rest of us backed further into the room when we heard a voice.

“What the…?” some guy spoke in a fairly soft voice.

“Hey baby. I heard about this little hostage thing you got going on…” I saw her lick her lips seductively and roll her hips, causing her slacks to slide down just a tad bit more. “Bad boys are SUCH a turn on.” Her voice was seductive and sexy. “Come here and show me what a REAL bad boy can do,” she said as she did that little move that girls do, you know, when they get low to the floor and roll their hips back on the way up. Just a side note, that particular move drives men nuts, but women probably already know that…why else would they do it? Anyways, we heard footsteps come closer to the door.

“You want me to show you a good time, baby?” he asked as he came close to her. I could barely see the man from where we were hiding, but he snuck his arm around her and pulled her close to him.

“Mmmm, I need a man,” she whispered into his ear. “And YOU, you are pretty damn sexy. Do you think you can handle me, bad boy?”

“Oh yeah,” he smirked.

“Come on in here and show me what you got,” she grabbed his shirt with one hand and began pulling him into the room. Her free hand snuck to his waist line and grabbed the radio. Spinning him around, so his back was facing us, she quietly closed the door and pushed him back into the room. I got up from my spot and snuck up right behind the guy. Erika was still seducing him and put a firm hand over his mouth as I grabbed a hold of both his wrists.

“Nice job,” Sarah said as she took a stance, by Erika, in front of the man. Sarah readied the duct tape for his mouth as Kelly grabbed some rope from the floor. After Kelly tied his feet together, I used the rest of the rope to secure his wrists.

“Nice hog tie, wouldn’t you say?” Erika smiled.

“Hmmm Mmmph Mmmhmm…” the guy tried to talk but received a kick, from me, in the side as a response. Dani used our radio, again, to softly inform the rest of where we were and that there was another guy down. Next on the list, would be the most challenging. We had to get into the room right next to us, take down an unknown amount of men, and save my friends.

“That was a bit degrading,” Erika sighed, with a soft voice, as she refastened her pants and slipped her shirt back over her head.

“But, it worked,” Dani snickered quietly.

“That it did,” I nodded.

“Now we have to focus on a plan to finish this mission,” Sarah brought us back to reality. Her voice, of course, was low but it held certain urgency. We all knew that we didn’t have time to dick around; we had to get things moving.

“We can’t just bust in there,” Dani sighed, “they would slaughter us. Not to mention that fact that we have no clue how many guys are in there.”

“Do you think lover boy, over there, would talk?” I asked with a smirk.

“Not worth the risk. He might yell or something and blow our cover.” Sarah shook her head. We all went silent as we heard the door next to us open.

“Joe? Where’d you go man?” a guy’s voice called down the hall.

“Shit,” we all cursed under our breaths. I motioned for the girls to hide, behind the stacks of boxes, where we had been before.

“JOE?” the voice shouted louder.

“IN HERE!” I called out from next to the door, so that when the door opened, it would hide me behind it.

“This isn’t a time for games…” the guys said opening the door. After seeing his friend on the floor, he rushed to the other man’s side. Sneaking up behind him, I quickly grabbed the radio.

“Looking for me?” I whispered in his ear. Sarah caught the radio after I tossed it, but I don’t think the guy saw her. He took a swing at me but missed because I leaned back. “Is that all you got?” I asked. His back was facing the girls when he drew a gun and pointed it directly at me. Oh shit…smooth move, Carter. How do I get myself into this shit? Hmm, maybe because I’m an IDIOT!!!!

“Nice to see you could join us…NICK,” he huffed as he waved the gun around.

“Wish I could say the same,” I rolled my eyes. This was going to be great, I could image the news…two Backstreet Boys shot in one week?

“Drop the gun mother fucker,” Sarah spoke in the man’s ear after putting him in a solid head lock with one hand resting on top of his head. “Drop it, or I will snap your puny fucking neck! Don’t even think I am playing!”

“Stupid bitch,” he choked out, still waving the gun in the air, in a cocky manner, as if to mock her.

“Fine,” she chuckled, “I warned you.” She began to twist his neck. Okay, I was talking earlier about my life being a twisted movie…well screw Die Hard…I’m now thinking that, this is becoming a bit more like Kill Bill with Uma Thurman and some serious Kung Fu fightin! Then again, maybe I am Charlie and these are my angels. Hmmm.

“Wait!” he choked, snapping me from my wandering thoughts. “Just let me kill the guy first.” I tensed a bit on that comment.

“Bye, sweetheart,” she said sarcastically, before quickly jolting the man’s neck. His gun fired but he was already out of line and the bullet missed by a good yard on my left. He instantly went limp in her arms and she let go, allowing him to drop by her feet.

“GOD DAMN IT!” I screamed. It was no use being quiet, after all a gun DID just fire! “I almost just fuckin died! Holy SHIT, I almost FUCKING DIED!!”

“Oh my god…oh my god…” Sarah looked at me and then to the guy before glancing to where the bullet hit the wall. Her shaking hand was over her mouth as she backed away from the man’s body.

Kelly had taken the guy’s radio from Sarah and was now using it to radio the crowd outside. She told them we were going to be heading in to rescue the guys. This was the crowd’s cue to start storming the building and raising hell. They were going to call the cops, gather all the gang members, and be our back up. Lord knows there are enough of them, out there, to do all that and more!

“Anyone else in the building is going to be on their way. We better hurry,” Erika stated, bringing us out of our thoughts. I gave Sarah a reassuring hug and rubbed her back to calm her.

“I didn’t kill him,” her voice was hushed and shaky. “I only jolted his neck enough to knock him out. We have to duct tape him.”

“Okay, since he is unconscious can one of you stay here, to duct tape him?” I asked looking at the other three girls.

“I’ll do it,” Kelly offered.

“Great.” I smiled weakly. “The rest of us will grab AJ and Brian. Meet us in there once you are done and HURRY.”

“Got it covered,” she looked up from where she was already half done. Erika, Dani, Sarah, and I stepped into the hallway and quickly entered the room where the guys were. As I pushed open the door, I said a silent prayer for everyone’s safety.

As I opened the door, my eyes fell on an empty room. I let out a frustrated sigh as I searched the room for any sign of the guys. I was going to seriously think about killing Sharon if she lied to me and set me up! This was ridiculous and I was really agitated. None of us spoke as we all exited the room and started flinging open doors up and down the hallway. If anyone were around, they surely would have come to investigate the gunshot.

“Any luck?” I asked, already knowing the answer, as we all gathered back in the hallway.

“Nothing.”

“Nope.”

“There are six stories in this place, so that leaves five more that we have to search,” Sarah grumbled. “We better get to searching.”

“How are we going to do this? I mean they could be anywhere in here and I don’t know how much more luck we have, when it comes to fending off gang members.” Kelly sighed.

“THERE THEY ARE!” someone shouted from the doorway. We saw two guys appear at the far end of the hallway.

“SHIT…RUN!” Erika shrieked as we all scattered.

“Come on, Blake. Keep up!” Sarah shouted as she grabbed my arm. She whipped me around so I was in front of her, then she shoved me into a room. I stumbled as I saw her slam the door shut.

“Bitch, you better move aside,” I heard a male voice right outside the door. I began to panic and searched the room for something to use as a weapon. Coming up with only a board, I tried to open the door but it wouldn’t budge.

“Fucking great,” I mumbled as I continued to tug on the knob. I flew back, landing on my ass because the knob broke. I let out a sarcastic chuckle of sarcasm and ran my fingers through my hair. This was not turning out to be as easy as we thought. So, I figured I would call for back up. Guess what I realized at this point. My dumb ass dropped the damn backpack in the other room, where the guys were supposed to be! Leave it to me, to do something so idiotic!

“I said, MOVE!” I heard the voice boom.

“Suck…my…non…existent…DICK!! Then, you can go screw yourself,” she replied in that cocky voice that I had grown accustomed to. Okay, so this must be where she gets killed. To be honest, I was sitting on my ass, waiting for the gunshot.

“Excuse me?” the man questioned. He sounded surprised.

“Oh,” she giggled sarcastically, “I’m sorry are you deaf?”

“Don’t test me or you will join those pitiful guys in the basement.” I snickered, now I got it. She was pulling an age old trick…I just didn’t realize anyone was stupid enough to ACTUALLY fall for it! Do the bad guys ALWAYS divulge the information like that? Seriously? How retarded is that, anyways? Hello…it IS a tad bit cliché, dontchya think?

“Ooooo. I’m so terrified,” I could, almost, hear her eyes roll. “You just have to ask yourself one question, ‘Do I feel lucky?’. Well…punk, do ya?”

“That’s it. Come on, you’re going to the basement with the others.” That’s when I heard a grunt, followed by a bunch of scuffling and some loud bangs. I heard a thud, like a body hitting the ground. Here I am, still sitting on the floor like a pussy and she is out there getting her butt whooped on. Some kind of a fake husband I am turning out to be!

“Let’s go,” she looked down at me, from the doorway.

“Wha…?” I shook my head in disbelief, then I saw a bloody lump on the floor behind her and a metal pipe in her hand. “How?”

Do me a favor and remind me to NEVER get on this chick’s bad side! I mean COME on! Isn’t the chick supposed to cower behind her knight in shinning armor? Oh nooooo, not in THIS action movie…the guy is cowering behind the chick in shinning stilettos! Okay, so she wasn’t REALLY wearing stilettos, but you get my point. I really got to man up my game, and NOW.

“Never mind, that, right now. We have to find the guys! So, break time is over,” she arched an eyebrow and rested her free hand on her hip. I scrambled to my feet and ran to grab the backpack before we headed to the stairwell.

“So, how did you do it?”

“I spotted the pipe on the floor, so I kicked him in the nuts and made a dive for it,” she explained as we flew down the stairs. Our stealthy approach had gone out the window, this was now a full on war zone! I heard Dani cussing loudly as someone as we passed the second floor. Kelly had just broken some other guy’s nose, right before we passed them on the stairs.

“The flood gates have been opened,” Erika shouted as she passed us, heading up the stairs, followed by a swarm of other girls.

“They’re in the basement!” Sarah shouted as we continued our descent. We finally came to the bottom of the stairs.

“Wha…” I began to question the fact that the stairs stopped, not on a basement floor but, the ground floor that we had entered through.

“Where’s the damn basement? He said there was a mother fucking basement! Why is there no basement? SHIT!” she was tugging at her hair as she frantically looked around. Suddenly she stopped and looked out a nearby window.

“What is it?” I asked as I followed her gaze.

“Come on, follow me and don’t fall behind.” She instructed as she barreled through the emergency exit door and back into the night air. Her legs were carrying her as fast as they could and I was close behind her as we approached a building that was right behind the warehouse.

“Do you think they were onto us?” I asked quietly as we reached the building.

“Who knows, but they aren’t in the warehouse, so we have nothing to loose,” she said as she crawled into a window that was level to the ground. The window was somewhat small, so I had a bit of difficulty getting in. As I finally wiggled through the tight space, she helped to steady me so I wouldn’t hurt myself, and then we looked around at our surroundings. There were no lights on, making it very dark and it was deathly silent.

“I can’t see a thing,” I whispered.

“Here, hold my hand and we’ll just feel our way through,” she replied, barely above a whisper. I shifted the backpack on my shoulder as we slowly walked forward.

“This isn’t turning out as well as we hoped,” I was nervous and my stomach had been flipping constantly since this whole thing started.

“Shhh,” she hushed me as she slowly opened a door. Peering outside of the room, she listened for several moments before tugging me out into the hallway. We continued down the hallway at an excruciatingly slow pace. Sarah made frequent stops to listen to our surroundings. I was beginning to think this was a VERY bad idea. There were, still, no lights and now that we were further into the building, it was even darker than before. I’m not exactly sure how she could see where we were going.

I remained quiet, as she opened various doors to find each different room empty. I was, quickly, loosing hope but never stopped my silent prayers. Every muscle in my body shook as both our heads turned toward a faint noise.

“It came from that way,” I whispered as quiet as I could.

“Come on,” she tugged on my hand as we moved toward the source of the noise. It took us a few minutes to reach the room because we were moving so slowly, trying not to make any noise, ourselves.

“There it was again,” I said in her ear. She brought her ear close to the door. The firm squeeze she gave my hand told me that we had, indeed, found where the noise had come from. Listening for several minutes, we only heard a few faint noises.

Sarah bent down and felt around the floor. After she stood back up, she grabbed my shoulders and positioned my on one side of the door before handing me a large object. I wasn’t sure what she was planning, at this point. I could tell that she was standing on the other side of the doorway.

Suddenly I heard her throw something down the hall and it landed with a loud bang. It finally clicked as I held the large object over my head. We waited for a few minutes but no one exited the door, so she threw another rock, or whatever, down the hall. Again, no one came out.

“I think we found them and they are alone,” she whispered. I could tell she must have been grinning as she opened the door.

“Hmmmm! Mmmhph Hmphmmm,” we heard a muffled voice.

“Bri? Aje?” I questioned quietly.

“Hmmk?” I heard the muffled response. I felt a sudden surge of excitement.

“See if there is a flashlight in the bag. We can’t risk turning on the lights,” Sarah instructed. I could hear her feeling around for the guys as I pulled out a flashlight. I flipped it on to see Sarah carefully peeling the tape off Brian’s mouth.

“Oh thank Gad,” I gasped as I looked at his face.

“Nick?”

“Yeah, Bri, it’s me,” I answered as I ran over to hug him. “where’s Aje?” I looked around the room.

“I kind of need that light to untie your friend, here,” Sarah said with a bit of annoyance.

“He’s not in here. I don’t know where they put him,” Brian answered with sadness in his voice. His face was a bit bruised and he had a bloody lip but it looked like that was the worst of the damage.

“Great,” I groaned.

“Look,” Sarah interjected. “Obviously, there aren’t any gang members in here, or if there are, there aren’t many. So, you take Brian back to the rest of the group. You will both be safer there and I will find AJ.”

“No. You said we were sticking together and that I was to stay with you no matter what the cost,” I argued.

“Plans change,” she replied as she undid the last knot that was restraining Brian.

“Not this time. I am staying with you and that is final.”

“You BOTH will be safer with the group. The police are probably here by now and they can protect you better than I can,” Sarah’s voice was not harsh but was filled with concern and urgency. “I will find AJ and meet you back there, okay?”

“Listen to me,” I began to raise my voice a slight bit. “We are NOT separating. There is power in numbers. The three of us are better off, if we stick together. I can’t let you go by yourself that would be stupid.”

“Um…guys…this really isn’t the time to be arguing,” Brian interrupted, quietly.

“Brian is right,” Sarah sighed. “You two better get moving.”

“Look, Stephanie. There is only one flashlight. You know damn well that I won’t be able to make it out of here, in one piece, if I can’t see; and you can’t save AJ if you can’t see. We started this together and we are finishing it together,” I continued to argue.

“Quit being dumb,” she was now raising her voice, too.

“Uh…guys?” Brian tried to get our attention.

“I’m not being dumb. I can’t just let you go by yourself. What kind of a jack ass husband would I be?”

“HUSBAND?!?” Brian voice pierced the air.

“You aren’t really my husband,” Sarah argued.

“Yes, technically I am. Remember? Blake and Sarah Lawrence? Yeah, according to the WPP and the government: WE…ARE…MARRIED! Okay? Face it. Until we get out of the WPP or you divorce my sorry ass, we are considered, by law, to be married; whether it actually happened or not, doesn’t fucking matter because we ARE Sarah and Blake now. So yeah, I am not leaving you…DEAL WITH IT.”

“Husband?” Brian questioned again.

“YES DAMN IT,” I yelled toward Brian. “I’m a married man. At least, our new identities are married,” my voice softened.

“Wow,” Brian sounded shocked.

“Fine. Let’s go then. Just…” Sarah growled, “just stay close and don’t hurt yourself. By the way, it’s nice to meet you Brian.”

“Yeah, you too. Thanks for rescuing me,” Brian pulled her into a hug and then gave me one. “I missed you, Nicky.”

“I missed you, too, Bri,” I hugged him back. We all exited the room and headed off to find AJ.

Sarah led the way as we crept further down the hall. Brian was so close to me that, if I didn’t know better, I would have sworn we were attached. Sarah came to a sudden stop. Tugging on my hand she led us into another empty room.

“Shhh,” she silenced us before we could question her. That’s when I heard it…another voice.

“That one guy is gone,” the male voice spoke.

“I don’t really care about that one, John,” a deeper voice replied. The three of us listened closely to the conversation that was taking place in the hall.

“Why? I thought we were holding them captive.”

“I really just wanted the other one. I told you this already.” It seemed like the two men had stopped walking and were, now, standing in one spot. I was holding my breath and trying my best not to move because, knowing my clumsy ass, I would probably knock something over.

“Oh.”

“Look, AJ is the one I needed. The other guy and his son were only taken because they happened to be with AJ at the time. Since we moved AJ to the place on Woodmere, I don’t think those dumb fans will be an issue. Thanks, by the way, for having your men arrest those crazy bitches. It comes in handy having guys on the force.”

Now, THAT is some sucky ass news! But, why do they want AJ? There is something going on here and it isn’t all about me! I squeezed Brian’s hand because I could sense that he tensed up after hearing their reason for abducting him and Baylee. That’s when it hit me…SHARON! I bet this whole thing has something to do with her!

“Thanks, Brody. It didn’t take much to get them to put me in charge of this case.”

“I just love crooked cops,” the man snickered as I heard them start walking again.

“Here to protect and serve!” Both of the men began laughing loudly. We waited until we heard a door close before any of us said anything.

“The cops are in on this! Why do they want Aje?” I questioned with a bit of panic.

“I can’t believe this,” Brian said softly. I pulled him into a hug. This was turning out to be one hell of a night!

“It looks like we are going to need some new FBI guys,” Sarah said as she opened the door. “Let’s go. We have to get across town…quickly.”


Sarah dragged us through the building fairly quickly. I only tripped over my feet once, by the way. Brian crawled out of the window first, followed by me and then I helped Sarah out. Looking around she cautiously led us around the back side of the building which put us in a back alley.

“Are there gloves in the bag?” she asked, stopping to look at me.

“Uuuum,” I sifted through the back pack quickly and, sure enough, there was two pair of latex gloves. “Yep, two pair.”

“B-E-A-U-tiful,” she grinned, snatching a pair from my hands. She slipped them on. Looking around her, she approached an older Buick that was parked a little ways down the alley. Needless to say, I was a bit shocked to see her fling the driver’s side door open and proceed to hot-wire the thing!

“Are we seriously going to steal a car?” Brian questioned.

“Yes. Nick, put on the other gloves and Brian, don’t touch anything. We can’t leave any prints behind.” Suddenly the car came to life. “Get in.”

“This is freakin’ sweet,” Brian said with a goofy grin. “I have always wanted to do this kind of stuff because they make it look so cool in the movies. I just wish Aje wasn’t in danger,” his voice lowered after mentioning our friend.

“You have GOT to be kidding me, Bri! You are actually into this?” I turned in my seat to glance back at him. He slightly nodded and turned a light shade of pink. “Okay, so let’s re-cap. I get another new identity and a wife, we join a huge group of fans, I find out AJ’s ex is leadin’, we break in, Sarah wacks a dude in the head, we crawl through air ducts, Sarah squares a guy in the jaw, Erika seduces some guy and we end up hog tying him, I try to save the day but fail, Sarah comes to my rescue and snaps the guys neck, his gun goes off and narrowly misses me, we find out AJ and Brian were moved, we get busted but Sarah tells him to suck dick and beats the fuck out of him, chick raid the place, there’s no basement, we find and save Bri, the cops are dirty, NOW she is hot wiring a car and the night ain’t even OVER yet!” I rambled on without taking more than a couple breaths.

“That sound about right,” Sarah nodded with a giggle while Brian sat there wide eyed.

“What was the name of this movie, again? And where is my script?” I asked. “I demand my own trailer!”

“So, back to the subject at hand, how are we going to find AJ?” Brian asked, ignoring me. Leave it to him to destroy my moment.

“I think I have an idea of where to look. I used to work at that little coffee shop on Woodmere, and I remember a lot of drug deals and gang activity in one little spot. So, I figured, that would be a good place to start.”

“Alrighty then,” I shrugged.

“Um, how long, exactly have you two been married?”

Brian asked. I was a bit surprised that it took him this long to come out with it because I knew he had been dying to know since the moment it was mentioned.

“Officially? Um…what is it? Going on like 8 hours…wouldn’t you say, dear?” I snickered looking over at Sarah as she drove.

“Give or take.” She answered without looking away from the road. Brian just sat there looking at me. I flashed him a smile just as Sarah put the car in park. “Make sure you don’t leave anything and Brian, DON’T touch anything! Nick, open his door. Let’s move boys, we don’t have all night!”

“It’s already, almost, 5.” Brain noted.

“SHIT! Is it that late already?” Sarah stopped in her tracks and looked back to Brain.

“Yeah,” I nodded after looking at my own watch.

“We’re going to have to wait. There is no way that we can get in, find him, and get him out before daylight,” she sighed heavily. “We need to go back to the hotel, I guess, and prepare for nightfall.”

“Are you kidding me?” I asked in disbelief. “He could be moved by then, or worse!”

“I think she’s right, Nick. As much as I hate to admit it, we can’t take the risk during daylight. The darkness of night works to our advantage,” Brian sighed.

“Alright, alright,” I reluctantly agreed.

“Blake, you go to get a room at like the Super 8 or whatever. Meet me at the McDonald’s on 7th. I will go get our stuff. We need to split up, just as a precautionary. Brain, you go with him but not in to register for the room. Try to lay low and not be seen too much.” Sarah instructed.

“But you said that I should stick…” I started to object but she cut me off.

“Listen to me. We are much more likely to be recognized if we are together. Remember, the cops are in on this…no one can be trusted! We have to split up. You guys should even walk with a bit of distance between you. This is getting serious and we can’t afford for anything else to hinder AJ’s rescue.”

“I would say ‘serious’ is an understatement,” I retorted with a roll of my eyes.

“Exactly,” Brian nodded. “If we are in a group, the cops might spot us and arrest us, too. Or the gang could spot us and decide to ‘silence’ us,” Brian’s shoulders shuddered at the last part of his comment.

This was when we went separate ways. Brian walked on the other side of the street, but ahead of me a ways. I had given Sarah a tight hug before she trudged off, in the opposite direction. Although I was happy that Brian was safe, I was extremely worried about AJ. By the sound of those guys, I made the assumption that they wanted more from AJ then just information about me and that was very unnerving.

My silent prayers were filled with pleads for this, real life, movie to have a happy ending. Which, that brings me back to my script. Aren’t ALL movies supposed to have a script? Because, I just KNOW that this is either a vivid dream or a movie…since when does this shit, actually, happen in real life? AHA! It’s a new video game and I am just so caught up in it, that it just SEEMS real!

It was a few hours later before we were all sitting in the crummy hotel room. Sarah immediately started to pace the floor while Brian went to take a shower and I stretched out on the bed. My eyes watched her more than the TV that was flashing` bits of shows as I continuously flipped channels.

“Have you come up with a plan yet?” I asked quietly. Sarah stopped in mid stride to glare at me. “That would be a ‘no’, right?”

“I’m not sure that there WILL be a plan, Nick.” Her eyes rolled as she went back to her pacing. I was hoping they wouldn’t charge extra if she managed to wear a hole in the carpet.

“Where do you think they will relocate us to, after all of this is done? Surely, they won’t still ship us off to Hawaii. Maybe we’ll get really cool names and move to, like, Las Vegas or something!” Changing the subject seemed like a good idea at the time…boy was I wrong!

“They probably won’t relocate you, again, Nick. How many times do you think they are going to reinvent your life? You’re a special case, and all, but jiminy cricket!” she let out a quick breath and tilted her head to look at my through the corner of her eye.

“Aren’t they supposed to keep me safe, no matter how many times they have to move me?” Now I was confused. I stood up, walking over to where she had stopped pacing and waited for her to answer my question.

“Technically, they only HAVE to move you like three times or something like that. I saw a show once on TV that was talking about it. There are too many people in the program, Nick. They can’t keep relocating people on a regular basis, it’s completely illogical. The normal person gets a maximum of, like, three shots and if they screw it up…that’s their problem.”

“But in that Mary Kate and Ashley movie, they were relocated every time with no questions,” I countered, looking at her with scrunched eyebrows. I really didn’t understand this. They told me that I wasn’t going to be treated any differently than the other people in the program and now I find out that all I have been getting was special treatment! What gives?

“Okay, I don’t know what disturbs me the most…the fact that your brain retains useless information like that, or the fact that you have, actually, SEEN that movie!” she shook her head and laughed. I just peered down at my feet, a light red creeping up on my cheeks.

“I have sisters, you know.” I scoffed, trying to defend myself.

“Oh, I am sure you were out touring somewhere when that movie came out…it’s not THAT old.”

“So why would they go out of their way, like that, for me? I mean, I know I’m all Mr. Beautiful Baby-face Backstreet Boy or what the hell ever, but, I told them to treat me like all the others.” I explained as I looked up to see Brian emerging from the bathroom. He looked at me with wide eyes and quickly went to turn around.

“I better take another shower.”

“What do you know, Brian? And, don’t lie because you know I can see right through you, when you do.” I demanded, crossing my arms over my chest and tilting my head to the side.

“I…um…see…sworn to secrecy!” he gave me that cheesy grin of his and tried to slip back into the bathroom.

“Oh no, you don’t,” I rushed over just in time to block him from being able to close the door. “Out with it, Littrell.”

“See…it’s AJ’s fault.”

“AJ? Details. NOW.” I grabbed his shirt collar and narrowed my eyes as I stared at him. Little side secret for you: he always breaks down if you do that. He’s a dork.

“AJpaidyourcaseworker,” he blurted so quickly that I didn’t catch a single word after ‘AJ’. He was acting VERY guilty and I really wanted to know why!

“Slower and clearer, Brian Thomas,” I sternly kept a hold of his shirt and my nose was only a centimeter away from his.

“Maybe we should watch some TV, guys,” Sarah came up behind me, resting her hands on my shoulders. She gently pulled on me to get me to back of off Brian. It didn’t work.

“BRIAN! NOW!”

“AJ…paid…your…case…worker,” he told me, emphasizing each word.

“To do what, exactly?” I pushed for more information even though I had a feeling I wasn’t going to be impressed with the answer. Brian took a deep breath before breaking free of my hold on him. He pushed past me and collapsed in one of the chairs beside the small table.

“AJ paid him to keep you safe, no matter what. Every time you got recognized, you would get relocated and AJ would pay him off for doing it. Um…I kinda…I helped out a little bit, too, but AJ did all the talking.” Brian hung his head and fiddled with his fingers.

“What? Why? You knew I didn’t want a whole bunch of special treatment!” My voice had risen in volume as I was getting more annoyed.

“Yeah, and WE didn’t want you dead!” He threw his hands in the air and stood up to look me in the eyes.

“Okay, guys, seriously. Let’s bring the volume down a bit, okay? Who knows what people may be passing by?” She stood up between us, looking from one to the other. A sharp knock came on the door. We all panicked, looking back and forth at each other. Brian and I headed into the bathroom and prepared to make a break for it, if we had to. “I hate it when people interrupt my soaps, damn it!”

“Oh shit,” I whispered as I knocked over the soap dish.

“Shut up and listen,” Brian scolded while he jabbed me in the ribs with his elbow.

“Can I help you?” Sarah asked in an annoyed voice. “This better be good because you just made me miss the ending to my soap.”

“Back up into the room,” came a very familiar male voice.

“What do you want?”

“You’re the one who freed that Brian guy, tonight, aren’t you?” THAT’S IT! I recognized him as one of the voices from the building where we found Brian. This couldn’t end well.

“Excuse me?”

“Don’t play dumb. Where’s Nick? I want him and I want him NOW!”

“You haven’t gotten AJ to talk?” she asked with a high pitched giggle. “See, all I cared about was getting Brian free. I hate that Nick guy. Do you have ANY idea how annoying his voice is? Trust me, if I knew where you could find him, I would totally hand him over! The world would be better off without his voice in it.” Okay, I know she was pulling an act on the guy, but still, THAT hurt!

“What? You…but then why…I’m confused.”

“I LIKE BRIAN! AJ is kind of okay, too. The others are irritating. Here’s a little tip for you…AJ is a perverted sex freak. All you have to do is get some hot chick to go in there and get him all worked up, once she refuses to let him get off…he’s spill the information. There’s nothing like a set of blue balls to get a guy to talk, right?”

Brian and I were still in the bathroom and we looked at each other with both surprise and amusement as we continued to listen. This was getting good and we couldn’t bail now. Why would she say that, though? I’m just waiting for her to go all Uma Thurman on the guy.

“You are coming with me, my dear.”

“What? Oh no, I didn’t mean me. I couldn’t possibly even…eeeew…can you imagine where it’s been? I mean, AJ is okay and everything…like his voice and stuff, but can you say ‘NASTY’?”

“You have no choice. You are coming and you are going to get him to talk,” the man’s voice insisted. It was only a moment later that Brian and I heard the door shut.

“Great! NOW what do we do?” I slumped to the floor and dropped my head in my hands.

“We follow them, you idiot! COME ON!” He pulled me to my feet and we climbed out the window before heading around the side of the building. We spotted them walking quickly down the sidewalk. He had a grip on her arm but she didn’t seem to be struggling. Wait a tick! Knowing her…she probably PLANNED this! Maybe THAT was why she was pacing…because she knew someone had followed her and she was devising how to handle it! Oooooo, I’m gonna have a talk with that girl.

It wasn’t the easiest thing to follow them, without being seen. I’m not exactly sure why the guy didn’t have a car, but, then again, I guess it makes sense seeing as he followed her, and she was walking. Brian and I stayed in the shadows as much as we could until we got to where he was leading. It ended up being only a couple blocks away from where we were staying. The building looked like an old rundown office building or something.

After watching them disappear into the side of the building, Brian and I walked up and began looking around. Fortunately for us, we saw only one room with a light on and it happened to be on the bottom level! We snuck up a peered inside to see AJ all tied up to a chair, with his back facing us. I would say there were a good, four or five, gang members also in the room with them.

“Get your stinkin paws off me, ya damned dirty ape!” Sarah shouted as the guys shoved her into the room. “Ugh! It smells like urine in this joint.”

“Are you going to talk you son of a bitch?” the guy walked up to AJ and grabbed him by the hair.

“Fuck off!” AJ snarled.

“Shouldn’t we do something?” I asked Brian in a small whisper.

“Not yet. If we don’t time this right, they will both end up killed and probably us, too. Let’s just hang out for a few and see how it plays out. She might go all…what did you call it…Uma Thurman?” Brian replied as we peeked back into the window, doing our best to stay in the shadows. I cringed when I saw the man square AJ harshly in the jaw.

“Okay, if you expect me to try to seduce information out of this guy, you have GOT to stop making him look worse. I mean for fuck sake!” Sarah walked up to AJ and inspected his face.

“Get to it,” another man walked up grabbing her arm and shoving her onto AJ’s lap. I looked to Brian but he just shook his head. This was getting ridiculous!

“BACK OFF MONKEY BOY!” Sarah screamed, getting into the guys face. Needless to say, the guy smacked her. She held her cheek and stared at the man.

“You better listen to me, bitch. I’ll cut ya,” he snarled before spitting at her.

“Son, your ego is writing checks your body can’t cash,” she smirked before turning her attention back to AJ. “I can’t do this. I’m more of a Bumblebee Tuna, kind of girl.”

“Like, a lesbian?” one of the men questioned. AJ’s head just snapped up to look at her. Obviously, he recognized the code and all I could do was smile. Thank God, I taught her that!

“Is that what you would think the definition for Bumblebee Tuna would be?” she asked in a sarcastic tone. The guy that slapped her before came up and knocked her to the floor. At that moment, Brian and I had stood to head toward their rescue, but the room’s door swung open and we froze. Looking back through the window, our jaws hit the floor, as did AJ’s. Sarah got back up to her feet and came face to face with the other person.

“Sharon?” AJ’s gasp was barely above a whisper.

“YOU!” Sharon shouted in Sarah’s face.

“YOU!” Sarah shouted back. “I KNEW IT! I knew you had something to do with this! I should have NEVER trusted you! UUUUUGH!” Sarah waved her hands in the air. Brian and I looked from each other, back into the room.

“Where’s Nick?” Sharon asked in a snotty tone. My eyes widened.

“I haven’t the foggiest. Nick and Brian WERE hiding in the hotel room’s bathroom when your little friend, over there, came to abduct me. Who knows where they are now.” Sarah shrugged before turned toward the man that dragged her here, “Ooops, does someone feel like a moron?” she giggled.

“Alright,” the man spoke up and looked around the room, “First, get that little bitch tied up. Then, fifty grand to the man that finds that blonde haired son of a bitch! I want you to get the word out to every street hustler, every low life in this town, ya understand? I want him here tomorrow…ALIVE!” he screamed as he looked around. “You’re still here? LET’S GO!”

“Yes, sir.” The rest of the man nodded. Brian and I looked at each other in shock.

“Run Carter, run like your legs have never run before! Imagine a huge fuckin milkshake, dangling in front of your face, and let’s get our asses out of here!” Brain said softy but with great urgency. We both lifted to our feet and ran around the back of the building. Seeing a back door, we quickly hid inside, figuring it would be best to let all of them scatter before we made a break for it. This was NOT good! What were we going to do now?

“What the hell are we supposed to do?”

“Call the cops?”

“They are in on it, remember? By the way, nice language there, a few minutes ago. It was very becoming of you,” I snickered.

“Well, you know. If we are going to play the bad ass heroes, we kind of have to talk and act like them. Seriously, have you ever seen Jackie Chan say ‘and God bless you’?”

“I still never would have thought it, out of you. Not to mention the fact that you are all into this! Here, I thought I knew you,” I elbowed him in the ribs jokingly.

“Hey, let’s see where this hallway leads. Maybe we can find them and devise a plan to get them out,” Brain pulled on my arm.

“You are kidding me right? Are you sure that you are Brian? I mean maybe they switched your brains or something because I would expect this kind of stuff out of AJ, not you.”

“Shut up and let’s go, Nick,” he whispered as we walked down the hallway.

“We are gonna end up dead aren’t we?”

“If you don’t shut up? Most likely.” As we snuck down the hallway, we began hearing voices. One of them was VERY obvious, to be Sarah’s and she sounded pissed. I was highly surprised they hadn’t duct taped her mouth yet! The voices grew louder as we approached the room. The door swung open and we dove into another room before anyone exited. Peaking into the hallway, I saw three men leave. That meant there were only two guys and Sharon left in the room. We waited several minutes, to ensure that the men were gone.

“You’re a fucking pig,” I heard Sarah snicker as we stepped back into the hallway.

“You’re annoying!” Sharon scoffed.

“At least I’m not an UGLY…BUGG EYED…REVOLTING…AJ STALKER! Nasty bitch...I can smell you from here!”

“She’s a mouthy one,” I whispered to Brian as I tried to keep a chuckle from escaping my mouth.

“Really? I hadn’t gotten that vibe from her,” his whisper dripped with pure sarcasm.

“WHAT DID YOU CALL ME? Oh I am going to kick your ass!” Sharon’s voice was at a volume that could, probably, be heard a few blocks over.

“Go ahead…make…my…day! Because, frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn,” she retorted. I was beginning to think that she was in more danger than AJ. Good Lord, she has a big mouth!

“Any plans?” I asked Brian. We were now only a few feet away from the door.

“Bust in and kick ass?” he suggested.

“Oh now, there’s a winner.” I sighed. Taking a deep breath I continued, “alright…let’s do it.” I wonder if this was how Sarah planned this. Was she expecting to get herself tied up and get a hit put out on me? Hmm. I was REALLY going to have to have a talk with that girl!

“God, someone shut her up!” Sharon shouted as we neared the door. I looked at Brian and shrugged. I don’t think either of us knew what to do, so we just stood there like morons.

“Good one. Can’t fight your own battles?” Sarah laughed loudly.

“Shouldn’t you be cooperating?” AJ questioned with annoyance in his voice.

“What? Do you think that will help any? Yeah, that’s what I thought…shut up,” Sarah snipped back at him. I knew she was probably starting to get under AJ’s skin, too. “So are you going to share what’s going on?”

“Not likely,” Sharon scoffed.

“Fine. Say hello to my little friends,” Sarah stated before starting to laugh obnoxiously. Before I realized what was going on, a couple men barged past us and into the room.

“FBI! DROP YOUR WEAPONS AND PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!” one of the men screamed. I was in shock. Where did they even come from? I hurried into the room and untied Sarah while Brian untied AJ.

“Listen closely because I am going to make you an offer you can’t refuse,” Sarah spoke into Sharon’s ear. The FBI guys had the gang men under gun point but Sharon was only being covered by Sarah. “You and I are goin downtown for a little chat.”

“Fuck you.” Sharon spat.

“That’s cool,” Sarah shrugged. Slamming Sharon against the wall, Sarah smiled, “game over man, game over.” As soon as the words fell from her lips, four other men, dressed in black, came crashing into the room. My mouth fell open when I saw that one of them was my case worker from the WPP. One of the men started trying to get me, Brian and AJ out of the room when the window shattered. I assumed that the men jumping in through the window weren’t FBI because Sarah and the men began to whoop ass. The three of us looked at each other before we started throwing punches, as well.

“I’m getting to old for this shit,” AJ rolled his eyes as he squared one of the gang members in the jaw. When the guy dropped, AJ grabbed onto another, holding him as I proceeded to beat his face. I have to say Brian was fairing pretty well, too. It seemed as if more and more gang members were pouring in through the window and, now, the doorway, too.

“OUT! Nick! Brain! AJ! Out…GO…NOW!!!” Sarah screamed at us. After knocking over a few guys, we did as we were told. Once outside, we looked back and forth between us.

“This is fucking insane,” AJ ran his hands through his hair.

“What is going on? I am so confused! Where are all these people coming from and why are they all after us?” Brian shook his head. I looked up to see Sarah and the FBI men running out of the building at break neck speed.

“Get away! GO! Away from the building!” Sarah instructed as they came flying towards us. She spun around to face the building. “YIPPIE CIYAY MOTHERFUCKERS!!!” she screamed as an explosion burst from the building causing the ground to rock.

“WOO! Awesome work, Jay,” my case worker high fived Sarah.

“WHAT is going ON!” AJ demanded as he walked up to the group of people.

“We just saved your asses, that’s what’s going on,” Sarah smiled widely at AJ. Just as I was about to open my mouth, I was startled by the sound of a gun shot.

“What was…” I began to ask but stopped short, when I saw one solitary gang member dragging himself across the grass. Sarah walked up and knelt next to him.

“An explosion and then a gun shot square in the back? Why is he still alive?” she looked at the man funny as he lay on the ground staring at her. “It vexes me…I am terribly vexed.”

“Here Jay,” one of the guys tossed her his gun.

“You know, it wasn’t very smart, what you did. Kidnapping, assault, eluding, unregistered weapon, possession of narcotics…come on dude…and then you pointed a gun at both AJ and myself. Seems to me like I am in danger being so close to you,” she smirked down at him. He slowly moved his hand towards her and grabbed her ankle. She stood up and fired the gun. She tossed the gun back to the original owner.

“What, the FUCK, just happened?” I finally spoke back up, looking at her with disbelief. She looked at me momentarily before men started emerging from various hiding places. They were all decked out in black, with radios and guns on their hips.

“You six, secure the entire area, check for any survivors and get them downtown. You, get someone in here to clean up this mess,” she waved her hand towards the flame engulfed building.

“Yes, ma’am,” the men nodded simultaneously, before heading to follow their instructions. For some reason, all these men were intently hanging on every word that left her lips. AJ, Brain and I were standing a few feet behind Sarah, watching the scene unfold…we didn’t know what else we were supposed to be doing, so we just stood there.

“There is going to be an ass load of paperwork for this one, Jason. I need you to head beck to your office, first thing in the morning, and get started on those papers for me. We need to get things rolling so we can get these guys back to their normal lives, Mr. Carter included,” she ordered my WPP case worker. “You too, Daniel, I want everything on my desk as soon as you can. Get help, if you need it.”

“Yes, ma’am.” They both nodded.

“Lucas, get some of your guys and find that dill weed cop, John, whatever the fuck his last name is. I want him found and in custody, NOW, along with any of this friends that are in on this. GO!” she ordered, pointing her finger toward the road, where there were a bunch of vehicles parked.

“Yes, ma’am,” the guy nodded before sprinting off in the other direction. I silently licked my lips as I watched her order the other men around. She was sweaty and covered in a combination of dirt and blood. My eyes remained locked on her as she continued.

“I want this place stripped down; the other buildings, too. I want every single, solitary piece of evidence bagged and filed. This is no laughing matter, guys, and it is a far fucking cry from being over yet, got it? We have a fucking mess to clean up and a shit load of people to, still, find and deal with. Let’s not waste time,” she concluded with a snap of her fingers.

“Yes Ma’am,” the men chimed again, before scattering in different directions.

“Come on guys, let’s go,” she waved to me, AJ and Brian. Walking quickly, she headed towards the last parked vehicle that the men must have intentionally left for us.

“Care to explain?” I questioned as I caught up to her. “Who are you? What the hell is going on?” She drew in a long deep breath before exhaling slowly. All of us were standing next to the big black van, when she turned to face me.

“My name is Jordan Harris and I am an agent of the CIA,” she sighed heavily. “I have been working closely with the FBI and WPPOn this case. Since the CIA is over the FBI and WPP I have been one of the main people overseeing this case.”

“Wha…what? My wife is a CIA agent?!?” I questioned as we all piled into the van.

“Hold it, back the fucking train up…wife?” AJ’s looked at me with utter shock. I was actually quite amused by the look on his face.

“For the love of all things deep fried! There is no marriage license so we are not officially or lawfully married. Our paperwork, for the assumed identities, documents us as a married couple. Therefore, our current identities are married. It’s confusing really,” Sarah…Jordan, waved her hand around in the air as she explained everything to Brian and AJ.

“Sounds like it,” AJ responded with raised eyebrows. “But hey, thanks for saving my scrawny ass. Sorry if I got a bit anal back in that room.”

“It’s cool,” she shrugged.

“Okay seriously, enough of the shit. Explain this whole CIA thing.” I looked over at her. I was expecting a detailed answer and I wanted it sooner rather than later.

“I’m sorry Nick, but I can’t really tell you much. It’s a lot more complicated than just a few boy band members witnessing a murder.” She glanced at me and our eyes locked for a brief moment. Have I mentioned how pretty her eyes are?

“Hey, I didn’t think the CIA dealt with stuff like this,” Brian interjected.

“They don’t. The CIA deals with matters of national security. The FBI and WPP handle things like murders, gangs and such,” she looked at him through the rearview mirror.

“I don’t get it. If the CIA doesn’t deal with this stuff, then why are you here?”

“Think about it Nick,” AJ leaned up and looked me in the eye. “She said it’s more complicated than just us. If the CIA deals with issues of national security, there must be something about this whole mess that is jeopardizing, said, national security.”

“Yeah…okay,” I stuttered. We arrived at a fancy hotel and Sarah…I mean Jordan….got us all checked in. I had a really bad headache and was ready for some sleep. There as a lot for my un-evolved brain to try and process.

“Okay, Brian and AJ, you guys are sharing a room. Nick, you’re stuck with me for one more night,” she glanced at me as she gave the other guys their key. “There should, already, be clothes waiting in the room for you. Oh, and I’m sorry, but you can’t call any of your family or friends just yet. You’ll have to wait until after we get some things straightened, tomorrow.”

“Sure,” AJ nodded.

“Okay,” Brian agreed. We all boarded the elevator and made our way to our respective rooms. I sighed deeply as I stepped into the room I was going to be sharing with her.

“Nick...I…I’m sorry if you feel like I betrayed you or something,” she sighed, plopping onto the large bed that was in the middle of the room. “Look, until we get everything straightened out and all the papers filed, tomorrow, you are, technically, still my husband. I want to talk to you about this.”

“What’s to talk about? I’m used to having a body guard.”

“I’m your friend, too, Nick. Come on, you don’t think I faked all of that, do you? I would have done it all, even if it weren’t my job. I care about you.”

“If you knew about all this mess, why did you even bring me here?” I furrowed my eyebrows. I was very angry over the whole thing, but I’m not entirely sure why. I felt like she lied to me…like I, all of the sudden, couldn’t trust her anymore…like she shoved a knife in my back.

“It was best to bring you. After that stupid MTV news report, don’t you think SOMEONE would have figured out who you were? We both know Dani did. I couldn’t risk leaving you there, Nick. What if the wrong person recognized you? I told you I would protect you, and I thought that I was doing a pretty good job,” her eyes portrayed a glint of hurt.

“You brought me right to them!” I yelled, balling my fingers into fists, at my side.

“The best place to hide something, from someone, is right under their nose! Haven’t you ever lost a pair of keys and spent an hour looking for them just to find that they were already in your pocket? Don’t you get it? If I left you there, you would have been by yourself without a clue that you were even in danger. Someone could have watched you from outside your window and you wouldn’t have been the wiser.”

“Oh, so now I’m dumb?!?” Okay, so I was reading everything all wrong and taking things completely out of context but COME ON! Wouldn’t you do the same thing?

“I didn’t say that, Nick.”

“That’s exactly what you are saying.”

“NO, Nick, it’s not. You STILL only know the tip of the iceberg! There is more to it than you! If I hadn’t come down here to kick asses and take names, AJ would have been killed! If anything, you know them better than anyone else, I needed you to help me get them out of there. Who else could have taught me your secret language? Huh? You used yourself as a distraction to help defeat some of those guys, Nick. Don’t you see….bringing you along was the only choice.”

“You don’t know that AJ would have been killed, Chelsea…Sarah…Jordan...what the fuck ever I am supposed to call you now.” I was standing only a foot in front of her as my voice continued to boom down at her.

“First of all, I know damn well he would have been killed AND I know exactly HOW it would have been done…THANK you very much! Don’t question me, Nick…I know what the fuck I am talking about…remember? CI fucking A? Just because the demands had not leaked into the press doesn’t mean they didn’t exist, NICK,” her voice finally rose to a volume that matched mine. She had tried to stay calm and talk to me rationally, but it wasn’t happening. “Second of all, it doesn’t matter what you call me because as soon as this is straightened out, in a day or two, you will go back to your Backstreet Boy life and probably never see me again!”

Okay, why did that second part sting? It felt as if my heart just dropped to my feet. What she said, and the feelings it stirred up in me, just angered me more. I couldn’t believe what was happening! This wasn’t supposed to be part of the movie! Who wrote this script? I don’t want my life to be some dumb action movie anymore!

“Well little Miss CI fucking A, since you know so god damn much, why the hell did it take this long to get me out of this shit?!?” I could feel my face heating up more as I screamed at her. She held firm, to her ground, something I wasn’t used to.

“IT’S…NOT…ALL…ABOUT...YOU!!!!” she poked my chest as she stood on her tip toes to get her face closer to mine.

“Then why, the fuck, have you been my god damn body guard for the last year and a half?” I leaned down, bringing my nose within a couple inches of hers.

“Actually, I have been assigned to you since the day you testified in court!” she gave me a cocky grin before huffing at me. “You witnessed more than you realize, Nick, THAT is why you needed me.”

“This is unbelievable! You have been on my ass since THEN?!? Here, all this time, I thought we were friends and I could trust you. I guess, that was a load of horse shit, huh?”

“Technically, I haven’t EVER been ON your ass, NICK!” she stormed over to the door and whipped it open. She glanced back at me and in a low, soft voice, without looking up at me, she spoke once more, “I never had to show myself to you, Nick. I could have stayed in the shadows, unnoticed. Becoming your friend was by choice. I’m sorry you don’t understand that.” Shaking her head, she walked out of our hotel room.

“Fucking peachy,” I scoffed, plopping onto the bed. This is absolutely ridiculous! All this time, the only friend I had, was just there because she HAD to be! Figures, story of my life. I got up and started to pace the floor, milling everything over in my mind. Why was this bugging me so much? UGH! I really hate this whole damn situation. Why was I even fighting with her?

Looking at the clock, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I stopped pacing and did the math. It had been over an hour and a half since she left the room. Had I, really, been pacing that long? Panic started to surface. I quickly pulled my sneakers back on, grabbed the room key and rushed out the door. Where could she have gone? What if something happened? I didn’t make it far before I saw two shadowed figures, sitting on a bench, a few yards away from me. As I got closer, I could hear them.

“Nick just doesn’t control his anger very well. Don’t worry, he’ll come around.” I could tell it was AJ’s voice. A pang of jealousy hit me. But, why? He WAS her other favorite and, at one point, I had made plans of trying to hook them up. As I got closer, I could hear soft sniffles coming from her as AJ held her tightly in his arms.

I came up behind them quietly. She had turned her body away from AJ, so I took my chance. I tapped AJ’s shoulder and motioned for him to move. Silently, I took his place without her even noticing. In the corner of my eyes, I saw AJ smirk before walking away. I was a bit startled when she turned back and buried her face into my shoulder.

“I just don’t understand what I did wrong,” she started to sob again. I wrapped my arms around her. The scent of her hair floated into my nostrils and caused a smile to form on my lips. Obviously, she hadn’t looked at me because she thought I was still AJ. “I don’t want him to hate me!”

“I don’t hate you,” I whispered softly as I rubbed her back. She sat up straight and looked up at me.

“Nick…” she gasped before turning away to wipe away her tears. I pulled her back to me, wrapping my arms around her again.

“I was mad and…I don’t know…scared, I guess. But, I don’t hate you. I’m not exactly sure why I reacted the way that I did.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“You shouldn’t be. It’s me that needs to be sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. You have just been doing your job and I had no right to make it more difficult for you. By the way, your roots are showing.” I heard a soft chuckle from her as she turned back to face me.

“I would have told you, if I could.” Her natural brown eyes locked with my natural blues. I could see the sincerity in her eyes.

“I know. But, I don’t understand, what was with the whole thing at the club that night? Asking me if I would have to relocate, because you knew who I was.”

“I knew that all hell would be breaking loose, sooner or later. I wanted you to be able to come to me, as a friend. Since I couldn’t just come out and say ‘Hey, guess what. I’m an agent for the CIA and I know who you are because I am assigned to watch over you’, I decided to come up with a story as if I was a normal grocery store clerk who figured it out.”

“So, you really did go out of your way to be my friend, huh?” All I received for an answer was a shrug of her shoulders. “I guess, I really have been an ass tonight.”

“You’re not an ass.”

“Well, the jury is still out on that one. So, uh…how different are you from Steph?” I asked, fiddling with my fingers.

“What? Why?”

“I’m just curious,” I shrugged my shoulders, waiting for her answer.

“Our occupations are different,” she chuckled. “Our personalities…those are the same. Well…with the exception of the cocky, sarcastic, ‘I’ll kick your ass’, bit.”

“You know, at one point I even thought that you had done it before or watched too many action movies,” I looked back up at her, my elbows resting on my thighs and my fingers clasped together.

“It’s mostly from action movies. Like I said before, the CIA doesn’t usually get involved in this kind of stuff. It’s kind of rare for an agent to get this sort of assignment. I’m usually stuck doing paperwork and that kind of boring crap.”

“So, why you? Why now?”

“Me? Because I offered to take the assignment and, since, they knew I was qualified and could handle it, they let me have it. As for, ‘why now?’…it’s a big, complicated, twisted mess. Unfortunately, all I can tell you is that the CIA deals with issues of national security.”

“You told me that already,” I cocked an eyebrow at her, hoping she would explain better.

“All cases are considered ‘classified’, until they are shut and closed cases. After they are closed, the ‘classified’ label may or may not be lifted, depending on the case. So, I can’t tell you anything right now, Nick. As much as I would like to, I just can’t. After everything is said and done, and IF it is no longer considered ‘classified’, I might explain things better. But, I am pretty sure you are better off not knowing, plus, you’ll be back to your old life, by then.”

“What if I don’t want to go back to my old life?” Whoa! Where did THAT come from? Wasn’t that exactly what I had been wanting since day one in the WPP? I wasn’t even sure what was going through my head at that point.

“What? I thought you would be excited,” she looked at me funny.

“Um…yeah…” I stuttered as I tried to sort my own thoughts, “maybe, I’m just tired.”

“The past few days have been pretty crazy for you,” she nodded as she stood up. I watched her, slowly, walk back towards our room. I quickly got up and followed her. I wasn’t happy with the way this was ending.

“Us.” I blurted as I walked into the room.

“Huh?”

“Us. The past few days have been crazy for US,” I said, walking up to her. She just looked up at me with a raised eyebrow and stretched out on top of the bed. I licked my lips as I glanced down at her short frame. Suddenly, a million thoughts swarmed into my head, causing me to come to an obvious realization.

“Nick? Are you okay?”

“No,” I drew in a deep breath. “I really don’t think I want to go back to my old life because…

I let my sentence drop off as I just stood there, in the middle of the room, staring down at her. Her hair fanned out on the pillow under her head. Those soft brown eyes looked back up at me, putting me into a trance. I couldn’t shake the feeling that coursed through me and it was freaking me out because it was something I had never felt before.

“Because, why, Nick?” her gentle voice snapped me back to reality. My brain fumbled for a cover.

“Uh…well…I have…just gotten used to living a normal life,” I stammered, “Yeah, I guess, I have gotten used to it.”

“Riiiight,” she blinked, looking at me as if I were crazy. “Care to share the REAL reason, Carter?”

“It’s Lawrence. How could you forget your own last name, Sarah?” I asked sitting on the edge of the bed, grinning.

“Oh good grief, talk about changing the subject,” she rolled her eyes and sat up. Her face was now only a few inches away from mine. “We’re going back to being Blake and Sarah, are we?”

“Hey, this could be our last night as a married couple. The least we could do is call each other by the right names,” I smirked at her. My eyes kept drifting down to her lips. She was always putting on this liquid Blistex chap stick stuff and it made her lips look so soft with just a slight shimmer. I shook the thought from my head…since when do I pay attention to that kind of stuff?!?!

“Alright Blake,” she giggled. “I am getting ready for bed. It’s really late.” She swung her legs over the side of the bed and rolled her eyes at me before heading into the bathroom. I heard the shower turn on and a gasp come from her as she, evidently, stepped under the water. I stripped down to my boxers and flipped on the TV, to distract my thoughts away from her showering.

“Get a grip, Carter,” I scolded myself as I stretched out on the blanket that I had spread out on the floor. This was potentially the last night that I would be spending with her and I didn’t want anything to end on a bad note. So, I best think of little old grandmas and baseball rather than her being in the shower with the hot water cascading over her soft ski…little old grandmas…baseball…video games…basketball…

“Hey…Nick…wake up…” a soft gentle whisper woke me. I looked up to see her squatting next to me with her hand gently shaking my shoulder. Taking a deep breath, my eyes wandered over her. Sure, I had always thought she was attractive but with the soft glow from the lamp, her dripping wet hair that hung limply over her shoulders, the cute little tank top and short set that she was wearing…deep breaths Carter…deep breaths.

“Hmm?” I couldn’t even trust my voice at this point. She took a hold of my hand, stood up, and started pulling on me.

“Come on…it’s been a crazy day, you can’t sleep on the floor. You’re probably going to wake up sore, as it is, the floor won’t help,” she helped me stand to my feet.

“Well, there isn’t a couch…” I noted, tilting my head.

“I think that, that big king sized bed, can hold the both of us,” she chuckled and started walking towards the bed, still holding onto my hand. My jaw dropped as my brain tried to process what she was saying…us…sleeping in the same bed?!?

“I, uh…are you…I mean…are you sure?” Work brain, work! Damn it, I hate it when I make myself look like a moron.

“Well, if you hog the bed too much, I’ll just kick you off,” she giggled, climbing under the covers. I drew in a deep breath as I climbed in on the other side.

“I’ll…uh…try not to…you know, hog the bed,” boy didn’t I sound like a blubbering fool. Still, I was going to push my limits and take my chances. Taking a deep breath, I scooted up behind her and pulled her to me. To my pleasant surprise, she snuggled her back right up to my chest. Wrapping my arms around her, I breathed in her scent and smiled widely when she placed a hand over mine.

“Good night…Nick,” she whispered.

“Good night, Jordan,” I closed my eyes with the wide smile still spread over my face. Planting a light kiss on the top of her head, I savored the moment before drifting off to sleep. I think that resulted in the best night sleep I have had in a long while.

When morning came, my eyes drifted open to find Jordan standing in front of the TV. She was already dressed and set for the day. I couldn’t believe how good she looked in the office suit that she had on. The gray pinstriped skirt landed just above her knees, she had on a matching gray suit jacket, gray stockings…nylons…tights…whatever they’re called, and gray high heals. I lay in bed, not moving, just staring at her as she watched the news.

“Stupid cock suckers,” she whispered towards the TV, shaking her head.

She wasn’t kidding when she said there would be clothes delivered for us. Across the room, on the chair, lay a pair of nice jeans and a t-shirt for me, along with fresh socks, boxers and new sneakers. My eyes drifted back to Jordan as she tucked a stray strand, of hair, behind her ear. Her black locks were tied up in some sort of twist. She was, in a word, stunning.

“Morning, gorgeous,” I smiled, finally sitting up. She was so intensely watching the news, I don’t think she really heard what I said but the sound of my voice made her jump a bit.

“Oh…” she chuckled, “good morning. Did you sleep well?”

“Better than ever,” I got up from the bed and walked up behind her. She had her attention back on the TV, so I snuck up to her and wrapped my arms around her waist.

“You better get yourself ready,” she instructed as she pulled away from me.

“Five more minutes,” I pleaded as I pulled her back to me, “just…five…more minutes.” I nuzzled my nose into her neck and held her close.

“Nick, stop, what are you doing?” she cocked an eyebrow at me as she pulled away once more. I wasn’t surprised by her action, disappointed, but not surprised.

“Hey, can’t a man enjoy holding his wife?”

“Oh stop,” she rolled her eyes, “we aren’t REALLY married. Besides, you’ll be cut free in a matter of a few hours.”

“Yippie,” I retorted sarcastically. “I’m sooo looking forward to it.” I rolled my eyes and let out a long sigh.

“You confuse me,” she let out a short laugh. “Anyways, you get ready and I am going to make sure the other two are awake then get us all breakfast.” She twisted the knob and casually walked out the door. I trudged into the bathroom and took a long hot shower. Stepping out of the bathroom, in just my boxers, I spotted AJ sitting on the bed and watching TV.

“What are you doing in here?” I asked grabbing the jeans to pull them on. AJ laughed heartily and leaned back on the bed, putting his hands behind his head.

“Oh, I just came to harass the fuck outta you,” he smirked and cocked an eyebrow.

“Harass me?” I turned to face him as I buttoned up the jeans. They were quite comfortable, too…a perfect fit.

“Yeah,” he sat back up and walked towards me. “The fans are going to be awfully disappointed when they find out that their favorite cute, blonde Backstreet Boy is off the market.” With the biggest smirk and the dorkiest sing-song voice he teased, “Nickolas Gene Carter’s in looooooooove! Nicky’s in love! Nicky’s iiiiiiiiiiiin LOOOOVE!”

“Shut up, AJ! She’ll hear you!” I scolded, slapping my hand over his mouth. I saw a flicker of satisfaction and amusement in his eyes as he pulled away from me.

“I KNEW it! When I first saw you look at her…I knew it,” AJ crossed his arms and smirked at me.

“Well, I’m glad it’s that obvious because I just figured it out last night,” I sighed, pulling on my shirt.

“You always were a bit on the slow side, man, but I could tell from our Nickalex conversations, before, that you liked her. THEN when she came in, last night, and USED Nickalex…that was a bit of a clue. You’ve had it bad for a while, Nicky, I can’t believe it took so long for you to realize it. I’m proud of ya, though.” He tossed his head back and laughed loudly.

“Proud of me?” My question went unanswered because, at that moment, the door swung open.

“Hey, guys,” Jordan walked through the door, carrying bags of food, with Brian right behind her, carrying the drinks. I blushed slightly, wondering if she had heard us talking but dismissed it quickly as everyone started digging into the food.

“So what’s with the outfit, Sarah?” Brian asked from the floor where he sat eating his bagel.

“We are going to the office today to take care of stuff. I need to be dressed accordingly,” she answered with a shrug. “Come on, we need to get going.” No one else really said much as we got ourselves ready to go. We all piled into a van that was sitting in the parking lot for us. The ride was fairly quiet and also pretty short.

“Um, why are we at the airport?” AJ was the first to speak back up.

“I told you we were going to the office,” she looked at him like he should have known the answer to his own question.

“And, where, exactly IS headquarters?” I questioned as we all boarded the private jet that was waiting for us. I quickly bumped AJ out of the way and took the seat next to Jordan.

“Well, the actual main CIA headquarters is in Virginia. But, we are going to the headquarter offices that are in Washington.”

“D.C. or the state?” Brian looked over from across the isle.

“D.C.” she chuckled.

“So what, exactly, is your position?” AJ came back in the conversation as he pulled open a bag of peanuts.

“I am a National Clandestine Service Officer. A Staff Operations Officer, to be exact. Well, that’s what I will be going back to, anyways. I temporarily took a position as a field based Operations Officer, when I took this assignment.”

“A what, and a what?” Brian raised an eyebrow as the plane finally headed down the runway.

“To put it in simple terms…The Staff Operations Officers work closely with the field based Operations Officers which are, basically, the James Bonds of the CIA.”

“NICE! Do you guys have super wicked spy gadgets?!?” AJ’s eyes widened with interest as the plane lifted off the ground. I sat back watching her and listening, closely, to each of her answers. Quite frankly, I was intrigued.

“Um, well, the field based Operations Officers do use some things that could go under the ‘super wicked spy gadget’ category. But, we aren’t spies, we recruit and monitor spies.”

“Sweet! I want to be in the CIA!” AJ’s grin got wider by the minute. I was watching him closely as he interacted with her.

“Wait,” I interrupted, “I thought you said that the CIA doesn’t normally get involved in this kind of thing and that you are usually at a desk doing paperwork.”

“I was referring to working so closely with the FBI and WPP, performing rescue operations like that, dealing with gangs, that kind of stuff. This was, truly, a unique case. As for me and paperwork…that IS what the Staff Operation Officers do. We provide the field Operations Officers with useful guidance to ensure that things operate safely and smoothly, as well as providing them with advice and counsel. I have to take what the Operations Officers find, review it, sort it, decipher it, and use it to give briefings to the senior officers at headquarters. So, yes, I am usually a paperwork girl.”

“Damn girl! How long have you been in the CIA?” AJ leaned forward as he continues to interrogate her. I, myself, couldn’t tear my eyes off of her and hung on her every word.

“Let’s see, I joined at 21 so that means I am going on 7 years there,” she smiled sweetly.

“So you live in Washington D.C.?” Brian jumped back into the conversation. He had been listening closely the whole time, just like I was.

“Yes. I have an apartment there,” she nodded, “I have actually been in the same apartment since I moved to D.C. when I joined the CIA.”

“Where did you live before that?” It was my turn to ask the question. She laughed softly and bowed her head.

“Michigan,” her voice was soft and barely audible.

“Michi…where in Michigan?” I pushed for a more detailed answer.

“Marquette.”

“You’re shitting me?!?” I looked at her with a shocked expression “That explains a lot.”

“I think that…uh…I’m gonna read this interesting magazine, now,” AJ reached for a Home and Gardens magazine. Brian, all of the sudden, became engulfed in some book he found. The plane was silent as it began its descent. Once the plane landed, on a private airstrip, we all quickly piled off the plane.

“DANE! MY BABY!!!” Jordan squealed as she started rushing towards the small parking lot. I closely watched her and found that she was headed right for some guy, standing by a truck. I swallowed a large lump in my throat but continued, with the other guys, towards them. The thought, that she might already have a boyfriend, had never occurred to me. Why didn’t I think about that?

“Nice to see you, too, Jordan,” the guy stated sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he shook his head. Jordan walked right past him, toward the truck.

“Oh, Dane, how I missed you! Did Uncle Kyle take good care of you?” Jordan asked in a small, babyish voice as she rubbed her hand in circles over the shiny red hood.

“Hi, I’m Kyle,” the guy stuck out his hand to each of us as Jordan laid her cheek on the hood of the truck.

“Okay, Kyle, riddle me this: why is she getting all lovey dovey with the truck?” AJ questioned with a smirk and cocked eyebrow.

“Because, that’s Dane…it’s her baby,” he rolled his eyes again and tossed the keys to Jordan, who easily caught them.

“Dane, her baby, is the truck?” I raised an eyebrow. To be honest, I was a bit relieved that she wasn’t referring to the guy. Okay, I wasn’t a bit relieved…I actually felt like jumping for joy and I was, honestly, having a hard time containing my happiness.

“He’s not JUST a truck,” she straightened back up to look at us.

“Oh shit, here we go,” Kyle sighed and shook his head. Jordan visibly took a deep breath.

“He’s a 2007 Chevy Sivlerado 3500 LTZ 1LZ, 4WD extended cab, long box,” Jordan rattled off as Kyle groaned. Brian, AJ and I had our jaws on the ground as she continued, “he has a Vortec 6.0L Variable Valve Timing V8 SFI engine; a 6-speed automatic, heavy-duty, electronically controlled transmission with overdrive and tow slash haul mode; and a heavy-duty, automatic, locking rear differential. I’ll spare you the interior and stereo details. But at any rate, he’s not just a truck…he’s my boyfriend.”

“She’s only slightly obsessed with her truck,” explained Kyle with an annoyed chuckle.

“Is it just me, or did she totally just sound like a dude?” AJ looked around at each of us. I just shrugged.

“She does that quite often, actually.” Kyle nodded with a laugh.

“I thought only guys named and dated their vehicles,” Brian chuckled.

“Yes, under normal circumstances, it’s usually only men who decide to name and start dating their vehicles.”

“I’m not obsessed, Kyle. He takes good care of me and I take good care of him…it’s the perfect relationship! Now, quit making fun of me and get in.”

“What about a boyfriend, of the human persuasion, do you have one of those?” AJ asked as we all climbed up into the truck.

“Nope.”

“She hasn’t had one of those in a looooooooong time,” Kyle stated.

“Shut up, it hasn’t been that long. I’ve dated, I just haven’t been into any relationships,” she explained in more detail.

“Oh. So, why did you name it Dane?” Boy, wasn’t AJ just full of questions? But, I wasn’t upset to, officially, hear that her truck was the only ‘boyfriend’.

“Because, I already used Nick, AJ, Brian, Howie, Kevin and Bruce Willis. So naturally, Dane was the next best thing.” She smiled as she pulled out of the small parking lot.

“Do I dare ask what you named after us?” I asked, never taking my eyes off her. She looked at me through her rearview mirror.

“My fish.”

“You named your fish after us?!?” Brian chuckled with a raised eyebrow.

“Yessiree, I have four huge goldfish and a flesh eating piranha!”

“Um…Jordy?”

“Yes, Kyle?”

“Uh…I don’t know how to tell you this…”

“You killed one of them didn’t you! Who was it?!?” Her eyes widened as she glanced at him, waiting for an answer.

“The piranha.” He answered softly with his head bowed.

“YOU KILLED HOWIE!!!!” she screamed at him. She looked like she was ready to kill him. Almost missing the exit, she reached over to slap him on the arm.

“Whoa, wait a sec! You have four goldfish and a piranha; and you name the piranha after Howie? I’m confused, how’d I get stuck being a goldfish?” AJ scoffed in disbelief. Brian and I looked at each other, wondering the same thing.

“It seemed to be the most obvious. I mean it’s always the quiet ones that you have to look out for, besides, Howie is the most exotic out of the group,” she shrugged, continuing to give Kyle the death stare.

“I would have figured Kevin to be the most obvious. He’s the one always chewing my head off,” I snickered. She pulled into a large parking deck, paid her toll, and found a parking spot.

“Anyways,” Brian cut back in, “what did you name after Bruce Willis?”

“My parrot.”

“You have a parrot? Cool!” AJ smiled as we climbed out of her truck.

“Yep, he’s a really pretty bird.”

“Tell them WHY you named it Bruce Willis,” Kyle snickered as we headed to the parking deck’s elevator.

“I needed a valid excuse to teach it to say, ‘yippie ciyay mother fucker!’.” She grinned widely as we stepped into the elevator.

“NICE!” AJ nodded his approval.

“I’m a Die Hard junkie, what can I say?” she shrugged. The elevator came to a stop. We piled off and followed Jordan through a short corridor. A set of automatic doors opened, granting us entry to the large building. Jordan and Kyle showed their employee ID’s or whatever to the security guard and we continued into the lobby.

“JORDAAAAAAAAAAAN!” a chubby blonde came bounding towards us.

“Hi, Stacey,” Jordan gave the woman a quick hug before continuing on, with us following closely. She received a lot of high fives, brief hugs, and ‘hello’s as we made our way through the lobby and down the hall.

“Glad to see you back, Jo,” a tall dark haired man pulled her into a hug. The hug lasted a little long for my comfort as she made small talk with him for a moment. I felt a pang in my stomach when he kissed her cheek. Brian, AJ, Jordan, Kyle and I all boarded another elevator and headed up.

“See ya later, Jordy,” Kyle gave her a tight hug as he exited the elevator on the 3rd floor.

“Bye, Ky.”

“O hey,” he stuck his hand between the doors to stop them from closing. “Dad said to make sure you call him, when you get home tonight.”

“Uh,” she rolled her eyes, “How’d I know that was coming?”

“Just do it.” He called as the elevator doors closed.

“Is he…” I trailed off, not knowing if it was rude to ask what I was thinking.

“My brother? Yes. There are six of us and I’m the only girl.”

“That must suck,” AJ snorted.

“Well, not really. Mom wasn’t around,” she shrugged her shoulders, “so, I guess, that explains why I act, and sound, like a guy most of the time.”

“Hey, on the bright side,” AJ slinked his arm around her waist, “at least you don’t look like a guy.” I just about exploded when I saw him wiggling his eyebrows at her. How dare he flirt with her?!? In front of me, no less!

“Yeah, well, anyways,” she changed the subject and stepped away from AJ. “We’re to our floor.” Getting off the elevator, I glared at AJ, letting him know that I wasn’t happy with him. All he did was smirk and wink at me, before catching up with Jordan.

“He’s trying to provoke you, ya know,” Brian whispered as I watched AJ and Jordan, a few feet ahead of me and Brian.

“Yeah, well, I’m not taking it too kindly,” I sighed. She had stopped at one of the desks and was flipping through the files that she was handed.

“He’s trying to get you to step up, Nick. You know how he is.”

“Yeah, he’s a jerk.” I scowled as I saw him lean over and tuck a piece of her hair, behind her ear. “What a fucking flirt! Can’t he keep his hands to himself?”

“Do something about it,” Brian instructed, simply. “You don’t want his hands on her…you have to do something to stop it.”

“Like what, Brian?” I asked, chewing my bottom lip. AJ was really pushing my buttons as he laid his hand on the small of her back.

“Claim her.”

“She’s my wife, for god sake,” I retorted. My eyes narrowed as I walked up to where they were standing. “Excuse me, AJ, but you’ve got your hands on my wife.”

“Oh, sorry Nick, I forgot,” he smirked.

“Yeah, whatever, just back off.”

“Good grief boys,” Jordan turned, with a stack of files and papers in her arms.

“Here, let me get those,” I stepped forward and took the stack from her.

“Thanks,” she smiled sweetly at me. “Let’s take those to my office, and then I need to take you three to see someone.” We followed her down a separate hall. She showed us her office and told me to set the pile of stuff on her desk.

“Who are we going to see?” I asked as we got onto the elevator, again.

“A psycho therapist,” she giggled. “Since you guys have been through a lot of mental and emotional stress, lately, we’re having you guys evaluated to make sure you aren’t suffering from any post traumatic stress or anything. It should be fairly quick and painless.”

“I’ve seen enough therapists in my life, can I duck out of this?” AJ raised an eyebrow.

“Sorry, but no.”

“Samuel D. Harris? Is he…” I looked over at her with furrowed eyebrows.

“Another brother? Yep. But, he’s the only other one in the CIA,” she laughed. “Well, Kyle’s not really in the CIA, but that’s not important, right now.” She pushed open the door and was almost toppled over by a middle aged man.

“How’s my baby sister?” he asked as he squeezed her tightly.

“I’m just fine,” she rolled her eyes but hugged him back, “except the fact that I can’t breathe too well, right now.”

“Have you talked to the others?”

“Kyle? Yes. But no one else.” She motioned for us guys to sit down in the leather chairs, along the wall.

“We’ve been worried about the baby of the family.”

“Yeah, whatever,” she sighed and turned to face us. “Sammy will speak with each of you separately and give me a call when you are all finished. I’ll come to get you guys, then, okay?” We all nodded our understanding and she disappeared out the door. Brian went in first, then AJ…they took about an hour, each. The other room must be sound proof because I couldn’t hear a thing.

“Okay, Mr. Carter, you’re up,” the older man smiled as he held the door open for me. My nerves were kicking in. I wasn’t looking forward to being questioned…evaluated or whatever by Jordan’s older brother. What if he didn’t like me? Would he tell her what I said in there? I drew in a long, deep breath. This should be interesting.

I bit my bottom lip as the man lead me into the room and shut the door. My stomach was in knots as he motioned for me to sit in the chair across from his desk. Rubbing my palms on my jeans, I drew in a shaky breath.

“Don’t be nervous, Mr. Carter. This isn’t something you can fail,” he smiled widely as he took a seat in his large leather office chair.

“Right,” I nodded. Not like his words helped any. He had NO idea the reasons I had for being nervous.

“This might take a little longer than the others because you have been dealing with it a lot longer. I want you to start by telling me about your experiences while in the Witness Protection Program.”

“Um,” my voice was a bit shaky and my eyes darted around the room, not wanting to meet his gaze. That’s when I noticed a picture on top of his filing cabinet, in the corner. It looked like it was a few years old, but it was of him, Kyle, Jordan, and, who I figured to be, their other siblings. A smile crept up as I turned back to the man across the desk. “It was interesting, I guess. A bit stressful at first.”

“Not exactly the answer I was looking for…” he trailed off, thumbing through some papers. “It looks like the majority of your time was spent as Jonathan Reeve Oviado up in Michigan.”

“Yes, sir,” I looked down at my hands. I was slouching in the chair, like I usually do. I was startled by a soft knock at the door.

“Come in.”

“Hey,” Jordan’s head poked in the door, causing me to sit up straighter. “I brought lunch. I got your favorite, Sammy, the baked spaghetti from that place down the street.” She handed him a small tin, take out container. “As for you,” she turned to me with a smile, “Pizza?”

“Extra cheese?” I questioned, with a knowing smile. I stood up and took a hold of the personal size pizza box that she was holding out to me.

“You know it,” she rolled her eyes. “as if I could forget, with all the cheese pizzas that we have shared.”

“You’re the best, Steph…” I shook my head and corrected myself, “…Jordan.” Her shoulders shook with laughter as she scrunched her nose at me.

“You’re welcome, JR…I mean Nick.” I watched her, absentmindedly, lick her lips. I swallowed the lump in my throat and smiled back at her. “OH! I almost forgot your drinks.” She handed her brother a coffee and then held out a Coke for me.

“Thanks,” I leaned down and softly kissed her cheek. She smiled, in return.

“Well, I better let you two get back to it. I am going to take Brian and AJ up to the office lounge,” she explained, looking at her brother. I couldn’t tear my eyes off her, big surprise. I just couldn’t get over the way she looked in that suit. I had never seen her more dressed up than a nice casual outfit, but it suited her well, she looked very professional. “NICK!”

“Huh?” I snapped back to reality after she called my name loudly. Shit, she probably caught me staring at her…smooth, Nick, real fucking smooth!

“I asked if you think you could find your way back up to my office.” Her head tilted to the side and her eyes held a bit of concern.

“Um…yeah…sure,” I nodded like an idiot. “I think I can.”

“Okay, when you are done with Sam, you can just head right on up to my office, okay?”

“Okay.”

“See you guys later, then.” She exited the room, leaving me standing in the same spot. I stared at the door for a few moments before sitting back down. I gave Sam a quick, weak smile and turned all my concentration to the pizza, picking at the cheese.

“Nick,” he leaned his elbows on the desk, locking his fingers together and resting his chin on them.

“Huh?” I looked up from the pizza, I had yet to start eating.

“Do you know what color Jordan’s eyes are?” he looked at me as if he were really trying to figure out the answer to this question.

“Brown, why?” I answered him without hesitation.

“Hmm, they didn’t look brown,” he arched an eyebrow at me.

“Oh that’s because she is wearing the green color contacts I gave her. She wore them as part of her disguise…although I’m not exactly sure why she is wearing them now…” I trailed off and furrowed my eyebrows. Why was she wearing them?

“Hmm, interesting. Back to being Jonathan Oviado, from Michigan. Tell me about it.”

“Okay,” I had finally taken a large bite of the pizza. I quickly swallowed it down and continued, “I lived in a little cabin and worked in a grocery store with your sister. It was a completely different lifestyle than what I had been used to.”

“I see and how did you feel about it?”

“Oh, I loved working with your sister,” I nodded as I picked at the cheese on my pizza. “She’s really nice, you know, and she really made me feel comfortable there.”

“I meant, how did you feel about the difference in lifestyle?” He was arching an eyebrow with a goofy, lopsided grin.

“Oh, that. It took a lot of adjusting. I’m not used to being in that cold, at least, not for long periods of time. St…Jordan always harassed me because I wore so many layers and I walked like a penguin.”

“Mhmm,” the man had a funny smirk on his face as he finished up his lunch. I shoved the last bite of pizza in my mouth and threw away the trash. I tipped up the bottle and took a swig as I returned to my slouched position. “So tell me about your social life as Jonathan.”

“I didn’t have much of one. I chatted with the girls during our shifts and had lunch with Jordan, sometimes. Oh and they took me to a club, once. That’s when she told me that she knew who I was.”

“She, who?”

“She, Jordan. She told me that she wanted to be there to support me and stuff. Then, we went back in and danced. She’s a good dancer, by the way.”

“Yes, I know,” he chuckled. “So, you said you chatted with the girls but you only named Jordan…”

“Oh, Dani was the other. She was okay, I guess, a lot more blunt than Jordan. Not as polite, either. Although, I have seen a lot less polite side of Jordan lately.” I took a brief moment to ponder this point before continuing. “Dani wasn’t as tasteful as Jordan, when it came to clothes and stuff. Dani is a bit more…out there.”

“I see,” he continued to scribble notes as he listened to me. “On to the most recent experiences, dealing with the gang, the sneaking in, fighting, guns, saving your friends, all that stuff.”

“I was scared shitless,” I admitted with a laugh.

“Of…?”

“The whole thing, really. I didn’t think too much about my own life. I was striving towards the goal of helping to save my friends, but was mainly scared, out of my mind, because Jordan kept pulling these crazy stunts and shit. There was a couple times that I really thought she was going to get killed or badly injured. Do you have any idea what she pulled in there?!?”

“No. Please, inform me,” he leaned forward again and looked at me with a mixture of concern and…something else, I’m not sure what it was.

“She was punching people, left and right! They pull guns and she tells them to suck her non-existent dick.” My voice rose a bit in volume as I started to get worked up about the whole thing. Talking about it was bringing back all the fear and concern that I had felt that night. My hands cut through the air as I used them to help illustrate the situation. “She beat the hell outta some dude with a lead pipe…a LEAD PIPE! Then she snaps a guys neck,” I was ranting and, now, pacing back and forth as I heatedly told him all the psychotic things his sister pulled.

“Mmhmm, go on,” he nodded with a funny smirk on his face. I took a deep breath before continuing on.

“Can you believe she was getting mouthy with these guys? Tell them to screw themselves, calling them ‘dirty apes’ and ‘monkey boy’, she said one of them was revolting! She purposely got herself ‘kidnapped’ just to get into where they had AJ. Talk about giving a guy a damn heart attack and turning around to give him a fucking stroke, five minutes later! She was fucking nuts! Do you have ANY idea how many times I thought it was some staged action movie?!? I couldn’t even keep up with the woman…it was like Kill Bill meets Charlie’s Angels, or something.” I looked down at him from where I paused in the middle of the room. He looked amused…AMUSED! How in the hell could he be amused?

“Is there…” he started but I cut him off when another memory came to mind.

“OH! And THEN, she comes running out of the building as it explodes. Which I am sure, mind you, that she is the one who caused it to blow up. But, she comes running out, after the other guys, and she’s screaming ‘yippie ciyay motherfuckers’ like the whole scenario is nothing but sunshine and fucking rainbows! Can you believe it? She could have been KILLED but she’s all smiley, and like woo freaking hoo!” I collapsed back into the chair with a huff. Shaking my head, I rolled my eyes in annoyance as I relived the whole thing in my mind.

“Sounds like Jordan. She watches too many movies,” he laughed heartily. I wasn’t amused at all and, quite frankly, I was rather irritated that he was taking it so lightly.

“I’ve noticed. I’m just glad she isn’t always a field based Operations Officer. It would drive me crazy.”

“Well, I think we are about done here. Let’s head up to her office.”

“Alright,” I sighed, trying to calm myself. The short journey, back to Jordan’s office, was silent. I was trying to regain my composure and he just had the weirdest smirk on his face. What was his problem?

“Hey, guys,” Jordan greeted, looking up from her work. “How’d it go?”

“Fairly well,” Sam answered. I just shrugged my shoulders and sat in a chair that was off in one corner. “Brian and AJ are mentally sound. I’m not worried about either one of them. As for Nick,” he sighed heavily.

“What about Nick?” she came around the side of the desk and looked from him to me and back to him. I looked up at him, as well, waiting for an answer.

“Mentally, he’s fine. Emotionally,” he looked back at me and winked. Why, the fuck, is he winking at me?!? I have no idea what is going on, here.

“Emotionally, what?” she furrowed her eyebrows and walked over to my side. She rested a hand on my shoulder as she squatted next to me.

“He’s got a serious emotional issue,” Sam answered simply.

“Well? What about a medication or counseling? How bad is it?” she pressed on for more information as she moved her hand from my shoulder to my own hand. My heart skipped as she squeezed my hand…I love being so close to her.

“There’s no existing drug or amount of counseling that will help him, Jordan. And, he’s got it really bad. There is definitely no turning back,” he shook his head and exited the room. I immediately hopped up and followed him.

“What are you talking about? What emotional issue, are you talking about? Just tell me!” I demanded answers as I turned him around, by the shoulder.

“It’s not a matter of me telling you, Nick. It’s a matter of you telling her.” My jaw hit the floor as I just stared at him.

“Wha…wha…I don’t…”

“You’re obviously in love with my baby sister, Nick. Love is the biggest emotional issue a man can encounter and you’re not very good at hiding it,” he smiled widely. So THAT was why he kept getting that goofy grin on his face…he had figured me out. “Just go tell her. I have an inclination that her feelings for you might not be so different than yours for her.”

“I…um…thanks?” I didn’t know what to say. What would one say to something like that?

“No, thank you. It’s about damn time a decent guy came along to replace Dane in her heart,” he tossed his head back and laughed as he headed towards the elevator.

“Wait,” I caught up to him, quickly. “How did you…I mean…”

“First of all, the way you act around her, it a bit of a clue. Then I asked you her eye color. That was a big one.”

“Why? I knew the eye color of past girlfriends and stuff.”

“Ah, but you had just been staring at her green eyes and you answered me with brown. Most men would have answered green because that’s what they were just looking at and the fact that you didn’t even stop or hesitate to think about it…I could go on for a while with all the signs that tipped me off, Nick. I wouldn’t even be encouraging you if I didn’t think that you were real and sincere. I know you love her and I know it’s not a passing love of the moment, but a true one.” He finally pushed the arrow button for the elevator. Smiling widely, he patted my shoulder.

“Well, now I guess I have to explain to her my ‘emotional issue’ huh?”

“She looked worried,” he nodded. The elevator doors opened and he stepped on, motioning for me to go back to her office.

Nice. Now he has her thinking that there is something wrong with me. Sure, it made sense…being in love IS a serious emotional issue, but how was I going to tell her about this?

I stood staring at the elevator doors for a few moments. My mind was at full tilt, wondering what I was going to do. I couldn’t just be like ‘hey guess what, I love you.’ Or could I? As I turned to head back to her office, Jordan came flying out the door. I swallowed the lump in my throat as she hurried my way.

“Nick!” She grabbed my arms gently and looked up into my eyes. “Go back down to Sammy’s office. Tell him that I need him to take you guys to your hotel. I gotta go, it’s important. He’ll take care of you, okay?”

“Uh...yeah…” I barely got an answer in, as I watched her rush to the stairs. Wisps of her hair had fallen out of their twist and I just stared after her, as the stairwell door closed behind her. Taking a deep breath, I headed back down to her brother’s office.

After I went back to Sam Harris’ office, he led me to Brian and AJ. Sam quickly rounded us up and we headed out to his car. I didn’t really pay much attention to anything as I gazed out the window, from the backseat. My thoughts drifted back to Jordan and how I was going to tell her about my feelings for her. AJ snapped me out of my trance, once we got to the hotel. It was a nice place, looked like it was a family owned type deal. I continued to space out as Sam got us checked in.

“223…223…” I spoke out loud as I slowly walked down the long hallway. “Aaah, 223, here it is.” I stuck the key in the door and swung it open.

“Night, Nick!” Brian called from the other end of the hall.

“Yeah, night!” AJ hollered.

“Good night,” I gave them a weak smile and trudged into the room. It felt so empty. Over the past week, or so, I had gotten used to sharing a room with Jordan…even if I was on the floor, most of the time. Sleeping on the floor, really, hadn’t bothered me, but when she asked me into the bed, with her, the previous night…I sighed at the thought. A smile spread over my lips as I sat on the double bed. Laying back onto the blankets, I stared at the ceiling.

Letting a heavy sigh escape my lips, I got up and stripped down to my boxers and crawled into the bed. It seemed so cold. How could one week of sharing a room, and only one night of sharing a bed, with her, affect me so much?!? What’s wrong with me?

“Uuuuuuuuuuuuh! DAMN IT!” I swore as I threw the covers off me. It was, now, almost 12:30 am and I had spent the past 6 hours, tossing and turning. I had flipped through the channels on cable, about, 20 times already. I had, almost, paced a hole in the carpet and I was extremely frustrated with my inability to sleep. A hot shower failed to help and I was out of ideas. Pulling on my jeans, shirt, and shoes, I headed to the hotel room’s door. I grabbed the key, off the table, on the way out. As I made my way, through the lobby, I pulled on my jacket and hat.

The cold air nipped my cheeks as I stepped out onto the sidewalk. I figured a nice walk would help me to relax. I shoved my hands in my pockets, after pulling the hood, of my sweatshirt, over my head. I turned to my right and started to walk. Spring was arriving and there was no snow left, but it was still a bit too cold, for my liking. I breathed deep as I let the fresh air fill my lungs. Nick Carter, you have become a complete emotional mess. I huffed at the thought. Trying my best to not think about anything and clear my mind, I continued to walk. My pace was fairly slow, but after about 45 minutes or so, I came to a halt.

“Dane?” I tilted my head to the side and examined the cherry red truck that was parked along side the street. After spotting the license plate, I rolled my eyes. “Ha, ‘This is not my boyfriend’s truck.’? Only you, Jordan.” It was definitely her Dane. I mistakenly, placed my hand, softly, onto the door.

“HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK…..” the alarm pierced the air, causing me to jump three or four feet in the air and my eyes to pop out of my skull.

“Shit shit shit shit…shhhhhh! Dane, please…shhhhh…” I hushed the truck as I ran a hand through my hair. “O dear God, shhh, I’m sorry, Dane! Please, just…shhhhh!” The alarm stopped and I took a step back. “Did that seriously, just work? Oh, thank you.”

“Sorry, Nick,” Kyle’s voice startled me. I whipped around, stumbled backwards, bumped the truck and caused the alarm to sound, again. Kyle hit the button to stop the honking, as I just stared at him, mouth wide, like a moron. “Talking to Dane only works, if you’re Jordan. Anyone else has to use the button.” He held up the key chain.

“What is going on out…Nick?” Jordan had come flying out of the door and took the keys from her brother.

“Uh…hi?” I scrunched my eyebrows and gave her an, embarrassed, smile.

“Oh my gosh, Nick! What’s wrong? Are you okay? What are you doing here? How did you find my apartment?” her questions jumbled together a little as she quickly blurted them out.

“Nothing’s wrong…I…I’m fine,” I stuttered, looking down at her. She was in one of those sleeper sets of hers, with the little shorts and spaghetti strapped tank top. Those things should be banned, because they have been driving me out of my mind for over a week now! This particular set was purple with kissing cows. How odd. Her matching purple slippers were huge, fuzzy and rather cute.

“He was out here talking to Dane,” Kyle snickered.

“How did you get here?” She tilted her head to the side and glared at me.

“I…uh…I walked. I just kind of…found Dane, by accident, really.” I, reluctantly, admitted as I slipped off my jacket. I stepped towards her and slung the jacket over her shoulders. You could visibly see the goose bumps on her skin.

“You WHAT?!? By yourself? Now? At 1 am? Are you insane?!?” I hung my head a little as she raised her voice and flung her arms in the air. “Who knows what could have happened! You could have been mobbed! Or followed! Or hurt! Or KILLED! We have no idea if there might be a gang member’s long lost second cousin, twice removed, by marriage on their father’s side, that might be trying to hunt you down! GOD, Nick, how could you be so irresponsible? I thought you were smarter than this! You can’t go wandering out and about, by yourself, at this time of night!”

“I think he gets it, Jordy,” Kyle laid a hand on her shoulder. I stared at my feet, embarrassed, with a nice sized bruise on my pride. I really didn’t like the feeling that was resulting from her being mad at me. “Get a grip, he’s fine.”

“Yeah and very lucky, to be! Come on, I’ll take you back to the hotel,” she sighed as she started to walk around the front of the truck.

“Wouldn’t he be safer here?” Kyle piped up. He had a visible smirk on his face. “After all, with all of us guys, he has the protection in case that deranged second removed father’s cousin, or whatever, comes. Besides, I’m sure he’d like to hang out with all your brothers, watching the basketball game.” He raised an eyebrow and turned his attention from his sister to me.

“All the br…brothers? Uh. No…no…that’s okay. I’ll uh…you know…just go back to the hotel.” I quickly turned around and briskly started to walk back the way I came.

“You are NOT walking anywhere!” Jordan’s fingers wrapped around my forearm and spun me around. “Either I drive you, or you stay.”

“He’s staying,” Kyle smiled as he grabbed my arm and pulled me inside the apartment building. “Come on. We DVR’d the game from earlier. It’s the 76ers and the Magic. We’re only into the second quarter.”

“Right…yeah…” I swallowed the lump in my throat as he, practically, dragged me up the two flights of stairs. Once we were in the door I saw not just her brothers…but…oh God, no! That is NOT her…DAD!!!!

“HEY! It’s Nick!” Sam smiled widely as soon as he saw me. I just gave him a forced smile and slight nod.

“Alright, Nick. You know Samuel,” Kyle said as he dragged me further into the room. Okay, this sucks. I caught a sympathetic, half smile from Jordan, out of the corner of my eye. “Samuel is the oldest, I’m next, then Andrew, Michael, and Tyler. You already know that Jordy is the baby. Then there’s dad.” He pointed to each person, in turn, as he said their names. All I did was nod, in response. I was feeling really nervous and uncomfortable. Everything in me, told me to run like a bat out of hell, but I don’t think I could get away with it.

“Ky, you’re such a dill weed,” Tyler rolled his eyes and came over to me. “Nice to meet you, Nick. Let me correct my dumb brother. It’s Sam, Ky, Drew, Mikey, and I’m Ty. Nobody ever calls us by our full names.” He shook my hand and gave me a can of beer.

“Unless you fuck up,” their dad chuckled as he took a swig of his beer. “Please, don’t call me dad, either. I don’t need another son…unless he was an in-law,” he cocked an eyebrow in my direction. My breath caught in my throat as I came to the realization that Sam must have told the other men about me. They already all knew! Wow, this situation is getting worse by the minute!

“His name is Ben,” Sam spoke up again. The game was paused, so all eyes were still on me. All I wanted was to curl up, in a hole, and die. “Technically, he is an in-law. Nick and Jordy are still married…until the boss finishes finalizing the paperwork, that is. She got everything all filled out and stuff, but when I left, it still hadn’t gone through the boss man.”

“Ooookay, you know what, we should finish watching the game!” Jordan blurted as she stole the remote from Mikey. She pushed play on the game and tossed the remote back to her brother. “I’m going to the kitchen.”

“Yes please,” Drew raised a hand.

“Same, please,” Ty nodded.

“Here, too, baby girl,” Ben smiled. I just stood in the same spot, with an unopened beer, staring at the TV. After she left the room her dad spoke again, “Come on in here, boy. Sit down.”

“Yes, sir.” I replied softly, as I, nervously, took a seat in the only open spot. I was sandwiched between Mikey and Drew.

“Sir?” Ben laughed loudly. “I do declare, Sam. I think you are on to something, with this boy.” Oh fuck! I was right! They all knew…what was I going to do now? This made my nerves rise, as my palms started to sweat. I swallowed a lump in my throat as Jordan reentered the room.

“What the fucking hell was that?!?” Jordan cussed, glaring at the TV. All the other men joined in, screaming at the referee. Relax, Carter. You like basketball…just be yourself and you‘ll be fine…just…breathe.

“You better drink that before it gets warm and everyone thinks there’s something wrong with you,” Kyle whispered in my ear, from behind me. I just nodded and cracked open the can. Good idea, a few beers and I’ll loosen right up. It didn’t take long for me to realize that they were all 76ers fans, except Jordan. She seemed to be impartial but didn’t hesitate to point out bad calls and she screamed just as loud as her family.

“Jordyyyyy?” Ty whined as the halftime show started.

“Everyone need one?” She stood up and rolled her eyes as everyone, but me, nodded. All the other men watched her disappear into the kitchen.

“So, Nick…” Ty leaned forward to look at me.

“What do you do for a living?” Ben questioned.

“I sing.”

“Sing?” Mikey laughed. “Wow that pay has got to suck.”

“So, what? You do like karaoke or something?” Drew scrunched his eyebrows. It was my turn to crack a smile.

“Well, not exactly.”

“He’s a Backstreet Boy, now quit pestering him,” Jordan answered as she handed out beers and collected the empties. I took the last swallow from my can as she held out a fresh one. It was nearing 3:30 a.m. when Jordan told everyone that she was turning in. She gave her father a hug and followed with one for each brother. I bit my bottom lip as I stared at the TV, a little hurt that she passed right by me.

“Good night, Jordan,” they all chimed. Great…now they would really start in on the 3rd degree!

“Night guys,” she smiled as she walked around the back of the couch. “Good night, Nick,” she whispered as she wrapped her arms around me, from behind. I brought my hands up and rubbed her forearms as she kissed my cheek. My heart skipped, I was so happy that she didn’t overlook me.

“Sleep well, Jordan,” I turned my head to look at her. I forced a soft smile as I realized our faces were only an inch or two apart. I licked my lips and leaned my head back, to kiss her cheek in return. It wasn’t until she stood back up; that I looked around to see that all the men, of her family, had their eyes glued on to us. I felt my cheeks redden as Jordan headed down the hall. I drew in a shaky breath. I was alone with them…I was just praying that I wouldn’t get eaten alive!

“So…” Sam started, after Jordan had disappeared into her room.

“About this singing thing,” Drew leaned forward looking at me intently. “Jordan said you were a Backroad Boy?”

“Um…Backstreet Boy, actually,” I corrected, taking a swallow of my fresh beer. Was I supposed to be this nervous? I had, like, four or five beers in me now.

“Musicians never make any money,” Ky cocked an eyebrow at me.

“Actually…” I started but was cut off.

“Here…” Jordan stalked out of her room and dropped a large stack of magazines on the coffee table. “You’ll find, just about, anything you need or want to know about Nick in these.” She sighed as she opened the cabinet on her entertainment center. “and, here, are all the Backstreet Boys albums, along with his solo one. Now, could you guys please keep it down and leave Nick alone, so I can sleep? I do have to work in the morning.”

“Sorry, sis,” all five brothers chimed together.

“Now, when you are done, put the CD’s back in the cabinet and the magazines go back in that box. I’ll put the box back in my closet tomorrow. Now, good night.” Jordan turned on her heel and headed back down the hallway.

“Um…why did she give us these old photos? Who are these guys?” Drew questioned, looking at a magazine from the mid-nineties. I cleared my throat and moved to take it from him. I held it up and pointed to each of us.

“That’s Kevin, AJ, my best friend Brian, Howie…and that’s me. This was taken back when we first started getting famous in the US.” I explained.

“Alright. Then let’s get down to the real nitty gritty. What are your intentions with our sister?” Mikey asked, standing up.

“I…I…I…uh…I don’t really have any intentions…” I stuttered, blushing.

“He’s just in love,” Sam shrugged. “No real intentions. He hasn’t tried anything. Why would he be so damn flustered over everything, if he had?”

“Have you kissed her?” Ben was staring right into me.

“Um…well…on the cheek…and forehead…but that’s it,” I fidgeted with my hands, in my lap. I couldn’t stand to look up at them. Drawing in a deep, shaky breath, I tried to calm myself.

“Sleep with her yet?” Drew smirked as my head popped up and my eyes, almost, flew out of my head.

“U…u…uh…once…bu…but clothed…” my voice was barely audible and cracked severely.

“Why do you even like her so much?” Ky pushed.

“Yeah, what is it about her that makes her so special?” Ty cut in before I could answer the first question. My eyes shot back and forth between all of the other men. This was getting to be a little much!

“I…uh…I like everything about her,” I choked. “She’s just…amazing…” my mind wandered, briefly, thinking about her. I could see her smile, the way she moved, and smell the scent of her hair.

“Well, did you know that she will cuss a man out if he folds her towels wrong?” Mikey leaned forward, staring me down.

“I can learn to fold them right,” I defended. I really was beginning to feel as if I were being attacked.

“She snores,” Drew raised an eyebrow at me.

“So do I,” I shrugged. I had already figured this out, from the nights, in the hotels, that I stayed up and watched her sleep. Occasionally she even talks in her sleep!

“What if I told you that she has to go out with her friends every Friday night, without exception?” Sam questioned.

“Um…isn’t it a good thing for her to go out with her friends?” I rubbed the back of my neck. “She has every right to hang out with her girl friends.”

“Alright, Mr. Hot Shot, enough with the easy questions,” Drew, now, stood in front of me. Easy? Who was this guy kidding? I’m completely flustered over these questions and he is calling them easy?!? “What would you say if she told you that you had to give up your career, singing?” Okay, maybe the others were easier.

“I already told her I didn’t want to go back to my old life. I, kind of, lied to her when she asked why, though. But, on the other hand, I have found myself coming up with a lot of good lyrics, lately…but, I’m sure the other guys would, still, sing them, even without me. Do you think writing lyrics would fall under that? I mean, maybe, I could just e-mail ‘em to Aje. He could take the credit and royalties.”

“Okay, so if you’ve been coming up with loads of new material…sing us something.” Sam was challenging me! NICE! As if my night couldn’t get any worse.

“What? Now? I haven’t…I mean they aren’t…well, see…”

“Who cares if they’re not finished or whatever…sing us a verse or chorus or something,” Drew urged as all of them looked at me, expectantly.

“Ok…uh…oh boy,” I took in a deep breath and stood up. I cleared my throat and hummed a few bars before starting to sing. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and allowed my voice to sing the words, letting the emotions take over my body.

“Maybe I'd fight if I could
It hurts so bad, but feels so good
She opens up just like, a rose to me
When she's close to me
Anything she'd ask me to, I would

It's out of control, but I can't let go
I'm a house of cards, in a hurricane
A reckless ride, in the pouring rain
She cuts me and the pain, is all I wanna feel
She'll dance away just like a child
She drives me crazy, drives me wild
But I'm helpless when she smiles
When she looks at me
I get so weak…”

I trailed off, not really wanting to sing any more than that. Taking in a deep breath, I looked around at the other men, afraid of their reactions. Now what were they going to think?

“Okay, I’m convinced,” Drew shrugged his shoulders. The other brothers nodded in agreement. Wow, that was easier than I thought! Maybe I should have broken out, into song, at the beginning.

“Sounds, to me, like my little girl has found herself, quite the young man,” Ben stood and walked over to me. He patted my shoulder blade and handed me a fresh beer.

“So Nick, tell these guys, what you told me in the office,” Sam smiled, “about Jordan’s crazy antics. You guys have got to hear this.” I chuckled and began to retell the stories about the adventures I had with her. It was a few hours later, and we were still chatting away, when we were interrupted.

“You guys are still up?” Jordan, groggily, walked past us and into the kitchen. I had to smile, as I looked at her hair. Her pajamas were all wrinkled, she had cute little pillow creases on her cheek, and her hair was sticking up and out in all sorts of directions.

“Oh yeah,” Ty grinned. “Nick, here, sung us a song he wrote.”

“Well,” she came back in, eyes only half open, with a cup of coffee. “He is a talented man.”

“Yeah, then Nick told us all about your stunts in saving the guys,” Ky pretended to sniffle, “I’m so proud.” He got up and latched onto her, in a hug, while continuing his fake cries. The rest of us laughed as Jordan just shoved her brother away.

“Well, I have got to get ready for work, and Nick, you have to get yourself ready, too. You guys have to be at the airport by 10, to catch your plane.” Jordan started walking out of the room, which had become dead silent.

“PLANE?!?! Wha…what plane?” My jaw was hanging open, so far, that I was sure to get rug burn on my chin.

“Um, the plane that’s going to take you guys back to Florida. Howie and Kevin will be picking you up, in Orlando.”

“N n n n n no, there will be no plane. I am not getting on any plane. I told you that,” I was, now, standing directly in front of her. The other men were silent and, no doubt, watching the scene unfold.

“Nick, it’s normal to be nervous about picking up your old life, again. But, don’t worry, everything will fall right into place and it will be like none of this ever happened,” her voice was soft. I knew she was trying to make me feel better, as if she could calm my nerves. Too bad, nerves weren’t the problem.

“Jordan, listen to me…I don’t….want…to go back.”

“What are you so worried about? I don’t understand why you are so upset over this. You wanted to go back, before…nothing has changed Nick. It’s just nerves.”

“You’re wrong, it’s not nerves, you don’t get it,” I sighed, running a hand through my hair.

“Obviously, I don’t. Whatever it is…get over it. You are getting on that plane, you are going to go back to being Nick Carter, you’re going to be fine, and you’ll be thankful that you did. Now get yourself ready,” Jordan rolled her eyes and walked back down the hall, towards her room.

“So, are you going to tell her? It looks like it’s your only option.”

“Huh?” I squeaked, looking over my shoulder at Ben.

“I asked you, if you were going to tell my little girl that you are in love with her,” Ben repeated, looking at me, intently. It was clear, that if I didn’t grow a set of balls, really quickly, and tell her….I would be finding myself on a plane back to Florida. I had to come up with a game plan, but I had no idea how to tell her about my feelings.

“What? Where’s Jordan?” I was harshly questioning the man that was trying to get us into the van.

“She’s in a meeting, Mr. Carter. Now, if you please, we need to get to the airport.” He roughly shoved me, causing me to tumble into the open van door. I landed half on AJ’s lap, as I saw the van door slam shut.

“I can’t leave without seeing her! I have to talk to her. You don’t understand…it’s important!” I screamed, leaning forward. The van began to move, with a jerk, and I fell back into the seat. See, I couldn’t talk to her on the ride to the office, because Ky and Sam were there and I wanted to tell her in private. This really isn’t, exactly, the kind of thing you want to say, when there’s an audience…especially if they are her family! I figured I could pull her into her office and talk to her, but I didn’t even get the chance to, because she ran off to some meeting. Now, I was being hauled off to the airport without, so much, as a ‘good-bye’.

“I’m sorry Mr. Carter, but there is just no way. She is very busy today and you have a flight, to catch.” The man argued, in a not so delicate tone. AJ pulled on my shoulder, causing me to sit back in my seat. I sighed, leaning back in defeat.

“You can call her or something, man. Just relax,” AJ tried to calm me, but that just made everything worse. A sudden realization hit me.

“SHIT! Shit…shit…shit…shit…I don’t HAVE her number! Or e-mail…or address…fuck,” I hung my head. Man, was I a dumb blonde, or what? What was I going to do? The van was already pulling into the airport parking lot. All I needed to do, was lose these guys and take a taxi back to the office. After everything I have been through the past few days, this should be a piece of peach pie!

“HEY! Where are you going?” The burly man grabbed a firm hold on my arm. “You aren’t going anywhere. I was given specific instructions, to make sure you got on that plane. With NO exceptions!” His voice was harsh and intimiating.

“Jordan said that, didn’t she?” I asked, sadly. I guess she really didn’t want me to stick around…DUH! Why else would she be so dead set on me leaving? Great. I let out a long sigh and followed the group.

I should have known that she wouldn’t be interested…I mean look at her! She’s beautiful, smart, sarcastic as hell, successful, sweet…sure she has her faults, but I love those too! She can’t sing, for shit! She drives like a maniac…she drums her nails on everything…she even cracks her knuckles, and I have never seen a woman do that! She drinks milk, from the carton…she drank a beer last night…and BURPED…REALLY LOUD!!!! But, that wasn’t a fault…it was fucking awesome and it sparked a brief burping contest between her and her brothers. Would you believe that she won?!? It was hysterical and we all, about, died from laughter.

“Nick?” Brian shook my shoulder.

“Sorry, man, but our flight was just called,” AJ looked down at me with sympathy in his eyes. I huffed, as I stood up and trudged behind them. We made our way onto the plane and to our seats. The whole flight sucked ass. I couldn’t sit still, and AJ kept trying to get me to talk about it.

“Why don’t you just call the headquarters and ask to be directed to her office?” he asked, as he chomped, loudly, on a mouthful of peanuts.

“And say what? Exactly?” I huffed, turning to glare at him.

“How you feel. Chicks like that stuff, Nick. What are you so afraid of? Do you really think that she will turn you down? Honestly?”

“Uh…YEAH. She’s not some teen groupie, AJ. She’s different.”

“Hey, if she put up with your sorry ass for this long, she must like you,” he snickered and playfully shoved my shoulder.

“Well then, Mr. Know-it-all-love-expert, you have put up with my ‘sorry ass’ a hell of a lot longer. What does that say about you?” I lifted an eyebrow and smirked at the uneasy look on his face. He quickly recovered, as he always does.

“Well it, sure as fuck, doesn’t mean I am gay for your nasty ass.”

“But, you love me.”

“I never said that.”

“But, you must love me, if you have put up with me for so damn long!”

“Shut up, Carter, before I kick your fucking ass!”

“Aaaah, words of pure love,” I laughed, sarcastically. I was happy to see him, finally, get annoyed enough to walk away and go to sit by Brian. My thoughts began to wonder as our flight got closer to Florida. By the time we got off the plane, I was tired and annoyed.

“Oh my god, Nick! You have no idea how happy we are, to see you!” Howie was, anything but, quiet as he ran towards me. Kevin was close behind, with his arm bandaged and in a sling. I gave them both a hug, as did Brian and AJ.

“DADDY! UNCLE NICKY!!” I turned to see the little blonde haired boy running our way. His curls bounced, as he lunged into Brian’s arms before jumping into mine. I couldn’t help the smile that crossed my lips as I squeezed him, tight. I really missed the little guy.

“I missed you, little man,” I knelt down to his level, setting him back on his feet. Brian held his wife in a loving embrace and then we all headed out.

“How’s the shoulder, Kevvy Kev?” AJ asked, slapping Kevin’s other shoulder. We all started piling into cars.

“Fine, thanks,” he gave us a lopsided grin.

It was almost immediately, that we began working on the next album, ‘Unbreakable’. Although Kevin sat out, on this album, he offered plenty of support. He needed time to heal properly and, more importantly, to be with his family. Kristin and Mason needed him at home, and that was where he was going to be. It was a hard thing to swallow and I was the most upset, over it, but I can’t say that I blame him. After all, I was ready to give the whole thing up for a girl, and I don’t even know if she feels, for me, what I feel, for her.

Anyways, the lyrics for the new songs fell right into place. Our sound has come a long way since ‘Quit Playing Games’. We were pulling long hours, to get this album ready to go. If you thought that they would go easy on me because of all that I have been through…well…you’d be DEAD wrong! As a matter of fact, I think, they worked me harder!

The hours, in the studio, were endless and I was getting pretty worn out. There were five songs already recorded, so we weren’t, even, quite half done, yet. We were putting a lot of ourselves into this album, contributing more to the lyrics and sounds of the songs. Any extra time I had, went into my song writing.

Songs…lyrics…that’s exactly what I was writing. It was almost four in the morning and, once again, I found myself sitting in my office, at my desk, writing. I ran my fingers through my hair, resting my elbows on the hard wood. Almost six months had past by, since I stepped off that plane and, thus, almost six months since I had seen or spoken to Jordan.

I can’t get her out of my mind, when I close my eyes each night.
Ooooh, love will keep you up all night.
My heart, my blood, my passion.
Why, tell me why,
No matter how hard I try, I can’t put the past behind me.

“No, no, no, damn it. UH! That sounds dumb!” I sighed, scribbling out some of the words, before just crumpling the paper and tossing it across the room. So many things ran through my mind, that I couldn’t put them together right.

“Maybe…if I took this one and put it with that one…uh, why am I having so much trouble with this?” I stared at the fresh sheet of paper. “I know why I am having so much trouble with it…the same reason I’m up at fucking 4am! Damn it, love sucks!” My mind ached as my hand, suddenly, began to scribble at a rapid pace.

No matter how hard I try, I can’t put the past behind me.
My trouble is…
I can’t get her out of my mind, when I close my eyes at night.
There’s a piece of me that still won’t let go of the memory.
So, now I know what it is,
Love is what my trouble is.

“Now, that could go somewhere,” a lopsided smile crossed my lips. Sure, it needed some work, but it was a start. Leaning back in my chair, I stretched my arms out over my head. My thoughts were interrupted by the shill of my phone. “Who the hell…? At, almost, 4:30? Hello?”

“Go to bed, Nick.” AJ’s raspy voice ordered.

“Um…I was in bed, Alex.”

“Bullshit. You do this every night, man. Here I am, tossing and turning, because I know your dumb ass is still up. We have an interview, in the morning, and you need to get rest.”

“Yes, Kevin,” I snickered “But, hey, I think I am on to something, tonight.”

“Whatever, you can tell me aaaaall about it…TOMORROW! Now, get your fat butt in bed.” He raised his voice, as he tried to order me around.

“Hey, don’t be hatin’, on my butt, just because you don’t have one,” I laughed. “It’s not my fault that you’re so damn scrawny.”

“Me hatin’ on you…that’ll be the day, Carter, that’ll be the day.” He tried to hide his chuckling, but I could still hear it. He is such a dork! “You, seriously, need to get into bed. We’ll both be in trouble, if we are yawning through the whole interview.”

“I’ll try, Aje. Good night.”

“Night, Bumblebee Tuna.”

“Night, Dickwad…I mean Silver Ring.”

“Hardy har har,” AJ laughed, sarcastically. “See you in the A.M.”

“Okay.” With that, we hung up. He has really been on the same wave length, as me, lately. It was, kind of, nice because I was able to talk to him a lot. He helped me to finish up the song I had written…the one I had sung to Jordan’s family. Anyways, AJ helped me tweak it and now it was already done being recorded, for the album. We titled it ‘Helpless When She Smiles’.

I turned out my desk lamp and slowly stood up, from my chair. I drew in a deep breath. Grabbing my notebook and pen, I headed up to my room. Sometimes, lyrics will come to me in the middle of the night and I’ll wake up, so I’ll write them down, for fear of forgetting them, by morning. After I trudged up the stairs, I headed into my room. I tossed the notebook onto the bedside table and crawled under my covers. Wrapping myself in the comforter, I let my eyes drift shut.

“What if we slowed it down?” Howie sighed, as he and AJ continued to argue over the sound of a song. Our interview was earlier in the day and I don’t think I could really even tell you much about it. After the infamous ‘Anyone special?’ question…yeah…my mind left. So, now, it was late evening and we were gathered in the recording studio, not making a whole lot of progress.

“I don’t think it should be slowed any more. If anything, it needs to be more upbeat.” AJ replied. He had been in an off mood all day and I wasn’t completely sure why. He seemed irritated with everyone and everything.

“Well, it’s not working the way we have it. We can’t speed it up that much…it’s a love song, for pete sake! So, what do you propose we do?” Howie countered.

“I told you what I thought, besides, it’s more of a ‘losing you’ type song,” AJ argued back. Yep, this was going to go on for a while. I shook my head and left the room. Walking down the hallway, of the recording studio, I headed towards the exit. My eyes narrowed, as I opened the door and was met with the bright sunshine.

“Wait up, Nick!” I ignored Brian’s voice and continued my journey, into the warmth of the midday sun. Finding a bench, nearby, I plopped down and waited for Brian to come along.

“What do you want, Brian?” I asked, as he took a seat beside me.

“Are you okay? Why weren’t you arguing with them? You always argue with them!” He was right. I did usually argue right along.

“Not in the mood, I guess,” I shrugged. I had woken up in a bad mood that morning. I had a nauseating feeling in the pit of my stomach. I couldn’t explain what it was, or why it was there, but it was putting me in a very bad mood and it had even woken me up at 5 a.m.!

“Spill it already, Nick.” Brian’s glare met mine, as he searched for a better explanation. I didn’t know how to explain it, though.

“I just woke up in a bad mood.”

“Is there a reason for this bad mood?”

“Yeah. I just don’t know what it is.”

“That makes no sense. How could you not know why you are in a bad mood?”

“I have just had a really bad feeling all morning, but I’m not sure why.”

“Hey guys!” Brian and I both turned to see AJ headed our way. He was lighting up a smoke, as he neared the bench.

“Give me one of those,” I requested, holding my hand out. Both guys looked at me funny. AJ responded with only a cocked eyebrow. “Just give me one.”

“Is he okay?” AJ turned to look at Brian, as he held out a Marlboro for me.

“I’m fine. Just…I dunno…stressed, maybe.” AJ flicked his lighter and I leaned forward, puffing on the cigarette, to get it lit.

“Anyways, Howie and I came to an agreement on the song,” he said as he leaned his head back to blow out the smoke, from his lungs. I took a long drag off my own cigarette, fighting the slight couch rising in my throat.

“What would that be?” Brian questioned, as he kept shooting me that ‘you really shouldn’t be doing that’ look.

“We decided that it wasn’t our decision.”

“What?” I scrunched my eyebrows and shaded my eyes, as I looked up at AJ.

“They’re your lyrics, Nick. The song should be sung the way that you want it to be.” He shrugged his shoulders as he held the smoke, up to his mouth.

“I don’t know if it will sound good, the way I originally thought.”

“Well, all we can do is, try it and see,” Howie approached us. “What were you thinking?”

“I was, kind of, hearing it starting out really slow and soulful. Then it picks up pace at the chorus, almost like you’re trying to convince someone, the importance of what you’re saying. You know. At first it’s like you’re pouring you heart out, and then they don’t believe you, so you get all into it, trying to prove it or whatever. You know?” I shrugged it off, knowing that they would, probably think it was dumb. I’m not, exactly, full of great ideas.

“Wow.” Brian sat back, pursing his lips and nodding his head.

“That’s actually…” Howie trailed off, looking deep in thought. I’m sure they were trying to hear it in their minds.

“…a really damn good idea, Nick.” AJ grinned widely. “It makes perfect sense, really. Speeding up in the chorus would help express the frustration a guy would feel, in that situation.”

“I think it just might work,” Brian chuckled, slapping my knee. I looked at each of them, a bit surprised that they accepted it so well. Only Howie hadn’t expressed his thought.

“I’m disappointed.” Howie’s face frowned, “How did we not think of that, AJ? We’re losing our touch.” His face relaxed as a smile crept up. “Now let’s get back inside.”

“Yeah, let’s do this!” AJ flicked his cigarette butt and sprinted towards the studio. I stood up and dropped the smoke to the ground, putting it out with my sneaker. I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath, before following the others.

Walking back into the studio, AJ handed me a guitar, “Play it, Nicky. Show us how it’s supposed to sound.”

“Um…okay…” I, hesitantly, took a hold of the guitar and sat down. I drew in a deep breath. “Here goes nothing…” I cleared my throat and strummed the guitar. I had spent all afternoon working on this song. Sure, my creative juices had been flowing like Niagara, but I still wasn’t sure that it was ready for recording.

“How come, You never know what you’ve got, until it’s gone? Too bad, because I never felt this good with anyone. How fooled was I, into thinking I was gonna be alright, okay, fine? So everyday, I try a little harder to forget her. Lie here, convince myself, tomorrow will be better!

“The trouble is I can’t get her out of my mind when I close my eyes at night. Who’s gonna save me, now that she’s gone? The trouble is, there’s a part of me that still can’t let go of her memory. And now I know what it is…love is what the trouble is. Love is what the trouble is.

“How come she said, ‘You never wear your heart, where I can see’. Too bad, ‘cause now I’m the one, who’s sorry, yeah. How stupid was I, into thinking I was gonna be alright, okay, fine? So, everyday I find a little something to remind me. No matter, how hard I try, I can’t put the past behind me!”

“Damn, Nick!” AJ’s voice caused my eyelids to shoot back open. I had gotten so lost, in singing, that I had forgotten they were even there. I had even stopped playing the guitar!

“Well, now that we know how it should be sung, let’s get to it,” Howie said, stepping up to the switchboards. Brian stood there, just looking at me. I cast my gaze to the floor, a bit embarrassed. I had no idea what he was thinking of me, at this point. For once, I couldn’t read his face.

“Funny feeling, isn’t it?” He finally spoke, kneeling next to me. I glanced at him, through the corner of my eye.

“More like creepy,” I sighed. “It’s driving me insane. I don’t know whether I should laugh at myself or cry because I miss her so damn much.”

“That’s love, Nicky boy.”

“Yeah, and love bites.”

“That lyric has already been taken,” he chuckled loudly.

“I thought it was ‘love stinks’?”

“Yeah…they’ve both been used. Stick to the mushy stuff…it works better for us,” he gave me his signature, cheesy grin and we joined the others behind the glass. We laid down the track in record time, I think. The sound came out pretty damn good, actually. I was rather surprised…pleasantly surprised. Another shock was that the guys decided they wanted that to be our first single, off the album.

The biggest surprise, though, wasn’t until WAY later that night. After we left the studio, I went home. Straight home. I was kind of worn out, so I just decided to chill, in front of the T.V. to watch a movie. Over an hour later, my doorbell rang. Not having a clue as to who it could be, I walked towards the door with curiosity.

“Sam? What are you doing here? How did you know where to find me?” I looked at the man with my eyebrows furrowed. I stepped aside to let him in.

“Nick…we need to talk…” he sighed. That sinking, dark, nauseating, bad feeling crept back into my stomach, tying it into knots. I knew, now, that what he was going to tell me was probably the cause of this bad feeling that haunted me all day.

“O my God, what happened? Is there something wrong? What’s going on? Where’s Jordan? Is she okay? What happened to her?” I started questioning him at lightning speed. I quickly ushered him into the living room and I started to pace, waiting for him to talk. It couldn’t be good.

“Nick…you better sit down…”

“Alright,” Sam sat down, on the couch and took a deep breath. He fiddled with his hands and stared at the floor. “There is no easy way to do this so…I’m just going to tell you everything.”

“Everything? Well…out with it then,” I urged. My eyebrows were scrunched and I was anxiously awaiting his explanation. I knew that I was probably going to regret listening to this, but I needed to know what was going on.

“Well, have you ever heard of Sergio Ramirez?”

“Who?” I scrunched my nose, looking up at him.

“Sergio Ramirez. He’s a Mexican mobster. His boys have been smuggling drugs into the U.S. for years. Well, Sergio’s nephew, Marco, was in the U.S. making some deals, and he happened to make a deal with a man by the name of, John St. Lucas. Now, John St. Lucas is the leader of a small southern U.S. gang, called The Rayzerz. Are you with me, so far?”

“Um…I guess so.”

“Alright. Well, the deal between Marco and John went sour. Of course, the gang was pissed off and, it so happens, that one of the other members is married to a woman, named Isabella Calderone. Are you still with me?”

“Sure.”

“Okay, Isabella and her brother, Giovanni are United States citizens of Italian descent, whose father happens to be in the Italian Mafia. Once the deal, between Marco and John, went sour, the word passed from the gang and through to the Mafia. Word, of this type of thing, travels fast through the world of organized crime. So, before he knows what hits him, Marco is dead. Needless to say, Sergio is not happy about this and, so begins, a war of sorts between the Mexican Mob, the Italian Mafia and the small U.S. gang, The Rayzerz.”

“Okay. So this Sergio guy’s nephew pissed off a gang and the Italian Mafia…so what? What does this have to do with me?”

“Marco was killed by a man named Gian Franco Munna. Ring a bell? You witnessed the murder of Marco, Nick, and you testified against one of The Rayzers. Does it make sense now?”

“Wait. So, I witnessed a murder that started a big fight between all these people? That’s what made it a matter of international security and made it necessary for the CIA to get involved?”

“Yep. You have had the Italian Mafia and The Rayzerz after you, Nick, for sending one of them up the river. That’s why you were put in the WPP…that’s why the CIA was involved…that’s what Jordan meant when she said it wasn’t all about you. There is an international war going on between these people. Luckily for you, you have the Mexican Mob on your side and watching your back.”

“I have a mob watching me?!? Like, right now?” I began to look around me, peering out windows. Panic threatened to take over my body, as I swallowed the lump in my throat.

“Yes, Nick. There have been Mexican Mobsters following you since you testified in court. You brought justice to the death of Marco and they protect you, because of it; you have earned their respect. They are better at staying in the shadows than Jordan was, though.”

“Wait…you said ‘they are’ and ‘she was’.”

“Yes, Nick. I’m sure you’ll be under their watch for the rest of your life.”

“Creepy.”

“There’s more.”

“How, the fuck, could there possibly be more?!?”

“The leader of the gang, John St. Lucas, has a sister…”

“SHARON!!!” My voice cracked and my eyes widened, as I put the pieces together. I knew that chick was bad news bears!

“Bingo.”

“FUCK!”

“The gang is after AJ for a couple of reasons. First, they know it’s an easy way to get to you. Second, he cheated on Sharon. So, when they broke up, he became an easy target.”

Okay, let me tell you that I was pacing the floor like a little kid, waiting for recess. My mind was trying to process all of the things that Sam was saying, but it was all a confused mess. This guy was related to that guy, who married some other guy’s sister…what the hell? I didn’t sign up for any kind of ‘Mobster Family Tree’ college course!

So, I have the Italian Mafia and some gang wanting a toe tag on me, but I have a bunch of Mexicans protecting my ass?!? On top of, the fact, that I have the CIA and WPP watching over me? Is this some sort of reality TV show? Where’s Ashton Kutcher? I have got to be getting Punked! This is too bazaar, to be real.

“I know this is a lot to digest. Unfortunately, I’m not done. Jordan disappeared three days ago…”

“W…w…wha…” I couldn’t breathe, my chest felt like it was being crushed, as I looked down at him with wide eyes.

“The gang sent a tape to the office…with your name on it.” He slowly made his way to the entertainment system and put in the tape. The screen was black for a few moments.

“We have her, Carter…” a deep voice startled me, as the screen remained black. The light was flipped on and light filled the room. I gasped at the sight on the screen, as the light revealed what was in that room. Jordan’s body was lying, limply, on a bed with her hands and feet tied. The only clothes covering her were a pair of shorts and her bra. Her body was covered in bruises, blood staining her stomach and running from her lip.

“Jordan…” her name escaped my lips as more of a whisper, than anything.

“You will listen or she will die!” The owner of the voice was never seen…only Jordan’s beaten body. As the screen went black, the shrill ring of the phone made Sam and I jump. I quickly picked up the cordless receiver.

“H…h…hello?” I stuttered as tears stung my eyes.

“Seen my little movie? Now, we’re going to play a little game, Mr. Carter. You will follow my instructions, without any funny business…or else, she dies. You and your visitor will go to Mr. McLean’s house. He will be accompanying you.”

I slowly hung up the phone, after hearing the line go dead. I wiped my eyes and headed up the stairs. Sam followed me, as I began to pack my bags. Trying to keep my composure, I explained the phone call and what the man had said. It wasn’t any more than ten minutes, before we were headed to AJ’s house. Once we got there, I gave him the Reader’s Digest version of the story and he, too, packed. Just as we were about to leave, his phone rang.

“Hello? He’s right here.” AJ gave me a sympathetic look and handed me the phone.

“Alright. Now, the three of you are to get on a plane and fly to D.C. I expect you to be there, by sundown tomorrow. There will be a payphone, by the main doors. Expect my call. Let the games begin! By the way, I don’t kill people quickly.”

“Let the games begin? What a mother fucking ass hole!” I screamed, throwing the phone, across the room. We grabbed our stuff and left. I was in a very pissy mood…but, I am sure, you could have guessed that. It wasn’t long, before we were at the airport, buying tickets.

“Which gate are we going to, again?” AJ questioned as we walked through the crowds of people.

“Oh my god, we’re being followed!” I whispered to them, as we continued on our path. Sam looked around and spotted the men that I was referring to.

“Well, they look Mexican, so I think we’re safe.”

“I still can’t believe that you have mobs after you and mobs protecting you. You really are the popular one of the group,” AJ chuckled at his own joke, before turning serious again. “Wait. The same guys that are after him, are after me too, right?”

“Yeah,” Sam answered with a nod.

“Does that mean the same guys, that are protecting him, are protecting me?”

“Not necessarily. I would be inclined to doubt it, because you didn’t do anything that would earn you that protection. But, then again, they might, just because you mean so much to him and they are committed to keeping him safe.”

“This is a cluster fuck,” I scoffed as we finally found our gate. We sat down and waited for our flight to be called.

We walked off the plane. I shifted my bag, on my shoulder, as we started towards the main doors. Once we reached the right spot, I leaned against the wall and waited for the payphone to ring. After a half hour, of standing and waiting, I slumped to the floor. Another fifteen minutes had passed before we started hearing shrill screams, filling the air around us. I looked up to find everyone in the airport, scurrying in a mass panic, and I jumped to my feet.

“What the hell is going on?” AJ questioned as we tried to stay away from the masses. I looked up to see all the flights change over to read ‘cancelled’.

“All the flights are cancelled, now,” I scrunched my eyebrows, trying to figure out why everyone was screaming as they ran.

“Oh my God, in heaven,” Sam’s voice came out at, nothing more, than a whisper. He pointed up to the TV monitors, hanging from the ceiling, a few yards away. We fought our way, through the manic crowd, towards the TVs.

“Come on!” AJ hollered, as he pushed through, ahead of me. We looked up to the three screens, each on different channels but showing, almost, the same thing. The words were inaudible but could be seen scrolling at the bottom of the screen. My jaw dropped, as I read the words. I faintly heard a shrill ring, from the payphone, and it snapped me from my shock. I battled my way, back, through the masses…jumping over abandoned luggage and struggling against the people that blocked my path.

“Excuse me…sorry…pardon me…sorry…’scuse me…” my voice was urgent as I made my way past people. It didn’t seem like anyone was really going anywhere, everyone was just bumping into each other and fighting the same crowd. It seemed like I fought past the same people, as I did before.

“Wait up, Nick!” Sam and AJ shouted from a few feet behind me. They caught up to me, just as I snatched the phone from its holder.

“He..hello?” I gasped for my breath as I anxiously answered the phone.

“Well, Mr. Carter. I am glad to see that you landed before all the flights were cancelled,” the man’s voice was cocky and was heavy with sarcasm.

“Yeah, well maybe, you can tell us what the fuck’s going on,” I spat, not thinking about any possible repercussions. AJ and Sam leaned their heads close to mine, as I pulled the phone away from my ear slightly, so they could hear.

“About what? The President’s declaration of National Emergency? Why would you think I know something?”

“Maybe, just the tone of your voice.”

“Well, you would be right. There have been bomb threats made around the country, in every airport…every bus station…every post office…every school…every police station…and yes, even the White House, Pentagon, CIA headquarters and FBI.”

“Dear God…” I gasped, barely audible.

“Most of those threats are empty, Carter, but not all of them…oh no, not all of them. The stakes have been raised,” he laughed into my ear and continued, “oh, I almost forgot…there’s a warehouse, somewhere in this city, full of your adoring fans. I will tell you that that is one of the places that really does have a bomb.”

“What the fuck, man! Leave our fans out of this…they never did anything to your sorry ass!” AJ screamed, into the phone. His face was turning a beet color of red as his fists clenched and his anger rose.

“Temper, temper, Mr. McLean. I clearly remember me, and my boys, getting pretty beat up, not too long ago. And, if memory serves me right, the damage was done by your fans.”

“So, instead of being a man, you’re gonna hide behind a bunch of girls? That’s real damn mature. I bet Jordan is just, fucking, falling head over heals for you, right about now, jack ass! What the fuck do you think, killing a bunch of girls, is gonna get you? HUH?” AJ spat, the anger dripping in his voice. I could hear the other man chuckling, out of pure amusement.

“Psssst, AJ. We’re trying NOT to get killed here. I wanted to let you know that…you know, just in case you didn’t get the memo,” I glared at him, hoping that his antics wouldn’t cause someone to get killed.

“It seems to me like I am accomplishing exactly what I wanted to. Now you listen to me. First of all, Mr. Harris will no longer be tagging along with you; he is to go back home or to his office or whatever. It’s just you and Mr. McLean, from now on.”

“Well, that’s just peachy. We don’t even know this city,” I sighed heavily.

“Good luck, you’ll need it. Be at the shots in one hour or something gets blown up.”

“What? Hey…no…UH, he hung up on me. He said ‘be at the shots in one hour or something gets blown up.’ What the hell is that supposed to mean, ‘be at the shots’?” I looked from AJ to Sam and back to AJ.

“The Shots is a bar, down close to Jordan’s apartment. It’s a block or so from her building. Real bad joint. A lot fights, drug deals…that kind of thing. The cops are always being called out there.” Sam explained. “Either of you have your cell?”

“Yeah,” both AJ and I nodded. We all exchanged numbers, punching them into our phones.

“Call me if you have any questions. I can tell you where things are or give you directions. I won’t call you, in case you are in a situation, I don’t want to blow your cover. But you should check in, when you can. I’m going to see if I can pull some guys off this other crap, and get their help. Keep in touch and be careful.”

“Right, okay,” I nodded. Do you have any idea how I felt at that moment? I had the adrenaline rising in the pit of my stomach, I was scared out of my sane mind, I was worried endlessly, I was anxious beyond imaginable belief, and I was pissed the fuck off…all at the same time! What a combination.

“Go. Hurry. We’ve wasted 10 minutes of your time already,” he pushed us away. AJ and I started making our way to the door, the crowds had thinned quite a bit but there were still people bustling around and looking for loved ones. “OH!” he shouted after us, just as my hand landed on the door. “Don’t take a cab! I know it’ll suck, but it will be a lot faster to run there!”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” AJ scoffed, pulling out a smoke as we started sprinting through the parking lot.

“Isn’t it dangerous to try and smoke, while you’re running?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. Our pace was quick, but steady, as we set out for this bar. What was going to happen when we got there? Not a damn clue!

“I…can’t…run…any…more…” AJ gasped as his pace dropped off to, just above, a walk.

“Come ooooon,” I tugged his arm. I was out of breath, too. “We don’t…have much…time.” I glanced at my watch, we only had ten minutes left, before our time was up, and we still had four blocks left.

“There’s no way, we’re gonna make it,” he pulled out his pack and lit up another smoke.

“Quit smoking, while you’re trying to run…that might help, a little,” I glared at him. He rolled his eyes and put out the smoke.

“Alright, let’s get our asses moving,” he sighed as we picked our pace, back up. We, finally, reached the bar…two minutes late.

“Shit, we’re late!” I cursed as I leaned over, resting my hands on my knees. Just as I stood up, I heard a loud boom, in the distance. “Well, I guess something just got blown up…gee…what a fucking surprise!”

“Wonder what it was? And, what the fuck are we supposed to do now?”

“Shh…” I held my hand up, listening closely. I heard tires squealing. I looked around to see a Benz, coming our way. “That can’t be good.” The car came speeding up the street and the windows began to lower. Going by the typical gang type movie…that can only mean one thing! I grabbed AJ’s hand and pulled him inside the bar, just as gun fire began to ring out into the air.

“Okay, you know what, Nick? Fuck this shit!” AJ’s eyes were wide, as we lay face down on the floor. I covered my head, with my hands, as the windows above us shattered.

“I think we’re safe, now,” I sighed as I heard the tires squeal again, in the distance. Standing up, we both brushed the glass off.

“And I think we are the farthest thing, from safe, Nick! What did he say the name of this game was? ‘See how long it takes to kill a Backstreet Boy’?” Our heads popped up, at the shrill sound of a phone ringing.

“I bet that’s for us,” I sighed, looking around for the phone.

“Great…lucky us…” AJ rolled his eyes, pointing to a phone on the wall. I rushed over, snatching the receiver and holding it to my ear.

“Hello?” I hesitantly answered the phone.

“A bit late, are we? That’s too bad. I hope this doesn’t turn into a habit, Mr. Carter.”

“Yeah well…”

“Shut up and listen. There is a key, in the bar which you are standing in…find it. You will need it to open a deposit box numbered 1496. You have 1 hour to find the key and the correct deposit box…for each half hour you go over that limit…someone will die. Once you open the deposit box, you’ll know what to do.”

“Wait…” Of course, it was no use, the line went dead. “We have to find a key, AJ. It’s somewhere in the bar and we have to find it. Then we have to locate the right deposit box for it…the number is 1496 but he didn’t say what bank.”

“Peachy,” AJ let out a long exasperated sigh, as he began to rummage around. “Don’t forget to look in the most obvious areas, Nick. It could be right in front of our faces.”

“Yeah…the best place to hide something is right under my nose.”

“I found it!” AJ hollered 20 minutes later. “The dumb fuck taped it to the back of the mirror, on the wall.”

“Great. Now what? I don’t even know where to begin, trying to find which bank we have to be at.” I ran my fingers through my hair. We had about 40 minutes to find the matching deposit box, before something else happened. I snatched the key, from AJ. Looking down at it, I turned it over several times…it was a really weird looking key.

“It’s not an ordinary key,” AJ shrugged his shoulders, as we headed out of the building.

“Maybe if we just pick a bank, they could at least tell us where to go. I mean, they would recognize this kind of key, right?” I huffed as we jogged, down the street. Looking for a bank, any bank, we had already jogged five blocks.

“There…look…” AJ pointed to a small bank, on the corner.

“Never heard of it,” I noted, raising an eyebrow. “But hey, it’s worth a shot.” We ran, up to the steps and entered through the large wooden doors. The lighting was dim and the smell was musty. It was everything you wouldn’t expect from a bank. Slowly, I walked up to the woman at the front and only desk.

“How may I help you?”

“Yeah, um, my….uh…grandmother passed and, uh, she left me this key,” I stumbled, over my words, as I held out the key. “I think it’s to a safe deposit box, but I don’t know what bank.”

“Ah yes, well, you’ve come to the right place,” she smiled.

“I…I did?” She couldn’t be serious! This was the first on that we tried. It couldn’t be that easy…could it?

“He did?”

“Yes,” she giggled. She led us into a back room. After looking at the key again, she punched a series of numbers into a keypad, on the wall. AJ and I watched, in amazement, as the back wall rose, slowly, to reveal a whole other room. “Come with me.” AJ and I looked at each other with confusion, before following the woman.

“Um…” I started, but was cut off as the woman spoke over me.

“Alright,” she smiled at me, holding her hand out towards a glass encased wall. “Your deposit box has, now, been automatically positioned behind the bulletproof glass. You have to enter your eight digit code into the system, over there. You must enter your code, exactly; otherwise you will be locked out of the database for 24 hours. Okay?”

“And…what if…I forgot my code?” I asked, softly, staring at the box behind the glass.

“Well, the code is only in this system and cannot be accessed by anyone. Not even employees. I suggest you remember it because there is no other way to get the box. We can’t look it up and the system cannot be gotten into. There isn’t even a way for anyone to break in and get the boxes,” she shrugged. She stepped off, to the other side of the room and told us to take our time.

“He didn’t give me a code, AJ! We’re so screwed! It could be anything,” my eyebrows scrunched as I threw my hands in the air.

“Well…did he say anything else on the phone? Anything at all that could have been translated into a code?” AJ asked, leaning close to the glass, looking at the box.

“Just some rhyme. It sounded kind of familiar, but I don’t know where I’ve heard it before.” I shrugged, sliding down the wall. I rested my head, in my hands and let out a long sigh.

“Come on, what the hell was it?” AJ pressed, kneeling beside me.

“Um…it was…,” I put my fingers on my temple, trying to recall his exact rhyme. “A Chinese man who eats his sticks...no, no…with sticks…A Chinese man who eats with sticks. A fat…no big…a big magician doing tricks…” I held my hands out, on front of me, as I tried to piece the rhyme back together.

“That’s it, Nicky, come on…” AJ coaxed me gently, looking up into my eyes.

“A ten foot beard that needs a…god what was it? It needs a…a…COMB! That’s it!” I took a deep breath and blurted, “No time for more, I’m almost home!”

“Okay so what do we get with a Chinese dude, a magician and a beard?” AJ turned, on his knee and plopped next to me. We were down to having only 12 minutes of time, left.

“A Chinese man who eats with sticks, a big magician doing tricks, a ten foot beard that needs a comb, no time for more I’m almost home.” I recited.

“Dr. Seuss.” The woman blurted, causing AJ and I to turn to her.

“What?” we both asked, raising our eyebrows.

“It’s Dr. Seuss. From his book, ‘And To Think I Saw It On Mulberry Street’. It’s one of my all time favorite books. It was the first children’s book he ever wrote…published in 1937.”

“Okay… it is an eight digit numbered code…” I stood to my feet and began to pace. “It has something to do with Dr. Seuss…most likely, that particular book.” I sighed, shaking my head. Like I knew anything about this dumb book! How was I supposed to remember something like that? I’d be lucky if I had ever been read the whole book…it’s not like my mom was the type to read bedtime stories. I may have heard parts of it, but I doubt I’ve heard it in its entirety.

“Alright…let’s talk this out, Nick,” AJ stood and began to pace, opposite of me. We crossed paths as we started to ramble.

“Okay, it was published in 1937…but that’s only four numbers. Maybe add the month and day?” I started waving my hands around, while I spoke, as if it would help.

“No. It wouldn’t be that hard. There’s no way to just know that…it’s got to be something we can easily figure out.” AJ shook his head, as we crossed paths again.

“Okay…what about the number of pages? Uh, what about…um, the actual story…is there a number in the story?”

“Dude, I can’t even remember the story,” AJ huffed, in frustration. We were down to nine minutes.

“Me either…”

“Marco is the boy in the story and he walks down Mulberry street. He sees a horse and carriage but his imagination runs wild and it turns into an elaborate story with a zebra, brass band, elephant, airplane, the Chinese guy…you know. It gets pretty wild,” the girl started to giggle.

“But, are there any numbers?” AJ questioned, with a high level of irritancy.

“No.”

“Come ON! Think!” I scolded myself, rubbing my temples. “Maybe it’s not that book…maybe it is Dr. Seuss himself…like his birthday or something.”

“You know…the keypad has letters on the numbers, just like a telephone…so technically, it could be a word,” the woman gave us a half smile.

“Oh…well, great, because that just triples the number of possibilities!” AJ huffed.

“Okay…focus,” I huffed, still pacing. “How many words are in the title?” I lifted my fingers and started to count, “And…To…Think…I…Saw…It…On…Mulberry….Street damn it, that’s 10! The eighth word is…uh…‘on’…that can’t be it.”

“This shouldn’t be this complicated!” AJ shouted, banging his fists, on the wall. “We’ve literally got like one minute to figure this out!”

“Oh my God,” I stopped, mid stride, and laughed. I rushed over the keypad and typed in my answer, watching eight little stars appear on the screen. AJ stood, looking over my shoulder. “Here goes nothing!” We both held our breath, as I hit the enter key.

“Holy fucking shit! You did it, Nick! You fucking did it!” AJ screamed, spinning my around. He pulled me into a hug and I returned it, happily. “What the hell was the damn code?”

“Mulberry. This whole damn time, the fucking code was Mulberry! How obvious is that?” I laughed. We both started screaming and jumping around like little teeny groupies. A loud buzzing filled the room, causing us to stop. I turned, arm still across AJ’s shoulder, to see the deposit box drop onto a conveyor belt. Our eyes followed it as it went around to the side and shoved the box out of a small hatch door.

“Time to see our next clue,” AJ sighed. Both of us came down from our elation and back to reality. This was far from over and we both knew it. I picked up the deposit box and took it over to the small table.

“You ready for this?” I questioned, holding up the key.

“Not even close.” He shook his head and leaned onto the table, to watch me open it. Slowly, I inserted the key and turned it. After hearing it click, I lifted the lid and my heart dropped.

“You’re shitting me! How fucking twisted is this mother fucker? UGH, what an ass hole! Is he for real?” AJ slammed his fists onto the table, as I stood motionless. All I could do was stare.

Another clue…all it was, was another damn clue. I know he said that, after opening the safe deposit box, I would know what to do…but, this was ridiculous. What was this guy’s obsession with Dr. Seuss anyways? Inside the box was a book…yes, a Dr. Seuss book…and on it was a note that simply said “Like this book, your pages are numbered.”

“What, the fuck, is that supposed to mean?!?” I screamed, tossing the book, to the floor. My temper was at the breaking point and I was fed up with the games.

“Why ‘Green Eggs and Ham’? What the hell does ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ have to do with anything?” AJ slumped against the floor.

“Some guy was in here, earlier today, and told me about a place that actually serves green eggs and ham. I wonder how they make it. Maybe they just use food coloring,” the woman, in the corner, spoke again.

“What? There’s a place that, actually, serves that?” I couldn’t believe it! Maybe these games weren’t so hard after all. But…why weren’t they?

“So…” AJ looked at her, expectantly, “where is this place?”

“Oh,” she looked up at us, “I don’t know. The guy was telling me about it, but I didn’t ask where it was at.”

“Awesome!” AJ shouted, in mock excitement.

“I wonder what our time frame is,” I sighed, picking the book up. I flipped through its pages and once I reached the last page, I saw it…‘You have one hour.’ “An hour.”

“Please, for the love of all things good in this world, tell us you have a phone book,” AJ crossed his arms, tilting his head, and looked at her for an answer.

“Of course!” she smiled and led us back, out to the main lobby. The dimness of the room reflected my emotions, bleak and uncertain. She plopped the large phone book onto the desk. AJ and I looked at each other, before flipping it open.

“Alright, Nicky,” AJ laid his hand on my shoulder. “Take a couple deep breaths. You start on the A’s and I’ll start with the B’s. There are a lot of restaurants, in this city, so we have our work cut out for us.”

“Okay…let’s get this done,” I sighed and ripped a page from the phone book. The woman started to protest, but I glared up at her, causing her to shut-up. I have no idea how many numbers I called! But finally, I struck gold…sort of.

“Hello? Pearl’s Diner.” A young male answered the phone.

“Uh, yes. Do you serve green eggs and ham?” Do you have the slightest clue, the reactions I had gotten, when I asked that? I had people laugh, hang up, swear, and yell at me! Everyone thought it was a prank call. Hell, I would have too, if I were them!

“Green eggs and ham? No.” At least he didn’t laugh his head off, at me. He just sounded confused. Then, I heard a commotion and shuffling, in the background.

“YES!!! Yes, we serve green eggs and ham!” A woman shouted, into the phone. The woman’s voice sounded strained and even panicked…that was a dead give away, that I found the right place.

“We do?” I heard the boy ask, in the background.

“YES, Matthew…we do! Please, sir, come on over and try them. It’s Pearl’s Diner…on Vine.”

“I will, thanks,” I glared at my cell, before snapping it shut. Hitting AJ’s arm, I signaled him, that I found the place. He, too, snapped his phone shut and jumped to his feet.

Stepping back onto the street, AJ hailed a cab. I let out a heavy sigh, as we slipped into the waiting yellow car. The cabbie drove off, headed in the direction of the café. Five minutes, into the ride, a female’s voice started reporting the news…

“The National State of Emergency is still in effect. Bomb threats continue to pour into police stations, fire houses, schools, and government buildings, nationwide, as the authorities are working, quickly, to sort through each of them. Several bombs have already been detonated, yet many leads are still coming up as empty threats. Nothing has been released as to who is behind these acts, of terrorism. So far, most of the detonated bombs have been in vacant buildings or buildings that have already been evacuated. However, just over an hour ago, a bomb was set off in a Post Office, killing 15 people.

“All schools have been released, for the day. State and federal buildings, also, have all been shut down, the employees sent home. Authorities recommend that people stay home, with their families, and avoid going out until these matters are resolved. The CIA and FBI are working closely with the authorities and bomb squads, to put a stop to the terrorist acts. We will continue to cover the progress, regarding this matter, please keep your radios on.”

“Damn,” AJ gasped, staring at the radio. “This is fucking crazy! How can a freaking gang and the Italian Mafia cause such mass mayhem? It doesn’t make sense…the President declaring National Emergency? How can these people have that much power? Something just doesn’t seem right.”

“None of this seems right, AJ. There has to be more, to the story…we’re missing something,” I sighed, as the cab stopped. I looked at the little diner. It was small and not very busy, at all. The only good news was that we were there on time. I tossed a couple 20’s at the man, and stepped onto the sidewalk.

“May I help you, dears?” The woman was in her mid-fifties, and wore one of those classic diner uniforms, complete with pink heels. I simply handed her the book. “Oh my!”

“Trust me,” AJ snorted, with a lopsided smirk, “‘Oh my’ doesn’t even begin, to cover it!”

“Be polite,” I, lightly, smacked his arm. “Can you help us out?”

“Unfortunately…yes. Right this way, darling. There was quite the burley man, in here, today. He said to be expecting you and that if I didn’t give you proper directions…well…” We followed her, through a set of swinging doors, and out into the back alley. “…here,” she whispered, “Take this.” She looked around, before slipping something into my hands. It only took a moment, for me, to realize that it was a gun. She kept walking, with us following closely. We reached the corner of the building, where she slipped something into AJ’s hand. I assumed that it was a gun, as well.

“Thanks, Marla,” I smiled, reading her name tag.

“You’re quite welcome, my dear. Now please, listen closely…” her voice was lowered to another whisper. “There’s a warehouse, three blocks, in that direction. That is where you need to go. But, after the first block, you will see four trash cans, on the right side of the alley. I had one of the buss boys take out the trash this afternoon, and I hid two boxes of bullets in the bag. It should be in the second trash can. Luckily, my husband keeps those firearms and bullets in the office. Poor, silly old coot is scared, to death, of a robbery.” The woman chuckled, as she mentioned her husband.

“Thank you so much, ma’am, and thank your husband too!” I, impulsively, gave the woman a hug.

“Yeah…we owe you,” AJ nodded, and actually gave her a hug, too. We smiled at her, before taking off, in the direction of the warehouse.

“There’s the trash,” I whispered, to AJ, as we came closer to the metal cans.

“I’ll watch…you dig.” AJ instructed. I wasn’t about to waste valuable time, just to argue, with him. So, I listened and I rummaged.

“Sure as shit,” I chuckled, pulling a white plastic bag out. Tearing the nasty plastic, I pulled out the two boxes, and handed him one. Quickly, we started walking toward the warehouse. In the distance, I heard another explosion.

“Damnit…is that one our fault?” AJ asked, referring to our set time frame. If we had broken our limit, it would be more lives that were taken, because of us. Well…not really because of us…I mean, technically it’s because of the other guys that are setting off the bombs…but you know what I mean. I would still feel bad, because if we’re on time…the bombs don’t go off. Does that make any sense? I sure hope so!

“It shouldn’t be,” I answered, looking at my watch. “We haven’t, quite, used the hour that the book allotted us. It would be a good idea, to pick up our pace, though.”

“Right.” AJ nodded. We started a half jog, as AJ pulled out his pack, of smokes. I just rolled my eyes, as I watched him try to light the cigarette. It wasn’t long, and I saw the warehouse. It looked abandoned. Taking in deep breaths, we walked closer, to it. Were we ready for the next ‘game’?

I stared up, at the immense building, wondering what was in store, this time. Hearing, another explosion, made my heart jump. Who knows how many people have been killed, so far. Was there ever going to really be an end, to this? I mean, what are the odds of all these people getting killed or locked up? There is always going to be a relation or friend…you know? Am I going to be dealing with this, for the rest of my life, or what? Okay…that thought alone, just ruined my entire day!

“High this snot, Bumblebee.” AJ’s eyebrows furrowed and I could see the fear and anxiousness in his eyes…it matched mine. Besides our communication, while I was in the WPP, we hadn’t actually spoken our code in years!! It was amazing that we could still remember it, to begin with.

“Ho hashneko hooch nay fragadelous, Silver Ring.” I smiled weakly. He attempted to return the favor and we gave each other a brief ‘guy hug’. “No matter what, man.”

“No matter what, Nick.” He nodded, as we drew in deep breaths. Yanking on the large door, we gained access to the warehouse. The entire room was empty and very dark.

“Over here!” The voice scared the crap out of me. I felt AJ jump a little, too, as we whipped around looking for the voice. My breath was knocked from my lungs, when a large duffel bag was thrown at my chest. My hands rose up, and caught it, as the man came into the small stream of light, that came from the open door.

“What the…?” I gasped, finally finding my breath, again.

“Deliver it. 265 South Bend Alley. You better make it timely. Oh and remember…If, sir, you, sir, chose to chew, sir, with the Goo-Goose, chew, sir. Do, sir.”

“What the fuck?” AJ raised an eyebrow. The guy just shoved us, out the door, and slammed it shut. “That’s juuuust fuckin peachy.”

“Let’s move…he didn’t even give us a time. It’s probably five minutes, or some stupid shit.” AJ was actually right along with me, as I picked up pace, and began to run. Rounding the end corner, we tried to hail a cab…yeah…it didn’t work.

“Fuck it!” AJ scoffed, running across the street. He started trying the handles on various cars, so I joined in. We scampered up the street, trying every car, in sight.

“Over here!” I yelled, a couple minutes later, motioning to the silver Mustang. I crouched down and proceeded to work on hot wiring the car. “Come on…come on…” I was becoming more irritated, as I coaxed the car, to fire.

“The other wire, dude.” AJ offered advice, as he sat in the passenger seat. “There it is! Awesome, Bumblebee.” He patted my back, as I slipped into the driver’s seat.

“Let’s ride!” I punched the gas, and we took off, squealing the tires. I yanked the wheel, swerving around a junky truck, as the speedometer climbed higher. My heart pounded, as we flew through a red light, barely missing an 18-wheeler.

“I think I actually look up to you, right now, Bumblebee.” AJ smirked, holding onto the ‘oh-shit’ handle. “Truck comin, on the left, dude.”

“You think we’ll get in trouble, for this, Silver Ring?”

“Who knows…who cares…this kinda rocks!” He chuckled, as the car gained air, after going over a hill. I was now reaching 90, as we swerved in and out of traffic. “You know…’rocks’ in that weird ‘this is absolute fucking bull shit and I am ready to kill these fucking assholes, so I can go the fuck home’ kinda way.”

“Riiight.” I snickered, squealing the tires, as I made a turn, down a side road. “We’re almost there. I think it’s the next road up.”

“Woo freakin hoo.”

“Oh, I know, right?” I rolled my eyes, bringing the car to a sudden halt. We climbed out of the car, in time to have three guys appear and start shooting, at us! What is that? I am really getting sick of this SHIT!

“Eat lead, bitches!” AJ crouched, beside the car, popping up to shoot back. I stooped low, making my way around the car. Jumping up, I fired, catching one in the temple. Man…I have a pretty good shot! I give that credit to all my hours, playing video games…I am pretty damn good with hand, to eye, coordination!

“Come on, Silver Ring.”

“You got the ‘dise?”

“Hot and illegal!” I lifted the bag, slightly, for him to see. He took a last shot, knocking off the last guy. We, hastily, made our way, to the door. “Locked! What the…”

“Over here…the fire escape!” AJ waved me, towards him. I don’t think AJ or I have ever climbed a fire escape that fast, but we were clambering, up them, like nobody’s business. AJ kicked in a window, gaining us access to the fifth floor. Too bad, it was a bad window, to choose.

“I’m gonna blow your fuckin brains out!” We were met, by a big black dude, with a shotgun! Just our luck, I tell ya. Trust me, when I say that he did not look friendly…or reasonable.

“I’m having a real bad day…” AJ got a cocky look, on his face, and pulled his gun. He brought his arm up, lining the gun up, directly in front of the man’s face.

“Me too,” I added, raising mine, “…so eat our shit, and back, the fuck, off!”

“Alright…alright…” The man lifted his hands, as we neared him, guns getting closer to his face. He stepped aside and AJ put an elbow in the guy’s nose, as we exited the apartment.

“Which way?” AJ asked, as we got into the hallway, looking both directions.

“Beats me…the guy didn’t give us the apartment number!” We started down the hallway, looking for any possible signs, of where we were supposed to be. “Hey…you think it’s that door that says ‘Ben bends Bim’s broom. Bim bends Ben’s broom.’?”

“Well…it sure sounds like it’s the Dr.” AJ sighed. I tell ya…I person has got to be pretty sick in the head, to play these sorts of games, using the lines that come from children’s books! I shook my head, approaching the door. I lifted my hand, nervously, knocking somewhat lightly.

“Password.”

“If, sir, you, sir, chose to chew, sir, with the Goo-Goose, chew, sir. Do, sir?” It was more of a question, than anything. Butterflies erupted, in my stomach, threatening to overtake my entire being. The door quickly swung open, allowing us into the apartment. AJ and I walked in, slowly. The next thing I knew, I could feel something hard come down across my head causing everything, to go black.

My eyes slowly fluttered open, as pain seared through my body. I licked my sore lips, tasting a fair amount of blood. I struggled to move, but I found my arms to be tied, behind my back. Becoming more aware, I notice my legs are also tied together. The room was dark, with only a small stream of light, from a boarded window. Feeling someone on each side, of me, I looked to my right.

“Jay?” I gasp, taking in the horrific sight, of my beaten friend. I didn’t want to know what he would look like in full light…in just the dim light, he looked barely alive. “Yo, Silver Ring…wake up man…talk to me, please.” My pleading is barely above a whisper, but I get no response.

“He’s alive.” A deep menacing voice pierced the thick air, of the room.

“Why are you doing this? We’ve done…everything that you asked.” My eyes strained, in the low light, to see the man that spoke.

“You owe me, and my family, far more, than you could ever repay, Carter.”

“What did I do, to you?!?” I screamed, anger rising in my throat. I struggled against my restraints, trying with everything in me, to break free. My wrists were rubbing raw and my head pounded with a pain far worse than I had ever experienced.

“Gian is my brother, you arrogant little prick!” The man screamed, as he lunged towards me. His hand grabbed my chin, roughly, bringing our faces close. His hot breath brushed my skin, “You’re going to pay, you fucking bastard! I should just kill you, right here, right now!”

“He’s the one who committed the MURDER!!” I screamed, spit flying from my mouth. I twisted, struggling against the restraints, again. “That’s not my fault!”

“You’re the reason he’s in prison you dick fuck!”

“Juliano,” another voice pierced through the room. “In time…in time.” The older man came, resting his hand on the other’s shoulder.

“Who are you and what the fuck are you gonna blame me for?” I scoffed, feeling my adrenaline running quick, through my veins. My anger was heated, as I continued my useless effort, to break free.

“Who I am is not important. You crossed our family and you will suffer the consequences. Your dear, precious, Jordan has pleaded continuously, for you. She’s been a real doll…a perfect gem,” the man mocked me, with a heartless laugh.

“What did you do, with her!” My voice hit a volume that even startled me. I angrily pulled at the ropes again, struggling with all my might. “You don’t hurt her! Let…her…go!”

“Tsk, tsk…it sounds, as if, you care for the poor thing.” The older man stooped before me, just slightly above my eye level. “Should I shed a little light, on the situation? Let you see the big picture?” Suddenly, a flashlight flickered on, pointing to the other side of the room. My eyes widened. Everywhere the light fell, all I could see was explosives. The light slowly moved around the room, showing me the amounts of deadly explosives, that surrounded me, AJ, and…wait who, was it that was…

“Jordan!” I gasped, at only, above a whisper. Her limp body was tied up, next to me. Tears, unwillingly, welled in my eyes. She looked worse than AJ…her chest barely moving with each breath. Guilt washed over me…it was my fault this was happening…my fault we were here…my fault that people had died…and now…now it looked as if it would take a miracle to save the three of us.

“Oh, you didn’t see her there?”

“She didn’t do anything! AJ didn’t do anything! Let them go!” Hot tears fell, against my will. I was putting all my effort into loosening the ropes that bound me…I had nothing left, to fight back tears.

“Wha…what’s…Nick? Where the fuck…?” My head snapped back, to look at AJ, who was regaining his consciousness.

“AJ! O my god…AJ!” I gasped, happy that he was alive, yet pained by the idea that he still wasn’t safe. Did Dr. Suess have a riddle for this? How could some silly children’s book author save me, now?

“What’s going on?” His voice was groggy, as he began to realize his restraints. He, too, began to struggle, against them. Both of us were squirming like stuck pigs.

“Oh AJ!” A feminine voice rang out, as a new person entered the room. “Don’t worry, my love…”

“SHARON! Get the fuck of me, you skanky ass BITCH!” AJ screamed, as she came close, to touch him. He moved his head away when she tried to caress his cheek.

“It’s almost over.” She began to giggle, wildly. “It will be all over, soon” I watched her figure rise and head back out the door.

“Game over.” The older man spoke, once again. I watched as he strolled across the room. His flashlight settled on a large object. As it began to beep, I realized what it was…a timed detonator, for the explosives.

“In eight minutes, we’ll have a fireworks show, like no one has ever seen before!” The younger man brought his face, close to mine, again. “See ya, Carter.” With that, I heard the door slam shut, followed by the clicking of a lock.

“Now what?” AJ asked, as we continued our struggle.

“Fuck if I know!” My answer was sharp and cold. “I’m the fucking moron, of the group, remember?!?” I hung my head, ashamed, of the mess I had gotten us all into.

“Don’t start that shit, Bumblebee. You’re not a moron, and you fuckin know it! You do stupid shit sometimes…but come on, I’ve done me fair share, too! We have to be productive here, and get ourselves out of this mess!”

“Yeah…you’re right…sorry.” I lowered my voice. Just as I was about to speak again, I heard movement, from my left. My head whipped around, to look at her. “Jordan? Baby? Can you hear me?”

“Nick?!?” I finally heard her sweet voice, next to me.

“Yeah, Jordy, it’s me.” A smile graced my face, if only for a moment. “I’m gonna to get you out of here, you understand? I’m gonna get you out of here.” I felt her weight slump against me, her head coming to rest, on my shoulder.

“I’ve been worried,” she whispered softly. My heart ached, feeling her so close, yet being unable to hold her. Everything, in me, wanted to wrap my arms around her.

“Jordan…”

“Yeah?”

“Here it comes,” AJ sighed.

“What? What’s wrong?” I could sense panic, rise, in her voice. I swallowed the lump, in my throat. It was now, or never, but how was I going to say it? My brain wouldn’t process the words.

“Well…there’s been something that…I’ve been hiding from you. I mean…I wanted to tell you…and I tried to hint around, about it but…” My voice left me, making my sentence trail off.

“What is it, Nick?” Her head stayed, on my shoulder. I let my head rest onto hers, as I drew in a deep breath.

“I’m not sure when it happened…hell, I’m not even sure how it happened…but, somewhere along the line…I…” Swallowing hard, I gathered my courage. “Jordan, I’m in love with you.” I blurted, quickly. I heard a sharp gasp, come from her and, to my surprise, nothing came from AJ. See? He can be respectful, when he wants to be.

“What?!?” Her voice was barely audible. She tilted her head, still on my shoulder, to look up at me. I lifted my head, so that I could look down, into her eyes. The dim light was just enough, for me, to lock eyes with her.

“I said that…I’m in love with you. I finally realized it the night that I found out you were in the CIA. Your brothers…and dad…and the guys…and my family…everyone knew, but you. I understand if it’s all business to you and you don’t feel the same way…but…I had to tell you. It’s been killing me…tearing my heart to shreds…I couldn’t take it anymore.”

“Oh, Nick…” she whispered, not breaking our eye contact. Her tongue darted out, to moisten her lips. Drawing in a deep breath, I ignored AJ’s groan and lowered my head. My lips finally pressed softly against hers. The kiss deepened for a moment, but then broke. “I love you, too, Nick.” She whispered with a smile, as our lips meet in another searing kiss.

THE END!!!!!