Izzy grabbed hold of Brian’s hand and pulled him out of the room.  She thought they could get closer to the door and hide.  Her hopes were that they would hide, the person would move upstairs where they were and they could sneak out.    

They were at the top of the stairs when the door opened and Izzy caught a glimpse of Howie before pulling Brian towards another room upstairs.  She pushed open the door and groaned when she found herself standing in what could only be the master bedroom which was only confirmed by Brian when he hissed, “this is his room,” in her ear. 

She looked around the practically immaculate, cleanly decorated room, the footsteps on the stairs forcing her brain into overdrive.  She ran, pulling Brian, through the bathroom into the walk in closet.  Some relief washed over her as she found corners that were somewhat hidden by clothes and the angle of the closet door.  She pushed Brian in first and clambered in after him.   She arranged a few of the shirts in front of her so that they covered their hiding spot.  She leaned back and tried to calm her breathing.

Izzy could feel Brian’s breath on the back of her neck as she crouched in front of him.  Their close proximity felt awkward but comfortable.  Brian’s breath hitting her neck caused her skin to tingle slightly.  She hoped it was too dark for him to see the goose bumps he was giving her. Her breath soon slowed and she could feel Brian’s chest rise and fall behind her in the same steady beat.  She was glad he caught on without her having to say anything, speaking now could only lead to disaster.

She had to stop herself from gasping when she heard the footsteps finally enter the bedroom.  She could hear the slow, steady steps walk around the room and then head into the bathroom.  The footsteps wandered around and then were quiet.  She could hear Howie relieving his bladder and flushing.  She hoped that he didn’t decide he needed a change of clothes.  She was almost certain that, even though they were hidden, if he wandered into the closet they would be discovered.

Howie started whistling as he washed his hands.  The combination of the whistling the heat from Brian’s body and her knees starting to ache were getting to Izzy. She fought the urge to come out from hiding and just attack the man who was working against someone he claimed he was friends with. 

 Izzy turned her head to look back towards Brian.  His eyes were wide as he stared straight ahead over her shoulder.  She could still hear the footsteps in the bathroom just outside where they hid so she knew he was not looking at anything in particular, he was just scared shitless.   How come she wasn’t? 

Brian’s eyes flicked to her face and she tried to smile to put him at ease and reassure him that everything was going to be alright but the smile felt fake to her so she knew he wasn't.  How can you reassure someone that they are going to be fine while you are hiding from someone who wants to take your life, your memories away, or kill you? 

Finally, Howie started to move out of the bathroom and away from the closest.  He was still whistling some eerie tune.  Izzy could hear Brian letting out a breath as Howie’s footsteps moved down the stairs.  She felt him relax as the front door opened and closed again. 

“Not yet,” she whispered as they continued to stay huddled in the closet.  Izzy wanted to make sure that he was far enough away that when they left he wouldn’t see them and if she really let herself admit it, she wanted to stay close to Brian even though the pain in her legs and the heat from their confined space were getting to her. 

After another ten minutes Izzy fell forward and crawled out of their hiding spot.  She managed to grab onto the lower of the clothes bars and pull herself up. 

“I would have thought he’d have one of those custom built, fancy closets,” Brian commented as he brushed himself off.  Izzy noticed the slight southern twang to the words. 

She smiled remembering that she loved to hear him speak with his slight accent but then paused realizing she remembered liking it.  “I remembered…”

“What?” Brian asked as he held her elbow guiding her back through the condo. 

Now was not the time to talk about remembering how she liked his accent. Izzy shook her head and pulled her arm out of Brian’s grasp.  She moved in front of him and started to lead the way towards the front door.   Before she could throw the door open so they could make their escape the front door opened and they stood face to face with Howie. 

He didn’t look shocked to see them; he smugly smiled at them and shut the door calmly behind them.  “Should I tell the fans you finally came out of the closet Brian?” Howie laughed at his own joke. 

“You knew we were there?” Brian asked ignoring his attempt at a joke. 

Howie shrugged and leaned against the door. Izzy mentally prepared herself to fight this man.  The only way they would get out of here is if they took him down.  She thought about running back towards a window. She knew she’d be able to get out, but would Brian? She wouldn’t, no she couldn’t leave him behind.

“I never expected to be in a situation where I would have to take care of both of you. I might get a promotion for bringing you both in.  I haven’t involved the cleaners yet.  Despite what you think of me now,” he looked towards Brian, his gaze steady but unnerving, “you are one of my closest friends and I would have to send the cleaners after you.” 

“Some friend.” Brian muttered.

“Brian how can you say that.  Before this,” he pointed towards Izzy looking slightly disgusted, “before she came into your life can you honestly say you weren’t happy, that your life wasn’t great.  You are famous; you have a beautiful wife and a wonderful son.  Maybe I can convince the council and the rest of the nine to let me wipe your memory again, let you go back to being a Backstreet Boy.  It is what you should be doing with your life.”

Howie was making Izzy very uneasy.  One of his hands was out towards Brian like he was going to embrace his friend; the other hand was reaching around behind him to grab something.  Brian looked like he was frozen in place.   Izzy tried to catch his eyes, looking from him to Howie’s other hand but he was transfixed on Howie.  If he stayed like that Howie would have no issue sticking him with a needle

Before Howie could get close enough to pull the needle on Brian and inject him, Izzy threw herself at Howie knocking him away from Brian but not to the ground.  She managed to move back just in time to avoid Howie’s arm swinging at her. To her surprise, the man was yielding a knife instead of a needle filled with the substance to make them forget.   

Howie charged toward swinging the knife like a mad man towards Izzy.  She found herself backing away like a scared animal unsure why her brain wasn’t taking over and pulling out the fighting skills she didn’t know why she had.  Instead she backed up and tripped over an end table and landed on the floor. 

Howie got closer and continued to swing the blade. Izzy managed to kick him in the knee but it didn’t keep the blade away and she held back the scream of pain as the knife cut through her pants and sliced her shin.  The cut stung but it did not stop her from swinging the leg towards Howie’s knee again.  Howie managed to grab hold of her leg and plunged the knife into her thigh.  She let out a shriek of pain as he pulled the knife back out and brought his foot down on her wound. 

Izzy curled so that he could not hit her wound again so instead he kicked her back several times.

“Hey,” Brian called out; she’d almost forgotten he was there.

She felt something fall to the ground near her and realized it was one of the throw pillows from the couch.  Brian must have thrown it at Howie to distract him from beating on her.   She quickly turned over and attempted to grab hold of Howie’s legs but he was already striding across the floor to Brian.

“Just let me take care of her then your life will be how it was before,” Howie pleaded.  “Don’t you want that?”

“I want to know what is really going on, why I am having all these dreams and memories.  I can’t keep anything straight.”

She watched Brian continue to back away.  She knew he could defend himself some but Howie had a knife and he’d easily be able to harm Brian if it came to that. 

“I guess I don’t have much of a choice than.” Howie moved faster towards Brian and attempted to plunge the knife into Brian.  Brian held up the other pillow he’d been holding.  It obviously didn’t stop the knife but it kept it from being stabbed into his chest. 

Izzy slowly started to pull herself up. The pain in her leg was burning trying to force her to sit back down so it wouldn’t hurt anymore.  She watched as Brian ran into the kitchen and grabbed his own knife throwing it in Howie’s direction.

Knife throwing was definitely not his skill as the knife landed short of Howie.  Quickly Brian pulled another knife out and threw it at his former friend.  This time the knife grazed the other man’s face.  Shocked, Howie stopped and touched the blood on his cheek and looked at it amazed that he’d even been hit.   Brian was standing there in shock too. Izzy wanted to yell at him to grab another knife but her mouth was dry and the words wouldn’t come out.

“I was just going to injure you both in order to take you in but I guess I could easily convince them that I accidentally killed you.”  Howie wiped the blood on his clothes and moved closer to Brian stopping him from grabbing another knife. 

Izzy watched in horror as Howie brought down the knife and Brian screamed in pain.  Adrenaline kicked in and she moved into the kitchen.  Brian was still moving to her relief and he knocked Howie’s arm hard enough to force the knife across the room.  Izzy saw the blood gushing from a wound on Howie’s arm. 

Howie was still holding Brian tightly, his hands on the wound he had just created which would keep Brian from being able to move with all the pain he had to be experiencing.  The knife Howie had been wielding was near Izzy now and she lifted it.  She could tell Brian was making sure not to look at her to give her away.  Howie was moving with Brian closer to the stove.  Izzy would not let that happen and without thinking about the pain in her leg she flew towards Howie and shoved the knife into his back making sure to twist it. 

He was still holding onto Brian as he started to fall, Izzy stabbed him in the back again this time leaving the knife in place.  When Howie fell far enough, letting go of Brian finally, Izzy used her good leg and kicked it further into Howie’s back. 

They stood looking at Howie for a minute.  Izzy could tell Brian had mixed feelings about what just happened. Hadn’t she had the same feelings about Dr. Thompson?  Someone you had thought was a friend was actually put in place to keep you in a life that wasn’t yours. 

“Let’s go,” Izzy broke silence and started to limp towards the door, she became massively aware of the pain in her leg and she opened the door. 

Brian was soon following her out.  He shut the door then put her arm around his shoulder and helped her down the stairs and to their car.  They needed to plan their next move.