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Brian pushed open the door to his suite of rooms, thinking only of escape. Too often, he wanted to become someone else, someone who wasn't a Backstreet Boy or widower or one of the many other categories he was stuck in. He could hear Baylee giggling from somewhere in the suite and knew that being a father was the only category he hadn't come to resent in the past year. Somehow, being around Baylee made everything seem so much better.

But nothing, not even his son, could erase the horror he'd been through nine months ago.

He walked into the parlor where Baylee and his nanny were currently playing a board game. From the looks of it, it looked like Baylee was winning, and Lisa, the nanny, didn't seem to mind. Then, Baylee looked up from the game and spotted Brian in the doorway.

"Daddy!" He leapt up and hurried over, his arms wrapping around Brian's legs. "I missed you! Did the concert go good?"

Brian scooped his son into his arms and ruffled his wild curls. "It did. It was fun, and, next time, we'll have to see if you can come along and watch."

"Really?" Baylee's eyes widened. "That'll be so cool!"

Brian grinned. "Maybe you can teach Uncle Nick to dance the right way or something."

"How come? Did he trip again?"

"Nah. I almost did."

"Really? How?"

Brian's eyes twinkled with the humor that was usually missing these days. "I didn't tie my shoelace right, and I almost went right off the stage."

"Whoa."

"Yep." Brian kissed Baylee's forehead and set him down. "So did you and Lisa have a good night?"

Lisa smiled. "We sure did. Baylee's a champ at Chutes and Ladders. He beat me ten times out of fifteen."

"Nuh-uh. It was thirteen times!" Baylee fisted his hands on his hips indignantly. "No cheating, Lisa!"

She shrugged, her lips twitching in a smile. "Okay, so maybe it was thirteen times. But you know what time it is now, Baylee?"

"Uh-oh." Brian placed a hand on his son's shoulder. "I think it's time, buddy."

"No." Baylee mock gasped and covered his mouth with his hand. "Please, no. Not that, anything but that!"

Lisa chuckled and held out a hand. "You promised, Bay. That was our deal, remember? Once your dad got back, you'd go to bed. And it is way past your bedtime."

"Okay." His shoulders slumped, Baylee put his hand in Lisa's and followed her towards one of the bedrooms. "'Night, Daddy."

"I'll be in to say good night in a minute, buddy," Brian promised and watched them disappear into the room. With a small sigh, he sank onto a loveseat and buried his face in his hands.

It had been a long day and one full of emotional upheaval. Getting back onto that stage had taken every bit of courage that he'd been able to muster. He should've been exhausted, he knew. But he wasn't. Ever since he'd gotten out of the hospital, the amount of sleep he'd needed had dwindled to a couple hours a night. Instead of feeling the exhaustion he normally would've felt after a grueling show, he was revved and full of energy. The city of San Francisco was pretty awesome at night, and he would wait until Baylee and Lisa were both in bed before he slipped away.

"Brian?" Lisa's voice shook him out of his thoughts, and he looked up as she sat down across from him. "I was wondering if I could talk to you after you tuck Baylee in."

He nodded. "Yeah, sure. Is he in bed?"

"He's just waiting for you to sing him a song."

"Okay." Brian rose and headed towards the bedroom. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

When he returned, after singing his son to sleep, Lisa was flipping through a binder full of papers. He settled onto the sofa again, and she shut the binder and smiled a little.

"Brian, I've really enjoyed spending the past few months with Baylee and you, but I thought I should let you know that you need to start looking for another nanny."

He frowned. "Why? Baylee loves you."

"I know, and I've loved taking care of him, too, but I'm starting my senior year at UCLA in a few weeks. I'll need to get back to LA by the end of next week," she explained apologetically. "I know it's pretty late notice, but you've been so busy with rehearsals that I didn't have time to tell you before now."

"Oh. Well." Brian thought for a few moments. "I can't really stop you, Lisa, because I know school's pretty important. Bay's going to miss you, though."

"I know. I'll miss him, too, and being on this tour's been pretty exciting, too." She grinned. "Even though I was never a fan of the Backstreet Boys."

Brian smiled back. "It's okay. I bet Nick will be heartbroken when you leave."

Lisa chuckled. "Until the next nanny shows up. Anyway, thanks for understanding, Brian. I'm sorry to leave you in a lurch like this."

"Don't worry about it. I'll probably just call up one of those agencies, interview a couple nannies, and hopefully find one that Baylee likes." He shrugged. "We'll be fine."

"Great. Thanks, Brian."

When Lisa had gone to bed and he sat alone again in the parlor, Brian couldn't help but let his thoughts drift to the way touring had been in the past. Late at night, after each show, he and Leighanne would always sit up and talk, and he would never be alone. Not the way he was now.

Determined not to let the depressing thoughts darken his mood, he stood and moved to the window. Staring out at the city of San Francisco, he muttered to himself for a moment. Then, stepping away from the glass, he turned and went to work.

***

The burglars had planned it all out. They'd taken care to disarm the security system and had tranquilized the guard on duty. No windows had been broken, no doors had been kicked open. They'd walked right in through the front doors as though they owned the place. In a few short minutes, they planned on owning the glittering jewels that gleamed behind display case glass.

The glowing rubies were wrapped carefully and stowed away, and the three men moved towards the impressive display of emeralds and sapphires. As one of them undid the locks, they missed the fluttering cape and the soft footsteps.

They missed nothing when one of them was suddenly swung round and used to knock the other two off balance. The case containing the jewels slid across the floor as the three men tried, unsuccessfully, to fight off their lone attacker. Within minutes, they were bound together by rope, the jewels they'd been so determined to take gleaming just feet away.

They stared at the man who'd apprehended them, unbelieving.

"Avenging Angel," one of them whispered, and even the mask couldn't hide the beaming smile of the caped crusader.

"That's right, fellas." He folded his arms over his chest as he studied them. When police sirens were heard, he shook his head. "Let's hope you boys aren't stupid enough to try to do this again."

The three men grumbled to each other, furious at being caught, and panicking at the thought of the approaching cops. But, when they looked up at Avenging Angel again, he was gone.

"Jeez! I didn't even hear the guy go," one of them muttered.

"What difference does it make?" Another one hissed furiously. "That asshole just gave the cops a huge present."

"Well," the third said, resignedly, as they heard pounding footsteps and the voices of the police, "at least we know he's real."

***

The floor was covered with printouts, maps, and articles. It wasn't what she would usually call a vacation, but Mac was thrilled. She'd piled up her vacation time from the Bureau over the past five years and now had a good three months to do nothing and enjoy herself.

Okay, so maybe she wasn't going to do nothing. She wasn't very good at doing nothing. Always needing to keep her mind busy, she rarely took the time to do nothing. It just wasn't in her.

So, here she was, two days into her vacation, and she'd spent those two days finding every article she could about the Avenging Angel. The day before, she'd interviewed three witnesses--three very adoring witnesses, she remembered. They'd been full of nothing but good things to say about the crazy caped crusader. It was pretty ridiculous how trusting people could be.

Mac picked her way around the ordered chaos on her living room floor and headed to her stereo. Knowing exactly what she was looking for, she plucked out the well-listened to CD and popped it into the stereo. Humming along to the first song, she belted out the chorus. "You're the calm when my world is crashing! My heart, my blood, my passion!"

Plopping down in the one clear spot on the floor, she reached for a stack of papers and continued to sing along. She knew if Jake saw her now, he'd never stop making fun of her. So she loved the Backstreet Boys. It wasn't a crime, was it? Besides, their latest album was pretty spectacular. And they were touring now. Skimming through another article, her mind wandered a little, and she wondered if she could see them on this tour. After all, she'd seen every other tour they'd done.

"They're in Salt Lake City, now," she muttered to herself. She'd checked on the Weird World forum earlier that day to find out. She liked keeping track of what they were up to. They'd rehearsed in LA, kicked off the tour in San Francisco, moved on to Portland, then Seattle, and, now, they were in...

"Wait a minute, wait a minute." Mac grabbed a notepad and jotted down the cities the Unbreakable tour had already gone through in the past week and a half. Then, she picked up the list she'd made of the places Avenging Angel had been spotted. He'd moved out of California, she thought. When she lined up her two lists, her eyes widened in shock.

No way, she thought. There was no way there was any connection between the caped crusader and her favorite boyband. Nope. It was just a coincidence that the dates matched up exactly. Coincidence.

She shook her head at her thoughts. Coincidences were her life, her job. Just because it seemed totally unlikely, didn't mean that it was. For all she knew, one of the Backstreet Boys was a pseudo-superhero.

Mac grabbed the Unbreakable album jacket and studied the four men. She definitely couldn't see AJ as being a superhero. Nope. He might have had the whole rogue deal going, but she couldn't picture him strapping himself into Spandex and swooping all over the place to take out the bad guys. Besides, she'd always had a soft spot for AJ and didn't believe he could actually pull off the superhero thing.

Howie. Another no way, she decided. The man was too sweet, and she couldn't see him kicking bad guy ass. He was the kind of man who left things to the law, she mused, and she couldn't imagine him as the Avenging Angel.

Then there was Nick. The blond wonder of the group. She laughed out loud at the idea of Nick playing the Avenging Angel. If he was, he wouldn't have been able to resist telling someone about it.

And, finally, there was Brian. The poor man had been through a horrible tragedy almost a year ago and had spent weeks in the hospital. He couldn't possibly be physically fit enough to pull off the kinds of stunts Avenging Angel was known for. Even though Mac had never really been a huge fan of Brian's, she just couldn't picture him as a vigilante either.

It couldn't be the Backstreet Boys, she thought, but maybe it was someone who was on the tour with them. One of their technical crew or something. She couldn't pass up coincidence, she thought and reached for the phone.

"Agent Reed."

"Hey, Jake."

"Mac! Hey, how's the vacation going?"

He knew very well what she was up to, she thought with a smile. "Oh, you know. I'm just sitting on the beach with a giant margarita in my hand. How's work?"

"Sitting on the beach, my ass." He chuckled. "You'd be bored with that in five minutes. How's the secret mission going?"

"I think I may have something."

"Seriously?" His voice dropped. "It's been two days, and you've already found a lead?"

"Yep. And you're not going to believe it. Hell, I can't believe it either." She told him about the Backstreet connection and waited for him to laugh.

Sure enough, he did. "Come on, Mackenzie. You don't really believe that your masked man is part of a boyband tour, do you?"

"Well, why not? Jimmy Blakeley worked as a mime on the pier while he ran a huge drug cartel. Maybe it's just coincidence, or maybe it's not."

"The Adams instincts are sending up alarms, aren't they?"

"Yeah." She shrugged. "It sounds silly, but I think that tour holds the answer to our mystery man. Now, I just have to figure out a way to get onto it without anyone knowing I'm one of the FBI."

"You thinking about undercover work?"

"Call me crazy, but I don't think I'll get anywhere if I march up to the tour manager and tell him I'm an agent and that I'm looking for the Avenging Angel. Not only would Riley get pissed when he finds out, but it'll tip off our caped crusader, too." She paused. "Undercover's the only way I can figure this out."

There was silence on Jake's end for a few moments. "Okay. I'm gonna do some digging, see if I can find out a way to get you onto the tour. Maybe they're looking for extra roadies or something. You're sure you want to spend your vacation listening to bad pop music?"

Mac glanced over to where her stereo was paused on Unbreakable. "I think I can handle it."