Nick looked at his cell phone as Agent Bryant's outgoing voicemail message played, and he sighed. "He's not answering the cell," he declared to AJ.
AJ frowned, "That's weird..."
"No kidding," Nick paused. The beeeep filled his ear. "Hey Bryant, it's Nick... er, AJ and I were trying to find you, dawg... We're at the Hilton... yanno, here in Berlin, at the crime scene? Anyways, we were wondering where you're at.. So call me back when you hear this, aii'ght? Aii'ght. Later, man." He hung up. He looked at AJ. "Now what?"
AJ shrugged. "Maybe try calling the hotel room."
Nick shrugged back, "Yeah, I guess. If nothing else I can leave a message there, too."
"Right," AJ replied. Nick nodded and opened the phone again, looking through his contacts for the hotel's phone number. AJ looked around, wandering a bit beyond Nick and further into the room they were currently 'investigating'. He could feel the bell hop's eyes following his motions and he glanced uneasily at the guy. Like Nick, AJ thought he looked familiar, but he couldn't quite figure out where he'd seen him before. He did look creepy, though.
Riiiiiiiiiiing!
Riiiiiiiiiiing!
Nick shuffled his feet. "I dunno dude, I don't think he's there," Nick mumbled to AJ.
AJ turned to look at Nick, "Well he's got to be somewhere, I mean he wouldn't just --" But Nick held up his hand. AJ watched Nick's face, which had at first lit up but then sort of clouded over, then paled, and his eyes widened. Nick's jaw dropped and he seemed to choke on his own breath. "What?" AJ asked, barely able to keep from yanking the phone from Nick's hands, "What is it? What's wrong?"
But Nick couldn't even bring himself to speak. He just slammed the phone shut.
-----
Bryant had resigned to defeat before he'd even tried to fight. He may as well be killed in action, he thought remorsefully to himself as he readied himself to go wherever the Masquerade Murderer was bringing him now. He was already a failure anyways so why not?
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!
Bryant perked up just a little bit, glancing at the phone. Maybe it was the front desk, calling to tell him that they'd made a mistake, that Ivana Focque was indeed staying at the hotel, that he wasn't as big of a failure as he thought. The murderer, still wearing his Casper mask, grunted and made his way to the phone on the desk, keeping Bryant's own gun turned on him.
"Jason," the murderer said, having expected a call from his partner in crime. He was surprised when nobody responded, only breathing filled the phone line. "Hello?" He paused. "Jesus, Jason, what the fuck, you're already late calling me, now don't screw around with me on top of it or you'll be next, you pointless piece of shit..." he paused, "Did you take out the two Backstreet Boys yet or are you leaving me with all the shit-work? I mean isn't it enough that I've got to take this Agent out to the place and take care of him without having to take out his whole damn team?" He listened, and heard a muffled voice on the other end. "Jason?"
Click. The line went dead.
The Masquerade Murderer slammed the phone down, his heart racing and the adrenaline spilled into his veins. Suddenly it occurred to him that the caller very well may not have been Jason at all. He turned to Bryant. "Hurry it up, Agent, I want to get out of here." He watched as Bryant kicked on a pair of tennis shoes. He grabbed his FBI badge. "What the hell do you need that for?" the murderer sneered, swatting at Bryant's hand with the gun's barrel, "Not like you'll be using it again..."
"I always keep it on me," Bryant responded automatically.
The murderer nudged him towards the door, "Come on now. And no funny shit, either, you hear?" he directed Bryant into the hallway. "Don't think you'd be the only one going down, either, thinking you'd be a martyr or nothing. You'd just be the first of whoever was within reach of this thing's fire." Bryant nodded obediently. "Okay, that said, let's go."
-----
Nick's breathing became shallow and he felt light headed and sick to his stomach. Rushing past AJ, he stumbled around the hotel room until he found the bathroom door and let himself in, not at all thinking about the idea that he was basically trapping himself for the bellhop, who now he knew he'd recognized from the hallway with Ivana in London, the "other man" whose name was Jason, but he'd called John and Jim or whatever name he'd thought of to call the guy at the time. AJ had tried to follow him, but Nick slammed the door behind him, keeping AJ out. He paced in tight circles in the bathroom, snapping his fingers, which was his variation to hand-wringing. He tilted his head back, taking deep breaths and trying to regain his composure. He had to figure out what to do, how to handle the situation, and how to get the hell out of the hotel room without getting hurt, or worse, and get to Bryant to save the day... all at once, and all in a very, very short amount of time. Like five, ten minutes ago would be good.
He leaned against the bathroom sink, turned on the water and splashed his face. The cold snapped him to attention and he looked into the mirror in front of him. "Okay Carter," he whispered, looking into his own eyes, "You wanna save the day? Here's your chance." He nodded to himself, a plan half formulated. He planted his face into one of the plush towels hanging on the towel rack behind him and dried his face before taking one last deep breath and stepping out of the bathroom.
AJ was still standing outside the bathroom door, a nervous look on his face. "Are you okay? Jesus, what happened?"
Nick pulled AJ closer, "I need you to help me out a second, okay?"
AJ's eyebrows cinched together. "Nick, what the hell is going on?"
"Just work with me, okay?"
AJ hesitated. Nick could be planning anything, how was he supposed to know what to do and say to help him? "Okay..." he was reluctant, but Nick didn't care. It was close enough to enthusiasm for him.
Nick rounded the corner into the living room of the hotel room and smiled at Jason, the supposed Hilton bellhop, who nodded and continued standing in his post of the doorway. Nick began poking around the crime scene absently, as though he were looking for something. AJ poked along side him. Nick turned to AJ, "Bryant will know more of what to do with this evidence when he gets here," he said casually, "And there is a ton of it here, too." He poked at a cock-eyed lamp and glanced at the window, which was broken to allow for easy escape out the fire escape.
AJ looked genuinely surprised. "So you did get a hold of Bryant then?"
The bellhop's attention peaked. He furrowed his brow, listening in. Nick felt bad lying, but prying ears... "Yeah, he's gonna be here in like ten minutes."
"The way you ran off like that, I thought something bad was going on," AJ responded.
Nick felt like kicking him, but refrained. "No." He paused, trying to think of his excuse for the bathroom run. He touched his stomach, "The decaf coffee was a bad idea," he said in a remorseful tone. AJ rolled his eyes. "What?" Nick asked, "Decaf ain't nothing like caffeinated coffee..." he wandered towards the door of the hotel room, ran a finger absently over the frame, touched the lock ever so gently, then looked the bellhop straight in the eyes. "Isn't that right, Jason?"
"I suppose," he replied, then stopped, horrified he'd just answered so easily to his real name, and feeling his face burn with anger.
AJ's eyes widened, "Jason? The dude in the hallway with Ivana Jason?"
Nick grabbed Jason's shirt collar behind his neck, "One and the same." He pulled the guy inside and kicked the room door closed behind him as he roughly pulled the younger guy inside and slammed him against the wall, hard. "What the fuck are you doing?" he shouted into the guy's face. Jason's eyes widened, and so did AJ's. Nick's intensity was shocking. "Who are you, really, and who is the Masquerade Murderer?"
Jason wriggled to get away from Nick, but Nick slammed the guy into the wall a second time, making his head bang against it pretty hard. "Fuck off," Jason hissed. Nick repeated the slamming motion twice more.
"I said, WHO ARE YOU and WHO IS THE MASQUERADE MURDERER?" Nick snarled into the guy's face, "And where is he taking Agent Bryant?"
"I don't know shit about any of this," Jason responded.
"The hell you don't," Nick replied, glaring at him. "I happen to know for a fact that you're here to get rid of AJ and I. And you were supposed to call your little friend there on the phone at Agent Bryant's hotel room. That's really not knowing something is it, dumbass?" Nick rolled his eyes, "Don't fuck with me, dude. Who the hell are you?"
AJ watched Nick hold his own and bit his lip. Little Nickolas really had grown up, he realized, and he was a tough guy, just like in the movies they watched on the bus sometimes together. He was a regular double-oh-seven the way he was acting, not all that much like the blonde that he and the fellas had always assumed he'd be in this sort of moment.
"You know who I am," Jason snapped.
"Who is the murderer?" Nick asked pointedly.
Jason glared. "I don't know his name, what the hell do you think this is? Fun and games? It's not. I don't know his real name. All I know is I paid the guy to kill off a couple people once back in New York for Ivana Focque and it backfired. He became a monster. Ivana transferred to work on the case and just for that purpose. He wasn't supposed to kill all these people, and he wasn't supposed to kill Ivana." He looked away.
"Where is he taking Agent Bryant?" Nick growled.
"I don't know," Jason replied in a barking tone.
Nick smashed him into the wall again, "TELL ME."
"I DON'T KNOW," Jason shouted, leaning close, "I DON'T FUCKING KNOW!!!!!!!"
Before AJ or Nick really knew what he'd done, Nick punched Jason square in the face and he dropped like a rag doll, with a bloodied nose. AJ's breath caught in his throat and he looked up at Nick. "Jesus, Carter."
Nick looked down at Jason. "Well, that ought to keep him cooperative, at least."
"At least," AJ replied. He looked at Nick. "Now what? I thought you said Bryant was coming?"
Nick shook his head, "I was killing time 'til I could get over to this guy." He paused. "Call the cops."
AJ nodded and pulled his phone out. "Wait, what about Bryant? If he's not coming, where is he?"
"He's at the hotel," Nick replied, "For now. The Masquerade Murderer said he had to take him out to 'the place'..." he paused, looking down at Jason. "I don't dare to leave him alone, but... if we don't hurry, we could be late for Bryant." Nick looked at AJ meaningfully.
AJ paused, looking Nick over, then said words he was sure Brian would freaking kill him for saying. "Go, Nick."
"What?" Nick looked at AJ in hesitant disbelief. "Go?"
"Yeah," AJ nodded, "Go. I'll wait for the cops to come get this guy... you go. Go save the day."
"You sure?" Nick asked.
"Yes," AJ answered, "I'm sure." He paused. "Stop at our rooms at the hotel and get the gear Bryant gave us... your vest saved your life last time, don't forget."
Nick nodded, "I will."
"Good." AJ nodded.
Nick paused awkwardly. "Thanks, AJ... for lettin' me do this."
AJ sighed, "Brian would have my fucking head examined and... well, I might too if I was thinking straight. But you definitely held up yourself with this shmuck..." AJ glanced at Jason. "And.. Bryant needs you. So go."
Nick nodded, "I can do it... I'm gonna do it..." he smiled, "I'ma saaaaaaaaaaaave the day!"
AJ laughed, "GO you freaking knuckle-head."
Saving the Day for Blondes 2: The Amazing Story of How Nick Apprehended The Infamous Masquerade Murderer Without ANY Caffeine In His Body! by Pengi
