A/N: Well, I got an interesting topic I’m gonna write about. Remember this is fiction, not real and hope you enjoy this. Try to review please, thanks.

“A Broken Soul”
**~Chapter 1~**

I was told as a child: ‘Hold your friends close, your enemies closer.’ What I didn’t realize was how much truth it held for me. This statement resounded in my life as I grew up, exposed at an early age to the horrors and pleasures this world had to offer. I open my eyes and stare around the quiet hotel suite. My eyes gaze at the red letters of the alarm clock- 3:23 am. I should be asleep now, getting some rest for what the day has in store, but how can I? The quiet whispers of people out in the hallway conferring the fears that clutched in my chest nagged at me. I feel confused, upset, and angry; wanting to reflect my anger at whomever caused this pain that now dwells in my heart. I was told to stay in my suite until the police needed to question me, but how can I just sit here after what is happening? My friend needs my help, “I should have been there.” I whisper to myself, “I could have stopped it. I could have done something, anything to save him. But I didn’t.” And that was what was gnawing at me tonight. I just couldn’t sit here in this room and stare at a wall. If sleep won’t be my comforter then nothing can help. I need to see anyone, one of the guys, just hear one of their voices letting me know everything’s gonna be ok. It seemed my prayers were answered.

Suddenly the hotel phone lying on the mahogany bedside dresser rings, taking me out of my thoughts. I pick it up to hear a comforting voice.

“Hey Nick, how you dealing with everything?” Kevin’s deep voice filters my ears.

Sighing, I look up at the ceiling fan frozen in its movement, “Don’t really know. Angry I guess. I’m just messed up with all that’s happening. What about you and the others? I ask, hoping to distract Kevin away from my feelings. I don’t like the fact I was showing my weaker emotions but it was hard to maintain strong under all the pressure.

“I feel the same way buddy. Brian went out to the hallway for a walk and Howie is staying pretty quiet about this whole thing.” Kevin states, his strong voice cracking a bit at the end. “Listen I’m getting called on to get questioned. You just try to rest for now. I know this whole thing is insane.”

“Wait!” I shout out before Kevin was about to hang up.

“What is it Nicky?” Kevin asks concerned. I smile knowing Kevin haven’t called me that in ages. I can already see Kevin, staring at me like a mother who holds her child during those ‘scary nights.’ His eyes would be wide open as he would try to hug me for comfort, for the both of us. I wanted to tell him I was scared, that whenever I close my eyes all I can hear is the scream that ripped through the walls only hours ago.

But my voice failed me and all that I could manage to whisper was that I wanted to see the room.

“Nick. Don’t go there! You heard what the police said. Stay in your room. They’re investigating the suite, you can’t be in there when their doing that.” Kevin harshly whispers, as if afraid to speak up.

I sigh, “Please, I need to see what is done. So I can rest tonight, so I can know what the story is.”

“Nick don’t!” He screamed, “Don’t you think about it. We already have enough problems. Don’t make this harder on us. I’ll come over in a few when I’m done. Don’t move please Nick!” He states practically begging me, but knowing full well what my intentions are. I never do seem to listen and he knew that, it seemed I had won and he knew that too.

“Kevin, just this once, please. It’s important for me.” I say, whispering.

I can hear Kevin sigh, knowing he was defeated. He knew I wouldn’t listen to him on this account. “Nick, you don’t need to see what’s in that room. You won’t like what’s in there. It’ll give you nightmares to see what happened there. Please this one last time, Nick don’t go there, you’ll only cause yourself more grief.”

I say bye and hang up the phone and with that, I grab my hotel card and leave my room heading to A.J.’s room.
~*~
I walk near the open hotel room, darkness surrounds the bedroom and the only thing I can see is the yellow tapes: POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS stuck across the threshold of the doorway. Murmurs from the police men engulf the hotel suite as they walk out of the room, shaking their heads in disbelief. They didn’t seem to notice me and walk past me. They were too busy too notice me slipping under the police tapes entering the forbidden room. The room felt cold to the touch as the autumn breeze filters within the open glass sliding door leading to the balcony. My eyes stare at the deserted hotel suite, the king size mattress stained in blood, aligned with scratches and ripped. I go under the tape in the front door and stare around the area. I know I’m not supposed to be here because I can damage and ruin clues, but I need to see if it really happened. My hands touch the cold walls and I feel a draft coming in the room. The walls I manage to see had bloody hand marks smeared on it. At this, my heart banged against my chest as frightening images filled my head. Across the white rug, I can see big splotches of crimson blood leaving its death stains behind to conjure and remind viewers of the incident. I peer over to a window to see the bright red lights of the police cars and ambulance. I stare at the empty bed and feel sadness overcome me.

“Nick, we will find out who did this. The police are still searching for suspects and witnesses to the crime. Buddy, stay strong for us. We need you, A.J. needs you.” A familiar voice states through all the commotion.

I look over to my friend and see all sorts of emotions on his face. The incident affects him too and badly. Gulping, I sit on the edge of the bed trying to think all this out. “Brian, who would want to hurt A.J.?” I whisper my thoughts blurring like the tears in my eyes.

Brian sighs and pulls me to the exit of the room, “Nick, we shouldn’t be in here, we’ll get in trouble.” I look around the suite and follow Brian out the door and out of the room. We leave the crime scene and I stare back to the room where only a few hours ago, my friend was almost murdered.

“Nick, why did you go in there?” Brian whispers, his azure eyes clouded in agony and fear.

I lick my lips and shake my head, “I just wanted to see if it really happened.” I close my eyes, knowing in a few I might cry.

Brian sighs and pulls on my arm, “You shouldn’t have been in there.” He didn’t know what else to say. How can you comfort your friend if your self needs the comfort? Brian gazes up at me, his eyes wide open. I hear him whisper the same thoughts that were rushing into my head, “I’m scared. I don’t know if someone is after us.”

I gulp and let the tears slid down quietly down my cheeks, “I feel the same way.”

Brian sighs and tugs on my arm, “Come on. Let’s go downstairs, the police will want to talk to us about what happened.”

“The hell with the police.” I shout angrily, yanking my arm away from Brian’s grip.

Brian closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, “Nick you don’t mean that.”

“Yes I do! How do you even know what I’m feeling?!” I shout, releasing my anger out on my only friend at the moment. I regret screaming at him a second later as the look on Brian’s face expressed shock and alarm.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. You’re right, I’m just upset with all that’s happening.” I whisper as Brian smiles. He hands me a handkerchief and we head towards the elevators that will take us down to the lobby.
~*~

Reaching the lobby, I see my other friends, Kevin and Howie talking quietly amist the crowd of policemen that had gathered.

Brian and I walk over to an empty plush sofa and sit down hoping to find results. My heart drummed and pounded, as chills race down my spine. I wanted to know if any answers were found, I needed to know if my friend was ok.

Kevin peers at me and smiles walking over to me along with Howie. His emerald eyes twinkle with tears as he pats my shoulder and hugs Brian. Howie gulps and nervously scans the lobby. He was scared that I knew and he didn’t know what to do. So I helped him, I stand up and pull Howie in a hug, cradling the smaller man. Suddenly I hear Howie sob as he throws his arms around my shoulders. I sigh and look around the room to see Brian and Kevin comforting each other, whispering that A.J. is strong, he’ll make it. I gulp and knowing I might like a child, I pull away from Howie and ask him a simple question.

“Why do bad things happen to good people?” I ask, batting my tears away as the cool tears trace and tickle my cheeks.

Howie takes a deep breath and shakes his head, “I don’t know Nick. I don’t know.” He wipes the tears off his tan face, his eyes red and swollen from crying and weeping for too long.

Kevin calls us to come join him and Brian on the sofa, we all need each other to get through this.

I can hear Brian murmur something about if they were only careful with who they had hired to protect and guard them.

I sigh and sit down on the plush sofa, closing my eyes, wishing it all away: all the pain that I feel, all that had happened with A.J. and the others.

We all sit in the lobby area of the hotel waiting to see if the police found anything new from the room. “Nothing yet, I guess we just gotta wait”, Kevin says. A few minutes pass and for me it seemed like eternity. The looks on everyone faces stuns me, they all look as if something was taken away from them. I believe I have that sad seldom expression crossing my face. My heart is racing and I feel my breathing quicken. I know something wrong is gonna happen with A.J. I hear Brian telling Kevin that A.J. is in critical condition and doubt he’ll make it through the night. I remember the incident clearly:

I was in my room listening to some of our new tracks for the upcoming album at about one in the morning. I remember hearing the screaming coming from A.J.’s room and my heart froze with fear. I stare around the dark hallway where the lights had just went out. Trembling, I run out of my room and see some figures standing in front the entrance of A.J.’s room. Through the yelling coming from inside, I hear Kevin voice’s as he tries banging at the door and attempted breaking it down. I hear the screaming stop suddenly in A.J.’s room. I try feeling for the walls in front of me with my hands. “You guys, you don’t think something wrong happened in there do ya?” I hear myself say.

“Nick, are you listening?” Kevin shouts breaking me from my disturbing memory.

“No, I’m sorry, I was just thinking about the incident” I say sadly. Sighing, Kevin kneels in front of me and pats my hand, “I said, I think we should all just try to get some sleep for now, nothing can be done at this point. Let’s get out of the hotel and we’ll all go another hotel to get some sleep.” I nod my head warily and grab my luggage to leave. We all leave the hotel and called a taxi to take us to the nearest hotel. We reached the other hotel across town in twenty minutes and Kevin quickly signs us up at the receptionist desk. We all walk slowly as if caught in slow motion towards the elevators. The conversation died about a half and hour ago. There was nothing else to really say, all we felt was the pain and the nervousness. The anxiety clings to each us desperately as we board the elevator. The quiet ping of the elevator disturbs our thoughts as it slides open its doors to us. We exit onto the twelve floor going into our individual room. I didn’t want to go sleep, I can’t anyway and I thought the others were thinking the same.

“Nick.” Brian whispers, his hotel suite next to mine, “Wanna hang out?”

I smile and nod as Howie and Kevin join us in Brian’s suite. The room looked like all the others we pretty much stayed in. Fancy, expensive, the glamour of the famous. It’s almost as if one can smell the money and profit the hotel makes with rooms like this.

I throw myself on one of Brian’s leather couches and close my eyes hoping for a small nap, for that was all I can take at the moment. The phone rings waking me up and I hear soft murmuring coming from the guys. “What is it? Who was on the phone?” I ask.

Howie nods and answers my question, “Nicky it was the police and they found new suspects to the crime. It seems we are one of the suspects for the crime.”

I must have that look on my face, judging by the way the others are staring at me. I jump up from the sofa suddenly rejuvenated I scream out, “What? You’re kidding me bro right?”

They all shake their heads, “Sorry Nick, but that’s what the cops said” Brian states.

Clasping my hands together and taking a deep breath, I say, “Can one of us really be that twisted and hurt another one of us? Why would the police think that we could be responsible for something like that?! This doesn’t make sense.” I say blowing out a puff of air. I look at the distraught look we have on our faces and just knew that none of us can ever hurt one another. We care about each other too much to do something this violent, even I never got that upset to want to see pain on one of my ‘brothers.’

Brian adds on, “Nothin’ makes sense now.” He whispers quickly, his face downcast.


**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

Tell me what ya think , I’ll try to update soon!

A/N: Thanks for the two readers that have caught interest in this story and for Black Rose- I would love to read your story, just tell me where it is cause I couldn’t find on the site. I’ll gladly review, after all it’s all I can do! With this story I’m trying to give you guys the readers to see what each character is going through emotionally. Thanks so much for the support. Here it is the next chapter- Enjoy! If you’re interested in other stories I write, maybe you can check out a story called a “A Hero’s Heart” and in the suspense section of this site a story called “Daywalkers”

“A Broken Soul”

**~Chapter 2~**

That night or should I say morning I lied awake staring at the billowing curtains in my room. The gentle breeze floats into the room, bringing with it the soft smell of the beach and flowers. The thoughts of A.J. and his possible condition had me worrying the whole time. We as a group were told nothing about how our friend is doing and the hospital isn’t allowing us, only close relatives to visit him at the moment. I try closing my eyes but failed to sleep. My mind was speeding with thoughts and I couldn’t understand why we, who are as close to A.J’s family, weren’t able to see him now. I sigh and fall into a fitful sleep, anything that would take me away from this oppressive agony that settles in my chest. Just as I was about to enter to the deep sleeping state, I jump as my heart banged against my chest to the surprise loud ringing of a black cordless phone besides me. Rolling over on the bed, I reach out to the bedside table to pick up the phone.

Groggily and confused I manage to speak: “Hello?”

“Hey, good you’re up D.” Nick murmurs quietly on the other line.

Rolling my eyes, I stare towards the balcony, “Hey Nicky, what is it? Why you calling me at 4:30 in the morning?” I ask gently, knowing what Nick went through is taking its toll on him.

“I can’t sleep.” Nick whispers sadly.

“I know. I’m having trouble trying to get some sleep too. I’m sure Kevin will keep us inform of everything. I know it’s hard to not worry, especially when the hospital isn’t letting us see A.J.” I say taking a deep breath.

Nick sighs on the other line as a yawn escaped his mouth, “I’ll guess I’ll talk to ya later on this morning. I’m started to feel exhausted now. Thanks for listening.”

I smile, “No problem Nicky.” And I hear the dial tone as he hangs up. Slowly I do the same and feel a tear welling up in the corner of my eye. “I won’t cry now. I have to support Nick and the others.” I murmur as I lie back on the bed and fall asleep.
~*~

“I don’t like this tie” Nick mutters staring at the full length mirror in front of him. I watch as Brian tries to persuade Nick to wear a tie. He seems flustered and exhausted just like me and everyone else. Last night was a bad night to rest, it seems all of us were left haunted with the thoughts that our safety was in danger. I waited for Kevin to get back from the bathroom as I watch the two guys tugging on a black tie.

My thoughts drifted back to what Brian had told me. Brian stated that if whoever got to A.J. that easily, that person could get to them just as fast. I didn’t want to think about that possibility; our management fired the guards and opted to hire new ones without a defect in their record. This is a tough spot we’re in. People will speculate when they see us without our other member. I hate lying to the fans but the excuse that A.J. got the flu and is feeling ill was the story they will have to tell those nosy reporters. Though the fans will know that isn’t the case. I manage to have gotten some sleep in the early morning, but it felt like nothing to me. I feel overwhelmed and too tired to think straight. I fight to keep my eyes open as I stare around the suite. It’s been over a half and hour and we were set up for a meeting with our lawyers to discuss the situation at hand. Our thoughts on A.J. troubled our mind. The only fact we know is what hospital he’s staying in, St. Ann’s. As for his injuries, that was still up in the air. In fact the whole attack on A.J. was sketchy for me.

I recalled hearing someone running down the hallway and Kevin bursting my door open. I had awoken startled and followed Kevin who was yelling that someone got into A.J’s room to hurt him. I was confused, how could the guards allow something like to happen? What about their safety? What if it was too late? I had thought. I watched as the lights in the hallway fade away leaving us in the utter blackness. We stumble around and I hear Kevin kicking down A.J’s door. The door managed to swing open when the predator crashed into Kevin and runs off into the hallway disappearing. Kevin tried to go after the person but lost the attacker in the dark hallways. We had no idea who the person was and it remained a frightening mystery to us. I recalled entering A.J.’s room as I hear Nick stumble his way over to us. Brian was already calling the ambulance and the police in fear that maybe something bad really did occur. I turned on the lights in A.J’s suite but like the hallway, it remained in the dark. Kevin carried a small flashlight and scanned it around the room until it landed on A.J. who was bleeding profusely in his leg and the side of his abdomen. He was lying on his side groaning out in pain. I stood there in fright fearing the worst, I didn’t want to lose another person in my life. The paramedics came clambering into the room about five minutes later, taking care of the almost conscious A.J. They placed him on the stretcher and wheeled him out. It was a strange incident. A.J. didn’t say anything, he only mumbled something about, “It’s him, it’s him.” He turned his eyes and stared around the room to each us as if he feared us for the first time. It seemed all his trust had faded when he stared at us before being wheeled away into the back of the ambulance.

That thought puzzled me, why would he say that? What did he mean by that? But I let it slip by when Brian’s aggravated voice grows louder.

“It doesn’t matter Nick, that’s the only appropriate tie you got in your closet” Brian states fixing Nick’s tie. I lean back on the wall and examine our outfits, all properly dressed in pants and shirts accompanied with ties. Brian’s sandy blonde hair lie combed down as his ocean eyes shrouded a hint of annoyance. I smirk at the sight and watch as Nick dressed in black pants and nice white long sleeve shirt grumble. Brian had on the similar outfit as well as I and Kevin. Only difference was the color of my shirt was a dark green, Kevin’s was silver, and Brian’s was navy blue. Nick throws his black blazer over him and looks at my direction. I gaze over to the doorway of the suite and see Kevin rushing into the room.

Sighing, Kevin walks in the room with his black wool coat draping over his arm, “Come on guys, we have to get ready to meet the lawyers and the officers. I’m personally not excited about doing this, but if it can help the police find the real criminal then so be it.”

Brian grabs his keys and starts tugging on Nick’s arm, “Nick, buddy, it’ll be fine. The cops aren’t gonna place us in prison or anything, they’re just gonna ask us some questions. K” he says, sighing softly. I watch the scene and take a deep breath, following him out the door and out the room.

I stare at Kevin who’s walking ahead of us and I jog up to catch up to him. Tugging on his sleeve, I whisper, “Wait. Kevin are you ok?”

He turns his head to look at me as he pushes the elevator button. His emerald eyes were clouded with worry and confusion. Sarcastically he responds, “Should I be feeling happy with all that’s happening?”

I stare at him confuse and shake my head realizing Kevin was hurting just like the rest of us and that was his way of getting through things. I feel Kevin’s hand on my shoulder, “I’m sorry Howie. It’s just been crazy. With all the media wanting to get a possible story out of this, I’ve been trying to keep our names out all of this.”

I nod my head taking in what he said and watch as the metal door to the elevators open for us and we board in it.
~*~

The van pulls up in the driveway of the building where the lawyers are waiting for us. The steel building was decorated with a large front yard, and wooden benches for those who choose to rest for awhile. We all file out and enter the exquisite building, the chandelier giving the lobby a wealthy image. The front doors slide open as we enter the lobby of the building. The thick mahogany planks lined the walls and floors and the forest green carpet covered much of the shiny planks on the floors. Thin dark blue curtains were tied up on its side to allow sunlight to beam into the lobby. The furniture of soft plush velvet blue seats lined up the side and in the center was a thick mahogany counter with a receptionist typing furiously on a lab top. Her golden locks are tied up into a fancy upswept hairstyle, as her blue green eyes stare at us interestingly.

Her light snowy complexion beam softly in the incoming sunlight. She pulls on the sleeve of her green blouse and in a sweet voice talks, “Welcome and good morning. How can I help you?” Her red painted lips smile at Kevin’s direction as he tells her there is a meeting with a lawyer by the name of Bernstein.

“Hold on, I’ll call Bernstein.” She whispers, her eyes glittering in recognition of who Kevin is. After a brief conversation with the lawyer on the phone, she smiles and tells Kevin that the room is on the third floor. “The meeting is being held in room 318. Just take the elevators here and the first large conference room is yours.”

Nick stands near Kevin and smiling thanks the woman. The woman blushes and smiles, whispering “Not a problem at all. Can I get an autograph from you?” the young woman states, her cheeks a blazing pink by now. Nick was about too, but Kevin pulled on his arm.

“Sorry, he’ll do it when we’re done. We’re already running late for the meeting. But I’ll make sure he’ll sign before we leave.” Kevin says kindly, his eyes smiling gently. The woman pushes a scrap of paper away from Nick and places it near her.

“Ok, I’ll be here waiting then.” The woman states as we all hurried over to the large elevators.
~*~

She watches the four men enter the elevator and she smiles. She reaches under the counter and pushes a small green button. In about a minute the switch board on the phone lit up. Giggling she picks up the phone, “Hey I was waiting for you to call me.” The woman states as she examines her nails.

The deep voice on the other line laughs, “So they’re there right?”

She smiles, “Oh yeah, all four of them. Thanks to you the fifth is still stuck in the hospital.”

The man chuckles on the other line, “Yeah, I got him pretty bad. He’ll live for now. Just enough to scare him though.”

The woman laughs quietly as she files her nails, “You are quite the master at this.”

The man lets out a puff of air and response, “Thanks, but know I can’t do this alone.”

The woman giggles again, “That’s right. That’s why you got me! Listen I gotta let you go, I have people coming in. I’ll talk to ya later sweetie.”

The man laughs and tells her he’ll pick her up from work. “You just behave girl.”

The woman smirks, “Don’t I always?” And she hangs up the phone attending the customer that came in.
~*~

We all boarded the elevator and I look at each of the guys as thoughts consumed me. The elevator arrives at the floor and we exit it. Kevin gazes around the area and Brian points to the first large thick mahogany doors near the elevators.

“Kevin this is the room.” I say as the other three follow me. I open one of the doors and is greeted to a tiny lobby where a young man was waiting for us.

“We’re sorry about the lateness.” Brian whispers a bit ashamed.

The young man smiles, “It’s ok, you’re only a few minutes behind. You’re what I like to say is called casually late.”

Nick smirks whispering, “Hell if that’s casually late…” Nick is interrupted when Kevin poked him with his elbow. And we all follow the young well dressed man to front of a doorway. The young man disappears down the hallway as we enter the room.

We are ushered into a conference room where two lawyers and an officer sat waiting. “Good morning gentlemen, please take a seat” announced a lawyer holding onto a manila folder with papers in it. The lawyer, a young man of about his early thirties with thick black hair, is wearing a wire rim silver plated glasses over his grey eyes. “Ok, let me introduce myself, I’m Gregory Bernstein, and my partner is Ms. Jasmine Rodriguez. The officer is Mr. Vincent Henslin and he’s here to ask you all some questions regarding the crime committed on your friend. As we can tell your friend was brutally beaten by someone who has access to his room. Which brings me to you guys. All of your security guards are under custody by the police until we have more evidence on this crime.”

Brian finally speaks breaking the unusual silence surrounding us in the room. “Sorry mister Bernstein, but I’m curious to know exactly what is the condition of A.J.? It seems everything is being kept under wraps and I or all of us really care about A.J. and wanna know how he is doing and what exactly happened to him.” The woman lawyer stands up and approaches Brian, swaying her brown curls over her shoulder. She stares at him, “Sir I know you care for his well being, but we are not the ones to be answering this question. I suggest you call the hospital and get the information from there. We only have the basics here.”

I really thought that was kind of rude coming from this woman, but I understand she’s probably doing her job. I gaze over to Brian who seems upset from the remark and quietly takes his seat. God, this is gonna be one long morning. I think to myself.

I look around the conference table at the attorneys and officer and my eyes fell on the guys. Kevin seems as he haven’t slept since the incident and his eyes had a downcast look to it. Brian carries a sad expression with him constantly. It’s funny, I don’t remember the last time he smiled: it has been too long. Nick seems spaced out and doesn’t seem to be listening to anything that’s happening in the conference room.

After two hours of the similarly same questions asked of us, I left the conference room with no answers and even more confused than before entering. Obviously the lawyers know something more than they were willing to tell us. And it frustrated me to know that they could even be allowed to hold data from us. I grumble on the way back to the hotel as the other guys by some miracle fell asleep all expect Brian who was staring blindly out the van window.

“Brian. Wanna talk?” I ask, hoping he was up for some talking. He nods his head, his ocean eyes held a glint of hope.

“What did you think of the meeting?” I ask, running my tan fingers through my unruly short brown hair.

Brian shakes his head, “We got nothing. They told us nothing. It’s like they’re playing a game and we’re in it. I don’t understand why we can’t just find this psycho and press charges on him?” He angrily whispers.

I sigh and shake my head, “I was thinking the same thing. Something’s up. Like a cover up or something. Who ever had access to A.J.’s room could be anyone of the employers at the hotel, or working in the company with us.”

Brian slammed his fist on the window pane, “I can’t even believe they have us down on the suspect list. Someone is setting us up. I just know it.” And he stares out the window clouded with his thoughts. I watch and take deep breath. Something was up, the cat and mouse game just began and we were thrown in without being prepared.
~**~

**~TO BE CONTINUED~**

A/N: Thanks so much for the new reviews, wow. I’m glad you all like the story; see now I feel all special. *smiles sheepishly* Enjoy this chapter and if you want to make me smile more, review this story by e-mailing me or dropping a review on the site. Now all my peeps onto the story!

“A Broken Soul”

**~Chapter Three~**

Flipping through a magazine, my eyes lost focus on the pictures after a few minutes. I needed to do something, anything that would get my mind off A.J. and his condition. My eyes cross over the small lounge room in the television studio. This room was pretty comfortable; it seemed that the crew was providing us with everything we needed. Food of all types and then I gasp. I look and stopped dead track on the bowl full of KFC chicken wings. The only thing that rang through my head at this point was A.J. usually asked for this. It seemed the other guys noted this and one of them gasps at the bowl as well.

Nick shakes his head and rams his fist into a nearby wall, taking chucks of the beige painting from it. Brian lets out a deep breath and rubs his eyes mumbling something about he wants to cancel the meeting with the television show today.

Personally I can’t blame him, everyone was seemed distant since the incident with A.J. It’s been over three days already and we still can’t visit A.J. I wish I could hear his voice, as much as he annoyed the hell of me, I miss him terribly. He’s needed in the group and this sudden disaster is shaking the group up even more. I hate the fact that we’re always the group going through with problems and the media loves that it can get its filthy paws on any news worth telling.

I watch Howie, who is taking the whole A.J. thing the worst. As much as he tries to hide the fact that’s he’s ok with everything, I know right away he isn’t. I just know he’s plagued with the horrid ideas of that night. We all knew Howie was trying to be strong for the group, but he didn’t need to be. “That’s way I’m here.” I whisper to myself. I watch as Howie’s brown eyes stare at the wall not blinking. He’s in his own little world as he’s been in since yesterday. Sometimes I caught him doing this more than once a day. It disturbs me to think that he’s not really all there, mentally I lost the Howard that was always smiling and laughing. He was the sweetest one, but I know he’s changing: changing into something that I feel disturbs me to think about. His personality did a whole three sixty on me. He’s now more aggressive, more demanding. Almost rude at times and he doesn’t seem to notice or even worse care. He was the one I would hang out with since we’re close in age almost but now it feels like it’s too late. It’s like I already lost a friend. He hasn’t been the same since it occurred. And I can’t do anything about it.

“Kevin, maybe you should talk with the director in charge. I’m not in the mood for being here on the show to talk about our album when we’re hiding the fact of A.J. It just doesn’t feel right.” Brian whispers to me, shaking his head sadly, his azure eyes downcast, staring at the forest green carpet.

I sigh and rub my weary eyes, it’s usually me doing all the talking since I’m the eldest of the group, so I don’t mind taking care of the problem. “It’s alright guys. I’ll take of it. Go on up ahead back to the hotel if you want. I’ll meet up with up you later.” I whisper, running my hand throw through my hair which today stood up in black spikes.

Nick smiles and pats my shoulder, “Thanks man.” He whispers, his face lighting up in relief, his light eyes glittering in relief.

I sigh and smile back: it was good to see someone happy even if for a moment. I watch as the other three quickly disperse from the room as if they craved for fresh air and longed to have it in their starving bodies. The mood in the group seemed strangled with the worries of our injured friend. Everything we did, reminded us of A.J. whether it was the food, the drink, even the music that the radio plays, reminds us of A.J. I wish I knew how he was doing. I wanted to let him know, we didn’t forget about him. But the strict rules and policies on the hospital were to be followed until further notice. I just hope that A.J. wasn’t mad with us.

I turn my attention to the entranceway where a man, assuming he was the director, had head phones draped over his neck.

The man smiles, his light eyes staring at me and then looks around in confusion to see the lounge was missing three of the four guys. Cocking his head to look behind me, he looks at me waiting for an explanation.

I sigh and tiredly respond, “I’m so sorry. We decided as a group we don’t feel right discussing the album with our friend being ill and all. It just doesn’t seem right. I’m sorry, but we’ll have to cancel for today.”

The man glares at me and sighs, “Ok then. If that’s what you feel. Then it’s ok. But you do realize you have tons of fans all waiting for your appearance and they’ll be in a big disappointment cause of this.”

I attempt a small smile and hoarsely whisper, ‘They’ll understand. We’re not really feeling like ourselves. It would have been tough for the fans seeing us so un-focus and so out of touch with things since our minds are elsewhere.”

The man smirks and throws his hands in the air annoyed, “Yeah, well you celebrities are something. Always have something hiding. Tell me sir.” The man leans in closer to look at my name tag which I have on a pocket of my black sweater. He continues talking, “Mr. Richardson, what’s really happening between you guys? I mean, you all don’t seem like you’re getting along. Like you’re all here just to promote the album. In fact I didn’t really hear you guys talking back here. Is there something you’re not telling the fans, Kevinnn.” He states annoyed, stressing my name out for emphasizes.

I sigh and close my eyes, if Nick or A.J. were here, they would have swung at the guy already. It seems pleasing to hit the man before me but that was no way to solve the issue, the better way is to hit them where it hurts.

I clutch my fists on my side and grind my teeth together, obviously this man didn’t understand the meaning of no. Taking a deep breath, I whisper rather harshly, “Sir, if you can kindly understand. The group is going through some personal issues and I feel you parading us around here to give your show top rating won’t work. I’m truly sorry if you can’t understand that we’re dealing with something serious.”

The man kept his smirk on his face and I wanted to swipe that off. Glaring at him, I walk around the rude man and grab for my coat.

The man laughs, “Fine, walk out on me. I’ll just have to say something not so nice about you guys.” His caramel complexion glittering in the harsh light.

“I’m sorry to say this to you, but this show is over and I promise you will be hearing from my lawyer about this.” I state, my voice resounding in the large waiting room.

The director glares at me and walks away complaining to the manager that today’s guest canceled out. I sigh and nod my head, it never ceases to amaze me how rude people can get when they let their selfish desires get to them. I walk out the studio, with my guard rushing up to me. I board a black trailblazer, its windows tinted for my protection, in case a fan sees me and tries to chase the van down.

I lean back on the smooth leather black seat as my guard slams the door and boards the passenger seat in front of me. I close my eyes and all I can think of is of that day. The day it happened was too clear for me. That night I was sleeping calmly when I was about to go to Nick’s room to turn the loud music down. It seemed people were complaining that they couldn’t sleep right due to Nick’s loud blasting of the music. I had walk down the hallway when I hear screaming coming from A.J’s room. My heart pounded in fear, I know A.J. was in danger for he never screamed like that before. Although the other times I busted in A.J.’s room to find him in uncompromising positions that young teen fans might faint from hearing. This scream sounded like he was in real pain. I had stood in front of the door and knock on it, hoping it was all just a sick joke. But I knew that something was terribly wrong.. All I heard was the screaming growing louder as I hear him saying, “PLEASE GOD NO! STOP! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Don’t hurt me please. No, what did I do to you that you’re this mad at me?” I heard A.J. whisper as a low voice grumbles something incoherently.

It sounded like A.J. screamed out one of our names, though I never told the other guys about this. I try banging the door down when I hear Howie running in my direction and opening Nick’s suite to tell him to come over to us. The lights in the hallway started blinking and lost all power, leaving us in the utter darkness. I hear Nick nervously padding his way over to us, asking if A.J. was hurt. Howie stands beside me and starts kicking down the door with me. I hear Brian murmur a prayer and pulling out his cell phone calling the ambulance for precautions. I had managed to kick the door down and in a quick second I feel my back cracking against the rough carpet as the perpetrator rams into me causing me to fall. I manage to stand up and through the darkness try to chase after the man that injured our friend. I didn’t get far as I lost him immediately in the dark. I hear Howie screaming and run into the room to see Howie cradling a figure on the floor. I look though my pockets and pulled out a keychain with a small flash light on it. I gleamed it on A.J. and I thought my heart stopped for that second. There on the carpet, A.J. lied wounded, the crimson blood trickling down his shirt and on the pale carpet. In five minutes later the cops surrounded the room with paramedics coming to claim my ‘little brother.’ I recall A.J. looking at us in pure terror. Like there was something wrong with one of us but couldn’t put his finger on it. All I remember hearing A.J. say as he was being wheeled away was “It was him! It was him!”
~*~

She walks down the dark street, only the harsh street lights illuminating her way. She was on her way going home and she couldn’t wait to get some rest. She brushes a strand of her blond tresses behind her ear as the gentle breeze pricked her snowy complexion. Her cell phone rings, jolting the peacefulness of her surroundings. She rolls her bluish green eyes and reaches for her back pack where her cell lied in an inner pocket. Smiling, she answers her phone,

“Well hello there. I’ve been waiting for you to call. I thought you were gonna pick me up since you called me now.” The young woman smiles sweetly.

She hears the low voice, “Hey babe, yeah look I was gonna come by, but something came up. I’m considering leaving the state for a while. There’s a hunt for A.J.’s attacker and I don’t them coming after me as one of the suspects. I’m so sorry Alena.”

“Shut up! You’re always sorry for everything. I thought you were man enough to pull though with this, but I guess I was wrong.” Alena shouts. “You were so close, you could have gotten them when they had came to the conference with the lawyers. But again you’re just punk out as usual Amerian!”

The man growls in the phone, “You know I put up with a lot from you! All the things I sacrifice and risk and here you were getting upset with me. Well you know what Alena- screw you! I don’t need to take this from you. You’re only holding me back. I’ll just go after the four!”

She shouted, “The others had nothing to do with the plan! You played your part, you don’t need to go after them.” She mutters as she quickly walks past a deserted park.

“Can you stop me? I don’t think so! So if I wanna involve the others in this little game, then they’re in!” Amerian shouts in the phone.

Alena shouts, “You’re a mess, I hope the cops get you! And if I can help out, I’ll see to it they’ll get you!” She shouts, running her hands down her red blouse.

Amerian whispers harshly, “I’m not asking for much. You wanted to get your revenge, so I was willing to help out. But…”

Alena interrupts, “But that’s it! That’s all I asked for. The others don’t need this!” Amerian doesn’t respond, but his laughter filtered her ears as he hangs up the other line. Frustrated she mutters and fingers the silver pistol in her back pack. Looks like she’ll have to make a visit after all. And with that turns down the street to catch a bus that will take her to St. Ann’s Hospital.
~*~

I turn off the news on the television frustrated that again we were on the news due to the sudden attitude the director from the show. Again we’re on the news for something negative and let out a deep sigh. My front suite door is knocked gently as Brian peers his head in.

“Hey Kev, you not busy are you?” Brian asks, his southern accent coming out.

I smile, “Na, it’s ok. Your family. I’m never too busy for you.”

Brian smiles and enters the room, quietly closing the door behind him. He joins me on the couch and turns on the television to see a some news of a crime that occurred that day. “Kev. I got a call from A.J.’s doctor today.”

I gulp quietly and turn my attention to him, muting the TV. “What happened? It’s nothing serious right?” I speak out quickly fearing something worst.

Brian turns to look at me at smiles, “No, he was asking for us! He wants us to visit him tomorrow. Said he misses us and Nick owns him money for some bet that was lost.”

I laugh in joy, clutching my chest, “Oh man. A.J’s unbelievable. Even through the worst conditions, he’s still joking around.”

Brian smirks, “Yeah, the doctor stated that A.J. heard about the rude director. He stated if he was there he wouldn’t habe hold back on punching him.”

I smile, “I was close myself knocking the guy out. He was disrespectful. He was so impolite, only wanted to make himself look good.”

“Nothing new there!” Brian huffed, staring back at the mute TV. Brian snatches the remote in my hands and un-mutes the television. “Hey isn’t that the hospital A.J. is staying at?”

I glance at the screen and see a reporter discussing surgery cleanliness and the proper ways to clean surgical instruments. I shift in my seat, “Yeah that is.” And we sit quietly, watching the program in silence.
~**~


**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

A/N: Hehe, wow. It just seems more people are caught on to this story, I’m very happy that you all are enjoying this story. You all know the deal, try to drop a review or e-mail me. Till later, I’m out my peeps!

“A Broken Soul”
**~Chapter Four~**

Clink, clink : the metal spoon sounds as it hits the inside of the coffee cup as Kevin holds the cup to drink the warm liquid. Sighing, I gaze at the wall clock ticking away slowly in the hospital waiting room. The white sterile room seem to hold some form of secret, it’s almost blinding color hiding its purpose. It’s been over four days and we all decided with the doctor’s permission to visit A.J. for the first time. It was wonderful to know that my friend was well, though a bit injured on the side of his abdomen, A.J. was doing very well. I smile and stare around the room: its hard plastic seats are occupied by three other bodies- Howie, Kevin and Nick. I lean back on the uncomfortable seat and drum my fingers nervously on my knee.

“Brian, I thought I should go out and get something for A.J. to eat, you know he loves his big macs.” Nick says smiling, his azure eyes brightly glittering in the harsh white lights of the ceiling.

I smirk and nod my head, “There’s a McDonald’s downstairs near the cafeteria.”

Nick nods his head, “Aight, I’ll be back in a sec.” And he jumps out of his seat rushing out the room.

Kevin yawns and stares at me, “Brian, you ok?” He whispers, his eyes clouded with worry.

I nod my head and tell him, “Doing good. You?”

Kevin nibbles his lower lip, “Not sure. I mean I’m so happy with A.J’s condition. But as for who went after him, is still on my mind. I feel like I let him down.”

Howie consoles Kevin while I turn my head to look out the window. The cloudy humid day outside revealed what I was feeling. The confusion, like the clouds outside lie in a mist in my chest, its hazy thick air almost suffocating, choking my emotions. I recalled the day. I was one of the last ones to come down the hallway after I heard Kevin screaming. I remembered walking blindly down the sudden dark hallway to get to A.J’s suite. I see Kevin and Howie joining him as they try kicking down A.J’s door. I felt the fear inch its way up to me, I could hear A.J. screaming, out of pain. A.J. yelled something about ‘Please don’t hurt me!” I wish I could see who it was that would torment my friend like that and break his neck. The anger that had fuse within me started to grow, when I saw the hidden figure of the tormenter toppling onto Kevin as they both crash down the pitch black hallway. I wanted to make that person pay for what they did to A.J. I mean sure me and A.J. argue and fight a lot at times, but don’t all families get like that after you see them constantly, everyday for the past months? Out of fear, I had dig into my pockets to miraculously find my cell. I called the ambulance hoping that I wasn’t too late. All I hear were the voices of Kevin shouting as he tries to follow the one that was responsible for all this mess.

I had stood outside in the threshold of A.J’s suite, waiting for the paramedics to arrive. Nick was standing next to me as he cries out about someone was trying to murder A.J. Nick was the most effected by this whole traumatic experience. Our security guards came after words in confusion as they along with the police thoroughly searching the hallways of the hotel in search for the suppose killer.

I sigh nervously when I saw A.J. being wheeled away in the stretcher: his blood stained the white starch sheet that was placed over him. I see the look of a hurt friend who’s trust needed to be gained back. I gulp as he stares at each of us in the room as he was whispering what I believe was, “It was him, it was him!”

I jump startled when Kevin snapped his fingers in front of me, “Brian, they called us in. We can see him now.” He whispers, his emerald eyes lit up in happiness.

Howie pats Kevin’s back as he gulps and rushes down the hallway behind the doctor.

Suddenly the red emergency alarm goes off as the hospital attendants run out the offices screaming to clear the hospital out. I cover my ears as the blaring alarm crashes into my sensitive ears. Howie crashed into the doctor as a nurse yells that everyone must leave the facilities. It seemed there was a threat to the institution, a possible killer is found lurking around the hospital, killing lives. My heart jumps into my throat as I wanted to make my way to A.J’s room. The doctor that was taking us there, turns around and yells to get out. Our safety is in threat, it was possible that maybe the mafia has entered the hospital and are taking captives. I hear shots ricocheting down the hallway as a bullet slams into a nearby doorway.

Howie cries out, “We gotta get A.J. out! He’s in danger!” He screams out to the doctor.

The doctor shakes his head, “Who ever is shooting isn’t after the patients! It’s after the visitors! In fact, it seemed the moment you came in, you brought in who ever is here. I think they’re after you guys!”

Nick appears into the hallway and stops in shock as the bullets pounded around him. He drops the small McDonald’s bag on the white tiled floor as he walks in the conversation. He looks around wildly as the attendants run around trying to get to the patients rooms.

“Nick move! We can’t be here! Someone’s shooting!” Kevin shouts, slamming Nick to the floor as a bullet whizzes by them.

Howie screams out as he ducks down. I crouch next to him, my heart crashing into my chest as my breathing gets ragged. Kevin motions for us to follow him out the exit door that a young nurse was holding for us.

We all run to the exit, as bullets skim pass us. Nick looks back and crashes into me, causing me to slam into Howie who in turn pushes Kevin down the stairwell. In a chaotic panic, we tumble and run down the stairs as we hear the slamming of the bullets on the upper floor. In a matter of minutes, we all stood outside the prestigious St. Ann’s hospital praying that somehow the psychos were caught. We stand staring at the hospital building, its wide white bricked building ; gave it an almost homely feel, a different vibe then what was occurring within the premises. Howie watches all this is dismay, the shock wearing thin on him.

“D, I think the doctor’s right on this one. Who ever is doing that is after us, not the patients.” I whisper towards him, patting him on his shoulder.

Howie looks at me, his cinnamon complexion paling in fear, “You forgot A.J. is one of us! He’s still up there! Up there with the psychos! They’ll get him if they wanted too!” He shouts at me, his fists balled up to the side.

Kevin pulls Howie away from me as he tries to calm down the man. Nick gulps and looks at me whispering, “They wouldn’t hurt A.J. right? I mean if whoever is after us, wouldn’t they what all of us, not just him right?”

I shake my head, “I, I don’t know. Maybe it’s the money or something. I just wanna see if A.J. is ok! I haven’t seen him for while and it’s bugging me that I can’t even see how my friend is.” I whisper my voice lowering as the tears blur my vision.

I feel Kevin’s hand on my shoulder as he pulls me away from the hospital pathway, “Brian, we’ll see what can be. Just be strong, don’t think about the negative things. I don’t want you more scared than you are, ok?”

I nod my head and walk away from the hospital, staring at the silent institution, its quiet serene surroundings fooling those that pass by it.
~*~

She steps into the room, a smile spreading across her rosy cheeks. “You guys. I think we found him.” Alena smirks, her bluish green eyes capturing the man in front of her. He was quite the catch: his light tan caramel complexion shines in the light as his dark brown eyes peers in fright at her. His arms are works of art indeed, which were covered with tattoos. She giggles and passes her fingers through her blond tresses that tumble around her snowy face. Pointing the silver pistol in A.J’s direction, she gives the signal to two of her armed men to grab him.

The two burly men each grab an arm as A.J. tries screaming and thrashing about, screaming out profanities and pleas. Alena places her pointer finger over his quivering sweet lips. “Shhh. We have plans for you my boy. Amerian thinks he can play around. But I have the mouse, now let’s that cat come after you.” A.J. still screaming and fighting off the soldiers: stops immediately when he feels the cold pistol head touch his forehead. “I’ll shoot if you keep it up. I don’t have time for this. Now cooperate or you’ll die. How funny if seems you’re ‘drowning’ in this little game we call life.” Alena states: giggling at her own joke. She leads the two men out the room as they drag a wounded A.J. with them.
~**~

~**TO BE CONTINUED…**~

A/N: THANKS for the new reviews Rose and Ana!!! You guys make me smile, hehe. You guys are great! Here is the new chapter Ready, then good reading! Bye for now!

“A Broken Soul”
**~Chapter 5~**

I open my eyes and stare around the back of a van I’m in. The pounding headache woke me up to see that somehow I was drugged to unconsciousness. Its musty smell and cracked splintered windows, started to affect my stomach. I feel myself get queasy and the decaying smell of paint in the van is making me gag. I try moving my hands, but noted that a thick rope was wrapped around my wrists behind me. My body feels weak and exhausted, my legs burned with pain as the thick ropes tied around my ankles press against my skin. Somehow I was dressed in my clothes though when I was kidnapped I was in a hospital gown. My loose denim jeans hung down and I have on a white wife beater. The van rumbles and speeds it way down a busy highway as the soft evening sun gleams its ray down the asphalt. My throat is sore from all the screaming, and my eyes feel weary. I wanted to run out and jump out the back of the van even if it risked seriously wounding myself even more: but it would be worth the risk. I look around the front of the van, where one broken seat is besides the driver’s. A burly armed man was whispering something inaudible to a woman’s ear that is leaning over him. The two men that had kidnapped me, the one driving was laughing. The other one, who’s sitting on the floor across from me, smiles at me as he cleans his pistol with a rag. That man smirks and rolls his dark eyes at me before blowing a kiss at me. Disgusted by the whole act, I quickly turn my head over to the front of the van, where the woman leans near the other guard driving.

I let my eyes scroll down her curvy body, I should have looked away but my hormones told me something else. I let my eyes drop to her long slender legs that showed beneath her short denim skirt. ‘She’s a bit pale, but what the hell?’ I think to myself as the woman runs her pale snowy thin fingers through her long blonde locks down her back. I smile, ‘Too bad you want to kill me.’ I mutter to myself.

It seemed she knew she was being watched and turns around to face me. Smiling, her face lit up, “Well you’re up. Nice to see the drugs didn’t wear you out.” She whispers seductively, licking her crimson red painted lips.

I stare at her angrily and frown, “You could have at least asked for my phone number before you take me home with you.” I growl sarcastically, my voice straining to be heard.

She laughs heartily and beams happily, “Oh A.J. Is it ok if I call you that by the way?”

I snarled at her and this gets a good chuckle out of the guard sitting across from me.

The soft giggles from the woman erupted from her soft lips, “You’re quite the funny one today now aren’t you?”

I laugh sarcastically and shrug my bruised shoulders, “Yeah well I try.” I growl, my eyes expressing the rage bubbling within me. I wince as the stinging pain in my stomach reminded me of my injury.

The woman smiles and makes her way slowly to me. She runs her long fingers through my unruly black and brown hair and scrapes her red painted nails down my neck. Her warm breath infiltrates my ear as she whispers all the nasty things she would do to me if she had the chance. I gulp and close my eyes, wishing this all away. I wanted to wake up and not be in a dirty van with a psychotic chick and two maybe possible bi-sexual men, one driving and the other sitting across from me.

I snap open my eyes when my body is filled with an uncomfortable throbbing pain. I gaze down to my ankles to see the woman poking a small knife into my tender flesh. She kneels down on her knees and stares up at me. “A.J. Tell me: what is your fantasy?”

I turn my nose up in the air and blow out a puff of air, “One where you’re not in it and I’m actually enjoying what is being done to me.”

Laughing the woman stands and leans over me, practically shoving her small chest to my face, her blond strands tickling my cheeks.

“Just give me a chance and I’ll have you dreaming about me then.” The woman whispers into my ear.

I hold back a laugh and shake my head, “I don’t that sweetie. You’re not my type.”

She sticks out her lower lip and bats her beautiful sapphire almost emerald like eyes at me, fiddling with the collar of my of my black leather jacket, she pouts. “A.J. let me make it worthwhile that you were taken away from there before Amerian found you.”

I gulp and stare out the tinted window besides me: maybe if I play along I can get info about my sudden kidnapping and her sudden interest in me.

“So, why am I here? Should I be so lucky as to be staring at an angel such as yourself?” I ask smoothly, smiling at the practice I had with women in my past relationships.

She giggles and gently passes her hand down the left side of my cheek, “Well.” She whispers huskily, “It seemed my little plan backfired. See Alex. Don’t you remember me?”

I stare at her confused, “Should I?”

She laughs loudly, patting my cheek roughly. “Come on Alex, think! Look at me! You don’t remember me?!” She whispers loudly as she straddles onto my lap, flinging her legs behind me. Her blond tresses lie loosely, caressing my face.

“I’m sorry, I don’t remember you. I meet too many people and been in too many relationships to recall you.” I say quietly, staring up at her eyes.

She growls angrily and roughly pushes me away from her as she stands up and walks away from me. She turns to look at me and lashes out screaming that I should know who she is.

I gulp and stare at the woman. I don’t know who she is or what she what’s from me, but whatever I did to her: it looks like I’ll be paying for it now.

I watch as she screams at the guard that is sitting across from me on the floor. The man growls and pushes the woman away from her. I hear him yell something about it’s not his fault that I can’t remember who she is. It seemed after that statement the woman yells and reaches for the guard’s pistol in his hand. The unsuspecting guard watches in shock as the woman raises the pistol and pulls the trigger, shooting the man in the forehead. The cracking shot slams into the man as he stands there in alarm. The blood sprays on her and stains the walls. The other guard- the driver- screams out and stops the van, yelling something in a foreign language as he grabs the woman in his arms. I watch the event unfold before me in pure horror, my heart for that one minute stopped beating as I see a trail of the crimson blood spurt out of the tiny indented hole that punctured the man’s forehead. I stare in complete distress as the muscular man, collapses on the van floor dead on the spot. His dark eyes rolled up to his head as his ashen pale skin is tainted in red.

I stare up at the enraged woman as she continues yelling at the corpse before her. She drops to her knees and cries out how she wished Amerian had been here. She sobs quietly and peers at me from between her hands. Turning her head, she sniffs and stands up, walking over to me. She slumps beside me, joining me on the hard uncomfortable floor. She stares at me with her wet eyes and smiles, “Sorry about that. You didn’t need to see that. But I promise when we get to where we are going it’ll be well worth it.” And she leans over to me and gently kisses my lips. I watch the woman in dismay as I see her pretty face smile as she closes her eyes for a nap.

The other guard grunts and kicks the dead one corpse on his side. I watch as the trail of sticky blood streaks the van floor and close my eyes hoping to wake up from this nightmare. ‘What are they gonna do to me?’ I think as the other guard gets back in the driver’s seat and pulls away from the roadside. I cross my fingers and hope to God that I can live to see another day.
~*~

Kevin paces the room worriedly as he gazes at his three band mates. “Ok, look I just got word that A.J. is missing from the hospital. He was kidnapped by the ones that were shooting.”

Nick looks up from his seat in distress, his ocean eyes pleading for a real answer, “So we’re in danger, aren’t we? I mean A.J. is taken and the police mentioned that we should get more guards to watch over us.”

“We’re in this deeper than we thought.” Brian whispers, his gaze lost in his own little world. The harsh yellow lights in the police station gleam down on them as they sit in the waiting area waiting to get called.

Howie closes his eyes as he feels a prick of tears poking at the corners of his eyes. He was hurting for the loss of his friend. No one knows where A.J. is, how his condition is and even if he by God’s grace is still living at the moment in the hands of the kidnappers.

“Why A.J.? I don’t get it.” Kevin whispers: stopping mid-walk and slumps into the soft cushioned chair.

Howie rubs his hands together nervously, they as a group haven’t gotten any sleep or rest for hours as the on going investigation for possible suspects and kidnappers linger in their minds.

The quiet waiting room is interrupted when a young Asian cop, his jet black hair covered his head as a beige police cap covered his head. He eyes the men and waits for their attention.

Brian looks up and nods his head, as Kevin, Nick and Howie gaze at the officer.

Clearing his throat, the cop begins what is found and the possible threats, “See, it’s the strangest thing really. We took fingerprints from the doorway in the hospital when the attacker was running around and it matches one of your prints.”

Gasps were heard all over the room, “No, no see that’s impossible! We were all together the whole time.” Nick yells out, his hands shaking in fear. Brian pulls the young man in an embrace as Nick shivers.

Kevin nods his head, his emerald eyes staring at Nick, “He’s right officer. We were together the whole time.”

Then Howie spoke, whispering in a low tone, “Actually, Nick left to get food for A.J. So we weren’t together the entire time.”

Kevin narrows his eyes, “What do mean by that?! I can’t believe you! You’re blaming Nick for this fiasco. What about the trust? You think Nick could have something to do with this!”

Howie hangs his head, “I never said that. I just stated the facts.” He whispers, his voice aggravated.

Nick screams out pointing his finger suddenly, “You think it’s me don’t you?! You think I would do something so sick as to hurt one of you!”

Kevin quickly walks in the middle of the two men as Nick stares down at Howie, ready to pounce on him. “You guys!! STOP THIS!! We don’t need this right now!!” He whispers loudly, trying to calm them down. The others quieted down and the soft whispering of Brian is heard.

Brian gulps, “This is messing with our heads, it’s trying to break us apart. We can’t let that happen, can we?”

Howie shakes his head, “No. No, we can’t.” And they listen to the officer who called them into the back of station for further questioning.
~*~

Amerian drives down the street and pulls the BMW up to a local warehouse. He opens the car door and slips out, quickly slamming the car door behind him. He reaches the main entrance to the warehouse and sees his partner leaning on the cement wall of the warehouse.

“There you are Amerian. I thought you would never show up. What took you so long?” The man states, his dark brown eyes staring in curiosity as he passes his thick fingers through his short tangle black hair.

Amerian smiles, “Sorry Jeremiah about the waiting. It seems Alena took the plan to the extreme. She kidnapped one of the band members.”

Jeremiah smirks, his caramel complexion glittering in the evening sunlight. He stands at a height of six feet and two inches and he straightens his back, cracking it a bit before speaking. “I think I know where she might have taken the guy. So should I call you by your name when we see the guy or play with his head.”

Amerian laughs, “You know what, let’s mess with him. I think the name Brian will work just fine.” And both guys burst in laughter as they head back over to the vehicle to put the plan in action.
~**~


~**TO BE CONTINUED…**~

A/N: Thanks Summer for giving this story a chance! Thanks to the other readers who are reading this story, you all know the deal, drop a review or e-mail it to me k. Take care and enjoy! *grins* (By the way, if interested there’s a story on the action area of this site called “Contributions of Dilemma” it’s a spicy action story so if you’re interested, I’m writing it along with my co-writer Ana.

“A Broken Soul”
**~Chapter 6~**

He drums his fingers on the steering wheel as he waits for the red stop light to change. Grumbling he lowers the car window and spits over the sides of the car, taking out the bitter taste left in his mouth from Alena’s pride. It seems yesterday he received a call from Alena stating that she captured a member of the group and that Amerian’s plan is defected. Amerian grumbles and recalls the taunting voice of Alena giggling erotically into his ear on the phone. He curls his fist tightly and rams it on the steering wheel angrily. He lets out a low vulgarity burning on his lips as his dark azure eyes scan the busy streets ahead of him. He hears Jeremiah sitting besides him whispering and laughing at the mention of something amusing on the car radio. Amerian growls and quickly turns off the radio, annoyed to hear laughter from someone besides himself.

“Hey yo, Amerian. What’s your problem man? I was listening to that!” Jeremiah mutters angrily, eyeing him from the corner of his dark eyes.

Amerian flips his middle finger up at the man before pushing his foot on the pedal to move the car.

Jeremiah grumbles and lets out a sigh, “So, you know where it is right?”

Amerian glares at his partner and nods his head, “Yeah, its about a good two days away. She got the lead on this. But if she thinks she’s getting away with it, she’s messing with the wrong guy.” Suddenly Amerian does a sharp turn into a back of a vacant driveway behind a closed down mall and swings open the car door. Stepping out, he takes a deep breathe and pats his chest.

Jeremiah gazes at him strangely from within the vehicle and steps out to join his partner, “Why did we stop here?”

Amerian smirks and pats Jeremiah’s caramel left cheek roughly, “Came to pick up something. Figured we’ll need it.” And he walks towards the closed doors where the mall doors were gated locked.

“Yo, Am. Drop this. We could get spotted by someone!” Jeremiah whispers loudly, his teeth clenched tightly. He watches Amerian reach the barred up doors and stare as Amerian picks the locks and kicks open the dusty mall doors. Jeremiah stares around the roadside, the streets cleared up now as a few cars are spotted speeding down the road and disappearing beneath the highway.

Amerian turns to face his partner and tilts his head towards inside the vacant mall. Jeremiah licks his lips nervously and walks slowly towards his friend. “I don’t know about this Amerian. We’re risking our necks for this stupid bet with the chick!” He growls, his dark blacks curls blowing in the breeze.

Amerian smiles and walks into the mall like warehouse where large wooden boxes full of arsenal lie scattered about. “Ah, look, treasure galore. Pick your gun. We’ll need it when Alena and her little buddies face us.”

Jeremiah shakes his head as his dark eyes scan through piles of pistols and rifles of all type. “Man this is an army’s dream come true.” He whispers shuffling through broken boxes full of loaded weapons. He pulls out a semi-automatic and smiles. “I think I found mine’s” He whispers to Amerian.

Amerian smiles and winks to his friend, “Good choice! Jay. Now then, where is my baby?” He asks, his sapphire eyes gazing through two boxes until his eyes lit up on a large wooden box ripped open, its contents lying and poking out the corners of it. The box itself was hidden in the shadows.

Jeremiah laughs as Amerian races over and picks up a small silencer: kissing it on the side as the silver color sparkled in the incoming sunlight. “Am, you ready? Let’s go.”

Amerian smirks, “Ready as I’ll ever be. Now let’s get to the fun now, shall we?”

“Sure will! Where to Am?” Jeremiah asks as both men exit the warehouse and lock it up.

Amerian smiles, “To the Towers Hotel.”

Jeremiah raises his eyebrows in confusion as both men board the black BMW. Amerian buckles the pistol onto the side of his belt and answers what Jeremiah must be thinking. “We’re heading over to the Towers Hotel cause that’s where the other members of the group are staying at the moment.”

Jeremiah smiles, “Ah, I see. Once they see ‘you’ then they’ll think everything is ok.”

“That and I promised Alena that if she thought that I wasn’t gonna get to the others guys and not hurt them that she’s wrong. This is too easy. The guys will listen to me and once I have the four members, Alena will own me over 2.5 mill. And let me tell you, my pockets are pretty empty now. So that amount should fit snug right here.” He states, patting his black jean pocket.

Jeremiah laughs as they pull away from the driveway and disappear down the road towards their destination.
~*~

Howie listens to the radio discussing some entertainment news and his ears perked up at the mention of his group. He leans closer to the small hotel radio and turns up the volume:

-‘Hey did you hear the story with the Backstreet Boys? Will it seems a member has been caught and suspects speculate it’s a fan obsessed with one of the members and took him as a hostage. It’s quite funny really, I’m sure the guy is doing fine! Hell, I bet he’s happy cause I heard the kidnapper is some hot woman. But police investigation is ongoing on finding out who would want the guy. I would have taken the money and brought the guy back, but that’s just me. So the search is on. No one can identify the woman kidnapper and the police are baffled at this whole thing. But I’m thinking this is a set up, I mean the guys want attention so I bet they did this for people to notice them. But hey that’s just my opinion, don’t you fans be calling up and get mad with us, ok? This is Craig H. giving you the hottest gossip around every hour on the hour.’

Howie shuts off the radio and in anger rips the cord off the wall socket, slamming the radio on the carpeted floor. “People think it’s a joke. What was I expecting from the news, happy stuff?” He asks aggravated. Sounding defeated, he crashes on the beautifully covered king size bed. His back is comforted by the soft mattress beneath, as his eyes scan the beige paint on the ceiling above him. His thoughts wonder over to back when they were at the police station yesterday. The cops suspecting that the fingerprints found matched Brian’s identical. He recalled when the news hit, Brian broke down in sobs screaming he would never think of doing or hurting anyone in anyway. The news hit hard for Brian, he felt consumed with guilt and hid away, fearing the other guys would hate him from the accusations. Surprising, the guys stood by their friend believing that Brian would never possibly think of something that full of hatred. Sure Brian like any human being would get angry, but he never let his anger get the best of him. Howie knows fully well that Brian handles his anger the best out of any in the group. In fact if Brian was ever angry at anyone, he would be the first to confess and apologize even if he wasn’t at fault. He detested it when someone was upset with him and would put their interest first before his. So there is no way Brian could be the one at blame. Someone was going around framing his friend and Howie intended to find out who this person was even if he would get hurt along the way.

The soft knocking on the hotel door distracts Howie from his thoughts. Getting up from the bed, he opens the door to see a depressed Brian, his eyes red and swollen from the constant angry pleas and crying. “Can, can I come in?” Brian manages a throaty whisper, cringing when Howie stared at him for a minute.

Howie felt compassionate against his hurting friend and gently pulls Brian into the suite. “You don’t have to ask. You’re like family to me. You know that.” Howie states softly, watching Brian wipe his hand over his sandy blonde hair. “Here, grab a seat. We can talk. Want something to drink? You hungry?” Howie ask, hoping to avail to his friend’s needs.

“You don’t have to be nice to me Howie, you know.” Brian whispers, sniffing softly as fresh tears touched the edge of his cloudy ocean blue eyes. Those oceans of Brian’s eyes crash and rise in storms of agony as Brian sits down in a leather chair staring at the large glass window in the room.

Howie sighs and kneels down beside his friend, “I’m not trying to be nice. I’m trying to be your friend. I know it’s hard what you’re going through. But why would you think I wouldn’t be here to support you?” He whispers gently, knowing if he speaks loud, he could alarm the already emotional turmoil man beside him.

“Cause the others don’t wanna talk to me. Only Kevin and even he’s a bit edgy around me.” Brian whispers sadly as a new fresh batch of tears fill up his eyes.

“Oh God, Brian. I’m so sorry for what is happening. They’re just confused, we all are. We don’t know what to believe, but know this. None of us here think you are responsible for what happened with A.J. We believe you’re innocent, you should have nothing to fear.” Howie states, hoping to comfort his broken friend.

Brian shakes his head and pulls out a white envelope from his pocket. With shaky hands, he givess it to Howie and cries out, “Read it!”

Howie gulps and shakes his head, this was too much for Brian to handle. Howie feared his friend could have a heart attack or fall under a stroke with all the pressure and stress that he’s been handling. “Ok, I will. Just calm down buddy. It’s gonna be ok.”

“Just read it already!” Brian screams, the trail of dry tears stain his flushed cheeks.

Howie runs his fingers through his brown hair and takes out a white letter, his eyes open wide as he realize it’s a court date from management prosecuting Brian’s actions against A.J.’s disappearance and damage done on the hospital. “They think you had to do with everything that is happening.” Howie whispers out loud staring at the broken soul of Brian.

“Everyone’s against me. I’m fighting a losing battle Howie!” Brian whispers aggravated, the quiet sobs escaping at times.

“No, not everyone! You have us! You have me!” Howie states, his heart beating rapidly. He was scared for his friend, for Brian’s sanity. “I’m gonna fix this. They can’t send you this! It hasn’t been proven yet!”

“What else do they need?! They found my fingerprints on the wall Howie! They found a boot imprint that matches the ones I wear. Whoever is doing this wants to see me go to jail!” Brian cries out, covering his shuddering body with his arms.

Howie sighs nervously, this whole thing is too much for Brian, he was breaking down. Howie assumes this is what the kidnappers have planned. “Brian, you’re being framed. I just know it. And if no one else is gonna help you, then I’ll personally look for the psycho who is in charge of this. We’ll find A.J.”

Brian takes his hands away from his face and peers at Howie curiously, “You’ll do this on your own?”

“No.” Another voice states, as Nick and Kevin enter the suite. “Not alone. We’re gonna help you buddy.” Nick states, through watering sapphire eyes.

“All of us. I didn’t join a group to do things solo. That’s why we have each other.” Kevin says smiling, his emerald eyes glittering in glee.

Brian smiles and for that one moment, the Brian they had missed with them was back. “Please, fix this. I don’t know how long I can handle the fact that everyone else thinks I’m the psycho Backstreet Boy out on revenge.”

“Sorry that job is taken already by Nick.” Kevin states as Nick acts surprise and playfully pushes Kevin out the way.

Nick smiles and embraces Brian, “Stay strong. Don’t let this break you. You got us, we’ll take care of it. We get to be detectives and track the sicko. This is cool man!” Nick states, making the others laugh.

“Figured Nick would find this interesting. So where should we begin searching?” Howie asks, beaming happily as Brian’s eyes clear the tears away.

“First thing, we have to be together at all times. Management already has suspicion on Brian’s motives. So if we can convince them to drop the court case, that’ll be one hurdle we’ve fixed.” Kevin states, rubbing his cousin’s shoulder gently.

“Well that’s gonna be hard to do.” Nick states, pulling on his blonde locks which lie loosely on his head.

“Na, we’ll think of something.” Howie states, giving Brian an encouraging smile.

“As for A.J.’s kidnappers, if I know anything from the way one can work. They could be coming back here to get any one of us. I mean they already have A.J. who’s worth over a million in his name. Imagine the money they could get to have all of us. They’d be set and living wonderfully with the amount we’re worth as a group.” Kevin states and continues, “Hence I decided to hire some body doubles. But not just any body doubles, I mean the men that I interviewed could defend themselves and are professionally trained to fight in martial arts. Not only that, but they look identical to us. And you thought there isn’t another Brian. Guys, I like to introduce to you, the other ‘Backstreet Boys.’ He says with a grin on his face and turns to open Howie’s hotel door.

Five men enter the room, all eerie resembling the original members in the group. Kevin stands in front of the man looking similar to him and points, “This is Canon, he’s been in the police force for over five years and has a daughter that loves our music.” At that statement, the guys all laugh and watch as Kevin introduces Sean- Nick’s double and Franklin- Howie’s body double. “Both of these guys have been trained in the martial arts and have mastered it. They work for the nation’s military camp, training soldiers at times to defend properly. As for A.J. the whole kidnapping thing is affecting the fans, so to ease their worries I hired Emmanuel- A.J.’s body double.

Nick stands there aghast, “Dag man, Kevin you weren’t kidding. They look exactly like us. This is way freaking dude!”

The body doubles chuckle softy as Kevin rolls his eyes, “Well Sean, looks like you got your job cut out for you.”

The man laughs, his sapphire eyes gleaming in laughter, “Sure do, but I’m sure I’m up to the challenge.”

“Hey, I can hear that you know!” Nick growls, a smirk forming on the side of his face.

“That’ll be quite a challenge man.” Brian states, laughing for the first time since the police investigation.

Howie breaks out laughing as Nick narrows his eyes, “Real funny Rok, ha, ha. I’m laughing.” Nick growls playfully.

Kevin continues talking, diverting the attention back to the five body doubles. “Ok and finally Brian this man will be you. Brian this is Amerian. He’s been a security guard hired from the best companies to protect celebrities. So you got the best protection around little buddy.” Kevin says smiling, patting Brian’s shoulder happily.

Brian smiles and walks over to Amerian, “Hey nice to meet you. Has anyone ever told you that you look like me?”

Amerian smiles, “Plenty of times. Which is why when I heard your friend Kevin was looking for security that had to resemble them, I thought this could be my chance to really be a Backstreet Boy.”

Brian smiles, “Cool, wow. So Kev. We’re off to do this right?”

Kevin nods his head knowing Brian wanted to find A.J.’s kidnappers as soon as possible. The faster the better and Brian can clear his name off of management.

“Well guys.” Kevin talks to the body doubles, “We have to do some stuff, but you guys have to go meet the label, they’re gonna send you on an interview. They’ll give you the answers to what we said of the given questions, so have fun and be safe.” And with that Kevin, Howie, Nick and Brian leave the suite as the five men followed them behind them.

Amerian smiles and crosses his fingers behind his back. He was in and now he has close access to the group, ‘Oh Alena. You lost out.’ He thinks to himself as he follows the other look-a-like security men out the door.
~**~

**~To Be Continued…~**

A/N: Hey guys I’m back with the new stuff for this story. You all know the deal, leave a review and make me smile! Thanks so much for reading you guys and supporting the story! J

“A Broken Soul”

**~Chapter Seven~**

He opens his eyes slowly as he adjusts to the bright morning light pouring into the small glass window. He tilts his head to the side and stares around the bedroom he is being held in. His body was exhausted and still healing from the earlier incident of the stabbing back at the hotel. He wanted to fight, and he did when the guards got him and dragged him to the place he’s at. But it only got him in more trouble when Alena talked with him. It seemed Alena truly believed she dated A.J. somewhere in the past. A.J. knew fully well that the woman was just imagining it, he never seen that woman before in his life and he never forgets a face. The only word that could capture Alena’s attitude is ‘psycho’ but that was just an understatement for him. He feels his legs cramped in the same position: he wanted to get up and stretch but that was impossible with the wound on his side throbbing painfully. After the three hour van trip, Alena and the remaining guard had met up with other burly armed men who had taken A.J. to a small one story house and locked him in a bedroom. A.J. recalled that after getting placed in the room, Alena in her many conniving ways tried to persuade A.J. that they had history. A.J. had recalled telling her that he didn’t remember them ever being together.

“I’m sorry I don’t know you. I’ve never seen you before until today.” A.J. had stated causing the young woman to get upset.

Her blonde locks lie wildly around her shoulders as she had reached for a small blade waving it rapidly in front of his face, “Tell me why I shouldn’t cut you up now for what you said?!” She yells shrilly, her blue green eyes wide open for vengeance.

A.J. gulps thinking about the trouble that minor argument lead to: Alena had him tied to the bed- with his arms cuffed to the dark mahogany headboard and his feet tied to the foot board. “There. So you won’t go anywhere. You better not give me any more problems. I’ll give you time to remember cause you’re probably nervous or scared and can’t remember right.” She growled after she had one of the guards tie A.J. up on the bed.

A.J. at this point was furious, his eyes narrow at her as she had left the room, locking the wooden door behind her. Now A.J. was stuck on the rough small twin size bed tied tightly and unable to move. His head turns as the bedroom door opens to see Alena slide into the room. The corners of her eyes smile at him as she carries a small bowl towards him. The soft chicken and turkey scent whiffed passed him as she places the bowl full of soup on the night stand besides him on the bed.

“I thought you would be hungry. So I made you some soup.” Alena whispers as she sits gently on the corner of the bed, cupping her hands around his face.

A.J. glares at her as she shakes her head and pointer finger at him, “Behave or I won’t let you go.”

A.J. wanted answers and he figured if he was to get them that he’ll play along with her and try to get out of the house as fast as he can. “Hey baby listen. Look, why don’t you tell me exactly why you’re so mad at me? What did I do to you that made you go through all this? Why kidnap me?”

Alena smiles and breaks into a fit of giggles, “Oh Mclean, you never lost that humor of yours. You want me to spoil the whole thing, well remember when we talked?” She asked, batting her light eyes at him.

A.J. stares at her confused, “When we talked, where in the van?”

“No silly.” She giggles, “When you got mad at me that I wanted to get your autograph. You said you were in a rush and ran passed me to get in the van with the other members of the group.”

A.J. gulps and as the thought that this woman was a complete psycho egged him on to finding why she would go through with such a plan, “When was this?”

She smiles, “Two months ago, when you guys had a performance in New Jersey. I was waiting backstage with some fans and you ran pass me like you didn’t even know who I was to you.”

A.J. smirks and asks her to continue on with the story.

Alena sighs and her face was downcast, “Alex, all I wanted was your autograph and a picture with you. But you didn’t pay attention to me. Didn’t even look at me once while back there. It was like I was invisible to you and I meant nothing to you.”

A.J. gulps and trying to find more data, asks her a question: “So we never dated then right?”

The woman smiles, “Almost. At least I like to think we did while you were at New Jersey. We shared a kiss, you even held my hands when we walked on the boardwalk to the beach. You took me to dinner and everything. You’re a great romantic whether you deny it or not. But Alex, I know I meant something to you cause you wouldn’t have found time to do that with me unless you loved me.”

Suddenly something clicked in A.J. head, he lets out a deep breath and nods his head recalling the time he spend with a young woman at a beach side and dining her. But then A.J.’s head snaps up, looking at Alena directly into her eyes, “Sweetie, I did do that with a woman, but she is my girlfriend and she’s a brunette, not a blonde. Maybe you should get your story straight before trying to pull that over my eyes.”

Alena growls and stands up pointing her finger at him, “That could have been me if you just looked back when I called you! But you were too busy and didn’t even turn to look at me when all I wanted was a picture from you!” She screams, her blue green eyes clouded with unshed tears.

A.J. nibbles on his lower lip and shrinks back as Alena leans over the bed above him, her blond tresses tickling A.J’s tan cheeks. She smirks and pulls out of her pocket a small blade, the metal glowing in the soft sunlight from the window.

A.J. sucked in air as he watches Alena trace the tip of the sharp blade over his chin gently, never cutting him but enough to scare him senseless. His eyes wide open in fear, watch Alena smile and blow him a kiss. Suddenly the door to the room is opened and a burly guard enters it, surprising Alena who was almost draped over A.J. like a blanket. She moves her long legs away from the bed and stands up regal, glaring at the guard.

The guard more embarrassed than poor A.J. was, stutters out an apology and backs away from the doorway. It seems Alena didn’t accept the apology and throws her small sharp blade at the guard like a true professional. The blade swiftly slices through the air and slams directly into the man’s chest.

The muscular guard stands traumatized as the small blade cuts into his chest cavity and lies lunged into his left heart valve. There was silence in the room for that one moment as the guard slams into the wooden floor dead on the spot. A small trickle of blood flows gently out, staining the red wood planks. A.J. watches in pure dismay as he whispers out a profanity.

“Oh God, what did you do to this man?” A.J. whispers loudly, his voice shaken up a little from what he just witnessed.

Alena turns to look at him and smiles, “Kill him. He interrupted me from what I had planned for you. But looks like I got to clean up now, don’t I? I’ll be back and we can continue our conversation. Don’t scream, cause I might have to hurt you too if you do.” And she walks out the room, leaving A.J. and dead guard in the room.

“What a wench.” A..J. states as she disappears out the room.

A.J. swallows hard and stares at the dead corpse before him, “Please God, get me out here! The woman is a psycho. Please let me out of here. I don’t know how long I can take hearing how crazy she is.” A.J. stares out the window and waits for his prayer to be answered, hopefully it will be soon.
~*~

Jeremiah splashes some cold water through his black curls and face and stares at the bathroom mirror. He was pleased that Amerian managed to get into the security forces for the celebrities. American had called him a few minutes ago, excited about he was officially one of guys double and guard. He could still hear how enthusiastic Amerian’s voice was and that brought a smile on his face. Jeremiah grabs a towel and wipes his face dry with it. Flinging the small wet towel over to the fully dressed bed, he grabs his black leather jacket and makes his way out the door. He had to watch out for Alena’s groupies and such and contact Amerian if he sees anyone of Alena’s people. He leaves the building and leans on the wall waiting for Amerian to appear. He smiles and checks his watch, “Right on time my boy.” He whispers and watches Amerian and Brian talking about something before separating and heading in opposite directions.

Jeremiah watches American wink towards his direction and gives him the signal to watch the back part of the hotel. Jeremiah knew Amerian had to play off the part as being one of the members of the vocal group and was told from Amerian himself on the phone before hand that he was going to a radio show with the other body doubles to clear up some rumors. Jeremiah watches as American and four other body doubles board a black Cherokee with tinted windows and drive off down to a highway. “Good luck Am. You’ll need it.” And he fingers his silver pistol protectively as he watches the four members of the group walking with an officer down the street. He gulps and watches the group disappear out of his view when they turn a corner. Rolling his dark eyes, Jeremiah follows up: watching their every move hoping to catch what they are up to.
~*~

“Is it just me or do I feel like we’re being followed?” Nick mumbles as he turns his head around the park and down the street.

“Na, it’s just you.” Brian teased, poking Nick on the ribs, “Or maybe it’s a fan.”

Nick rolls his eyes and listens to the conversation between with Kevin and Howie.

“Ok, not for nothing, but I’m not sure what to think of those body doubles you hired for us Kev.” Howie states as a friendly officer talks with Nick and Brian about something.

“Look, I did research on these men. They’re the real deal. I mean I wouldn’t hire anyone that would place us in danger Howie.” Kevin remarks, his bright emerald eyes shining in the sunlight.

“Kevin is right, he wouldn’t do that to us even if he was mad at us.” Grins Nick mischievously.

Howie smiles, “I guess you’re right. Maybe I’m overreacting.”

“Overreacting is not the word, try freaking out D.” Nick whispers, eyeing Howie through the corner of his eye.

Howie sighs and grumbles, “Oh sure, so you’re telling me that having someone that looks identical to you and is using your identity doesn’t bother you one bit.”

“If it means my life then no, it doesn’t bother me. I want to feel protected and not think that I’m gonna get shot down or something cause of who I am.” Nick states confidently, his azure eyes glittering in the morning light.

Kevin looks at Howie and nods his head, “I know it’s a bit weird to have people using our identity, but it has come down to this point because of A.J. And it’ll continue to be this way even after we find him.”

“The question is when we will find him.” Brian interjects upon the conversation. “The officer told me that he has taken full initiative on capturing the mastermind behind all this mess. The fingerprints founds on the walls that were mine were devised by someone, it seems whoever it was, took an item that held my prints and was later wiped off carefully and use to frame me at the shooting in St. Ann’s. The officer said the fingerprints of mine was backwards, meaning someone took the original with mine and stuck it on something giving it the backwards impression on the doorway at the hospital.”

Kevin nods his head thoughtfully, “Well whoever it coming up with the scheme thought it out pretty good. We’re down a member and the evidence is leading and making us blame one another. So if this is what the sicko planned, he planned it out effectively.”

Nick finds an empty park bench and slumps down into it, watching the birds flutter about the trees in the early chilly spring morning. “Wonder what A.J. is doing right now?” He whispers sadly, his blonde spikes blowing in the breeze.
~*~

“Come on. Just a taste for me please, Ajey Wagey.” Alena whispers seductively at the man. A.J. turns his head at the cold spoonful of chicken soup.

“I’m not hungry.” A.J. growled, as he hears Alena let out a big sigh.

“Look, I’ll make a deal with you. You eat the soup and I’ll untie you for a bit. You can walk around the room and not leave. I’ll leave a guard here and you can use the bathroom and such. And if you behave, I’ll let you make one phone call.”

“What the hell is this? A jail? Since when do I have to the chance to make one call?” A.J. seethe, the anger burning in his eyes.

Alena smiles gently and places the metal soup back into the bowl. “I’m trying my best to be nice to you. Don’t let me have to do what I did to my past two guards. They’re dead and I won’t hesitate with you either. Plus you’re worth hundreds of thousands of dollars alive, just imagine how much more when you’re dead.”

That statement shut A.J.’s mouth as he places a fake smile and leans his head near the bowl of soup opening his mouth. Alena smiles and pats his unruly brown and black hair, “That’s a good boy. Now where were we?” She lifts the spoonful of soup and places it in A.J’s mouth as he pretends to smile all the while the anger and rage burning within him.

His thoughts were elsewhere, he wanted to get out of here, wherever this ‘here’ was in the house and be back with his friends and family. He wanted to see the ones that really love him, not for his fame or money. But for now, he’ll have to deal with an obsessed fan and try to play with her mind games in hopes that he can still be alive to tell it to his friends.
~**~

**~To Be Continued…~**

A/N: Welcome back peeps to another chapter of this story, *giggles* I feel that I should give you guys my readers a gift of my new chapter! So enjoy and take care my people!

“A Broken Soul”

**~Chapter Eight~**

The man ruffles through a stash of papers and folders piled on his desk. Sighing, he leans back on the chair frustrated and shakes his head annoyed. He eyes the four men in front of him. “Ok, so you want me to help your friend out here to prove his innocence?”

He looks to see Howie, Kevin, Nick and Brian nod their heads in unison. “Well before I can take up this job, how much are we talking here?” the man states, leaning forward, his dark chocolate face scrawled with a smirk.

Kevin lets out a deep breathe and frustrated, jots down a large number on a small sheet of paper, handing it to the man.

The man quickly scans his eyes over the large figure jotted on the paper and smiles, breaking into a laugh. “Man, this is crazy! You know what I can do with this amount! I can live a life I always imagine it to be with this dinero!” He says happily, waving the paper in front of his face and letting it go as it floats in the air before gently drifting to the sticky tiles.

“So you’re in then right, Dominick.” Kevin whispers loudly, his emerald eyes open in suspense.

Dominick nods his head and throws his hands in the air, “Yeah man, no doubt. I mean what are friends for right?”

Brian sucked his teeth and rolled his eyes, “Friends?! Ha, just a minute ago you weren’t interested in this case. Wonder what could have changed your mind?” He states, stressing the last word in the sentence.

Dominick rolls his eyes, “Hey, get in check Littrel. Money talks. And you have a lot of that.”

Nick sighs loudly and flings his arms in the air angrily, “Figured. It’s always about money. Hey Howie man, I thought this guy was your friend? What’s the deal with him?”

Howie forces a smile and glares at Nick, “Nick we can talk about this when we leave. It’s rude to talk about a person in front of their face.”

“Oh no, no. Go right ahead. I’m interested to know what whitey has to say.” Dominick states gladly, leaning back on his black recliner office chair.

Nick growls and glares at Howie before standing up and making his way to leave the door.

“Nick! Take a seat! We’re not done here.” Kevin states annoyed, watching as the tall blonde grabs the vacant seat besides Howie and sits down grumbling under his breathe.

Brian sighs and clenches the arms of his chair, “Um, so you’re good at this right? Cause this is some serious junk I’m in. Our management is attempting to take me to court and if they do this, I can be found guilty under false premises!” His voice raised a bit loud at the end of the statement.

Howie places a comforting hand on Brian’s arm in hopes to calm his friend down. “Look, Dominick- I hope you take this seriously. My friend needs a way out of this and if management goes to court, we’re doomed.”

Laughter filters the room as Dominick chuckles softly, “Aight, aight, enough already. I’m in. As a representative of you guys I got your back. I’ll make sure Rok won’t see the light of a jail cell.”

“Great!” Kevin shouts gleefully as he shakes hands with the man and makes his way towards the door.

Brian smiles and states a thank you before leaving the small stuffy office room. Howie takes a deep breathe and thanks Dominick for his help before leaving the office. Nick smirks at the man and rolls his eyes.

Dominick smiles and gives Nick a quick nod as they exit the room. Nick, the last to step out, closes the door and Dominick sighs and leans back on the seat, staring at the job at hand. ‘Man how the hell am I gonna do this?’ He asks, running his large dark palm over his neatly shaven head. Sighing deeply, he closes his eyes and rubs his temples hoping to find a way to get Brian out of trouble waters.
~*~

The black trailblazer pulls up to the radio station, stopping in front of the driveway away from fans. The driver turns back to see the five body doubles and gasp in surprise for the first time, taking a good look at them. “Damn! Where Kevin found you guys? You look like the real deal! You’re not right?” The driver states, lowering his black shades peering at the five men.

Canon laughs and shakes his head, his emerald eyes locking at the stun driver’s face, “Don’t worry Joe. We ain’t them. So is this the radio place?”

The driver nods his face, “Yeah. You’ll have to enter through this way. If the fans see ya, they might wanna get a piece of ya!”

Emmanuel laughs, his dark eyes gleaming mischievously as he traces with his pointer finger the outline of the traced tattoos down his arms, “Hey I wouldn’t mind that.”

Joe the driver shakes his head mystifies, “Man you even have the attitude down. Hey speaking of A.J. do you guys get any new data about his whereabouts?”

The five all shake their heads as they get off the van making their way to the back door of the building where the radio station is at. A guard smiles and nods his head as the five men walk pass him into the doorway. The driver exits the van and pats the guard’s arm, “You know, not for nothing, but they have me fooled. These guys studied our Boys movements and everything. It’s a little disturbing for me.”

The burly guard stifles a laugh as he closes the door behind him following the ‘Boys’ to the radio station lobby. They reach a wide doorway and pass by the glass panes to see a D.J. talking on air about some entertainment news. As the ‘Boys’ enter the radio room, the D.J. smiles and gives them a thumbs up. The five nod their heads and they take a seat across from the D.J., watching and waiting for the D.J. to introduce them. The D.J. takes off his headphones as the red on air blinks off. “Hey guys! Great you’re here! We can get started! Fans have waiting here for the longest and the phone lines are full of questions for you.”

Amerian smiles and rubs his hands as he gazes at the other men besides him. Franklin- Howie’s double- looks around the station, examining every aspect of the room with interest.

Franklin leans over to Amerian and whispers that if anyone was out to get them, that they’re ready to fight. Franklin places his hands under the table in front of them and shows Amerian the small black pistol tucked on the side of his socks and inside the cuffs of his jacket. Amerian laughs and gives Franklin a high five gleefully.

“Alright guys, we’re on air in three, two, one. Hey everyone, welcome back to the power station, giving you the music you wanna hear. I’m here with some special guests and if you haven’t figured out who it is, maybe the fans outside will tell ya.” The D.J. states, speaking into a mic and smiling at the guys. “Alright, now let’s take the first caller for our special guests. Alright Heidie- guess what? You’re on the air- what’s your question?”

A young teenage girl voices filters the air in the station as she states she is a huge Backstreet fan and had asked if A.J. is feeling better. Emmanuel- A.J.’s double leans forward on the small mic in front of him and speaks, “Hey sweetie thanks so much for caring about me. I’m doing great, I had a flu and I was down for about a couple of days. It was pretty bad, I was in the hospital and everything. But I’m healed and I’m feeling on top of the world.”

The caller giggles and screams out in the phone how much she loves the group and hangs up. The D.J. smiles and takes another call for the guys. Amerian frowns and taps his feet impatiently. This was taking too much of his precious time, he knew Alena must be having a good riot out of this one, but he smiles thinking of the possibility that Jeremiah will capture and leer the Boys to get caught.

“Hey Brian, this next question is for you.” The D.J. states, taking another call. Amerian takes a deep breath and frowns as a giggling girl asks a question about Brian’s child.

Amerian feels the stares of the other four doubles, as they wait for his response. Amerian swallows hard and clears his throat before answering, “Oh he’s doing just fine. Thanks for caring. He’s at home right now as we speak sleeping, I’m sure of it. I mean the child is weird- he’s up in the night and by day he sleeps. So you can imagine how much sleep I get now.” The girl giggles at this statement and the D.J. takes another caller.

Amerian stares at Sean- Nick’s double and narrows his eyes at the young man. It seemed he recognized this man from before. As if he had seen the guy before. Once the red light on-air goes off, Amerian whispers over at Sean, not noting that the red on air light turned back on again.

“Yo, I’ve seen you before. Where did you work at before this?” Amerian states, blowing up their spot in front of the confused D.J. Sean snaps his head around quickly, glaring at Amerian.

“Rok, what are you talking about?” Sean states, his teeth clenched together tightly, hoping to maintain the identify they’re in and not confuse the poor D.J. who is asking if everything is ok.

Amerian closes his mouth and shakes his head, “Oh nothing. Sorry I was thinking out loud. I guess I’m hanging around you too much eh, Nick.” Amerian states, smiling, his azure eyes smiling playfully at the others.

Canon shakes his head disappointingly and sucks in a deep breath, “It’s fine, just be carefully B. Ok?” His emerald eyes locked tightly on Amerian.

Amerian smiles and nods his head, faking the southern accent the young backstreet boy has, “I will cuz.” And he apologizes to the confused D.J. who was watching them wearily. “So who’s the next caller? I’m excited about taking calls, these guys make us who we are. We have the best fans around!”

The D.J. clasps his hands and gets distracted pushing some buttons above him as he takes calls in. Amerian could feel the eyes of the other four on him, boring into his flesh. Amerian cursed himself under his breath and knew that simple mistake could have cost him his new job and could have screwed up getting close to the Boys. He sighs and leans back on the wooden chair eyeing the guys carefully. He knew he would have a lot of explaining to do when he leaves the radio station and begins thinking of a reliable excuse as to why he ask what he ask to Sean.
~*~

Jeremiah growls as he hears a busy signal on Amerian’s cell. “Come on Am. You gotta pick up. Who are you talking too?” He whispers, scanning his eyes around the hotel suite he’s in. Suddenly the phone line cleared and he hears the phone ring twice before Amerian picks up.

“Yo, what took you so long?” Jeremiah hissed angrily.

Amerian laughs and responses, “Hey man, chill out. I had a tough day, trying to fool the media that I’m Brian.”

“I heard of the mistake you made on the radio. You had asked one of guys about if you seen him before hand.” Jeremiah states.

Amerian rolls his eyes and mutters in the phone, “Damn, you could hear that on the radio?! Geez, I screwed up then. If Alena is listening to the radio, she might have caught on.”

Jeremiah laughs, “Doubt that. Hey listen, I found out where Alena is holding the missing member of the group. It’s about twenty miles down into New Jersey, nearby the old amusement park. She rented out a building that used to reside close to the ocean. It seems the guy is doing well. She isn’t treating him badly, at least not yet.”

“That woman needs help. If she believes she can persuade him or just anyone in general about how they should feel about her, she needs to get her head checked.” Amerian states.

Jeremiah laughs, “Hey man, that’s your girl you talking about.”

“Was my girl. Get it correct. She’s too moody. Maybe when she mellows down, we can get back together. But I ain’t losing this bet to her. What do you have on the Boys there?” Amerian states.

Jeremiah smirked, “They met up with a friend of theirs. I think the guy could be a lawyer for them or something. Anyways, I couldn’t get into the building, one needed a freaking reservation to get in the stupid place. So I don’t know what happened in there.” He states, running his tan caramel fingers through his black curls.

Amerian sighs, “That’s alright, don’t stress it. Look, I gotta let you go, Brian has to meet fans and sign autographs.”

Jeremiah laughs, “You’re gonna sign an autograph?”

“Yeah man. Shut up. I can sign like the guy, it’s not like the girls can tell anyway. So I’ll call ya later.” Amerian states, hanging up his cell.

Jeremiah smiles and lies back on the bed, his head propped up on a pillow, staring at the window in the room, he chuckles and closes his eyes for a small nap.
~**~

**~To Be Continued…~**

A/N: *whistles* Well due to problems not under my control- eg. Absolutechaos under changes and such, I’m sure you can all relate to why I was delayed. But here it is, the next chapter, enjoy and if you can leave review, it’s always wonderful to hear what you readers liked or not.

“A Broken Soul”

**~Chapter Nine~**

Dominick hangs up the phone and lets out a loud sigh, gazing around in his living room. He was frustrated with the lack of results he got on the case. The day for Brian’s court date was approaching fast and he was without a possible suspect list. He rubs his large dark chocolate hands over his face as he settles back on his plush white sofa. His wife sticks her head in the living room threshold, her long raven curls toppling over her bare cinnamon shoulders.

“Domi, honey, why did you bring this case home? You haven’t been sleeping well and I see you getting stressed over this whole case. If it’s too difficult for you to handle, maybe you can call Randy for help.” Monique states in her thick Trinidadian accent, hoping to cease her husband’s stress.

“Bought it home cause lives depend on it. I don’t need Randy’s help. I’m perfectly capable of solving this case without that man’s help. Besides, I’m the one the group hired not Randy.” Dominick states softly, a hint of anger tinges the statement as he rolls his eyes to stare at the wall painting, one of his friends gave him on his promotion at the office. Randy considered one of the top-notch officers is one of the best detectives around in the industry, so it was only logical Monique thought of him to help out the case.

He feels his wife’s weight at the other end of the sofa as her small figure curls herself up next to him, lying her head down on his chest. “Domi, I know you’re not suppose to talk about your case when you’re here at home, but I wanna know. Maybe I can ease your discomfort.” She whispers gently, circling her long arms around his neck, shifting her position so that she is sitting besides him with her legs tucked under her.

Dominick smiles, his dark eyes roaming his beautiful wife’s body, “I must be a lucky man to be married to an angel like you.” He whispers, changing the topic immediately as he wraps both his arms around Monique’s curves and pulling her to him. She smiles and places her fingers over his lips.

“You’re not gonna tell me right?” Monique asks seductively.

He shakes his head as he hears his wife sighing and watch her place her head on his lap. “I love you.” He says gently in her ear.

She giggles and closes her eyes, whispering the same back to him.

His eyes divert immediately to see what looked like one of the members of the group he’s working for creeping in the backyard. “What the… Brian?” He whispers as he lifts his wife’s head off his lap gently.

Monique stands up startled and looks around, “I’m calling the cops ok.” She states before she runs off, towards the entertainment area of the house.

Dominick nods his head, “Yeah you do that. I’ll check out who’s sneaking out in the yard.” He whispers loudly and rushes out the backdoor scanning for the intruder in his yard. After searching and not finding anyone, he makes his way back into the house only to be greeted by the horrid screams of his wife. Dominick rushes inside the house and makes his way over to the entertainment area where his wife went to make a call. He enters the room to see his wife standing with her arms in the air as the intruder- the one with sandy blonde hair and azure eyes, points a silver pistol towards Monique’s direction.

Dominick gasps, “Hold up! Aren’t you the one with the problems? What the hell do you think you’re doing here with a gun? I’ll have you arrested for trespassing and weapon possession.”

Amerian smiles and shakes his head, “No you won’t. I heard through the grape vine that you’re helping out my buddies on the case. Thanks for nothing. The case is still on and it looks like Bri- uh I might be found guilty.”

Dominick takes notice of the minor mistake the man makes in his sentence and raises his arms in the air in hopes that this intruder won’t be tempted to shoot. “Put the gun down and we’ll talk about this more. Man to man.”

Amerian smirks and pulls the trigger on the gun: in a matter of nanoseconds, Monique let out a blood-curling scream before the single bullet pierces her neck, sending her to collapse on the beige carpet.

Dominick watches in pure horror as his wife crashes onto the floor, a small trickle of crimson blood drips, staining the carpet. Dominck feels anger and overwhelming rage consume him as he races over to Amerian, but Amerian was too fast for him and pulls the gun again never missing a shot. Dominick in his fury: never noticed the bullet racing towards his forehead, until it was too late. Dominick stands there numbed, as his eyes stare blankly at Amerian. His arms fall listlessly on his side as he whispers his last words, “Damn you. You won’t get away with this.” And with that, Dominick crashes onto the floor dead, the blood rolling down the side of his face heavily as the open wound on his forehead reflect the death.

“I already did.” Amerian states cockily and flips the pistol onto his belt, clipping it and exiting the house with a smile on his face.
~*~

A.J. sighs and rubs his wrists tiredly. His ears perk up when he hears Alena’s footsteps approach the dining room. It’s been about two days since his kidnapping and he was worried out of his mind fearing that group must be freaking out without hearing about him. Alena’s sapphire eyes glitter in glee as she enters the homely dining room grabbing a seat besides A.J.

“Well you’re happy, can I know?” A.J asks nicely, smiling at her. It was strange for all this that is occurring, he felt or least appeared calm. He thought of what it would feel like to be kidnapped, but he never thought he would be treated like royalty. It seemed, Alena, after her pass mistake killing a guard, she wanted to make it up to A.J. in any way she can.

“It seems my boyfr- err, guy friend is trying to pass off as one of your buddies from the group.” Alena says.

A.J. narrows his eyes, “Which guy?” He needed to solve this problem, thinking of the group, he realized how much he missed the guys, all except Brian who must be sick in the mind to try to kill him. He still held some resentment for Brian though if Brian would apologize, A.J. would immediately forgive him. No matter what, A.J. looked up to Brian and somehow something inside him told him there has to be a reason why Brian tried to hurt him.

“What’s running through your mind buttercup?” Alena whispers, twirling her honeysuckle locks with her pale snowy fingers.

A.J. cringes trying to adjust to the names the woman calls him. It disturbed him a bit, but whatever would keep the woman calm, he would deal with it. He would hate to get her upset cause she wastes no time in killing someone. His dark chocolate eyes scan the two entryways of the dining room guarded by a couple of burly armed guards. He wanted to get out, but he feared he would get shot or worse die trying to leave. He was trying to concoct a plan to evacuate this place where he was being held.

A.J. narrows his eyes and runs his cinnamon fingers down his black goatee, “Hey you said if I listen to you, you would allow me to make a call.”

Alena rolls her eyes as she pats his cheek roughly, “Alex, sweetie, you’re right. You’ve been behaving and you deserve a call. But since I know how conniving you can be, how about you give me the number and I’ll dial it. If it’s not the police or some detective, I’ll pass it on to you.”

A.J. grumbles and grips his hands tightly around the dinner plate in front of him. He hears her soft voice telling him something. “Excuse me, what did you say?”

Alena giggles and moves her seat inches away from his, “I said, how about we get this party started. There’s a king size bed in one of the rooms that hasn’t been used yet and I figured we both could break it in.” She purrs in his ears.

A.J. gulps down the food before him as he fights to hold in the laughter and possible disgust that was tickling his throat. “And how do think we could break in the bed?” He asks playing along with her sick game.

She traces her fingers down A.J’s right ear as she laughs tenderly, “There’s plenty of ways to break in the bed. I for one love the nasty on it. Why, do you have something better than that?”

A.J. nibbles on his lip as he chuckles and raises his eyebrows in surprise, “Whoa, hey wait. Hold up. I wasn’t thinking that!” Although he carried a calm attitude on the outside, inside he was breaking: his worries almost drowning him as fear of possible death nags at his chest. Faking a laugh or smile was something he was trained to do in the business, he wasn’t feeling happy at this moment that was for sure.

They both laugh awkwardly and finish eating the dinner before them. One of the guards smirks and shakes his head, watching the ‘couple’ lavish in their own company.
~*~

Howie runs down the stairwell to get the closest vacant bathroom in the hotel suite. Trying the third bathroom, he found this one was also accompanied. “I can’t believe there isn’t a bathroom in the room. I shouldn’t have to be running down stairs in the hallways to find an empty one.” He whispers annoyed as he feels his bladder close to exploding.

Emmanuel- A.J.’s double- sticks his head out the hotel door he’s staying in and laughs gently. Howie stares oddly at his suppose friend, he like the other doubles manage to not only look identical to each of the guys they are protecting but also talk like them as well. He had to thank Kevin: Howie himself was often left confused and thought many times Canon- Kevin’s double- was Kevin himself. Along with the others who’s identity threw him off as well. He noticed Canon and Sean-Nick’s double carried almost exact similar voices, which wouldn’t be a good idea to call anyone of the doubles on the phone for Howie would be too confused.

“Hey you could use mine. I’m not using it and it looks like your in desperate need of it buddy.” Emmanuel’s voice suddenly chimes into Howie’s thoughts.

Howie feeling embarrassed, whispers a “Thanks” and slides through the front door of Emmanuel’s suite, racing towards the bathroom in a hurry. After exiting the bathroom, Howie noted that Emmanuel had left the room for something. Curiosity taking over, Howie scans his coffee eyes over a desktop where an open folder lied open for exposure.

He knew he shouldn’t be nosy, but he couldn’t help himself, walking over to the desktop, he looks around the room and draws a deep breathe, hoping Emmanuel wouldn’t catch him snooping. ‘Man, what am I doing? If the guy catches me, what will I say? Oh I was walking to leave and accidentally tripped over your folder.’ Howie smirked at his idea and quickly let his eyes scroll over the writing. Howie felt his throat go dry at the new information that he read. The paper had vital data that even the Boys themselves were excluded from knowing about A.J’s kidnapping. Things weren’t adding up, Howie was tempted to take the sheet of paper in front of him and show it to the others: he was sure Kevin himself didn’t know what was on this paper. Nervously, his hand reaches for the sheet lying on top of the blue folder and pulls it up to his face. Folding it into four pieces, he tucks the paper into his beige suede jacket pocket and walks out the room nonchalantly, closing the door behind him.

When Howie turns a corner down the hallway, Jeremiah watches from a crack in a doorway, “Well, well, well. Looks like Howie couldn’t resist the temptation. Guess Amerian should know about this when he gets back from Dominick’s place. Poor, poor Dominick. He shouldn’t have helped the Boys. Tsk, tsk, tsk.” And he closes the door, locking it behind him with a grin on his face.
~*~

Brian throws the last cracker into the pond, as the brown feathered ducks gather to dine at the food floating in the crystal blue green water. He seems lost in his thoughts as the ducks quack happily over the sudden flourish of banquet that lied before them. The thoughts of A.J. took up most of his ideas as well as the court date that was rapidly approaching. He checked his cell phone and a small message poked on the screen, checking the number it was Kevin. He’ll listen to it later, right now he wasn’t in the mood to hear with anyone except the kidnapper that has taken A.J. And he doubted the kidnapper would give Brian a call any time soon.
He closes his eyes and watches the evening sun set in the sky, another day gone by and no A.J. and no close on his court case.
~*~

Kevin watches a flock of sparrows taking off from the ground. Their soft flapping passes by his window pane, his emerald eyes transfixed in their unison. The orange pink glow of the evening sun settles in the sky, the clouds ascending and separating from one another. Nibbling on his lower lip, he sighs and shakes his head: he just received word that Dominick and his wife were found dead at their home. It seemed he lost the one person who could have helped him and Brian escape the troubles their facing. He sighs knowing he would have to tell the others but not now. Right now what he needed was to take his mind off to go through with his feelings. He wondered what A.J. is doing at this point. His only hope was that A.J. was still living healthy and being treated well where ever he may be.

His suite opens and Nick steps in, with a grim expression on his face. “Kev, I have a quick question. Do you know where Brian went? I was looking for him since this afternoon and have no clue where he could have gone.”

Kevin sits up in his cushioned chair and shakes his head, “Sorry, can’t help you out there. I have no idea where he went.”

Nick nods his head and his lips whisper a “Oh” His sapphire eyes scan the glass panes watching the last sparrow flying pass the window to catch up to the others. Nick grabs a seat from a small table and drags it next to Kevin. He stares out the window with Kevin in their own silent conversation and watch a pigeon- not like the others that had flown- flutter and dive down to the ground.

“Kev, I feel like that pigeon.” Nick whispers, his blonde spikes lie messily on his head

Kevin smiles gently, “Yeah, don’t we all?” And the conversation dies as they continue staring out the window, the only thing floating in the air was a white feather from a passing pigeon.
~**~

**~To Be Continued…~**

A/N: Well hey everyone I managed to update this story at least. I’ve been busy writing a new story called “The Blood Pact” in the action/adventure part of this site and a cute new one co-written with another great writer Natalie- it’s called “Not Too Young” please check out, it’s really nice, I’ll promise you’ll enjoy it. Now onto this story, you all know the deal: drop a review if you can thanks! By the way thanks to all who voted for my story “Daywalkers” and “Troubling Gifts” I won two awards for those stories, one for best horror and the other for most original plot! *grins*

“Broken Soul”

~**Chapter Ten~**

Howie runs up the last flight of the blue carpeted steps before he reached Kevin’s suite. The harsh yellow florescent lights in the hallway blare down on him as he reaches the end and stops in front of the last dark mahogany door on his left. Knocking rapidly on it, he can feel his heart pound against his chest as he waits for someone to open the door. He hears soft footsteps from the room approaching. He gulps and quickly scans the desolate hallway around him, hearing the soft lock of the door give way to allow his entrance.

Howie smiles and faces Nick, “Hey good you’re here. Look, is Kevin in here?”

Nick nods his head, “Yeah. D. you alright man? You look like you pissed your pants.”

Howie rolls his dark coffee eyes and pushes his way into the room running towards the living room to find Kevin staring at a large glass pane window, jotting down something on a sheet of paper. “Kev, great. Listen man, I found something I think we should all know.”

The nervousness seeping out of Howie’s voice caught Kevin’s attention. Kevin raises his head worriedly and nods his head, “Hey alright. But are you ok?” He whispers gently patting his nervous friend’s shoulder.

Howie just nods his head and fumbles with the pockets of his beige leather jacket, “I found this in Emmanuel’s room. I figured you should read this, so you know what the deal is.”

Kevin nods his head and takes the folded sheet of paper from Howie’s trembling hands. He unfolds it and scans the letter, feeling his mouth drop in shock. His emerald eyes clouded in worry as he gazes over at Nick who is left in anxiety on what the letter pertained. Kevin gulps down hard the lump that is beginning to form in his throat as he drops the sheet of the paper on the beige carpet.

“What it say?! Kev, Howie man, what did it say on the paper?” Nick asks loudly, as he runs over to join the two older men. Kevin takes a deep breath and blows out a puff of air.

“I don’t know if you should tell you yet. I want Brian to know this as well.” Kevin whispers, passing his shaking fingers through his raven spikes nervously.

Nick gulps and quickly leans down on the floor to reach for the written paper, but Howie was faster than him and snatches it before Nick’s finger’s touch the edge of the white sheet. Nick stares confused, “Can’t I read it?”

“Not yet.” Howie whispers staring at the large glass pane window hoping it would ease his discomforts.

Nick glares down at both men and lets out a loud sigh, “Ok, then I’ll wait for Brian to come, then you’ll show it to me.”

Kevin nods his head and bites his tongue softly trying to drown the rising worries that gripped his chest. He decided to phone Brian to get him back here immediately because all their safety is on the line.
~*~

She picks up the black cordless phone and hands it to A.J. Her emerald bluish eyes glittered quietly under the dim lights in the hallway as she smirks at one of the guards.

“A.J. sweetie this phone will be tapped just so you know. I mean I can’t trust you won’t be tempted to call the cops or such. Remember, I’m giving you five minutes to talk before I cut you off. Start dialing, time is ticking away.” Alena states quietly and walks down the hallway disappearing at the corner.

A.J. gulps and quickly dials the only number he can remember at this point, Brian’s. He hears the other line pick up as Brian’s voice whispers a hello.

“Brian, oh good you picked up. Boy I thought I had to leave a message or something.” A.J. states trying to cover up his excitement and fear dwelling in his chest.

He hears Brian gasps and speaks slowly not believing his ears, “A.J.?”

“The one and only.” A.J. responds jokily.

“Oh thank God you’re alright! A.J. you have all of us freaking out over here! I was so scared that something happened to you. Boy where are you? It’s been days since we’ve seen you and now you’re calling. What happened man?” Brian asks, his voice full of deep concern.

A.J. gulps and knowing this call is tapped, he needed to tell Brian where he was, but how? Suddenly he thought of something and hoping Brian can later figured it out with the other guys, he had to use some code. “Oh B, you wanna know where I’m at?”

Brian yells, “Duh, what do you think man!?”

A.J. chuckles and crosses his fingers hoping his message would get to the other guys. “Listen B man I can’t talk long. But I promise you I’m doing very well. I’ll be there soon, just make sure to tell Nick to jam off the coast where Bon Jovi’s new single came out. You know he can figure that song out cause he’s so used to it.”

“What? J, what the heck are you talking about?” Brian asks confusion in his voice.

Suddenly Alena walks down the hallway approaching A.J. signaling him to hang out before she reaches him. A.J. gulps and laughs, “Well B listen man, I gotta go, just make sure to pass the message that I miss you guys and I’ll be there soon, k?”

“Wait, you’re hanging up? I haven’t seen you since you were kidnapped and you’re leaving now?! Wait!” Brian screeches on the other phone line.

“Peace out B. I’ll talk to ya later. Bye.” A.J. states as he hangs up the phone on its cradle on the wall and fakes a smile at Alena.

Alena shook her head, “You’re a weirdo. You had a chance to talk to your friend and you gave him a stupid message. Way a go boy, I’m sure they’ll be happy to know that you lost your mind out here.” She states softly, purring into his ear as she wraps her arms around his waist, pulling him closer to her. “Now where were we? Oh yes, I was gonna show you my room, care to see it?” She whispers erotically, her honeysuckle tresses tumbling over her slim cheeks as she pulls A.J. down the hallway. A.J. crosses his fingers in hopes Brian won’t mess that message up. He knew Nick would figure it out cause when they were young they use to talk in that same form, always confusing the other guys. He hopes Brian won’t forget the strange yet very important data he was given.
~*~

Brian cries out and tries to redial only getting the operator who mentions the phone line is unavailable at the moment. “What!? NO man! I can’t believe this. A.J man, why the strange call?” He tries looking for the number on his phone and it was blocked. Grumbling, he slips the mobile phone on the small clip on his belt and walks away from the small pond, eager to tell the others about A.J. Suddenly an idea popped into his head, “Wait, Nick used to speak that way when he was younger. It was a code he and A.J. had. That’s it, Nick knows what the message meant.”

“Oh really now? Well that’s too bad you won’t be able to share that so called important news to your Boys.” Jeremiah states, his black curly hair blows in the gentle warm breeze as his caramel complexion glows in the sunlight.

Brian stops dead on his tracks and stares at the strange man before him, “Do I know you?”

Jeremiah smiles, “Not yet. I was told to come pick you up. You know you shouldn’t be walking around here on your own, it’s dangerous especially since your friend’s kidnapping. So come with me, I’ll take you back to the hotel, I’m sure the other guys are waiting for you.”

Brian gulps, “We never hired you. I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but you must think I’m gullible to trust you after all that’s happening.”

Jeremiah smiles, his dark eyes lit up, “Amerian sent for you. He figured you would be here. So now if you’re interested, can you come with me? The group was asking about you and are worried about you.”

Brian chewed on his bottom lip softly, all this sounded too strange, this man appears and claims to know Amerian then he wants to take him back to the hotel. “I’m sorry, Amerian never told me about you, I can’t go with you, I don’t know your intentions.”

The statement brought laughter out of Jeremiah, “You’re right, you shouldn’t go with me until Amerian tells you, but he’s the one who’s in charge of your safety and he sent me. So you can come with me nicely or…” Jeremiah trials off and pulls out his silver semi-automatic, pointing it at Brian. He continues, “Or come with me with a bad headache. I don’t miss, so don’t try me boy.”

Brian gasps and lifts his arms in the air, “Whoa, hey listen man, I don’t know what you think you’re doing but you can’t get away with this?”

“Watch me.” Jeremiah states, playing around with the pistol in his hand.

Suddenly Brian sees Amerian sneaking up behind Jeremiah. Brian watches Amerian placing his finger over his mouth, signaling to Brian to keep quiet.

Brian clears his throat and smirks, “You wouldn’t pull that trigger, I’m worth too much alive for you to just shoot me off.”

Jeremiah smiles, “You’re right. But it’s worth a shot right?” He laughs at the irony of his statement.

Suddenly Jeremiah turns around in time to see Amerian pointing a black silencer at him, “Step away from Brian. J. I have a plan, I think I found out where Alena is at.”

Jeremiah and Amerian stare at each other before breaking into a laugh and slapping each other in the back. Brian stares at the two men in confusion as they lead Brian back to the hotel.
~*~

Kevin lifts his head up at the sound of his front door opening. Brian steps in with a smile on his face, telling them that A.J. had called. Brian goes to tell Nick some strange statement that A.J. had said, figuring Nick would understand it. Nick smiles and nods his head.

Kevin and Howie glance at each other and shrug their shoulders.

“I can’t believe A.J. remembers that?” Nick whispers with a smile on his face.

“Wait, if A.J. sent us a code, it means he was either being watched or something. It doesn’t add up but A.J. is still in danger.” Kevin states seriously, his emerald eyes wavering between Brian and Nick.

Howie gulps, “So what did that statement mean?” He whispers glancing at Nick.

Nick nods his head, “He’s in New Jersey near by a beach somewhere.”

Kevin smiles and laughs, “Oh man, thank God A.J. and you came up with that stupid way of talking. I’m so happy I could kiss you.”

Nick smirks, “Uhmmm… hmmmm. A hug would do fine, not a kiss bro. That’s why you got your wife.”

The other guys chuckle and give each a high five, hoping to inform the police as soon as possible.

“Oh wait! Kevin, you read a letter Howie brought in? Wanna tell us what’s on it now?” Nick asks, his bright ocean eyes glance at him.

Kevin gulps and nods his head, handing the folded paper over to Brian, “Right, it’s pretty weird. Howie found this letter in Emmanuel’s room and it stated something about A.J.’s kidnapping. It goes into detail about there was some form of planned bet to take A.J. into custody by a woman. There are no names there so it’s shady on the whole thing. But it’s weird to see why would Emmanuel hold this info from us? In fact why didn’t the other men tell us about this letter?”

“Do you know if he wrote it?” Nick asks, leaning over Brian shoulder’s reading the letter along with Brian.

“No, it doesn’t look like it. Seems to be written by someone else. The initials are A.H. Do we know who that can be?” Howie asks.

Kevin shakes his head, “Not that I know of. We’ll hold onto this letter and what Nick said about A.J’s whereabouts to the cops. K?”

The others nod their heads and let out a deep breathe, knowing that their friend is alright and is doing well. At least for tonight they’ll get a good night sleep knowing A.J. is ok.

“We’ll get him back, I know we will.” Brian says softly, taking a deep breath.

Nick pats Brian’s back and asks what the others were thinking, “Hey I just thought of something. Isn’t Brian’s court date like two days away?”

The others nod as Nick continues, “Well why didn’t Dominick call us to inform us about what he got so far in the case?”

The three men glance at Kevin as Kevin shifts in his seat, “I found out today that Dominick was shot up last night in his house. Someone broke in and killed him and wife. Some cops there said Dominick had cameras and are looking at the possible murderer. They said they’ll get back to us if they find anything.” Kevin whispers, a grim expression slide on his features.

The other men gasp as silence filters the room. “Damn. That sucks.” Nick whispers, shaken up a bit. Brian sits on the edge of the king size bed and shakes his head.

Suddenly the phone rings and Howie picks it up, “You guys it’s the police.”

“Speak of the devil.” Brian whispers as Nick takes a seat besides Brian. They listen to Howie who answers the phone with an “Uh huh. Yes.” Or “No.” After a minute, Howie hangs up the phone and shakes his head.

“What did they say D?” Kevin asks.

Howie looks at Brian and shakes his head, “Oh man B. They found footage on you in the house killing Dominick!”

Nick and Howie gasps as Brian shakes his head, “NO! No that can’t be! That’s not me you guys. You know where I was last night, don’t you seriously think someone is trying to frame me?!” Brian screams out, the sudden fear creeping up in his chest. Kevin stays silent, as he watches his cousin fight with his own emotions.

The others said nothing as the news sunk in them. Brian sinks low on the bed and runs his fingers down his face, “Someone’s framing me, I just know it. And I’m thinking the only other guy that can get away with my appearance is that guy, Amerian who looks like me.”

Suddenly the front door to Kevin’s suite flings open as Jeremiah and Amerian walk in, holding their pistols in the guys direction.

“Looks like you guys figured it out. Jeremiah found Howie sneak away from Emmanuel’s room with the paper and we knew it would only be a matter of a time before you guys put the pieces together. I must commend you, you’re smarter than I thought.” Amerian states, the familiar azure eyes glaring at the four men.

Howie gulps and was about to speak when Jeremiah whispers for everyone to remain silent, “Stay quiet and you’ll live today. Don’t call for anyone, in fact drop your cell phones in the trash bin!”

No one moved.

“I said now!” Jeremiah screams, waving the pistol towards a trash bin besides Kevin’s night stand.

The four men gulp and shakily move towards the bin depositing their cell phones in it.

“Good. Good boys. Now if we’ll all take a seat. I guess we’ll have to see what exactly you know and how to keep your mouths shut to the other guards.” Amerian states smiling as the shocked looks on the four men remained frozen in their expression.
~**~

**~To Be Continued…~**

A/N: Hey quick note, I hope you guys enjoy and try to review please. Alright this chapter might seems a bit confusing since it takes from the last chapter, but trust it’ll make sense as you read along to the end of this chapter. Thanks so much guys!

“A Broken Soul”

**~Chapter Eleven~**

A.J. grits his teeth as Alena giggles erotically: twirling her blonde locks with her slender fingers.

“So Alex what do you think of this room?” Alena asks, pouting her red lips at him.

A.J. rolls his eyes and sighs, scanning his coffee eyes around the fancy decorated bedroom. The crème walls and soft plush red carpet gives the room a vibrant color. The dim golden florescent lights on the ceiling cast a soft light in the room. Alena dashes over to the canopy bed with its light red drapes hanging from golden railings on the white ceiling surrounding the bed. Dark mahogany dressers and shelves are placed on either side of the room filled with textbooks and such. Alena giggles as she throws herself on the large red velvet covered king size bed in the middle of the room. She smiles and sits up in the bed, leaning on her elbows. “A.J. there’s room for one more.” She whispers gently, patting an empty side besides her on the bed.

A.J. smirks and shakes his head, “Na, that’s ok. I’m not tired. But you can go take a nap if you want.”

Alena chuckles and waves her pointer finger at him, “Oh no. You’re not getting away from me. Now come. I won’t bite…hard.” She giggles erotically.

A.J. passes his tan butter pecan hands through his brown and black hair, “I’ll just leave you alone here in the room. I’m sure you have things to do and I’m only stalling you.” He says nervously taking a few steps backwards bumping hard into a rough material. A.J. turns around in time to see one of the burly guards with a raised pistol towards him. The guard smiles and waves the pistol in his large hands.

“I don’t think you have to go anywhere Alex. Now if you don’t mind. Come join me, since after all I’m not planning anything right now.” Alena states.

A.J. fakes a smile and gulping nervously makes his way towards Alena, “Ok, well I guess since I’m not going anywhere I’ll hang out here then.” A.J. whispers nervously as he hears the heavy breathing of the guard and clicking of the pistol against the guard’s hands.

“Come on Ajey Wajey! The spot next to me is getting cold.” Alena whispers, patting the empty spot besides her.

A.J. gulps and nods, making his way over to her. He turns around and sees the guard smirking as he twirls around the pistol in his hands. A.J. sighs and closes his eyes, he only hopes the guys figured out where he is at.
~*~

Amerian steps into the room as Jeremiah closes the door behind him.

“Well boys where do we even begin? First off that folder that Howie found, looks like we’ll be using that.” Amerian states, his azure eyes staring down at Howie was sitting on the edge of the bed wit his arms in the air. Amerian snatches the folder off the top of a dresser and hands it over to Jeremiah who still has his pistol raised at the guys.

Kevin smiles and eyes Nick who smirks and nods his head. Suddenly the three men stand up and each pulls out a black pistol pointing at Amerian and Jeremiah.

Amerian smirks and laughs, “Oh look at you Boys trying to be all brave.” He runs his fingers through his sandy blonde hair.

“You guys are really something.” Jeremiah states, his dark eyes scanning the two members of the group pointing a gun at Amerian and Jeremiah.

A laughing breaks the silence as Emmanuel- A.J.’s body double- steps into the room with a raised black pistol along with Howie’s body double, Franklin.

Amerian faces the two body doubles and turns to face the four other men, two of which is holding a pistol in Amerian’s direction.

“No, no. Wait up. Don’t tell me. Dammit! We’re screwed up Am!” Jeremiah yells, moving from the two guys at the threshold to the other two next to Brian and Howie.

Brian and Howie gulp looking at Sean- Nick’s double. The man’s sapphire eyes stared directly at Amerian in a serious tone. Howie smiles a bit and leans near Brian, “Hey Brian, now we know what Nick would look like if he was real serious about something.”

This let out a nervous chuckle from Brian as Canon- Kevin’s double, tells Howie and Brian to duck down and stay on floor next to the bed away from Amerian and Jeremiah.

Howie scratches the side of his wavy hair and laughs nervously, “Man this is messed up. Amerian is backstabbing us. I can’t believe it!” He whispers loudly over the arguing that was breaking out with the body doubles in the room.

“D, question: if these guys are the doubles, then where are Nick and Kevin?” Brian asks, whispering.

Howie shrugs his shoulders, leaning his back on the bedside, “Don’t know. I hope they’re ok. I sure these guys will know.” They sit, knees drawn up to their chest and peeks around the bed side to see Sean screaming at Amerian.

Brian gulps, “Oh mine, this ain’t good.”

“Wow, you and Nick never had a fight and let’s hope that never happens by the way these guys are.” Howie whispers, tucking back his head from the being spotted.

Suddenly a gun popped as screams break out.

Howie gasps, as Brian pokes Howie on the side, “Go check, go check! What happened?!” Brian shrieks quietly.

Howie licks his lower lip softly, “I, I, I think someone got shot. It was a gun shot!” He whispers back, the fear trembling through his body.

Brian’s eyes grew wide open as he shakes his head, “Oh please God. If one of the guys are shot, we’re down one guard.”

Howie intakes a deep breath and attempts to poke his head around the bed pole to see Canon- Kevin’s body double, slamming Amerian to the floor. He hears Amerian chuckling loudly, “You won’t get your friend back! It’s funny that you’re only watching two of the guys. Wonder where the other two could have gone!” Amerian teases, as Canon pulls out a pair of handcuffs and slams Amerian’s head on the carpet.

Sean-Nick’s double, kicks the gun out of Jeremiah’s hands, as Emmanuel and Franklin help out in pulling out the two cuffed men.

“Looks like you’ll be visiting our friend the police. I’m sure they would love to get some information from you. After all Amerian, you’ve been pulling this stunt for far too long.” Franklin states grinning- Howie’s double states, as he roughly grabs Jeremiah by the arms and drags him out the room.

Canon along with Sean, lift Amerian from the carpet as Emmanuel dragged the guilty man out of the room. Canon sighs as he puts away his revolver. Sean walks over to the cowering men, Brian and Howie, smiling.

“It’s ok guys. Sorry about that. You guys were put in serious position and I’m just happy we were able to get the guys without any serious wounding.” Sean states, putting his pistol away on a small clip on his belt.

“Man, Sean, I’m just a little disturbed. I couldn’t tell who was who.” Howie states, standing up and running his fingers through his hair.

Sean staring at the two men, pats their shoulders gently.
Brian coughs and shakes his head, It’s a bit weird, I mean Nick is never the serious type and here you are with a different attitude.”

Sean laughs and crosses his eyes, staring at Brian, “There, better?”

Brian smiles, “Yeah, much better. More like the original Nick.”

“Good.” Sean states, smiling the way Nick would, “Come one, let’s get you guys out of here.”

“No one got hurt right? Cause I heard a gun shot.” Howie asks.

Sean shakes his head, “Na, Amerian fired, but missed any of us.”

“Oh ok. Good.” Brian states, tugging on his blue shirt.

Canon walks over to the three men, “There’s a situation. We told Nick and Kevin to stay in the hotel cafeteria right?”

Sean nods his head, “Yeah why?”

Canon shakes his head, “Their not there. No one saw them or anything. I don’t know where those guys could have gone.”

Howie gulps, “Maybe they fled to safety.”

Canon shakes his head, his raven spikes glittering in the florescent hotel lights, “Doubt it. That was safest place they could be in. We did the research, trust me. Wherever they went, I hope they took something to contact them.”

Howie sighs, “This is a bigger mess than anything right? So I guess I told you what I found then right? But how did you know about Amerian coming in?” His weary dark eyes gaze at the two body doubles, Canon and Sean.

Canon smiles, his emerald eyes glittering: “When Emmanuel left the room when Howie was there, he over heard Jeremiah talking on a phone to none other Amerian. We figured if they were gonna do something they would go to one of you guys rooms. I ran up here to Kevin’s suite and found him and Nick staring out a window, talking about how confused and frustrated they felt with A.J.’s kidnapping. I told them I found out about Amerian’s real intentions and told them to wait in the café downstairs till I come down for them.”

“So when I came in here to show you guys the folder, you already knew then, since it was in Emmanuel’s room and you all knew what the folder stated and stuff right?” Brian asks.

Canon nods his head, “Yeah.”

“Wow, I thought all this time you were Kevin. You acted like him and everything.” Howie states.

“Well that’s what we get paid to do right.” Sean states, putting on a black jean jacket and walking out the room.

Brian and Howie smirks as they grab their cell phones out the trash bin and look at the two men before them.

“I promise we’ll find A.J. and get the other two back here with us.” Canon states, his emerald eyes looking at the two depressed men.

“Lets go, we have to search out where Nick and Kevin went.” Sean states, stepping out the room followed by the others.
~*~

“Nick I can’t believe I listened to you! We gotta get back, I’m sure the guys are looking for us!” Kevin whispers angrily, glaring at the young member of the group.

Nick rolls his eyes and slows down the car at a stop light. “Na ah man. We know where A.J. is and we’re gonna find him.”

Kevin growls in the passenger seat and leans over, grabbing the steering wheel away from Nick’s hands.

“Hey, hey man! Whatcha doing?” Nick yells confused, as he pushes Kevin’s hands away from the steering wheel.

Kevin pulls the wheel and tells Nick to stop the car. Nick growling, parks the car on a corner of a sidewalk on the street.

“Alright man! Damn. What the hell is up with you?” Nick asks, his blue eyes blazing.

“Nick, this ain’t right! Turn back around, we gotta get back to the others!” Kevin’s green eyes full of distress.

Nick rolls his eyes, “Don’t you care about A.J.?”

“YES! Which is why we leave things like this to the professionals! Nick, if we go to the place where A.J. is at, what makes you think it will be easy to find him? Don’t you think these people will be armed? Remember back at St. Ann’s need I remind you how that was?! I’m not taking a chance in seeing any of you guys get hurt.” Kevin whispers, his voice dropping away as he looks out the passenger side window. The odd silence lingers in the air.

Nick stares forward and smiles, “Is this the part where we hug and I say how much I love you?” He smiles, batting his eyes.

Kevin laughs and rolls his eyes, “That’s alright Nicky, I’m not much for your hugs. Maybe when we get back to the hotel room.”

Nick chuckles, “Yeah baby. You’d like that now don’t ya?!” He pokes Kevin on the side as he smirks.

Both men burst out laughing as Nick turns the car back around and heads back to the hotel.
~**~

**~To Be Continued…~**

“A Broken Soul”

**~Chapter Twelve~**

The waves over lap one another in a gentle tangle as it crashes onto the shoreline. Pieces of white sand flitter in the breeze before being sent up and drifts away. A.J. stares out the large glass pane window entranced in the delicate beauty of the beach. For a moment he had forgotten that he was kidnapped and bound to a chair with thick ropes now tied around his ankles and wrists encircled around the chair. Alena began getting suspicious after she received a phone call that her boyfriend was arrested and sent to the police station. A.J. didn’t get the whole idea about what that had to do with him but whatever it was he assumed it must be a bigger plot that Alena refused to share with A.J. himself. He sighs and watches the dark velvet sky settle over the ocean. He tries to moves his jaw but it found it impossible with the gag that was placed over his mouth; a ball of sock jammed into his mouth as the tape and rope wrapped around his jaw, itched his sensitive flesh upon his face.

He turns his head to the sound of the door opening, as Alena enters, smiling with delicate. He sees through the corner of his eyes, Alena’s silhouette approaching him. “Sorry about the ropes but I can’t take any chances now.” She whispers tugging on the gag and pulling it away from A.J.’s mouth. “There, much better. I figured you were thirsty, so I got you a cup of water.” She says as she tilts a glass cup and tips it into his mouth.

After his drink, he glares at her before speaking, “Why all of sudden did you decide to tie me up again? I thought we passed that level by now.” He grumbles, his dark eyes cutting into her.

Alena sighs and nervously tugs on a strand of her honeysuckle locks. “It looks like my baby is caught.”

A.J. rolls his eyes, “So?” He whispers angrily, his eyes focus on the beach beyond the window.

He hears her breathing slow down as she takes a deep breath and kneels besides him. Lying her head on his lap, she smiles and gazes into his eyes. “Well see the bet wasn’t for him to get busted. It went too far, even though I naturally won…”

She stops mid-sentence as he growls and sees the muscles beneath his shirt tense up, he seemed extremely irate. Lucky for Alena, he was tied up and he wouldn’t be able to attack her.

“Did I say something wrong?” Alena whispers with a wide smirk crossing her red lips.

A.J. lowers his eyes and stares directly into her blue green orbs, “A bet?”
“Oh yeah, I guess I forgot to mention that to you.” Alena whispers, feeling the man tense up ready to gnash at her.

“Now, now. There’s no reason for you to get all wrapped up in this. It was something that I had to do and win. Besides I couldn’t let Amerian take all the glory…” She was cut off when A.J. finally screamed out what he thought of the whole bet.

“ALL THIS TIME!! YOU HAD ME CHAINED UP LIKE AN ANIMAL JUST TO PROVE TO YOUR BASTARD OF BOYFRIEND, THAT YOU WON!?” He releases his anger, pulling on the ropes, struggling to get out of them.

Alena stands up alarmed and backs away from the thrashing man before her. “Why are you bugging? It’s not a big deal. It’s not like I hurt you, cause if I did, I would have killed you a long time ago.”

A.J. stops thrashing around and stares at her in pure hatred, “You little bi…”

She stops him mid-sentence, by surprising him with a hard slap across his left cheek. “Don’t you ever use that language around me!”

A.J. simply laughs and lets out a stream of vulgarities that he was eager to release onto her.

She stands there distressed, nervously passing her pale snowy fingers through her blonde locks. “Shut up! Shut Up! I’ll kill you! I swear!”

A.J. stops talking and smirks at her, “Do you really think you can kill me? Come on Alena, you must have a reason why I’m really here right? I mean it wasn’t just cause I didn’t give you an autograph right? There’s more to this story now, isn’t there?” He whispers hauntingly.

She gulps and backs away from him, “You! You shut up you here! You’re bait that’s what you are! Just bait, once I get what I want, I’ll kill you like I did my guards!” She whispers harshly, her light eyes narrowing into thin slits.

A.J. watches the woman, so many questions needed to be answered, he needed to keep her talking, anything that might help explain her reasons for kidnapping him. “Bait? Really? That’s what I am to you? I thought you took me ‘cause you were crazy about me.” He responds sarcastically.

She huffs and tilts her head to the side, “I like Brian of the Backstreet Boys, not you. I could care less about you.” She whispers tauntingly.

A.J. gulps, “Why didn’t you kidnap Brian instead of me?”

She laughs, “Cause my baby thought it would be easier to get to you since you were the one attacked in the hotel.”

“How do know I was attacked in the hotel?!” A.J. whispers suspiciously, keeping his eyes intact on her.

She smiles, ‘There’s a little secret about my boyfriend that you don’t know.” She whispers, pulling out of her black jean pocket, her wallet.

A.J. shifts uncomfortably as the ropes cut into his wrists. He watches as Alena opens her wallet and pulls out a small photo. Holding it in front of A.J’s face, she feels A.J. tense up.

“Ok, so you’re boyfriend likes Brian too?” A.J. mumbles out, not grasping what the photo meant.

“No, you fool. This is my boyfriend.” Alena whispers.

A.J. tries to hold in a snicker, “You’re obsessed with my boy Brian, interesting.”

“No idiot, this is Amerian, not Brian. I got with him cause he looked identical to your friend. But trust me, Amerian acts no where near like your soft hearted friend.” Alena whispers with pride.

A.J. sucks his teeth, “Nice story, I’m sure your boyfriend doesn’t mind comparison.”

“You don’t believe me, do you?” Alena growls, placing the photo away.

“Oh gee, what could have told you that?” A.J. replies sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

Alena shakes in fury and reaches in her back pocket to pull out a silver pistol. “I’m getting tired of your attitude, keep it up and you’ll see your brains splatter against the clean glass here.”

A.J. gulps loudly and slumps against the chair, staring at her wide eyed. “I’m, I’m only joking girl. I mean come one, I was just messing with ya.” He tries to laugh but the fear showed clearly through it.

The door to the room swings open as a burly man sticks his head into the threshold, “Alena, You’re needed in the other room, I think Sammy have some ideas to run by you.”

Alena sighs and nods her head, “Alright. Tell him I’ll be in a sec. I have some unfinished business here.”
The guard smiles and nods his large head, “Alright.” And exits the room.

Alena smiles and raises her pistol towards A.J.’s forehead, “If you get to Heaven, tell God I said hi.”

A.J. drops his mouth as he watches her pull the trigger on the pistol, releasing the deadly bullet.

He gasps and sits up in the seat, blinking his eyes to make sure he was awake. It was horrible nightmare , “Just a dream, A.J. Just a dream, not dead.” He whispers to himself as he stares at the glass pane window, the dark sky and beach greeting him. “If I can’t get the hell out of here, I’ll lose it.” He whispers to himself as the thick ropes tugged on his wrists and ankles. There was no gag on him, Alena had decided against it, but if worse comes to worse, she would come back to put it on him. He takes a deep breath and recalls the earlier conversation she had with him. His nightmare had collected some of her information that she had stated before to him. He didn’t realize it until now, about the info of Amerian. “What about him, Alena mentioned him before.” He whispers softly to himself as he tries to reason with the facts given to him. ‘If he looks Brian, does that mean the guys are endanger?’ He gasps at the revelation of the possibilities, ‘No, he wouldn’t. I mean the guys aren’t stupid. Besides, Brian is there. He would know if he saw someone coming for him.’ He thinks to himself yet there was ting of despair in his chest, he felt something was wrong. He raises his eyes to the window and whispers a silent prayer for the guys safety.
~*~

Howie tugs on the patch wrapped around his hand and smirks as Brian wraps a cotton cloth around his own hand. “It’s not a big cut B. We’ll live.”

Brian stops the wrap and stares at Howie seriously, “I’m not taking any chances. Did you see how those guys were carrying guns, I’m saying we should start carrying around some weapons ourselves just to be on the safe side.”

Howie smiles, his eyes sparkling in glee, “That’s not the Brian I know. He would be too afraid to carry around such a thing. I mean God forbid you’d have to use it.”

“Stop teasing me D. This isn’t funny.” Brian whispers, his eyes dropped to the carpet in the suite embarrassed .

“You’re right, it isn’t funny. But on the bright side. Kevin just called me while you were getting the kit from the bathroom.” Howie whispers lightly.

Brian’s eyes lit up, “Really? Where are they? They’re ok right? They’re safe?”

Howie laughs and nods his head, “Yeah, relax Brian. They’re cool. They’re like a few minutes away. Nick tried to convince him to go themselves to New Jersey and search out for A.J. But Kevin convinced him to forget it and let the pros take care of it.”
“Why would Nick want to go safe him by himself without protection?” Brian gasps, his azure eyes shot open.

Howie couldn’t help but smile at his friend’s resilient attitude, “Don’t worry, this is Nick we’re talking about. Besides he was talking with his heart, which isn’t a bad idea. He cares from him like the rest of us. He’s scared too. He just wants to help his friend out.”

“We all do, but you don’t see me running out in the middle of no one risking the life of A.J. and mine.” Brian whispers, a small smile tugging on the corners of his mouth.

Howie pats Brian’s shoulder gently, “Nick didn’t mean to, you know.”

Brian smirks, “You’re always taking his side.”

“Hey, someone has too. The kid isn’t crazy you know. Besides if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you’re jealous that you’re not the one doing the defending for him.” Howie whispers, seeing Brian chuckle a bit.

“I guess.” Brian whispers, and taping the cotton strip on his hand.

“Brian, it was only a small cut. It’s not like your guts are gonna come out of there.” Howie teased him.

“You never know.” A familiar voice states as Nick and Kevin enter the suite.

Howie stands up and gazes at the two men curiously, not knowing if they were the body doubles or the guys for real.

Nick’s statement brought a laughter out of Brian as he stands up and greets his friend.

“Wait, you are Nick right?” Brian asks confused.

Nick laughs, “Dude the one and only. Why, is there someone else that’s trying to me? Besides, the never imitated, never duplicated Nickolas.”

Kevin rolls his eyes, “It’s us man.” Kevin’s southern drawl comes out.

Brian smiles, “Good, I knew that. I was just making sure.”

Kevin shakes his head as Nick chuckles lightly, “Sure you did dude, sure you did B.” Nick whispers playfully.

“So what’s the story?” Howie asks, eyeing Kevin.

Kevin sighs and flops on his back onto the king side bed, “Amerian was caught. Which by the way, I’m so glad you guys are ok. Glad the guards protected you. But yeah they were hauling his behind to prison. So one of our old guards are gonna take extra precaution in watching you Brian.” He gazes at Brian who gulps nervously.

“Don’t worry B. you ain’t got nothin’ to worry ‘bout.” Nick states, flopping on the edge of the bed, causing Kevin to bounce a bit. “Sorry Kev.”

Kevin’s response was a grumble as he playfully hits the back of Nick’s head.

“What do we do now?” Howie whispers, settling down in a chair.

“Chill out. Yo, what happened to you guys hands?” Nick asks curiously, tugging on Brian’s cotton wrapped hand.

“Just a little accident. My hand and Howie’s, got scraped on a nail that was sticking out of the door.” Brian responses, checking his masterpiece of his wrapped hand.

“A nail? How, I thought these rooms are brand new.” Kevin replies, lying on the bed, his head leaning on his curl arm beneath it.

“Oh the shooting that happened here.” Howie says quietly.

“WHAT?!” Both Nick and Kevin shout in unison. Kevin sits up in bed, his eyes wide open.

Brian glances at Howie, “Guess, we gotta explain huh?”

“Duh, you think.” Nick says sarcastically.

“I guess the guards didn’t tell ya the whole story then. Get ready, it gets pretty crazy.” Howie says.

Nick and Kevin glance at each other and shrugs their shoulders as they begin to listen intensely to Howie explain the mess they got in only a few minutes ago with Amerian.
~**~

**~To Be Continued…~**

“A Broken Soul”

**~Chapter Thirteen~**

The media blast the news breaking story of Amerian and Jeremiah who are being lead away to a police car with cuffs. A news reporter mentions the men were caught in the act of endangerment to innocent lives and possession of illegal weapons on the television screen. Brian, Kevin, Nick and Howie gather around the large screen television placed in Howie’s suite, watching the Channel Seven news. A young news reporter stands uncomfortable in front of the Towers Hotel as he glances around the police cars that surround the entrance of the hotel. “Good evening, I’m Noah Wellstin standing in front of Towers Hotel where only moments ago, the ones responsible for placing the mega star group Backstreet Boys in danger were caught. After the men threatened the lives of the four existing members, two of the body doubles defended the group and attacked the criminals. The two men were caught in the act of holding illegal arsenal to the guys. Close sources tell us that it was one of the group’s own personal body guards that were hired recently after Mr. Mclean kidnapping, is responsible for such endangerment.”

Kevin shuts off the television as he slumps back into the black leather sofa. He is greeted with a sigh coming from one of the guys. The silence fills the suite as he glances at the other three members of the group. He didn’t want to hear the rest of the news nor did he care. The fact that a criminal was supposedly ‘protecting’ them and yet placed them in serious danger, still shook him up.

He feels the weight of the sofa get heavier as Brian and Howie slump besides him.

Nick sits on the carpeted floor dazed and lost in his thoughts.

“Hey Nick, how you feeling?” Howie whispers, placing a warm comforting hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“Angry, upset, frustrated, confused.” Nick mumbles, his eyes clouded in worry.

“You ain’t the only one dude.” Brian whispers quietly, his blood shot eyes full of worry and sleepless nights.

“So what happens now? The guys are caught and A.J. is still missing.” Nick mutters, rolling his eyes up to the plain white ceiling.

“We rely on the police. That’s what we do.” Kevin speaks quietly, his bright eyes staring at the arm of the sofa.

“The police that’s right. Kevin, I was talking with my lawyer before I arrived to D’s room. Wanna know what he said?” Brian whispers so quiet, his voice dropping away.

Kevin gulps and shakes his head, “Is it about the case?”

“Yeah, he said the case is looking bad for me. The fact A.J. is no where to be found and my suppose double is arrested places me in a problem. If and when I get to court tomorrow, if I don’t find the one responsible for holding A.J. and can’t prove my alibi, I’m going to jail.” He chokes out, tears slamming down his face as he buries his face into his hands.

“No, man this can’t be it. B, don’t give up. Look Nick, you said you have an idea of where A.J. is at right?” Howie states as he comforts Brian besides him.

“Somewhat. The info is a bit sketchy but I have a pretty good idea where he could be at.” Nick whispers, with a new hope in his voice.

“Good, and the cops already know about that info, so I assume the area is already getting policed then.” Howie states, rubbing his hands in excitement as the other guys look on in confusion.

“Wait, you’re not thinking about heading out over there right? I already told Nick this is out of our league! The cops got it covered D.” Kevin states, standing up as he places his hands into his jeans.

“The cops! So you’re going to wait ‘till the police figured this out! I can’t wait anymore, I’m tired of it and time is against me! Tomorrow if I can’t prove my innocence in the court, then that’s it! I’ll be found guilty of a crime I never committed!” Brian shouts, his heart racing a mile a minute.

“I’m agreeing with Howie, let’s do this ourselves! A.J.’s counting on us! The more we wait, the worse things can occur.” Nick explains, drumming his fingers on his knees.

Kevin sighs frustrated and throws his hands into the air, “Aren’t you thinking straight! This is a dangerous position we’re in, if you think we can survive against an armed group of criminals then you’re out of your mind. The police have been trained for situations like this all the time, they know how to deal and handle with such things. We don’t! There’s a difference, they’re armed and we aren’t, which leads me to my question. How the hell are we gonna defend ourselves against on coming bullets?”

“Fight back with a gun.” Nick whispers, picking his pockets and pulling out loose change.

“This is unbelievable.” Kevin screeches as a profanity comes out of his mouth.

“So we’re doing this now.” Howie states, running to the coat hanger to get his jacket, “The faster we get there, the faster we can save A.J.”

“And the faster you guys get hurt.” Kevin cries out, hoping to reason with his band mates. “You guys aren’t thinking straight! You’re letting your emotions take control and you can get yourselves in major trouble out there.”

“Hey man, trouble is my middle name. I ain’t afraid of trying. It never hurts to try Kev. Come on, do this for Brian’s freedom and A.J.’s safety. You know it’s the only way to do this.” Nick states, the confidence creeping into his light eyes.

Kevin sighs and slumps his shoulders, knowing he was defeated. Today he wasn’t able to fight back and hence the others smile, tugging on Kevin as they all exit the room.
~*~

Jeremiah and Amerian were being lead towards a police car in handcuffs as a photographer snaps a picture of their faces, blinding them for almost a minute.

Grumbling Amerian turns to Jeremiah as a thought flowed into his mind. Smiling, he winks to his partner who smirks. He gets into the back of the police car with his friend as the doors slam on either side of them. Two male cops board the front of the vehicle and pulls away from the hotel in a quiet matter. By now, the media had gotten a hold of the news and had the perimeter of the hotel was swarming with greedy reporters.

Jeremiah places his warm head against the cool glass windows as Amerian glances at him again. He watches the moving scenery as the car passes houses and other cars down the streets. Whispering quietly, Jeremiah glances at the metal bars that separated him from the officers in the front seats. “A, what’s you’re thinking of?”

Amerian chuckles quietly as he leans near his friend, “I just found us a way out of here.”

“How?” Jeremiah asks curiously, his dark eyes following Amerian’s cuffed hands to the back pocket of the jeans. Amerian with a smirk on his face pulls out a small nail that easily fits through the cuff locks, enabling it to open the cuffs.

Jeremiah chuckles quietly as the two police officers in the front were engrossed in their own conversation.

“Shhh.” Amerian whispers, as he quietly and effectively slips out of the cuffs in his hands. Releasing his hands out of the cuffs, he places the small nail into his partner’s cuffs, releasing Jeremiah from the cuffs as well.

“Now, time for some fun!” Amerian whispers as Jeremiah watches in glee. Amerian crouches and pulls out another small metal nail from his boot. Holding the two small nails, one in each hand, he waits for the right moment for the car to stop. Once the car reaches a small intersection, Amerian slowly kneels down and in a matter of seconds shoves the nails in the temple of both of the officers. A wail of scream rages through the car as the car screeches to a halt. Both officers, holding their wounded heads in their bloody hands, pulls out a pistol and aims it at the two men.

‘This is some mess you started.” Jeremiah taunts Amerian as he watches the wounded officers calling for backup. A rush of blood poured out of the wounds as the officers try to remain alert but failed miserably. Soon in a few minutes, both officers collapse in their seat from the lack of blood as the red liquid stains the front seats and windows.

“Bingo, this is our lucky day.” Jeremiah whispers as he and Amerian fling open the car doors besides them and races out the vehicle.

“Woo hoo!! Alright Am! That was nice! I have to get you credit on that! I thought for sure we were heading to jail.” Jeremiah leaps in joy as he runs up to catch up to his friend who manages to run a few blocks down, away from the cop car.

“Never underestimate the power of freedom.” Amerian whispers happily, his dirty blonde hair blowing in the gentle winds.

“So where we off to Am?” Jeremiah asks, searching through his gym bag that he managed to yank out the police car before escaping it.

“Time to visit an old friend of mine.” Amerian whispers, his blue eyes glowing in glee. Both men disappear into the thick forest, losing their trail so the cops won’t be able to track them down.
~*~

A.J. glances up to see Alena enter the room, the thick ropes rub into his soft wrists as he looks to see her coming in. She smiles and enters with a cold glass cup of water. “Here you go, A.J. Something to drink. I thought you might get parched with all that screaming you were doing before.”

“You heard me? I thought you said this room is soundproof.” A.J. asks curiously.

“Well I heard ya for a few seconds when I was coming into the room. So how you enjoying the moon tonight?” Alena whispers, kneeling down besides his chair.

“Not doing good. I want to be let out. Why don’t you be a nice girl and just let me go?” A.J. whispers, faking a smile to her, the same smile that millions of fans fall for.

“Well where’s the fun in that? I can’t just let you go. This is a bet I’m not losing and as long as Amerian is still alive, you have to stay here.” Alena whispers, her pale snowy fingers crawling up A.J.’s legs seductively.

“Hmp. A bet, I’ve become a bet to you. Nothing more.” A.J. growls as he recalled the night mare he just had. Picking his words apart, he carefully tried to whisper his next statement.

“A.J. I told you all this before, you’re here cause your the easiest I can get to.” Alena purrs into his ears, her honeysuckle locks brush up against his cheeks.

‘Easiest? You wench.’ A.J. thinks to himself before he continues, “Cut the crap, Alena. Does Amerian wanna hurt us?”

Alena leaps back at the statement which surprised her and smirks, “Amerian can’t kill me. He’s not coming to kill me. He loves me too much to do that.”

“What about me?” A.J. asks quietly, his dark eyes watching the tall woman pace back and forth before him.

She turns at his question and smiles, shrugging her shoulders, “What about you? I don’t know what Amerian has planned for you. But the way I see it, he owns me money since I got you.”

A.J. growls and shakes his head annoyed, “Well that’s interesting, now isn’t it? I mean if he owns you money, wouldn’t we both be on his list? He might not want to pay you back, or even have the money on him.”

Alena stops and glares at him, “He wouldn’t.” She whispers manically.

“You never know.” A.J. states, his bruised hands cut into the ropes.

Alena snorts and heads towards the exit of the room, “I’ll be right back, I have to do something.” She whispers, slipping out the room, the door closes behind her.

A.J. smiles and murmurs, “Take your time, sweet heart. Take your time.”
~*~

The four men head out the hotel through the side, inside a tinted window SUV. Kevin drives out the hotel driveway, slamming his feet on the pedal, pulling them out the hotel. Nick and Brian settle in the back seat, talking quietly among themselves as Howie rubs his sweating palms on the front of his dark denims, on his knees. He fingers the black pistol in his pocket, gulping quietly to himself.

Kevin glances at Howie and back to the front of the road, “D, if it helps, I’m scared sh…”

“Shhhh, did you hear that?” Brian cuts in, avoiding Kevin’s profanity.

“Hear what?” Howie asks, turning his head to see Nick smiling, “And can I ask what the grin is for?”

“Hehe, nothing, just that A.J. is gonna be with us soon.” Nick whispers, running his fingers through his blonde spikes.

“Yup, that’s right.” Kevin whispers.

“Whoa dude, did you smell that?” Brian asks, crinkling his nose and starts sniffing the air.

Three pair of eyes glance at Nick before they face the front.

“Oh what? Come on, you act like you never farted before. My butt is happy too, can you tell?” Nick smirks as he leans back chuckling.

The vehicle is filled with laughter after the statement and it seems the trouble is almost out the way.
~*~

Amerian gazes up at the warehouse beside the quiet beach. “Hmmm, nothings change. Looks like Alena is waiting for our arrival.”

“Nothing like a welcome home party eh?” Jeremiah smirks as both men pull open the side of a metal door and make their ways up the stairs. They see a few guards talking, not noting the new visitors that entered through the side entrance. Amerian raises his pistol and shoots a silent bullet, cutting into one of the guards temples, killing him instantly. Another guard gasps and nervously reaches out for his pistol but not in time before another silent pistol crashes into his throat, spewing out blood. The guard gasps quietly and collapses dead on the floor. Five more guards confused and alarmed, start shouting but collapsed dead once the silent bullets slammed into all their bodies. Jeremiah smirks at his partner and both continue their flight up the stairs. The dark hallways crawl with litter and insects as they make their way towards the next level of the building.

Climbing up five more flights, Amerian stops midway in a step and spreads out his arms besides him, “Wait. I hear voices. They’re nearby. If one of Alena’s goonies sees us, we’re toast. I wanna see if she got the guy.”

“Why don’t you just talk with her?” Jeremiah murmurs softly, dropping his gym bag on the steps behind him.

“Not yet. I wanna see the guy.”

“Don’t you think he’s being watched by her guards or such?” Jeremiah whispers, rotating the revolver in his hands.

“Doubt it, she doesn’t think that we know he’s here. I manage to trace her call here, I was lucked out ‘cause this is normally a blocked phone zone.” Amerian mentions, smiling like the super star he looks like.

They hear voices approaching in the dimly lit hallway they’re on. The voices disappear as it drifts into a corner and vanishes, leaving the quiet hallway, in its peace once again.

“That door, she puts her little slaves in that room, last door to the left.” Amerian whispers, pointing down and making his way to the door. Once reaching the door, he stops and listens for voices bouncing off the walls another level above him.

Jeremiah nudges his partner and Amerian grips the rusty copper doorknob, swinging the door open.

The door slowly creeks open as a lighted room spans before him. He sees a man tied to a chair, the tight ropes cutting into the man’s wrists and ankles. Entering the room, both Jeremiah and Amerian armed with arsenal beneath their shirts. Jeremiah silently closes the door behind him as Amerian reaches A.J. Peering down at A.J. who seems to be taking a nap, Amerian chuckles. Jeremiah stands near the door, a pistol in his hands in case someone enters the room unexpectedly.

A.J. shuffles in the chair and raises his head to see Amerian, “Brian! What the hell are you doing here? I should kill you for trying to kill me the other day in the room!” His dark eyes burning with hatred as he wraths in the chair, cursing up a storm.

Amerian smirks, “I thought you’d be happy to see me, I’m getting you out of here.”

“GO TO HELL Brian!” A.J. shouts, screaming out more vulgarities as he gazes in the eyes of what once used to be his friend.

Amerian chuckles and pulls out a pistol from beneath his shirt, “Not until you go there first.” As he places the cold tip of the gun on A.J.’s forehead.

A.J. gasps and cries out, “What did I do to you, to make you hate me this much? You betrayed me!! After everything we’ve been through!” He tries to plead with his ‘friend’ but Amerian simply laughs and takes a nice fresh cool air.

“What can I say buddy, people change man.” Amerian whispers angrily, eyeing Jeremiah from the corner of his eyes.

“Yo, get it over with already, I hear some guards coming back down the hallway. We might not have enough bullets to spray them.” Jeremiah mumbles, his head poking a bit into the hallway as he sneaks a peek.

Amerian shrugs his shoulders and sighs, “Oh well, it was nice knowing ya.” And with that aims the pistol and gets ready to pull the trigger.
~**~

**~To Be Continued…~**

“A Broken Soul”


**~Chapter Fourteen~**

Kevin passes down a vacant dusty road, his eyes scanning his environment. He intakes a deep breath as he hears the worried whispers of the others.

“Ke, Kev, Kevin. Do you think this is right?” Brian asks quietly.

Kevin smirks, “We won’t be alone. I’m sure our guards are already at the New Jersey shoreline, tracking A.J. down.”

“I know but this isn’t our place, know that I’m thinking about it. We could get shot up trying to get near A.J.!” Brian exclaims, the complete fear and worry clouded his vision.

Howie pulls Brian away from the van they were driving in, as a group they had to decided to take a breather before entering the borders of New Jersey to locate their missing friend.

Nick paces around the SUV impatiently as he gazes at Kevin. Kevin saw the pleading look coming from Nick and knew he wanted to head out already and find their friend.

“Nick, relax for a moment. We’re getting ourselves a little to into this case. If one of the abductor members see any of us, they could hurt or do something to harm A.J. and we can’t let that happen.” Kevin whisper, the eerie thoughts of what those results could lead to invading his plaguing mind.

“Yeah but if we don’t do something, A.J. could be in harm anyway!” Nick winces as he catches his statement.

“Man it seems we would lose either way then if we do this.” Brian murmurs, his light eyes following a trial of a dead leaf on the dusty road.

“I’m not giving up! No matter what happens we all decided we have to find A.J. and get him away from Amerian and whoever else is involved with it.” Howie responds vehemently.

“Ok, yeah. We’ll do that. We’re wasting time worrying when we can do something about it.” Kevin smiles, nodding his head, waving the three guys into the vehicle again.

“This time I drive.” Nick immediately states, swinging open the black SUV door and climbs in the drivers seat. In a matter of seconds the guys all settle down in their seats and Nick turns on the ignition and slams his foot down the pedal, careening the Escalade down the deserted road.
~*~

I don’t know if its possible to literally hear your heart stop beating for a moment at a time, but I know the moment I saw the pistol aimed at me, everything I was ever sorry about doing came slapping back in my face. I stare at the cold tip of the gun as Brian places it on my forehead. If I was going to lose my life right now, I figured I need to get a full explanation about why before I breathe my last.

“Can I have my last request? You know how they do in prison? Can we work that out? Please?!” I plead to the man that betrayed my trust. I needed to know what happened to the Brian that I knew, about his hatred for me get to the point here he was ready to shot a bullet into my brain and call it an end. An end to my life but an end to our relationship.

“A request? You’re kidding me right?” Amerian smirks, fingering the trigger of the pistol.

“Brian please, what happened to us man. I though we were cool. We were friends right? Aren’t we still?” I ask, dreading the answers that man will say. It seemed I caught him by surprise as he slowly pulls away the pistol and runs his fingers through his dirty blonde hair.

“What happened to us? A.J. I don’t know. You’re right, I don’t know where this hatred came for you but I know one thing, I’m gonna win this bet. Alena thought she would have you and make a profit with you, but I told her that can’t happen if you’re dead. I originally agreed to help her kidnap you cause she wanted to get close to me, or should I say your friend Brian. She loved that guy, she really thought she was gonna be with him. Then that day, oh A.J you missed up. See I wasn’t gonna really go along with her crazy plan, I mean come on, give me some credit I could care less about you guys or what you do for a living. But Alena, Alena loved you guys like family. She came to me two months ago, crying her pretty little eyes out that you insulted her, made her feel bad when she met you after one of your concerts. You walked by and didn’t bother signing anything. You didn’t give her a hug, take a picture nothing!” Amerian explains, the expression on his face was full of frustration, anger, sadness as he recalled the sobs Alena had cried, “She was sobbing, locked herself away in her house thinking she was at fault for being insulted by you. I tried to explain to her that your opinion doesn’t count, that she can get the attention from me. But no! No Alex, you had to make it hard on me and my relationship with her was destroyed by you! She keeps denying it, saying she was trying to get to Brian through you, but that’s a lie. A lie she made up to prove her actions. You hurt her, broke her heart, made her cry tears. Now I’m gonna make sure you never do that to her again. I wanna hear you cry, hurt you and if possible see your heart break before me. If I can’t fix my relationship with her then at least I can see her smile when your corpse is sprawled on the floor before her.” Amerian rasps.

I gulp, staring at the man in front of me, the anger practically radiating off of him. “She couldn’t be mad at that, I didn’t see her. I was rushed by my security and I had to catch a plane immediately after that concert. I was unable to spend much time at all with any of fans back there but it was purely out of my control. She couldn’t have lost her mind for that.” I cry out, my words toppling out my mouth feeling like I was blabbering rather than doing anything else. “You know I love the fans, I would never want to walk away from them, but I was on a time schedule. She had to understand I meant no harm, I was on a time limit…”

I was cut off as Amerian growls and cut in, “You had time, if you wanted to. You could have forgotten about the time or the stupid plane and spend time for the people that make you who you are. You’re nothing to me, but to my girlfriend you’re everything. And because of that, I was always left to compete for her attention. I hate you and I don’t even know you.” He seethes out, his light eyes shooting in my sensitive flesh. I cringe in pain as the thick ropes, bury their knots into my skin: cutting it, tearing at my wrists and ankles as the soft flow of blood almost breaks onto my skin.

“Amerian, are you kill him or what?” His partner shouts.

“Don’t rush me Jeremiah. I want to enjoy this event and make it last while I have the chance.” Amerian turns to look at me and kneels in front of me, his bright eyes glittering in glee as he continues, “You know A.J. the only reason why I backed down from her little plot was I figured why come after one when there is more profit to be made with the others. So I went undercover as security for your friends.” He stops, a smile plastered on his face as he hears me gasp. “Yes. Undercover. I had access to their rooms and everything. Everywhere they would go, I would be with them. I know what they’re afraid of, what they dream of, what they want and desire. A.J. I could have killed your little friends and made a buck load of money. I was close to but thought against it until your little bastard of a friend snatched a folder that belonged to me. It had everything I was thinking about. They didn’t know who Amerian was, but they received some vital info from the other body double security that was working for them. Those men work closely connected to the police and they called the cops on me. Do know how that made me feel? Do you?” Amerian near my face, spitting on my cheek as the rancid liquid stain my face.

I manage to smile and not let the action get to me, figured that he would get angry if he didn’t receive a response from me. And I was right, he seem to stand up and shout angrily about why didn’t I do anything? Why didn’t I get angry? All I could do was laugh. That’s right just laugh, laugh so my worries won’t taunt me that I’ll get out of here, and laugh away the possibility that I won’t see anyone out of this room and I won’t spend my last precious moments with my friends or and family around me. But rather that I’ll just die with two strangers, one who was mentally unstable and the other his rookie. And what makes it worse is that I’ll probably get killed by a man that looks identical to Brian. And that image will haunt me to my death.
~*~

“Turn here. Right, no left. Good right that’s it.” Howie states, giving Nick directions on where to turn down the road,

“Wait, you said right, right?” Nick asks confused, raising his light eyebrows.

Howie rolls his eyes, “I said left.”

Nick grumbles something under his breathe as he steers the vehicles wheel to the left. “Make sense D.”

“I am, you’re just to slow to get it.” Howie whispers.

Nick glances over to the passenger seat and noted the smirk on his friend’s face. ‘At least someone can still smile.’ Everyday was getting harder to go through without them not knowing what is going on with A.J. It’s a daring rescue they all decided to go to tonight, but it had to get done. The faster they get to A.J. the faster A.J. can get back to his normal life. Though being a celebrity isn’t just anyone’s normal occupation, but it came with the territory. Brian and Kevin poke their heads out of the either side of the back tinted windows trying to see if they were anywhere near where A.J. could be at.

Nick pulls down into a pier and steers down the vacant wooden walkway, “Ok guys, we’re at the beach, do you see something that looks like one would get taken to?”

Kevin sighs, “That could be anywhere. For all we know, A.J. could have used a pay phone from outside to have made the call to Brian.”

Brian narrows his eyes, “Not really, the number was blocked meaning pay phones don’t have that access. If anything, the number would have appeared on my phone but never did.”

“So its indoors then, hmmm…” Howie whispers, scanning the white yellow sand around either side of the walkway.

“There! That’s it!” Kevin whispers as he sees Canon, Sean, Franklin and Emmanuel creeping along the side of a rickety decaying brick building hidden in the back of the shadows of the beach.

“Bingo.” Brian whispers, pulling his head back in to the vehicle as Nick pulls to a stop away from the guards.

“Now what?” Nick whispers, the dark velvet black sky cowering over the menacing building that contained their wounded friend.

“We save A.J. that’s what.” Howie whispers, opening the door and leaps on the ground as the others do the same. Brian gulps and sees Nick staring at him.

“Nick dude, you alright man?” Brian whispers, giving Nick a gentle squeeze on his shoulder.

Nick shakes his head and sighs, “God I don’t wanna do this. We’re gonna just mess things up.”

“Oh no, too late to have regrets. We’re here and we’re gonna go through with this. I already talked with Canon, it was his idea for us to do this.” Howie explains, kneeling down, placing his hand on one of the silver pistols that was tucked away in his sock.

“This is Canon’s idea?! And when were you gonna tell us this?” Brian murmurs loudly.

Howie shrugs his shoulders, “Now, since we got here. Remember to stay in the shadows at all times.”

Kevin throws his hands in the air, “Oh man, nice Howie. Thanks for not informing us! Fine look whatever. A.J. needs us, lets go catch up with the guards. They have a way to get us into the building.”

“Man, I can’t wait to see the freak who’s responsible for taking A.J. I’m sure A.J. got stories to tell about this.” Nick whispers, crouching down and running over to where Canon and the others are waiting for them, near the back end of a railing, a few feet away from the guarded building.

“Glad you guys didn’t chicken out on us.” Sean states, loading his pistol and packing it away onto his weapon belt.

Nick snorts, “Dude, no way. I always wanted to creep around and get the bad guys.”

Sean leans near Nick, the almost identical face peering at the young man. “Nick, remember this is real. People die doing this. And I just hope that it isn’t too late for your friend.”

Brian scratches the back of his head and noted that Emmanuel was missing. “Hey, one guy is missing.”

Canon, Kevin’s double nods his head and places his pointer finger over his lips, “Shhh. We know. He’s gonna get a reaction from the guards in the front of the building, they’ll be on high alert and think A.J. escaped so they’ll be running after him. This gives us the chance to sneak in the side of the building when the guards run off.”

“Oh” was Brian could say for he was taken aback by all the planning. He was scared senseless, the last thing he needed was to get caught up with some mafia like group.

“Ready?” Franklin, Howie’s double states, pulling a black wool mask over his face.

Kevin gulps and nods his head, “Ready as we’ll ever be.”

“Great, Nick it’s now or never then right?” Sean teases, elbowing Nick on the side.

Nick smirks, “Yeah, guess so. Let’s do this.”

“Alright, at my count, we head out. One, two, go!” Franklin shouts as they all creep along side the building.
~**~

**~To Be Continued…~**

A/N: Hey everyone, this is it, the final chapter. Since I’m working on other projects I decided to get to the end of this story, so for anyone who is still interested, I hope you read and enjoy this story! Thanks and if you haven’t already, please e-mail me or review to let me know what you thought of this story. Thanks so much to all your readers! *grins* take care and watch out for my other projects.

“A Broken Soul”

**~Chapter Fifteen~**

Emmanuel stayed in the shadows into he saw Canon’s signal to race off towards the building’s front yard. Emmanuel sprinted across the yard and was immediately spotted by the two main guards at the doors head quarters.

“Hey, what the hell?! How did you get out? GET HIM!” One of the armed guards yells as he along with his partner race after Emmanuel.

Franklin watches the two guards followed by five other armed soldiers race after Emmanuel into the shadows of the darkness leaving the main entrance clear for the moment.

“Ok this is our chance to get inside, everyone stay together at all times. You all know how to use the pistols we gave you right?” Canon whispers loudly over the shouts of the guards that scrambled out of the front building.

“The side entrance is all clear for now, this is it, we’re going in.” Sean whispers, reaching a cold metal uninviting doorway on the side of the building. He clasps his hands around the decaying metal handle and yanks it open, allowing the group access into the building. They all follow Sean inside the building, the darkness welcoming them as they all entered.

Franklin shuffles through his pockets and pulls out a small pen like flashlight that illuminated the dirty hallway before them.

Nick and Brian gulp, gripping each others shoulders in fear. Franklin shines the small flashlight towards their direction and smile. “It’s ok to be scared, just don’t let the enemy know.” Franklin whispers.

Kevin smiles and playfully pushes Brian, “I thought you were gonna stop seeing Nick after you got married.” He teases his cousin, smiling as Brian rolls his eyes.

Nick whispers out, “This is serious man. Don’t joke like that.” Both men let go of each other and fumble for their pistols that are tucked somewhere in their jean pockets.

“I, I never shot any one before.” Howie chokes out, as he grips the small pistol in his hands.

“Well let’s hope you don’t have to either, if things work out well.” Sean whispers, aiming his gun towards the grated balcony above them. “Shhhh, I hear someone up there.”

The others quieted down and trail their eyes above them to see a pair of soldiers with rifles slump over their shoulders.

Canon whispers so low that everyone had to strain to hear him, “We’ll be splitting up. It’ll make for faster and easier load to work with. Plus we can sneak into plenty rooms to track down where A.J. is being held at, as smaller groups. Franklin, you and Howie go down the east wing, Sean and Nick, you cover the west wing while I head out with Kevin and Brian up the balcony towards the north. Keep your walkie-talkie on, and contact me if anything. We’ll meet up here in twenty minutes. Set your watches. Go and guys good luck.” Canon states, smiling gently as Sean and Franklin set their watches on the time.

“Good luck to you guys. A.J. needs our help, let’s get a move on. We’ll see ya later. Bye.” Franklin states, tugging on Howie’s sleeve gently. Howie gulps and waves shakily, creeping along the wall behind his body double as they head down the left side, where the east wing awaited them.

Brian gulps and feels his heart pound in his chest as Nick and Sean wave and disappear down the right side of the long evacuated hallway towards the West wing of the building.

“Well boys, ready?” Canon whispers, keeping his eyes on Brian who seems to be fidgeting.

Kevin consoles his cousin and nods his head, “Yeah, let’s go. I don’t want to get seen by any of the guards in this building.”

Canon nods his head and approaches the silver metal railing at the foot of the iron steps, “Ok, good. And Brian, will you be ok?”

Brian just simply nods his head, he was too scared to say anything at the moment. He follows behind Kevin and Canon up the stairs and reaches the top. Canon keeping his fingers placed over his own lips, stare at the two men. He moves onto the walkway as the creaking of the iron grated floor beneath him moans out.

Kevin grips Brian’s hand as both men inch up against a wall and follow quietly behind Canon. Kevin would have never thought he would be doing something this dangerous. And he thought Nick eating heavily and boarding a roller coaster was bad enough, he had no idea. Looks like he would have to apologize to poor Nick for his silly antics in the past, for it was never as dangerous as this.

“Ok, listen to me guys. There’s two guards heading down the hallway. I’m going distract them long enough for you to sneak pass me quietly. They won’t see you since they’ll be facing their back towards you. If anything, id you hear a shot or yelling. Don’t turn around! Hear me. Whatever you do, don’t turn around. The police is after Brian, they believe he’s responsible for the events in the hotel. So if these guys see ya, they might take him in. Understood?” Canon states, clearing up any confusion that hounded the two cousins mind.

“O, ok.” Kevin managed to whisper as Canon smiles, the same emerald eyes gleaming under the harsh white ceiling lights.

Brian nods his head and smiles painfully, the fear scrolled his face darkly.

Canon pats Brian’s shoulder and grips it, “It’ll be ok. I’ll do anything in my power to protect you both. We’re professionals at this. I wish you guys weren’t involved in this, its too dangerous, but then no one would be able to watch over you, since the hunt is on for Brian. And having you guys in the hotel for questioning, would be too much pressure and someone might crack and say things that aren’t truth. It always happens to victims with stress. The police tend to say things to play with the victims mind and someone might fall for such a deviant plan.”

Even after all of Canon’s saying, Brian didn’t feel any less comfortable or confident as the fear grips his spine painfully.

Kevin leans near Brian and whispers into his ear, “Think of who scared A.J. is right now. Don’t think about you. It’s not about you, but A.J. ok?”

Brian sniffs and nods his head, “Yeah, for A.J. we’ll do this.”

“Great. Let’s get a move on, the two soldiers are approaching down the hallway now.” Canon whispers, walking calmly towards the two armed soldiers at the end of the hallway.

Kevin and Brian watch as Canon starts up a conversation, keeping a sharp eye on both him and Brian. Both guards join the conversation, questions of who is he and what is his purpose in the building comes out. Canon answers swiftly, his answers seeming to satisfy both armed guards. The conversation keeps going as Brian and Kevin creep towards the soldiers backs. They slide down the wall and crawl down, their facing the back of the soldiers as Canon laughs and continues the conversation, hoping to keep the two men interested in what he is saying. Brian and Kevin crawl quietly on the floor away from the soldiers unnoticed as they veered towards another corner waiting for Canon to catch up to them.

Suddenly a tall caramel complexion man stands in front of Brian and Kevin and smiles, “Am, that was fast, I just left to load up on guns and you already wasted the kid. While let’s go and what are you doing with this lame a…”

“Oh, wait you think…” Brian cuts the man off before Jeremiah completed his sentence.

“Think what? Dude, let’s roll and while your at it, shoot off this guy, we don’t need the other doubles finding out about this whole plan.” Jeremiah mentions, raising his pistol towards Kevin’s forehead.

“Wa, wait. I’ll take care of it. Look I lost my way down here, where was the room with the kid.” Brian whispers, hoping his fear didn’t seep through his sentence.

Jeremiah smirks and rolls his eyes, “Why the hell you wanna go back there? Don’t you know we could get caught in there with Alena?”

“Alena?” Brian mutters confused as Kevin stares at his cousin darkly.

“Whatever look it’s back down the hallway, turn left, but we don’t have time for this.” Jeremiah growls, his dark eyes scanning over Kevin. “Canon why do you even bother? It’s too late to save the kid. Amerian here took care of it.”

Kevin gulps and shakes his head, “Cause I want to see it for myself. I can’t just let you two run off free without doing some time.”

“Too late for that, me and Am here left no evidence of our murder on the boy. So stop wasting our time and your and go back like the pansy self you are to the police department. We don’t need you here.” Jeremiah growls leaning near Kevin as a grin splattered his face. Suddenly the hallway was filled with bullets as Jeremiah stands there confused and surprised.

Canon turns a corner and faces the two guys, his pistol facing Jeremiah’s direction. “Actually, its not too late yet. I saw your buddy and he didn’t kill the boy yet. So under the police orders, I have the right to destroy your weak a…”

“Ahhh, I don’t think this is a good idea.” Brian interrupts, shaking lightly as the sight of the pistol drawn to kill.

Canon narrows his eyes and smirks, “Brian do what I say and head down the hall, both of you. I killed off the guards down the hallway and now I’m about to get rid of Jeremiah. Remember what I told you, don’t look back, no matter what happens. K?”

Both men nods their head wearily and race down the hallway fearing the results of what will occur between Canon and Jeremiah.

Kevin and Brian turn another corner out of the hallway and jump at the sound of a gun pooping off. Brian gasps loudly and clutches his chest, “Oh god!! He’s dead! Is Canon died?”

“Shhh… Bri, calm down. I, I, don’t know man. Just stay calm. We gotta find A.J. he should be around here somewhere.” Kevin whispers, tugging on Brian’s shoulders.

They walk down a dark hallway, shivering from the horrid thoughts, attempting to turn back around and see for sure if it was Jeremiah or Canon that got shot.

‘Keep going Brian, keep going.’ Brian thought to himself as he feels Kevin nudging him towards the first door to his left.

“Wait, we should check this door out.” Kevin whispers, his hands shaking as he juggles the knob in his hand, he swings it open and sees nothing but large crates aligning the walls of the room, the dark room showed rows of weapons of all kinds.

“Damn, this place is loaded.” Kevin whispers, his eyes scanning the room.

“Let’s go! WE still have more doors to look at, and if Canon is dead, I’m out!” Brian shrieks.

“Shhh, it’ll be ok. Canon can’t be died, even if that guy had his gun with him, Canon is wearing a bullet proof vest. He should be ok.” Kevin whispers, hoping that is would not only calm Brian, but himself.

They continue their journey and hope that Canon was ok and that they can get out of here quickly with A.J. safe with them.
~*~

Amerian smirks and twirls the pistol in his hands, “A.J. I’m sorry we have to end this conversation, just to let you know, it’ll good between me and you. But I have a job to do. So if you can relax, I promise this bullet won’t make a big mess on the walls.”

“Oh hell no! you can’t kill me! I’m too valuable, you think you can just pull this gun and your problems will be over! Think about Brian! You have the courts, police, management, your family! Dear God, your family! Haven’t you thought of the prospect of what will happen to your family, to the guys! Haven’t the thought of the other guys reactions to my death get to you. Can you sleep with what you will do?!” A.J. yells, his eyes bulging in fear as he tries to get out the chair, but the ropes around him forbid it.

Amerian laughs, “Dude, whatever. Say bye now.” And with that Amerian shoots the pistol. A.J. in his panic, leans onto his side, having the chair crash onto the floor. He could hear the bullet wiz by his ear as he gasps.

“Don’t play with me with boy!” Amerian growls as he inches closer. Suddenly the door swings open and Alena enters, her blonde locks frazzled.

“Well, well, well. Looks who’s here trying to mess with my plans. If isn’t my boy Amerian.” Alena mutters with disinterest.

A.J. winces in pain and stares at two, “Amerian?” A.J. mutters out.

“Oh yeah, guess you weren’t introduced to him, I should you a picture of him before.” Alena states, leaning down to see A.J. on his arm, wincing in pain. “Looks like I came just in time. What were you trying to do to my prisoner Amerian?”

Amerian snorts and lifts the pistol towards Alena’s direction, “You little wench, you didn’t think you could get away with this without me right? Well guess what, I won’t let you get the satisfaction of disposing him. I got him in the hospital! Not you! If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have caught him at all and you’d be screwed.”

Alena’s big green blue orbs shot open as she growls and pulls out her small silver pistol, “How dare you Brian?!”

A.J. lies on his side, confusion ringing thorough his mind, “This can’t be Brian, he wouldn’t do this to me.”

Alena laughs, “Then you don’t know you’re friend, Why don’t you sing to him Brian and show him what you can do.”

“Why should I help you?” Amerian growls staring at Alena.

“Just sing damn you!” Alena yells, her pale snowy complexion pointing her gun at him.

Amerian snorts and pulls the trigger on gun. Nothing came out.

Laughing Alena blurts out, “Oh what’s wrong Amie. All out of bullets? Maybe I have some. Let’s see.” And she pulls the trigger at him.

Amerian dodges the few bullets and stands up a few feet away from her laughing. “You should learn to aim before shooting.”

Alena joins in the laughing as the distraught A.J. watches on, his heart pounding, his fear freezing him on the floor.

Amerian takes a deep breath and smirks, passing his hand over his chest. He pulls his hand away in shock as his own blood smeared on it. “What the..”

“Oh what’s wrong Amie, did I hit ya?” Alena gloats, her eyes shining in excitement.

Amerian gasps and spits out a mouthful of blood, “No way. You couldn’t have! Those bullets never touched me, I’m wearing a bullet proof vest, you wench!”

Alena laughs, “Really that’s funny, I saw that same vest before I handed it to you a while back when we started this whole plan. And from what I knows, it was never there to protect you.”

“WHAT?!” Amerian shouts, the pain zooming down his chest as the blood leaks out the open wounds.

“Oh yeah, guess I forgot to give you one that fully protected you. Oops.” She smiles, giggling at the realization for Amerian.

“You little bi…” Amerian whispers but cuts off his sentence as he collapses on the floor dead.

“There, now I can get rid of the rest of trash in this room.” Alena mutters, walking towards A.J.

A.J. watching the whole event, lies in utter shock, wasn’t that Brian died on the floor? Wasn’t that his friend’s blood seeping onto the wooden planks in front of him? So why wasn’t he feeling all confused, if Alena didn’t kill Brian, then Brian surly would have killed him, yet something wasn’t right with this picture. Alena disturbs A.J.’s thoughts as she stands in front of him, her bloodied sandals soak in the ever flowing blood that stains the floor. A.J. gasps and Alena kneels down and points the pistol at A.J.

Smiling, she leans near him and softly kisses his quivering lips, petting him, she whispers in his ear, “There, there. We’re almost done. You’ll like being dead. You can’t hurt me anymore. Relax, everything will be ok in a few. You’ll see.” And she stares at him, caressing A.J’s dark hair with her pale slender fingers.
~*~

“I found nothing down the west wing. What about you Franklin?” Sean asks, standing in front of the metal stairwell waiting for Canon and the other two men to appear.

“Same thing. Wonder where Canon is at? I’m thinking A.J. is being kept upstairs somewhere. They must have found him by now.” Franklin states, ruffling his fingers through his hair.

Nick and Howie whisper quietly to each other as they keep their eyes focus on the balcony above them, hoping Kevin and Brian are well.

“This is a bad idea Sean. Taking the guys with us? Why would Canon think that’s reasonable?” Franklin whispers.

Sean smiles and gazes at the two Boys whispering to each other, “Cause either way, these guys would have made their way over here on their own, unprotected. At least now they’re with us and we can watch them.”

Nick and Howie sigh and notice a small drop of liquid splash down on the dirty floor before them. The metallic smell grows stronger as more mall drops from the ceiling splash down on the floor.

“G, guys, is that blood?” Nick cringes, his eyes filled with worry.

Sean narrows his eyes and kneels down, swiping his finger across a drop of the liquid on the floor. Smelling it, he nods and stands up, “Yeah.”

Nick drops his mouth, “Oh man what if they…”

“Stop!” Howie cuts in, “Don’t say that Nick! They’ll be ok. We are, so shouldn’t them?”

Nick nods his head and leans back against the cement wall.

Franklin fingers the walkie talkie and lifts it up, “C12, pick up. We’re waiting for ya. Hurry up. It’s getting too dangerous, the soldiers are filing in and I think Amerian is around here looking for A.J. if he hasn’t all ready.”

The walkie talkie blares out the static voice of Franklin as a bloodied hand grasps the instrument. “F23, its me. Ahh, damn, I got shot. Listen, I’m ok, but no A.J. yet. There’s no other door around here, where the hell could they keep the boy at?” Canon’s voice speaks through, bringing relief to the waiting party.

“Thank God, you’re fine; I heard some bullets ricocheting upstairs somewhere and thought you might have been involved.” Franklin whispers.

“Yeah, I shot two guards and one of the partners that Amerian was working with.” Canon’s voice quivers as he is embedded with pain on his shoulder and arm.

“Good, nothing up there?” Franklin asks curiously.

“Nope, checked all the rooms. I have no idea where A.J. could be at.” Canon whispers.

“Man, you think there’s a hidden room somewhere, Sean and I heard some noise and yelling and I know it wasn’t you, cause it sounded a lot like Amerian, maybe he got caught by the someone.” Franklin whispers in the walkie talkie as Nick, Howie and Sean watch him intensely.

“I thought of that, but I have no clue as to where to search, plus Emmanuel ran into some problems, he told me he’s heading back here, cause the road was dead end.” Canon whispers as he, Brian and Kevin search the same room again feeling along the walls for any secret passages.

Brian passes his hands across a dusty shelf and suddenly the shelf makes a clicking sound and begins to turn into the wall as the piece of wall entirely turns to the side allowing a doorway down the vacant hallway.

Kevin smiles and pats Brian on the shoulder as Canon smirks, “Guys.” He whispers in to the walkie talkie, “I think we found it, thanks to Brian over here.”

He could hear relief on the other line of the walkie talkie as Sean and Nick and Howie cheer and clap.

“I’ll be down there shortly, talk to ya later Franklin.” Canon whispers, shutting off the walkie talkie and making his way first into the desolate dark hallway.

“Brian, Kevin be quiet. Stay here. I’m gonna go in the room. Don’t go no where ok?” Canon whispers as he inches towards the doorway.

Brian and Kevin watch in anxiety as Canon leans his ear into the doorway. If only he could hear what’s happening inside.
~*~

Alena sighs and pulls the pistol towards A.J’s quivering forehead, “Shh, it’s ok to be scared to die. You’re young but at least you die looking good.” Alena murmurs into his ears.

A.J. cries out softly as he sees the corpse of Amerian, Brian, or whoever that man was, moving a bit.

“Close your eyes A.J. I don’t want you to see how you die.” Alena whispers, running her fingers over his eyelids, closing them.

A.J. gulps as tears stain his face, he couldn’t stop the idea that he was about to die, he prayed, hoping that some form of fate would interrupt this fateful moment.

Suddenly a loud groan was heard as Amerian stands up quietly behind Alena. Alena too busy with her pistol didn’t turn around in time to see Amerian smiling as he pulls out a pistol from his vest and shoots at Alena. She stares at A.J. with a strange expression on her face, before her eyes rolled up to her head and collapses dead on top of A.J’s face. She was shot in the back of her neck and she never said a word. Her body covered A.J.’s nostrils as he struggles to move his chained body away from the fallen corpse. He was suffocating with the woman’s mass on his face as well as the thick blood that seeps down her chest.

A.J. lies there still fearing Amerian will finish up the job he had intended on doing before being interrupted by Alena.

A.J. lies there as he hears a door kicked open and a loud voice shouting, “Come up with your hands up. It’s too Amerian, you can’t kill him. It’s over! You hear it’s over.”

Then A.J. hears two guns shots as someone shuffles over the other side of the room and then all A.J. hears is a window crashing as who ever, leaps out the window to either his or her death or exit.

A.J. starts choking on the thick blood that was seeping out of Alena’s body. He never thought this was how he was gonna die. He feels the tears trace down his face as he struggles for air.

He says a quiet prayer and suddenly Alena’s corpse is lifted off of him as he stares at a blood streaked Kevin.

A.J. smiles and chokes out, “Thank you.” As he hears the loud siren’s of the police and ambulance arriving at the scene.

Kevin smiles and embraces A.J. in his arms as Brian enters the room.

A.J. cringes at the sight of Brian and immediately pulls away from Kevin, reaching for Alena’s pistol. Raising the pistol at Brian’s direction, he yells out, “NO! NO, You won’t kill me! You hear me! I won’t let you touch me! Brian, Amerian, whoever the hell you’re suppose to be?!” A.J. shrieks out, his whole body shaking in pure horror.

Kevin smiles and gently places A.J.’s arm down.

Brian walks slowly to A.J, his azure eyes filled with worry and tears, “A.J. oh God, you’re ok!! I know you’re confused! We have a lot to explain, but we have to get out of here ok.”

A.J. shakes his head, “You’re gonna kill me! I won’t let you!” A.J.’s ragged breathing races.

Kevin hugs the frightened A.J. and forcefully takes away the pistol from him. “It’s over A.J., it’s over. Amerian won’t hurt you anymore nor will that girl will either. You’re ok, you’re safe. Brian would never hurt you. It was an undercover man who impersonated Brian to get to you. Along with him the woman, who is dead now, Alena was all part of a plan to hurt and get to you. But we found you and you’ll never leave us again ok?” Kevin whispers, stroking A.J.’s hair.

A.J. quivers and cries out as the tears streak his face, “Oh God, Guys, this was hell for me! I can’t tell if its Brian, I thought you hate me?” He asks to Brian.

Brian rapidly shakes his head, “No! Why would you think that? I would die than to see you get hurt. A.J. the day I found you in your room, I thought it was all over for all of us. I thought I wasn’t going to hear your laughter, your jokes-though their bad.” He pauses as A.J. and Kevin chuckle softly and Brian continues, “I thought you despised me, when you said I was the one there to hurt you. You know me, I would never hurt you! I love you man and these pass days have been hell for all of us. We didn’t know if you were ok. The day of the hospital when we went to visit you, we were all ecstatic to see you. But then your kidnapping and the mafia like people coming for us and you, we didn’t understand what was going on. Then…”

“Then I made the mistake and had the honor of hiring a lunatic and heroes all in one day.” Kevin cuts in, telling A.J. about the undercover men.

Brian smiles and calls in Canon to the room, A.J. watches a man that eerily looked identical to Kevin.

“Because of him, we were able to be here and get you. And just in time too.” Brian whispers as Canon smiles gently at the trembling figure of A.J.

“We should get you into a hospital, you’re been through too much.” Canon states.

A.J. sucks in a deep breath, “Need I remind you, that this is all how is all started.”

Kevin nods his head, “Yeah, he’s right. A.J. will be ok with us. Well call a doctor when we get back to the hotel and check him out. The whole hospital thing doesn’t seem like the best option right now.”

Canon chuckles, “Yeah, you’re right. Well A.J. , seems you’re the star today, everyone wants to know about you. Especially the guys, they’re all waiting for you downstairs.” And with Kevin’s help lift A.J. back on his feet.

A.J. cringes in pain as Brian and Kevin lead the way out the door with Canon in the front.

A.J. takes the last step down the metal stairs as he was embraced by hugs from the Nick and Howie.

“Oh God!! You’re ok!! Thank God, oh man we were worried sick about J!” Howie yells out, his arms wrap tightly over A.J.’s weary body.

“Guys, I thought I was gonna die, if it wasn’t for that Kevin lookie like, my behind would have choked on the wenches blood.” A.J. murmurs, the shock wearing thin on him.

A man that looks eerily like Nick stands before him and pats A.J’s shoulder, A.J. watches curiously as the body double tucks in a pistol and pulls out a knife to cut the ropes off A.J’s wrists and ankles.

“There you go boy, much better.” Sean smiles as A.J. glances at Nick to Sean and back to Nick.

“What the…” A.J. drones off, as he watches confused.

Sean sticks his right out and smiles, “Hey you must be A.J. Hi, I’m Sean, Nick’s double. I’m glad to see that Canon got to you in time, before anything else could have happened.”

“Wait, what happened with that Amerian or whatever the hell his name is?” A.J. asks, glancing at Canon.

Canon sucks his teeth and stares at the dusty floor, “I was shooting at him and he ran out of bullets. He thought he could jump out the window, but must have forgotten there are iron spikes surrounding that side of the building.”

At this, all went “Ohhhh” as the image of the man’s body striking an iron spike fill their heads.

“Not a pretty picture man, not a good one at all.” A.J states as he stares into his own face. Jumping back, he leans near the man that had his face. “Whoa, how, what?” He gasps out, staring at Emmanuel. “Whoa dude, you look just like me!”

Emmanuel smirks, “Yeah, I notice it doesn’t take a genius to see that.”

At that remark everyone laughs as A.J. nods his head, “I can’t believe it, I just played myself, how is that possible? This is wrong in so many levels man.”

Emmanuel laughs and throws his arms around A.J, in a raspy voice, he pulls out a pair of tinted shades and puts it on A.J. and himself.

The others laugh as police officers and paramedics wonder the building.

“Take a deep breath man, this is freedom man.” Emmanuel rasps out, as A.J. laughs.

“Time to take you home Alex.” Franklin, Howie’s double states leaving A.J. more confused about his friend’s identity.

“Yo, Kevin this is way too freaky for my taste man.” A.J. states as he slides in the back seat of the SUV.

Brian laughs, “Dude you have no idea.” And they all board the black escalade and drive off, away from the horror and away from the death scene that will haunt A.J.’s mind for a while.
~*~

“I have to apologize for everything.” Brian whispers, sitting besides A.J. on the park bench as they both stare at the calm pond, where a few ducks waddle around in, happily quaking.

A.J. smiles a bit as he nibbles on his lower lip, “Brian, I should be the one to apologize to you. All this time I was holding in anger, ready to kill you if I had the chance…”

“No, A.J. it’s my fault. I should have done something, anything to work on relationship, but after that argument the other day, I was real upset with you. And when you were attacked that night, I felt so horrible acting like so ignorant. I was only worried about my stupid thoughts and never once didn’t think how much I could have hurt you. And I know…”

“B, it’s alright. Really, I forgive you. We’re buddies man, no need for the sad emotional explanation, I cried enough and if word gets out that I was acting like pansy instead of being hero when I kidnapped, I know it was you, telling.” A.J. smirks as Brian chuckles.

“J, that’s foul, I wouldn’t do that to you.” Brian states, a twinkle in his eyes.

“But who said I wouldn’t do anything.” Nick’s voice appears, as he slumps into the bench besides A.J.

A.J. rolls his eyes and throws his arms around both guys, “Ma I missed ya weirdness. You had no idea what I had to endure. All cause I wasn’t nice to a fan. I’m telling you, I’m a different man, yes sire. I’m gonna be the sweet one, hell I’ll kiss every freaking fan I see just so this won’t happen to me.”

Howie laughs as he slumps into the bench across A.J., “Yeah, but remember the chick was a nutcase. She was staying at the mental institution and her boyfriend checked her out.”

“I found out she was drawn to our music.” Kevin mumbles as he slumps on the bench across from A.J.’s

“Dude, music is no joke. We really reach to all types of people.” Nick smirks, shaking his head.

A.J. laughs heartily; finally able to have a good laugh after all the trauma he endured. It’s been over a week since the incident and things were looking well for the Boys. A.J. loved the fact that the body doubles had a good sense of humor about portraying them. The guards had since left but promised to make visits and check on all of them. As for A.J. he was just glad to be alive.

“Guys thanks for keeping faith about me. I was giving up, but you guys came through and got me out of there before it was too late.” A.J. whispers, smiling as he squeezes Brian and Nick’s shoulder.

“A.J. we would never give up! You’re like our brother, we’ve been through too much to just stop thinking that we wouldn’t see you again.” Howie whispers.

“Thanks guys, I love ya.” A.J. smiles as the others nods.

“Dido J.” The guys say as they watch the evening sun settle on the horizon.

Nick laughs, “Kev, look, that pigeon we saw before. It found its family just like us.”

A.J. snorts, “Dude you guys had too much time on hands to watch the birds man.”

And they all laugh as they joke around and see the sun glowing its soft golden glow on the happy reunited family.
~**~

**~THE END~**