1. Chapter 1 by Jenna
2. Chapter 2 by Jenna
3. Chapter 3 by Jenna
4. Chapter 4 by Jenna
5. Chapter 5 by Jenna
6. Chapter 6 by Jenna
7. Chapter 7 by Jenna
8. Chapter 8 by Jenna
9. Chapter 9 by Jenna
10. Chapter 10 by Jenna
11. Chapter 11 by Jenna
12. Chapter 12 by Jenna
13. Chapter 13 by Jenna
14. Chapter 14 by Jenna
15. Chapter 15 by Jenna
16. Chapter 16 by Jenna
17. Chapter 17 by Jenna
18. Chapter 18 by Jenna
19. Chapter 19 by Jenna
20. Chapter 20 by Jenna
21. Chapter 21 by Jenna
22. Chapter 22 by Jenna
23. Chapter 23 by Jenna
24. Chapter 24 by Jenna
25. Chapter 25 by Jenna
26. Chapter 26 by Jenna
27. Chapter 27 by Jenna
28. Chapter 28 by Jenna
29. Chapter 29 by Jenna
30. Chapter 30 by Jenna
31. Chapter 31 by Jenna
32. Chapter 32 by Jenna
33. Chapter 33 by Jenna
"Hi, they said you were hungry this morning. I hope you like what I brought, I made it myself this morning," she smiled.
"They let you make it yourself?" AJ questioned. "I thought a big hospital has a big cafeteria and stuff."
"Well...um, yeah they do," Tiffany stammered, setting the tray on the stand at the foot of the bed.
AJ looked at the tray and then at Tiffany. "Okay darlin, spill it, I know something is definitely not right here."
Tiffany clasped her hands. "I don't know what you mean, is something wrong with the tray?"
"You know exactly what I mean!"
"I.. I can't, I need to go, I will get into trouble," Tiffany cried as she turned to run out of the room. AJ jumped up and grabbed her arm, jerking her back towards him.
"No, not this time, I want you to sit right here and talk to me, dammit, I deserve answers, I think something's going on here and you know what I'm talking about."
Tiffany started to cry, AJ could tell she was visibly shaken.
"Sh-h-h-h," he soothed as he held the young girl by her shoulders. "Take a deep breath and calm down, I won't get you in trouble." To solidify his sincerity, he gently placed his index finger under her chin, tilting her face up to look into his eyes. "I promise you, I won't get you in trouble, okay?"
The young girl nodded, taking gasps of air as she whimpered and wiped her tears from her cheeks.
"Now, take a deep breath and start when you're ready, okay?"
Licking her lips, Tiffany nodded quickly. "I don't know how or where to begin."
"Just take your time sweetie, maybe you can start from the beginning?"
"Alright, you're not in a hospital, this is an old office building and the floor was renovated to look like a hospital interior," Tiffany blurted.
"Whoa, wait, are you serious?" AJ paled.
"You were never in an accident, your friends and your mother are still alive, this was all set up."
AJ slowly backed away from Tiffany, his legs felt as if they couldn't support him any longer.
"Are you alright?"
AJ sank down on the edge of his bed, still trying to grasp what Tiffany had said to him.
"AJ?"
He didn't answer the girl at first, only shook his head slowly, back and forth. "But why?"
"They didn't say why they were doing this, I was told only to keep my mouth shut and do what I've been told."
"But the papers, tv...how?"
"Everything was set up from the very beginning. There are stacks of magazines with fake dates on the covers and stuff, they went through everything including television shows to make you believe that you've been in a coma."
"So they are alive?" AJ barely spoke, still in shock.
Tiffany acknowledged with a slight nod.
"I need to get out of here right now," AJ stated as he stood up, walking towards the closet that held his clothing.
"Wait! You promised me you wouldn't get me in trouble!"
AJ stopped as he heard the girl starting to sob. He turned and saw her pained face and realized that he had made a promise to her. His shoulders sank as he headed back towards the bed.
"Okay, you have to help me figure out a plan on how to get out of here without you getting in trouble. Do you think you can do that?"
"Yes, I think I can."
"Good, let's get started with planning then."
“Well, he really seems like a nice guy, he was more preoccupied with his niece
being an AJ fan. He told me that she would give anything in the world to
have an autographed picture. Now that’s funny,” Nick smirked.
“Nick, are you telling me we still don’t have anything to go on?” Brian shook
his head in despair.
“N-nothing solid,” Nick stammered. Sweat was beading on his forehead and
the room seemed to narrow and then go back to it’s normal size. Nick shook
his head slightly, hoping to put the room back into focus.
Brian picked up on Nick’s behavior immediately. “You had something to drink,
didn’t you? After I told you specifically to keep your head clear you---”
Nick jumped up, cutting Brian off from his lecturing. “I gotta take a leak.”
After successfully getting away from Brian, Nick decided what he needed
more than anything was fresh air and fast. Blindly pushing the on the exit
door, Nick literally fell into Jack’s arms.
“Hey, are you okay pal?” Jack asked as he caught him and prevented Nick
from falling to the ground.
Nick sleepily rubbed the palm of his hand across his forehead, messing his
hair. “I-I don’t feel right.”
“You don’t look like you do either, come on, let me help you to my car, you
need to sit down,” Jack offered as he pulled Nick in the direction of his
vehicle.
“N-no, I just need air,” Nick protested, but his body wasn’t obeying the
commands of staying put.
Jack ushered Nick to the passenger side of his car, the whole time looking
around making sure no one was witnessing them. Jack quickly took his place
behind the steering wheel and started the engine.
Panic started to set into Nick’s drug paralyzed body. His mind was screaming
‘run..run’ but he couldn’t move. Before the car even left the parking lot, Nick
had passed out.
Brian glanced at his watch. “Okay, fifteen minutes is plenty of time, where
the hell did that little shit run off to now?” As he stood up, he asked the
bartender to have Nick stay put if he wasn’t back before Nick showed up
again.
“I’m going to kill that kid,” Brian mumbled under his breath as he walked
towards the bathroom. “He better be constipated for the amount of time
he’s been taking in here!”
Walking into the restroom, Brian was met with empty stalls and only two men
standing at the urinals. He decided it wouldn’t be a clever idea to ask two
men if they had seen Nick for fear he could be labeled as gay. “Thank you
Nick for planting that idea in my head,” Brian said to himself through
gritted teeth.
“Hey! Aren’t you Backstreet Brian?”
Brian was nailed before he barely crossed the exit by two young women.
“Yes?”
“Cool! I thought you were! My friend Susie said there was no way that Brian
Littrell would be in a bar, but here you are!”
Brian pasted a thin smile on his face, always the gracious one of the group,
but his mind was in other places and the girl instantly picked up on it.
“Are you looking for Nick?”
“Huh?”
“Nick, Nick Carter? I saw him sort of stagger out of the bar and then he
fell into this guy’s arms and he left with him, talk about weird,” the girl
gushed.
“Who did he leave with?”
“He left with that one dude, Jack, he’s a regular here, he’s cool,” the girl
replied confidently.
“Whoa...wait! Do you know where he lives?”
“Nope, no one really does, I’m sure he will take Nick back to your hotel, I
wouldn’t worry about it.”
Brian thanked the girl, but there was a gnawing in the pit of his stomach.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
Nick blinked his eyes several times trying to clear up his blurred vision. He
found himself laying on a mattress in the middle of someone’s office. His
mind tried to recall how he got to this place as much as where this place
was. He drew a complete blank.
He slowly sat up, his head spinning. “Where the hell am I and what the hell
did I drink?”
With no one to help Nick answer his questions, he slowly stood up, using the
desk as leverage. There weren’t any clues on the clean desk, only a telephone
and when Nick picked up the receiver, he discovered that it wasn’t
connected. Trying the door, he found that he was locked in.
“What the shit is this?”
Spying a window, Nick decided he could just open it up and jump out to
freedom. His plans were foiled when he noted that he was too high up to
jump. Just as he was about to give up all hope, his cell phone made a buzzing
noise, indicating that he had voice mail.
”Nick...where the hell are you?!?”
“Great,” Nick sighed. “I have Brian pissed off at me.”
He quickly punched in the speed dial numbers to Brian’s cell phone. The phone
only rang once when Brian anxiously answered it.
“Nick! Are you okay?”
“I think so.”
“Where are you? Why did you leave like that?” Brian demanded.
Nick looked around at the office he was being held prisoner in. “I have no
idea where I am or how I got here. It’s all fuzzy.”
“Then get the hell out of there and get back here!”
“I wish I could Bri, I’m locked in here,” Nick replied with a sigh as he tried
the locked door again.
“Where’s here?”
“If I knew I would tell you,” Nick hissed through gritted teeth.
“Calm down--”
”Calm down?!? I am fuckin’ calm dammit!”
“Yeah and I’m President Bush. Nick is there a window you can look out?”
“Yeah, but I’m too high up to jump,” Nick replied as he walked towards the
window.
“No, I wasn’t thinking about you jumping, I was thinking maybe you could see
some kind of a landmark, something that I could look up in a phone book to
figure out where you were,” Brian explained.
“Hey, good idea!”
Looking out the window, Nick’s heart sank when he realized all that was
across from where he was stood a tall brick building with no names on it and
it appeared to be vacant. “Shit Bri, it’s just an old abandoned building.”
“What about down the street, are you on a street?”
Nick pressed his face against the glass, trying to see if he could look down
for a street sign. “Hold on, I gotta open the window.”
Setting the phone on the ledge, Nick tried to pry the window open.
“Dammit,” he grunted as he pushed up on the frame, “it’s painted shut!”
“Try harder!” Brian yelled into his receiver.
“I am,” Nick yelled back. “Hey... it’s starting to budge...it’s gonna open! I got
it!” Nick yelped victoriously, but his victory was short lived when his leg
accidentally bumped the cell phone off the ledge and out the now opened
window. Nick leaned out the window and watched helplessly as the phone fell
onto the ledge below. Miraculously it didn’t shatter.
“Shit.”
Hearing a loud noise, Brian was afraid he lost connection. “Nick?....Nick?” He
waited for a reply but only heard faint sea gulls squawking.
"I can't believe he lost the phone," Brian sighed as he disconnected the call.
“I don’t know how though, they have this guarded.”
“True, but I did kinda made a run for it once and I was out in the hall,” AJ
thought out loud. “We just have to figure out an opportunity and you have to
lead me cause I don’t have any clue as to where I am or where anything is as
far as an elevator or stairs or whatever.”
Tiffany nodded as she listened.
AJ gestured towards the window. “And I already know that I’m too high up
to...jump.” The word jump came faintly out of his mouth as he saw an object
falling past the window. AJ rubbed his eyes, thinking he was seeing things.
“Anyway, we have to come up with a solid plan.”
Tiffany looked over her shoulder towards the window. “Did you see
something?”
“No, I think my eyes are playing tricks on me. Where exactly is this building
at? Are we close to a city or something?”
As the girl prepared to answer, AJ saw something from the window again.
This time it was part of a pair of legs in jeans and tennis shoes dangling in
the window.
“What the hell!?” As AJ stood up to walk over to the window, the person
that was hanging above the window fell. AJ picked up his pace and rushed
towards the window, flinging it open.
“Nick?”
“I.. ugh.. I think my arm’s broke... god I-I can’t hang on,” Nick wailed.
Instinctively, AJ reached out and grabbed his young friend’s arm that was
bracing his body partially on the ledge. With the adrenaline coursing through
his body, AJ was able to pull Nick up and into the window. Once he was
inside, AJ wrapped Nick in a tight bear hug.
“Oh my god, Nick! I’m so damn glad to see you!”
Nick’s only reply was a cough. “AJ! God, please! You’re choking me! I can’t
breathe!”
AJ quickly pulled back. “Oh, god, sorry there Nick. It’s just that oh god, how
do I tell you this?” AJ took a step back and looked at Nick with tear-filled
eyes. “It’s just that I thought you were dead.”
“Dead? No, AJ it’s the other way around, we thought you were dead.” Nick
paused as he looked at his new surroundings. “Where the hell am I anyways?
This looks like a hospital room.”
“Tiffany, do you want to take that question cause I have no idea where I
am,” AJ replied.
The young girl sighed. “I’m going to get into so much trouble when they find
you in the room with him.”
“No sweetheart, remember? I’m going to protect you from them. You won’t
get in trouble. Nick and I will make sure nothing happens to you, right Nick?”
Holding his hurt arm by the wrist, Nick nodded slightly. “Yeah, what he says,
I’ll do whatever he says we need to do, just tell us where we are and how to
get out of here.”
Tiffany tore at a sheet on the bed and ripped it into a long strip. “Here,
lemme take your arm and make this into a splint. You need to keep it from
moving.”
Once she finished putting Nick’s arm into a sling, she walked over to the
window. “Okay, we are in an abandoned office building. On the ninth floor to
be exact. We are probably three blocks from a busy street.”
“Okay, what city are we in darlin, we need a name of a city,” AJ coaxed.
“Why is that important?” Tiffany asked.
“So we can tell the police where to come,” Nick stated in a tempered tone.
AJ held a hand up and gave Nick a quick glare. “No sweetheart, we just need
to know exactly where we are so I can call Brian to come and pick us up. You
will be safe, don’t worry about it.”
“Okay, we’re in Niceville.... Niceville Florida.”
AJ’s mouth dropped open. “You gotta be kidding.”
”Niceville? What the fuck is Niceville?” AJ rasped.
“It’s where we are,” Tiffany replied, her voice barely audible.
“I’ve never heard of Niceville, is there some bigger city or something that I can tell Brian
where this place is?” Nick asked and then reached out of the window to retrieve his cell
phone from the ledge.
Tiffany shrugged her shoulders. “All I know is Niceville, I’m sorry but I’ve never traveled
so I don’t know of any other places.”
“What are you, freakin’ Amish or something?” Nick asked with an exasperated tone.
“Nick!” AJ growled.
“Well, it’s a little hard to be rescued when she doesn’t have a clue to where we are either!”
Nick defended.
“Please sweetheart, there’s got to be something we can tell our friend so he can get us,”
AJ asked in a calm voice.
“I’m sorry, I just don’t know,” Tiffany replied, her voice wavering. Her eyes widened when
she heard the sound of keys jangling from outside the door.
“Nick, go hide in the bathroom!” AJ directed in a hushed whisper.
Quickly, Nick darted towards the bathroom and left the door slightly ajar. His breathing
was labored and he gasped when his eyes fell onto his cell phone that was left on the
nightstand. “Oh shit,” he whispered.
“There you are young lady!” Esther scolded when she entered the room. “They need help
with the patient in room 423---”
AJ rolled his eyes.
Esther looked at her hostage suspiciously and then at the young girl. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing ma’am, he wanted company while he ate breakfast and that’s why I stayed,”
Tiffany offered.
“Oh?” the woman still didn’t appear convinced.
“Yeah, she was keeping me company,” AJ quickly stated.
“Yes ma’am, he’s been feeling lonely and I just stayed to keep him company,” Tiffany
offered again.
“Well, I guess there’s no harm in that,” Esther replied as she walked towards the closet.
AJ and Tiffany drew their breath in, praying that she wouldn’t open the bathroom door.
Nick, on the other side of the door, could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He was
mentally willing AJ to spy the cell phone and move it before the woman discovered it.
“Tiffany, I think it would be a good idea to change the bed while our patient takes a
shower. Maybe later today we’ll start some thera---”
The woman’s words were cut short when her eyes fell on the cell phone that was laying on
the nightstand. She scooped the phone up into her hand. “Where did this come from?”
Both AJ and Tiffany stood quietly, trying to come up with a quick explanation.
”Where did this come from?” Esther demanded as she shook the phone at them.
“It fell out of the sky,” Tiffany replied.
Esther slapped the young girl with the back of an open hand. Both Nick and AJ winced
when they heard the sound of flesh hitting flesh. Tiffany quickly placed her hand over the
assaulted cheek. “DON’T YOU DARE LIE TO ME!
“She’s telling you the truth,” AJ defended, clenching his fists, trying to hold back the rage
he was feeling seeing the old woman slapping the girl.
The woman let out a sarcastic laugh. “You expect me to be that stupid?”
“Look lady, I was talking to Tiffany and I was facing the window and this phone literally
fell past the window and landed on the ledge.”
Esther shook her head. "You really expect me to believe this?"
AJ had suppressed his hatred for the woman long enough. "Yeah, like you expect me to believe that I've been in a hospital in a coma for eighteen months and my friends and my mother are dead!"
The look the woman trained on AJ should have put him six feet under. "I have no idea what you're talking about, but I can see that you need to be sedated again."
AJ shook his head. "You always think that's the answer to your little game when it doesn't go the way you like it, don't you? It's not gonna happen this time. Game's over!"
The cell phone chirped in Esther's hand. A strange smile crept across the woman's lips. As AJ moved to grab the phone, she forcefully slammed it to the ground, shards of plastic sprayed everywhere. "Wrong move there Alex, wrong move!"
Nick drew a breath in when as he witnessed the older woman slam his
beloved cell phone to the floor, shattering it. He narrowed his eyes as he
thought of all the unspeakable things he could do to the woman for revenge.
He caught AJ’s eyes as the woman walked out of view; a slight shake of his
head, and the word ‘no’ mouthed. Reluctantly, Nick resigned himself to be a
spectator rather than a participant in this game the woman seemed
determined on playing.
“Tiffany, hold the patient still,” Ester’s voice called out.
”NO! I said no more of this bullshit!” AJ rasped as he watched the
woman turn with a syringe held tightly in her fist.
Ester narrowed her eyes. “You will do what I say. I’m only doing this for your
own good.”
AJ laughed sarcastically. “Game’s over. I know what you’ve been doing and
you can’t stop me by trying to stick a needle into my arm when things don’t
go your way. When I call the police, your ass will be locked up and you won’t
ever see daylight again.”
“I highly doubt that Mr. McLean.”
Suddenly, the old woman lunged, holding the sedative filled syringe over her
head, thrusting it toward her victim, not caring where it made contact.
”You freakin’ bitch!”
Just as Nick was preparing to jump out from the bathroom door, it was
slammed shut. Sounds of AJ yelled and the old woman screaming out as well
as furniture being pushed around added to the chaos.
”STOP! PLEASE STOP FIGHTING!”
Nick frantically tried to open the bathroom door several times. His
adrenaline kicked into overdrive and if he could have pulled the door from
it’s hinges he would have. Ignoring the pain from his injured arm, he slammed
his shoulder against the closed door, trying to force it open with his body,
crying out each time his shoulder connected. Expecting the door to meet
with resistance the last time he threw himself against it, Nick was shocked
when he sailed out of the doorway, tripping over someone’s body on the floor.
He landed safely on top of the bed.
“We don’t have much time,” Tiffany pleaded in a shaky voice. “Help me get
him up!”
Nick turned toward the young girl’s voice. She was standing next to AJ, his
face held a blank expression.
“She got him with the sedative.”
“Bitch didn’t get me,” AJ slurred.
Nick rushed up towards his brother. “Are the keys still on her?”
Tiffany released AJ’s arm and his legs gave out. She reached back to give
him support.
“Go get the keys, I’ll keep him up,” Nick huffed as AJ leaned heavily onto his
side.
“I got ‘em, hurry we have to get out of here before Jack comes back.”
Taking the ring of keys from the pocket on Ester’s lab coat, Tiffany handed
them over to Nick. Nick held the ring up. “Which key is for the door?”
“I don’t know,” Tiffany cried. “I was hoping you’d know.”
“Shit,” he muttered under his breath as he looked at all the different sizes
and shapes of keys on the ring.
“Watch yer potty mouth,” AJ slurred a reprimand.
“C’mon, help me get him over to the door,” Nick grunted. “J you have to help
us out a little. You’d think all these years of helping you when you got
wasted...”
“Try that big gold key there..” Tiffany suggested as she watched Nick
fumbled with the set of keys. “No, the one with the red tip,” she calmly
directed.
Hoisting AJ with his good arm and fumbling with the keys with the other,
Nick lost his grip, sending the keys crashing onto the floor. “Dammit.”
“Watch yer...”
”SHUT UP!” Nick and Tiffany shouted.
Tiffany picked the keys up and quickly inserted what she decided was the
door key. She held her breath and breathed a sigh of relief when the door
clicked open. “Hurry.”
Nick dragged AJ as they fled the room. “Lock the door behind us, trap that
bitch!”
Tiffany nodded and slammed the door shut, placing the door key into the
lock and securing it.
“Take the keys with us, there might be more locked doors,” Nick pointed out.
The girl nodded and took the keys from the door. “Which way?”
Taking AJ’s other arm and draping it over her, the young girl whispered,
“This way.”
“Jesus Boner, you need to pick your feet up some more, I can’t keep dragging your ass,” Nick groaned as he pulled the dead weight down the dark hall. “How much longer is he gonna be like this?”
Tiffany shook her head. “I don’t know….depends on how much Ester had in the shot.”
“Well that’s helpful.”
“Christ Carter, quit yer bitchin’” AJ growled with slurred speech.
“What kind of a place is this?” Nick grunted as they continued.
“Some old warehouse is all I know,” Tiffany said and then stopped where the hall branched off. “Go this way.”
“This is like a fricken maze or something…”
“We haven’t walked that far,” the young girl said as she gestured with her head back towards the direction they had come from. Nick looked back to see that they had only dragged AJ along for less than twenty feet.
“Shit….we’re never gonna get out of here at the rate we’re moving.”
“Maybe with us moving him along, the drug will work its way out of his system quicker,” Tiffany wondered out loud as they started down the new hall.
“Maybe a healthy slap to his face will snap him out of it,” Nick suggested.
Tiffany’s eyes widened at the thought. “You really think you could hit your friend?”
Nick shook his head and then grinned. “Nah but it would probably the only chance I’d get without Jay hitting me back.”
“How’s your arm doing?”
“I wasn’t thinking about it but since you brought it up, it hurts like a bitch.”
“I’m sorry….I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“No, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to sound pissy with you; I’m just getting frustrated.”
“We just have to make it to that door.”
Sighing, Nick stopped at the door that was next to him. “This one?” he asked in a hopeful voice.
Tiffany shook her head, “No, the one at the end of this hall.”
“Seriously…..I have to stop for a minute,” Nick gasped.
Tiffany watched as Nick propped AJ against the wall, shaking his arm after he was free of the tattooed rebel’s weight. “Something wrong?”
“He was cutting off the circulation in my arm; it was falling asleep,” Nick admitted as he raised his arm above his head and then brought it back down, shaking it again. “Damn, this sucks.”
The young woman looked nervously over her shoulder. “We can’t stay in the hall like this; someone will see us.”
“No one’s been around yet,” Nick replied.
“We’ve been lucky…once Ester wakes up she’ll call someone when she finds out she’s locked in the room.”
“Again, no one is in the halls,” Nick reminded.
“She has a walkie talkie,” Tiffany said.
“She has a what?” Nick questioned. “Why the fuck didn’t you take it from her before we locked her in?!”
“I-I’m sorry…I didn’t think about it when we were leaving,” Tiffany whimpered.
Seeing the tears pooling in Tiffany’s eyes, Nick instantly regretted his words. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you. Don’t worry about the walkie talkie, it just means we have to bust ass.” Without missing a beat, he automatically picked up one of AJ’s limp arms and threw it over his shoulder, propping his body against his.
“Are you sure you’re ready to go again?” Tiffany asked as she wiped the tears from her cheeks.
“Got no other choice…been through worse stuff than this,” Nick grunted as AJ leaned heavily against him.
Nick felt the adrenaline surged through his veins as he discovered he had more strength to pull AJ down the hall toward the wanted door. Although they were moving slow, they finally made it to the door only to discover it was locked.
“Shit,” Nick muttered as he tried the handle. “What key do we use? Do you have a master key?”
Tiffany shrugged her shoulders as she pulled the key ring from her belt. “Probably but I have no idea which one it would be; I guess we try all the keys.”
“Great,” Nick grumbled as he took on all of the tattooed man’s weight while the young woman started trying keys in the door lock. He glanced at AJ’s face. “Bone, can you hear me?”
“Huh?” AJ sleepily replied.
“Can you open your eyes for me?”
“Kaos?…you're dead,” AJ mumbled sleepily.
“No, that is what they told you,” Nick reminded. “C’mon try and open your eyes.”
The older man managed to open his lids for a moment only to have his eyes roll back and his head slumped forward. This time Nick lightly slapped AJ on the face.
“Come on Jay…..try and wake up for me.”
When the light hits started to affect his band brother, Nick gritted his teeth and hauled his hand back and slapped AJ across the face.
HARD
”WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR???” AJ growled.
“I got it!” Tiffany announced as she swung the unlocked door open.
“What the fuck is going on?” AJ demanded as he placed a hand across the reddened slap mark on his face.
Looking at his older brother’s face, Nick could see a drug-induced confusion on AJ’s face.
“We don’t have time to explain, do you think you can walk on your own?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” AJ replied and tried to stand on his on, his knees quickly gave out and Nick instinctively reached out to stop him from falling forgetting about his injured arm.
”Shit!” he gasped.
“Will someone please tell me what the fuck is going on?” AJ rasped as he looked at Nick cradling his right arm, his face contorted in pain.
“We don’t have time to explain out in the hall,” Nick stated. “I’ll tell you while we go down…hey don’t you guys use elevators?” he questioned when he looked down the narrow stairwell they would have to travel.
“This is the only way out I know,” Tiffany said as she looped AJ’s arm over her shoulder and Nick took the other.
“We can’t both go down together,” Nick sighed as he looked at the stairs. “You go behind us…I don’t want to take you down if we fall.”
Tiffany shook her head. “That’s a happy thought.”
AJ took his arm off Nick’s shoulder. “I can walk on my own,” he growled.
As soon as he tried to take a step away, his knees gave away and he crumpled to the ground.
“Your knees are still rubbery. Just let me help you until the drugs wear off,” Nick suggested.
Allowing his baby brother and Tiffany help him off the floor, AJ’s drugged up mind was slowly allowing the pieces to fall into place of where he was.
“Hold on the rail and we’ll take one step at a time,” Nick suggested.
AJ realized that with Nick’s injured arm in a sling, he was basically preventing them from falling by hanging onto the stair rail. One misstep could send them crashing down to the landing. He tried hard to shake the cobwebs from his drug induced brain.
“Are we almost out?” AJ asked, his voice bouncing off the tiled walls.
“We still have eight more floors to go,” Tiffany replied quietly.
“Please tell me you’re kidding,” AJ moaned.
“Pay attention to going down the stairs,” Nick pleaded when AJ’s legs buckled, causing the two men to nearly fall.
“Sorry,” AJ gasped, holding onto the railing tighter.
Just as the trio had gotten onto the landing and rested for a moment before they continued downward, a door had opened from one of the floors below, men’s voices drifted upward.
“Matt said there was an issue on the tenth floor…”
Nick held his breath as he tried the handle on the door leading off to the eighth floor. He was happily surprised when it discovered it was unlocked. He quickly pulled AJ into the open door with Tiffany following close behind.
Expecting this floor to be the same as the one they had just left, they were shocked to see that this looked like an office setting, freshly painted walls with pictures and new carpet on the floors.
“What the fuck kind of place is this?” Nick wondered out loud as he looked at Tiffany.
“Don’t ask me…I’ve never been on this floor before.”
“First office we find we go in…there has to be a phone,” AJ suggested, his voice groggy.
With AJ leaning heavily against the wall, the threesome made their way slowly down the hall, and was suggested, they tried the first door they came upon, finding a janitorial closet.
“Weird, its like they are totally running an office on this floor,” Nick commented as he softly closed the closet door.
“I never knew there was anything else but the ninth floor,” Tiffany defended.
“How could you not go explore?” Nick wondered.
“Yeah I agree with Nick,” AJ breathed.
The young girl shrugged her shoulders. “I dunno I guess I was content with the ninth floor. They said something about this was the only floor that was fixed, the other floors were too dangerous to go on,” she explained as they made their way further down the hall.
“That’s dumb, how could you be on top of floors that weren’t safe?” Nick snapped.
“Hey, don’t pick on her!” AJ rasped.
“I’m sorry but seriously, doesn’t that sound a bit odd?”
“Yes, it does sound odd but I do what I’m told and that’s that. Ester threatened to hurt me if I disobeyed.”
They stopped in front of the next door, Nick cautiously turning the knob. “Its unlocked!” he whispered. Upon opening the door, they discovered that it was a large, fully furnished office with a long leather couch and a sleek mahogany desk. A phone was situated on a corner of the desk.
“Bingo!” AJ cheered when he saw the telephone.
“Don’t get your hopes up yet, the creepy office I was thrown in on the floor above you had a phone that didn’t work,” Nick recalled. “Tiffany, can you go see if it works while I hang onto him so he doesn’t fall over?”
“I think I can stand on my own now, I just move a little slower at the moment,” AJ grumbled in defense.
“Fine…if you fall over it’s your own fault.”
Nick picked up the phone and quickly punched in 9-1-1.
“Are you calling Brian?”
Before Nick could respond, the door slammed shut and Nick’s kidnapper rushed over toward the desk. “He’s calling nobody,” he growled as he snatched the phone from Nick’s hand and quickly disconnected the call. With the next move, the older man picked up the phone up and slammed it across the side of Nick’s face knocking him unconscious.
AJ watched the events unfold in slow motion, feeling helpless.
“Mr. McDonald, please don’t hurt us,” Tiffany begged.
The older man grabbed the young girl by the upper arm, slapping her across the face. “You were to stay put but someone you seemed to like disobeying.”
AJ felt his blood boil as he saw how the man was treating the young woman. “Let her go, let us go,” AJ hissed as he tried to get to Nick who was laying unconscious on the floor next to the desk.
“You’re coming with me,” the man said as he grabbed a hold of AJ by the back of his neck.
Just as AJ was hoping to be able to get free of the man, the office door opened and two, muscular men entered.
“Take them both upstairs to Mr. McLean’s room. I’ll dispose of the other one.”
His body still weakened by the effects of the sedation he had been injected with earlier, AJ’s struggles was to no avail and he found himself being easily dragged out of the room. Fear surged through his veins.
Fear for him and for Tiffany but mostly fear for Nick.
AJ’s struggles were no match for the two large men and he was literally thrown into a room as if he were a rag doll. Picking himself off the floor he ran back to the door, pounding on it with balled up fists.
”C’mon,” he screamed into the steel door.
Tiffany had been taken down the hall leaving AJ alone once again in the fake hospital room that he had been held captive for nearly a week. The room was torn up following the fight he had with Ester earlier.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, AJ tucked his hands underneath his chin as he tried to figure out a plan on how to escape and help his friends.
“Scrawny little shit, you could fuck up my plans by your stupidity,” he muttered, kicking Nick in the side. His only reward for his actions was a soft moan.
The older man paced back and forth from the unconscious victim. Stopping, he dragged a hand across his wrinkled, weathered face as he stared down at Nick. Wordlessly, he plucked a two way from his waistband.
“Doug…I need you to come back to my office and help me with that kid I hammered.”
Drifting in and out of a conscious state, Nick could hear a man’s voice and a two way radio. The only thing that sprung into his mind was that he must have fainted during a show and the body guards were talking on their radios. Feeling safe, he stopped the struggle to keep awake and lapsed back into darkness.
Attaching the radio back onto his waistband, Jack stared down at Nick.
“I hope you’re not bleeding on my rug,” he said with disgust as he looked at the cream colored carpeting. Squatting down, he pushed Nick so he rolled onto his back. Seeing a trail of blood on the young man’s face, the old man cursed. “Goddamn it…I told you not to bleed on my rug!” He slapped Nick’s face for punishment. Nick moaned in response.
The man that Jack had radioed entered the room after softly knocking on the office door.
“Took you long enough,” Jack muttered.
“I came as soon as you called,” Doug defended.
“Did you get McLean back into his room all right?”
Doug laughed. “Yeah for a little shit he was trying to put up a fight but I got him back into his room and locked the door. He won’t be going no where.”
Pressing his foot into Nick’s ribs, Jack McDonald stared down with hatred in his eyes. “He almost cost me my plans.”
Doug watched the older man’s actions. “Is that kid still out?”
“Yeah he groans but yeah he’s pretty much passed out.”
“You know that ain’t a good thing to let him sleep.”
“Why do you care?”
“Because he could die on you…when you have a concussion you’re not suppose to sleep.”
“Where the fuck did you get that from?”
“I watched Grey’s Anatomy and---“
”Shut the fuck up on your Grey’s Anatomy!” Jack snapped.
“But if you leave him like that he could go into a coma or something,” Doug continued.
“Like I care, grab an arm and help me,” Jack muttered as he squatted down.
“So what are you planning on doing with him?” Doug asked as he helped Jack pick up Nick and drag him toward the door.
“We dump him off where he can’t screw up our plans with McLean.”
“Dump as in a back alley?”
“Better than that,” Jack smirked.
“You’re wearing out the carpet,” his cousin stated.
“I haven’t heard back from Nick after he dropped his phone…this is weird, maybe we should go back to the bar and see if we can talk to that McDonald guy or at least follow him, I think we’d get a better idea of where Nick went. I don’t trust him at all,” Brian explained.
“I’m sure the police---“
“Kevin I’m sorry, I know you trust and respect what the police are trying to do but I think this guy has something to do with AJ and now Nick is caught up in the middle of this.”
“I have to agree with Brian on this one too,” Howie added.
Sighing, the older Kentuckian stood up. “I guess we go find Nick.”
“And AJ,” Brian added.
Kevin sadly shook his head. ”Brian…”
“AJ’s not dead so don’t try and tell me anything else until I actually see his body,” Brian interrupted.
“Lets not waste time arguing guys,” Howie said as he made his way toward the door.
“Howie’s right, lets go,” Brian agreed.
Ester entered the room flanked by two muscular men dressed in hospital scrubs.
AJ sized up the two men. He knew that he would be no match for them and resigned himself to standing and waiting to see what the old woman wanted.
“Thought you could leave us?” Ester sneered.
“Why should I stay? You know the game is over so just let me go.”
“We have plans for you Mr. McLean.”
“Where’s Tiffany? Is she OK?”
“That little brat is getting what she deserves,” Ester hissed.
“If you hurt her--“
“She’s not involved in this, you need to just let her go. Let Nick go too, just do with me what you planned,” AJ pleaded.
“Mr. Carter is being taken care of as we speak,” Ester replied.
“What are you doing with him? Jack said he was going to dispose of him. What are you going to do with Nick?”
“That is between Jack and Nick,” the woman replied in a sour voice.
“Why did you kidnap me in the first place?”
“Kidnap is such an ugly word, I prefer to say that you went with us but weren’t too willing.”
“You’re crazy!” AJ spat as he decided to make a run for the open door. He was immediately stopped by the strong arms of one of the body guards.
“See…you can’t leave,” Ester smiled.
AJ tried to wrestle away from the grip. “Just let me go,” he begged.
“No, it is time for your afternoon medications,” the old woman announced as she uncapped a fluid filled syringe.
AJ tried to struggle from the body guard. “What are you giving me?”
Ester smirked as she plunged the needle into the tattoo rebel’s arm. “Something you need to have so you’ll be happy to stay with us.”
The body guard moved AJ over toward the bed, tossing him onto the mattress.
"Pretty soon you'll be begging for me to come and see you more often," Ester said with a smile. "Pleasant dreams Mr. McLean."
Kevin shook his head as Brian pulled the rental car into the parking lot.
"This place looks straight out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie," he muttered as he peered out the windshield toward the dark bar.
"Yeah, I kinda had the same thought when Nick and I got here," Brian agreed.
"Why are we going here again?" Howie wondered.
"This was the last place AJ had been before he started to drive back to the hotel," Brian stated. "And this was the last place Nick and I were at before Nicky disappeared.
"Do you even know if this Jack character is here?" Kevin asked.
Brian shook his head. "No...not sitting out here but he's a regular at this place and he comes in every day."
"So what are your plans again?" the Latino questioned.
"We follow his car back to his place."
"Brian," Kevin sighed. "You just said you don't even know if the guy is here so how are we going to follow him for chrissake!"
"I'm going to have one of you guys go in and case the---"
"Case?" Kevin interrupted.
"Yeah, you know check the place out and see if he's in there," Brian continued.
"I've never laid my eyes on this guy how the hell am I going to know who I'm looking for?" Kevin grumbled.
"If you'd let me describe him maybe you'd know who you're looking for," Brian answered testily.
"Okay, go ahead and tell me what he looks like."
"He looks like Fred Durst."
Howie smirked. "That guy from Limp Bizkit?"
"Yeah tattoos and all that crap. I swear thats what he looks like; only ten times creepier and twenty years older," Brian added.
"Easy enough," Kevin said as he opened his door. Howie followed the older Kentuckian's actions. "We'll be back in a few minutes."
"So what are you going to do without acting suspicious?" Brian questioned.
Howie shrugged his shoulders. "Go to the bathroom."
"God this kid weighs a ton," Doug grunted as he pulled onto the blonde's arm.
"Are you getting soft on me?" Jack muttered as he grabbed the opposite arm.
"No...." Doug defended. "How about we lift him on the count of three?"
The older man nodded his understanding and working as a team, they managed to pull Nick up and each man looped an arm over their shoulders. Nick groaned slightly as he was pulled from the soft, carpeted floor to a semi upright position. Jack was not sympathetic to Nick's discomfort, jerking the blonde's arm.
"Where are we taking him again?" Doug asked as they started dragging him down the long hall toward the service elevator.
"Don't ask questions...its better that way," Jack growled as they pulled Nick onto the small, stuffy elevator. The threesome rode the elevator in silence, Nick's head hung downwards, his knees bent. "It would be nice if this Carter guy would be more awake and help us some," Jack muttered as he slapped the back of the young man's head.
"Do you think you're gonna wake him up by smacking him in the head?" Doug mumbled. "He's probably got a concussion."
"You start up on Grey's Anatomy again and I swear to God..."
"I'm just sayin that if someone is knocked out hitting him on the head ain't gonna help him."
Before Jack could reply, the elevator had jerked to a sudden stop and the doors opened. "C'mon lets drag him out to your car."
"My car? Why not your car?" Doug hissed.
"Because I just got mine cleaned the other day and I don't want him bleeding all over my interior."
"You think I want him bleeding on mine?"
"All right....OK we're throwing him in my trunk then," Jack compromised as he pulled the keys out of his pocket and opened the trunk.
"That didn't take long," Brian said as his cousin returned to the car.
"It was pretty easy there was only two guys in the place besides the bar tender and the guys were in their eighties at least."
Brian sighed. "I guess we have to wait for him to show up."
"What if he doesn't? Howie asked.
"He'll show....they said he comes in here every day," Brian replied.
Kevin rubbed his forehead as he yawned. "Let's hope you're right."
"I feel like we're in a stakeout like they have in those movies," Howie said from the backseat.
Kevin reached back and swatted the Latino on the shoulder. "You're starting to sound like Nick."
Howie rubbed the offended area. "Is that why you hit me?"
"Yeah, I'm going through Nicky withdrawal....I have to keep my skills intact."
"Shhh....guys, look over there," Brian said as he pointed toward the entrance. "It's the guy."
"He does look creepy," Howie mumbled as he stared in the direction that Brian was pointing.
"He's got a friend with him, he can't be too creepy," Kevin surmised.
"So what do we do now?" Howie asked. "Can we go in and talk to this guy?"
Brian shook his head. "No, we wait and then we follow him when he leaves."
"But he could be in there for hours," Howie said.
"So? It's not like we can walk up to him and ask him what he did with Nick, can we?"
Howie shook his head. "No, I guess not."
"So we wait," Brian replied as he settled back in his seat, his eyes trained at the bar entrance.
Kevin eased the seat back, folding his arms across his chest.
Brian stared at his cousin’s actions angrily. “What the heck are you doing?”
Yawning, the elder Kentuckian shrugged his shoulders. “Getting some rest, I have a feeling we’re going to be waiting on those guys for a long time.”
“Guys….hey, I think they came out,” Howie said quickly.
“Wow they actually didn’t stay for last call,” Brian smirked as he started the car.
Howie tapped Brian on the shoulder. “Don’t get too anxious, you don’t want to tip them off.” Brian nodded his head in agreement, while Kevin shook his head.
“I think both of you have watched far too many cops and robber movies,” he paused for a moment as he watched the vehicle that held the two men in question put their car into reverse. “Don’t turn your headlights on just yet.”
Brian stopped his movements. “Huh?”
“If they see you put your headlights on, they will know you’re waiting for them to follow them. People like that are pretty skittish.”
“Okay, who has watched too many cops and robber movies now?” Howie asked as he watched the car drive slowly past them.
Ignoring the Latino, Kevin directed his attention to Brian. “Turn your headlights on and just ease out of the parking lot. Don’t do anything spectacular to raise suspicions. Don’t follow them too close, but not too far away where you would lose them.”
Biting his bottom lip as he drove, Brian nodded as he did exactly as Kevin instructed.
For fifteen long minutes, they followed the suspect car, no one spoke as they drove. Finally, the car pulled into what looked to be an abandoned warehouse parking lot.
“Don’t pull in here,” Kevin urged, just drive around the block.
“But how are we going to know where they went or what building?”
“I would probably bet on the building that has lights on,” Kevin causally replied.
“Hey take this side street,” Howie suggested. “But turn your headlights off before you turn in.”
Brian did as instructed, then he leaned up by the steering wheel to watch the path. “How do I know where this leads to?”
“We don’t know, just drive slow,” Kevin said.
As luck would have it, the path lead to the back side of the tall building.
“Pull off to the side, don’t get right up by the place,” Howie urged.
Kevin nodded his head in agreement. “Good idea.”
********
Parking in front of the building, Jack McDonald exited the car.
“So aren’t you worried about leaving that kid where we did?” the burly bodyguard asked the older man.
Jack shrugged his shoulders. “Why do I give a fuck?”
“Because he obviously has head injuries, he might die!”
“Again, Doug, why do I give a fuck?”
“We just dropped him out in the middle of nowhere. Someone is gonna find him eventually, he dies—“
“Carter dies, so what? How would anyone know where he came from? You worry too much.”
“But you have someone that will talk, he saw Carter and he saw you hit him and knock him out.”
“McLean will be the least of our worries soon. Ester is giving him heroin and he’s probably addicted right now since she started as soon as he was put back in his room.”
“And you think that will stop him from talking?”
Jack laughed. “People will think he is hallucinating. No one is going to believe what comes out of McLean’s mouth.”
“Wasn’t the whole idea of kidnapping that Backstreet Boy in the beginning was to show him off to your niece?”
The old man’s expression soured. “Well I guess things change. If that Carter kid hadn’t showed up it would have been different.”
“Nick Carter didn’t have anything to do with you not taking AJ to your niece. If you had done that in the very beginning you wouldn’t be in that mess.”
The older man shook his head. “I’m not worried, Carter is out of our hair and pretty soon McLean won’t remember shit or they’ll just think he’s stoned out of his gourd. Let’s go up to my office for a night cap.”
**********
Kevin turned in his seat to face both Brian and Howie. “Okay, here’s the plan. Follow me quietly and don’t do anything stupid. If I decide we need to leave, we leave. I don’t want to see either one of you try and play hero. We can always call the police—“
Brian rolled his eyes as he interrupted his cousin. “I told you before, the police haven’t been helpful!”
“Yeah, they really haven’t done too much,” Howie agreed.
Kevin stared at the Latino with a shocked expression. “I can’t believe the two of you! The police have done all that they have been able to do with what little they have to go on. AJ’s car was found in the channel and sad to say, it pretty much proved that he drowned.”
“You can’t keep saying that! I know that something else happened and this guy is responsible,” Brian protested.
“How do you know that?” Kevin countered.
“I can feel it here,” Brian said as he gestured to his heart. “And I just know it.”
Kevin shook his head. “Okay, remember, follow me quietly, we go in and get Nick and we leave, got it?”
Howie immediately nodded yes. Kevin narrowed his eyes at his cousin.
”Got it?”
“Yeah, I guess,” Brian mumbled.
As instructed, Howie and Brian quietly followed Kevin along the dark pathway toward the ware house. Standing close to the side of the building, Kevin peered around the corner and then motioned with a nod of his head back to the others to follow him once he determined that no one was standing on the other side.
“Honestly Kevin, I doubt they are waiting to ambush us,” Brian softly whispered only to get a disapproving glare from his cousin.
Grabbing Brian’s arm, Howie joined in with Kevin’s glaring look, adding a shake of his head for added emphasis. Reluctantly, Brian shrugged his shoulders and followed silently after his cousin.
Trying the first door they came upon, Kevin gave a slight tug only to discover that it was locked. He muttered quietly and then continued further along the brick building.
A few moments later, the trio came upon a windowed, grime-smeared door. Holding his breath, Kevin cautiously looked in, exhaling when he turned the knob and discovered it wasn’t locked. After his discovery, he turned back toward Brian and Howie.
“The door’s unlocked,” he started in his slow, southern drawl.
“So let’s go in,” Brian whispered, growing impatient.
“We can’t just run in without a plan,” Kevin continued.
“Like we’ve had a plan up to this point,” Brian protested as he tried to walk past the older man, getting stopped before he got around him.
“Listen to me!” Kevin growled. Brian stiffened at the sudden change of tone. “There appears to be what looks like a security guard sitting at a desk. One good thing is that he’s sleeping.”
“So we tiptoe around him,” Brian suggested.
“Not that easy,” Kevin replied.
“Brian and I are pretty quiet, Nicky would get us busted trying to sneak in, but I think we seriously don’t have anything to worry about,” Howie whispered.
Kevin peered into the window again. “So, there’s a door toward the left of that guard’s desk. We walk in and head for that door.”
Brian smirked. “What if it’s the janitor’s closet or worse, a bathroom?”
“We hope it’s not,” Kevin replied, stopping to give Brian a stern look. “If it is ….since we’re being quiet….. we would move on, undetected, alright?”
Quietly, Kevin opened the door, holding it open for Brian and Howie to pass through, making sure he held the door until it closed softly. He gestured with a nod of his head toward the wanted door, praying silently that it wasn’t a closet or worse, locked. His hopes were dashed when he discovered that it was locked.
”Kev….off to the right,” Brian whispered as he took off.
”Hey!” Kevin muttered as he watched Brian walk away.
”S’okay,” Howie smiled as he saw the propped doorway that Brian was walking toward.
Kevin relaxed a bit as he made his way toward the doorway with Howie. Once inside the doorway, he looked up at the winding cement stairs.
“Why would this be propped open?” Kevin wondered out loud.
“Who knows, but I guess we just check out each floor to see what we find,” Brian said as he started up the first flight of stairs.
********
Opening his eyes, Nick was initially met with complete darkness. After a few of minutes of letting his eyes adjust, he discovered he was looking up at a star filled sky. Rolling over onto his side, Nick immediately regretted his actions for the movement left him feeling dizzy and nauseated.
An urge to vomit crept up on him and without warning, he found himself dry heaving while laying on his side. The heaving bout became so violent that he wasn’t sure if he would ever be able to catch his breath again. Once the surge finished, Nick found himself exhausted and sweaty. He also discovered that the task struck up a severe pain in the side of his face that he hadn’t felt when he had initially woke up.
“Weird,” Nick mumbled to himself, instantly regretting opening his mouth when pain seared through the left side of his face. “Awe fuck!”
Although he regretted uttering the first word, immediately swore because of the pain, literally sending electric surge of pain from his face down to his toes. The pain was more than Nick could handle and he immediately passed out.
********
AJ slowly woke from his drug induced slumber, still laying face down on top of the made hospital bed. Dragging a hand slowly over his face, he searched his mind as he tried to recall events that happened hours ago. Thoughts he had sworn he wouldn’t forget, AJ found that they were no longer able to be recalled.
‘Had Nick been in this room earlier?’ AJ wondered. Was it a dream? What about that girl?
One thing that AJ did remember clearly as he scratched the side of his leg was he knew that was where Ester had shot him up with some type of drug. Would that drug cause him to think that he had seen Nick in this room?
“What the hell did she give me?” AJ wondered out loud as he sat up in bed. A key being placed into the lock outside the room caused the rebel hold his breath, stiffen his posture.
“Damn, I was hoping you’d be asleep,” the old woman said as she entered the room. “I guess you won’t be helpful,” she started to say as she pulled a two way radio from the front pocket of the smock she wore.
“Don’t bother,” AJ said.
“I know you won’t be co-operative, it’s best that I call my security,” Ester replied.
AJ smiled at the woman. “I’ll be good, I really want what you’re giving me.”
“Really? I haven’t given you that much yet----“
“With my size, it doesn’t take much for me,” AJ lied. “What have you been given me anyway?”
“My own special drug cocktail,” Ester replied with a smile.
“Well, I’m ready anytime you are…..I’ll be good, don’t bother calling those apes,” AJ suggested as he continued to sit on the bed.
The old woman sized up her ‘patient’ and for a few moments debated on calling her two body guards before she finally believed AJ’s words and slipped the radio back into her front pocket. As she stepped closer to AJ, she pulled a fluid filled syringe from the opposite pocket. “You make this so much easier for me.”
As the old woman stepped closer, AJ lunged, grabbing her arm and quickly twisting it behind her back, causing her to cry out and drop the syringe to the floor. Pushing his grandmother’s advice on how to treat women with respect, he drew his fist back and punched her squarely in the jaw, rendering the old woman unconscious.
“I’m definitely gonna go to hell for this,” he rasped as he shook his pain-filled hand. Grabbing the two way radio and door keys from the woman’s front pocket, he made a hasty exit from the ‘hospital room,’ closing the door and locking it.
Once out in the dimly lit hall, he realized that he had no idea which way would be out. Snippets of him walking with Nick and Tiffany on either side slipped into his brain. He quickly decided that maybe Nick being in his room wasn’t his imagination after all.
‘If it was my imagination, why would I recall walking down this hall with Nick?’ AJ thought to himself as he decided to head off to his right.
The first door he came upon, he opened and discovered it was a stairway, he prayed that this would finally be his way out as he started down the moldy smelling stairwell.
“This is crazy,” Brian muttered as they continued up the musty smelling stairwell.
“You could have sat in the car and waited,” Kevin hissed, stopping to look down at his cousin.
“C’mon, lets not fight…we’re supposed to be a team,” Howie pointed out.
“D’s right. We have to keep our heads in this,” Kevin agreed. “The good thing is that the first door we opened was nothing but total darkness. I’m betting that there is something a few flights up.”
“And how are you coming to that conclusion?” Brian started to say quickly changing his tone when Kevin tossed a glare his way. “I mean why are you thinking that?”
“Because when we approached the building in the car, I saw two floors that looked all lit up and that would mean that they would be occupied floors.”
Thinking about what Kevin said, Brian nodded as he continued walking up the flight of stairs.
“Makes sense to me,” Howie agreed. “We’d be lucky if we find Nick on the first occupied floor and get the heck out of here. This place already gives me the heebie-jeebies.”
Brian smiled. “Running out of conditioner for your hair gives you the heebie-jeebies.”
“Ha ha,” Howie replied in a sarcastic manner.
Just as the trio approached the landing for the fifth floor, the loud banging of a door a few flights above them caused the men to go into an instant panic mode. They looked at each other with wild eyes; Kevin quickly tried the door to the level they were on. “Shit, it’s locked,” he whispered.
“Maybe whoever it is will be going into another door,” Howie quietly observed.
The footsteps from above were growing closer and at a faster pace.
“Let’s go back to the last floor, at least that door was unlocked,” Brian said urgently as he turned to head back down.
“Good idea,” Kevin and Howie agreed simultaneously as they quickly followed Brian down the stairs. Once they slipped through the door, Kevin positioned himself as a lookout keeping the door barely open.
The footsteps were drawing closer; Kevin immediately held his breath as if it would make him invisible to whoever was running down the stairs.
“Holy shit!” Kevin flung the door open, shocking Brian and Howie at his sudden action.
”KEVIN!” Brian whispered harshly as he grabbed his cousin by the arm.
Kevin flung Brian’s hand off his arm and immediately grabbed the intruder, turning him around, wrapping his arms around the man.
Brian gasped when he got a better look at who Kevin nabbed in the stairwell. ”AJ?”
“We thought you were dead!” Kevin said as he pulled AJ out of his hug and instantly hugged the rebel once again.
Howie and Brian stood for a moment, their mouths open in shock.
“I knew you weren’t dead,” Brian corrected as he hugged the back of his brother.
AJ looked at each of his band brothers, tears pooling in his eyes. “I was told you were dead,” he whispered as he hugged Brian and then Howie. His demeanor suddenly changed. “We gotta get out of here before they find Ester.”
Kevin stared at the rebel. “Say again?”
“Ester…the bitch….lets get the hell out of here and I explain everything when I’m safe,” he replied.
As Brian watched his brother’s actions, he could tell that AJ was clearly upset and anxious when he mentioned the woman’s name.
“We can’t leave here without Nick,” Kevin said firmly.
“Nick isn’t here,” AJ replied. “At least I don’t think he is.”
“Which one is it?” Brian questioned.
AJ rubbed a hand over his face in a defeated gesture. “I’m not sure if I really saw Nick or not. I-I think I did, but I don’t know if I did or if it was the drugs—“
Howie visibly shook. “Drugs?”
“Can we just get out of this place and I’ll tell you guys everything….I just need to get out of here before we get caught,” fear was evident in his voice.
“And call 9-1-1,” Howie added.
Sitting in the car with his band mates, AJ filled them in on the details of how he woke up and was duped into thinking he was in a hospital, waking from a coma.
“They told me you guys were killed in a plane crash,” AJ tearfully recounted. “They had newspaper articles, television reports, everything was made up to make me think everyone was dead.”
“Gosh,” Howie breathed, “that had to be horrible.”
“Horrible isn’t the word for what they did to me mentally,” AJ agreed.
Kevin rubbed the rebel’s shoulder in a comforting gesture. “Thank god we found you; we never lost hope.”
Brian’s head jerked in his cousin’s direction. “Never lost hope?! You kept saying Jay was dead---“
“Well the odds were stacked against him so it seemed that he was dead,” Kevin defended.
AJ shook his head. “The way they had me convinced that you guys were dead I can only imagine that they made sure everyone thought I was dead from your point of view…..I only realized that what they were telling me wasn’t true was from a picture of Brian in their prefabricated magazine. Thank god I remembered Rok got that same exact cut from working on his house the weekend before my accident.”
After a few moments of quiet thought, Howie broke the silence. “What about Nicky? You said you weren’t sure if he was in the building?”
“To be honest with you, I’m not sure if I really saw Nick…..I could have been hallucinating; I mean it seemed like I was with him at one time, he was holding his wrist like he had hurt it.”
“But you don’t know for certain if you were with him or not,” Kevin added sadly.
AJ shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not sure.”
“Let’s let the police figure this out,” Howie suggested. “We’d be in over our heads going into that place trying to find Nick.”
Brian looked at his cousin incredulously when Kevin placed the key into the ignition. “So that’s it, you’re just gonna leave??”
Kevin sighed as he started the engine. “We really don’t have any other choice. Howie was right, we’d be in over our heads going in there and trying to find Nick if we’re not sure he’s even in that place.”
AJ shuddered visibly. “You don’t want to mess with those people.”
“But AJ’s out of there, what makes you think they’d stick around?”
Kevin turned to face Brian. “I honestly don’t know what else to do!”
Brian pulled the cell phone out of his front pocket. “Call the police right now?”
“And what the hell do I tell them? I have no idea where we are! They can follow us from the street corner back to this place. I have no idea the street name!”
Howie leaned forward from the back seat. “Kevin’s right, the police would actually need some type of a physical address….lets just drive out to the street to find the name of where we’re at.”
“Even I have no idea where I am,” AJ rasped as he nodded.
Without speaking further, Kevin put the vehicle into drive, leaving the headlights off; edging their way down the narrow dirt path.
**********
Once again Nick woke up underneath the star-filled sky. Running a hand over the side of his face instantly sent shock waves of pain through his body. Slowly, Nick checked the other side of his face and discovered that he wasn’t met with the same pain when he touched it.
He soon realized the seriousness of his situation when he suddenly discovered that he wasn’t able to close his mouth to swallow. ‘That asshole must have broke my jaw when he knocked me out,’ Nick immediately thought to himself. Slowly he stood up, not wishing for repeat performance of dry heaving that had hit him the last time he moved around. The nausea had resurfaced but managed to stay in the pit of his stomach and that suited Nick fine for the moment.
‘Where the hell am I?’ Nick wondered as he started to walk in the darkness. Where ever his body had been dumped at, he quickly discovered that the kidnappers had only placed him approximately twenty feet from the dirt road. He had only walked for a short time before the nausea started to grow.
Nick suddenly dropped onto his hands and knees as the sudden urge to throw up hit. Tears sprung into his eyes as the bout of dry heaves resurfaced, leaving him breathless. He never noticed the headlights that shone on him as he wretched.
“¿le dio una patada el asno oye borracho su muchacha del coche?”
“¿son usted bien?”
“Oye, tal vez él necesita un paseo ser agradable!”
“¡No, déjele andar su asno borracho a casa!”
Although Nick’s Spanish was limited, he did pick out the words drunk, walk and home out of the conversation coming from the truck that had stopped alongside of him. He looked over at the pickup and shook his head. “No,” he mumbled, afraid to open his mouth. “Ayuda,” he hoped that he conveyed the word for help.
“¿Dice usted español?”
‘God,’ Nick groaned inwardly when he realized that the only people that had found him on this road only spoke Spanish! They seemed to find the situation he was in, funny as they continued to laugh. There would be no way he could tell them what he needed. He shook his head negatively. Although his Spanish was extremely limited he did know that they were asking if he spoke Spanish. He could order a drink proficiently but what he needed right now was help in getting AJ.
“Police.”
The passenger in the small red pick up gasped when Nick approached his side.
“He needs to go to the hospital," the young man on the passenger side said in broken English.
Again, Nick shook his head. “No, police.”
“You need help, get in,” the man said in broken English as he opened the door and stepped out.
Nick hesitated for a moment but didn’t resist as the man lightly took his arm and guided him in.
“Hacen que él se siente por la ventana no quiero que él vomite en mi camion!” the old driver spat when Nick was led into the truck cab.
The passenger smirked as he quickly got out of the truck.. “He’s afraid you’ll puke in his truck,” he explained to Nick. “I’ll tell him I’ll ride in the back.”
When the passenger indicated what he was going to do, the old man appeared to disagree.
Getting sick in the truck was the least of Nick’s worries at the moment. He needed to find AJ! The two men immediately started arguing.
“No quiero tomarlo al hospital él nos conseguirá en el problema!” Sólo abandónelo aquí!”
“¡Él no será un problema! ¡Él tiene que ver a un doctor!”
The older man shoved Nick on his shoulder, indicating that he wanted him out of the truck. Despite the younger man’s objections, Nick was finally guided out of the cab.
“Adiós. La ayuda es este camino. Policía,” the young man said as he gestured in the direction the road was leading.
The only words that Nick understood was bye and police. Wiping the drool off his chin with the hem of his tee shirt, and without any other choice, Nick followed the road, watching the tail lights of the pickup disappear in the dark