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Author's Chapter Notes:
This is the real update lol
~ 25 ~

No Turning Back




I sat there on the floor kind of dumbstruck at what just happened. Once again my life was upside down. Once I thought I had things figured out, another piece of information comes along and blows that theory right out of the water. This time it was more of a tsunami than just a little tidal wave. Max wasn’t my uncle? Do I believe Nickolas or not? I mean Max just told me he would say or do anything to get us to believe him and be on his side. What better way to do that then to tell me that Max is the enemy?

“Are you hurt?” I looked up at Brian.

“No, just surprised.”

“He was pretty pissed you were in there.”

I stood up and nodded, “Yeah, I got that much.”

“Did he tell you anything?” AJ asked, giving me a hand when I stumbled on my way back to a standing position.

“His name is Nickolas. He is the kid from my dream.”

“Anything else?”

I put my hand over my mouth in contemplation. I really wasn’t sure whether or not to tell them. “What is it Nick?”

I looked over at Brian, “He told me that Max wasn’t my uncle and that we needed to get away from him.”

They all looked at each other in surprise. “Do you believe him?” Howie finally asked.

“I don’t know what to believe. I mean he had a picture of my mother. He looks a lot like her and a lot like me.”

“But he wasn’t actually in the picture himself.” AJ added.

I could tell they were all leaning towards believing the Russian over Max. It’s no surprise that they have been suspicious of him since the beginning. I don’t blame them, I mean my so called uncle has been sketchy at best when it comes to giving us information and he isn’t the warmest guy either, but I don’t know. I wanted to believe him.

“If he was a bad guy, he would have killed us already, like he’s said over and over again. I mean he actually has come to our rescue more than anything.”

Brian nodded. I think he realized how I was feeling. “Max has done a lot for us, and this other kid hasn’t really given us any reason to believe what he’s saying.”

“Maybe if he told us about Kevin or who shot him.”

“I bet that’s what Max is trying to get out of him now.” I became aware of how quiet it was ever since he kicked me out of the bedroom. “I just hope he’s not doing anything he’s going to regret later.”

“You don’t think he’d…He wouldn’t…” Howie couldn’t finish what he wanted to say but all of us were thinking the same thing. Even Nickolas was pretty certain he wasn’t going to make it out of there alive.

That had me over and knocking on the door again. I know it probably wasn’t the smartest idea but I wasn’t about to let anyone die while I was just standing on the other side of the door doing nothing.

“What now?” Max asked. He looked tired and I would have almost felt sorry for him if I hadn’t noticed the blood on his knuckles.

“Has he said anything yet?”

He glanced back at our prisoner and then closed the door and came into the living area. “A little bit. I know who was in the dumpster at least.”

“Who was he?”

“One of the guys sent to watch you. I guess when they saw me leave they started the fire in hopes you’d be flushed out. He died because he failed to get you.”

“Who killed him?”

“Our friend in there.” He said pointing towards the door. “He’s dangerous.”

Well, haven’t I heard this before?

“Who shot him?”

“That he didn’t say, yet.”

“And still nothing about Kevin or my father?”

“No.” He paused and then opened the door again, “Look, I need to finish up with him. You guys might want to go into Howie’s room or something. Maybe out on the balcony. You won’t want to hear this.”

My eyes grew big as the shock of what he was about to do hit me hard, “No way Max. You are not going to kill him!”

He rolled his eyes at me as if I had just asked him not to take my favorite video game away or something, “Nick, let me do my job.”

“No way!”

“We need to get rid of him.”

“You are not killing anyone for me or for anyone else!”

He shook his head at me but then I opened the door and went inside and sat right in front of Nickolas, taking both of them by surprise.

Max let out a huge sigh, “You go and do what you need to do and I’ll stay with him.”

“Nick get out of my way.”

AJ, Brian and Howie all came into the room and stood there watching me with a mixture of awe and horror on their faces. I wasn’t sure where all this bravery was coming from. I mean I am a huge scaredy cat which we have come to figure out based on all the things that scare the crap out of me, but maybe things had gone a little too far. I was the bad version of Gizmo the gremlin at the moment, the one who dressed up like Rambo and not the one who stayed in his wussy box and purred. So, I stood my ground with my uncle, coming between him and the guy who used to dance like a monkey for me when I was a little boy. I’m sure both were far from perfect but neither deserved to die.

“If you want to kill him you’re going to have to kill me first.”

That made my little Russian friend a bit uneasy. Oops, guess I should have gone with better wording.

“Fine, you know…I have to go do things. You stay and have a party for all I care. I’m tired of talking sense into you.” He looked at my friends, “You all come with me for a minute!” At his insistence they all left the room, only Brian pausing for a few moments to look my way with concern planted on his face.

Once they left, I took the gag out of Nickolas’s mouth.

“Thank you Andrew.” He said followed by, “That was a really stupid thing you did. He could have shot you.”

“He didn’t even have a gun.” I answered.

I moved to the bed and sat across from him, “We have some problems Nickolas. As you can tell my uncle is running out of patience. I’m not sure how long I can convince him to keep you alive.”

“I’m sure the second you leave, I’ll be dead.” He said matter of factly with a shaky voice. “And he’s not your uncle. Please remember that.”

“Then who is he?”

He looked at me for a moment, trying to asses if I could handle what he was going to tell me, “He used to be your dad’s best friend.”

“Used to be?”

Nickolas nodded. “They had a major falling out a very very long time ago.”

I guess that would make sense since I have never seen Max up until this point. It was one of the many questions rolling around in my head since he popped up seeming so concerned about me and my father. If they were that close, you’d think he would have shown up at the Bed and Breakfast every so often. I knew all my father’s friends and Max was never one of them, but then again, I also didn’t know he was in the CIA.

“But he’s done nothing but help us since he’s gotten here. Why would he help me if he was really here to hurt me?”

He let out a sigh, “Andrew, I know you have questions but here’s the thing. The man you call Max is coming back any minute and you have to make a choice.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, we don’t have much time and you are the only hope I have of escaping.”

“Letting you go?”

He looked at me as if I was dumb, “Yeah.”

“I…” I don’t know why I was so surprised. I mean it seemed like the next logical progression to this story. I stand in-between him and certain death only to walk away and let Max kill him? “He’ll be really mad. You said so yourself that he’s dangerous.”

“That’s why you have to come with me.”

“What?”

“You need to come with me, Andrew. I can keep you safe.”

“What about my friends? Am I just supposed to leave them here?”

“Of course not, I meant all of you.”

“I don’t know…”

“Andrew, we’re running out of time.”

“I need to go talk to the guys about it.” I turned to leave the room.

“Your father sent me for you!” and that’s when I turned around and walked back towards him. When he saw me turn, he continued, “He didn’t want me to tell you.”

“My father’s alive?” Everything else he said had no consequence for me.

“Yes, and he’s waiting for you. He has your friend Kevin with him as well.”

“I don’t get how…”

“Andrew, we don’t have time. I promise I’ll explain on the way, but we have to go now!”

I nodded at him. “I just need to tell the guys about this.”

I started to walk away but he stopped me, “Can you untie me please?”

“Oh, yeah.” I hesitated just for a second before loosening the scarves around his wrists. Once I got them loose enough he took over and quickly worked on his feet. As he was doing that I walked back into the living room to tell the guys the new plan.

“We’re leaving.” I said like a man in charge.

They all however looked at me like the kid who needed a babysitter. “Pardon?” Howie asked just as Nickolas came barreling out of the room “Nicky, behind you!” He screamed thinking that our prisoner broke free on his own and was now going to attack us.

“It’s okay D, I untied him.”

“You did what?” Now it was Brian’s turn.

“We have to go with him before Max gets back here.”

They all looked at each other with concern, “Nick, we’re not going anywhere with him.”

Nickolas was moving around our suite like a man on a mission. Looking for things we could use as weapons and trying to figure out a way for us to escape.

“We have to. He said my father sent him. He said that Kevin is with my dad too!”

Again they looked at each other, before AJ spoke, “He might just be saying that to get you to let him go!”

“Yeah, or he might be telling the truth.” Now I was getting annoyed.

“Nick, we can’t go with him.” Brian said, with much more authority this time.

“But, he knows where my dad and your cousin are!”

“Why do you believe him?”

“Because I trust him.”

“Why? Because you had a dream about him dancing around and making you laugh?”

“Well yeah, but mostly, it’s a gut feeling.”

“Nick, did you tell him about your dream or did he bring it up?”

“What do you mean?”

This time D stepped in again. “He means, did he say his name was Nickolas and he knew you as a kid or did you mention those things to him first?”

“What difference does that make?” I was getting antsy. They were wasting time and Max would be back any minute.

“It makes a big difference. I mean if you were holding me against my will I would say whatever I needed to so you would let me go.” Brian said in a very condescending tone.

“I’m not stupid!”

“No one said you were, but we can’t base our safety on one of your dreams, Nick. This isn’t a video game. If we make the wrong move, we can die!”

“Don’t you think I realize that?”

“I’m not sure.”

I swear if he wasn’t my best friend, I would have punched him by now. “Well screw you then, I’m going with him. If you want to stay, then stay.”

“And what are we going to tell your uncle?”

“He’s not Andrew’s uncle.”

“And HE’S not Andrew!” Wow, Brian was not acting very Brian-like.

Nickolas ignored Brian and looked over at me, “We need to go now.”

“Do we have a way out?”

“Yes, we can make it at least down the block and around the corner. There’s a 7/11 there. I was supposed to make contact with your father at that location. He’s probably waiting for us now.”

“Why can’t you contact him here?” Brian again, not buying what our prisoner was telling us. He was usually a good judge of character and I have to admit he was starting to make me doubt myself.

“It’s too dangerous. All of these phones are bugged.” Sensing that we wouldn’t believe him, he screwed off the receiver of the phone in the living area and showed us the device.

“That means whenever we talked on the phone, they were listening in?”

He nodded at me.

“I’m sure they were bugged at the first hotel you were staying in as well and I bet it was your ‘uncle’ that bugged them in the first place.”

“Who was the guy in the dumpster?” AJ asked. He had been very quiet until now, which wasn’t like him at all. That’s a good sign that he’s freaked out.

“Later.” Nickolas said but we all stopped when AJ pulled out a gun and aimed it right at our prisoner.

“Jesus AJ, put that down!” Howie yelled.

“No, D. I’m tired of this!”

“Where did you get that?” I asked, my eyes wide as I stared down at the gun.

“Max gave it to me. He told us you’d try to get him to go with you.” He said directing his gaze at Nickolas who seemed very calm and used to guns being pointed at him. “He said you’d lie or do whatever it took to get Nick out of here. He knew the kid would believe you, but we aren’t kids and we’re not just going to let you walk out of here with Nick or any of us for that matter.”

“You are a kid, AJ! God! Stop trying to pretend you’re so much older than I am!” I know… I’m not sure where that came from either. Once again seemed like a stupid time to bring that up but it was the heat of the moment.

“Okay, fine…his name was Martin and he was one of my best friends.”

“Max said you killed him, is that true?”

Nickolas let out a small, disgusted laugh. “Hardly, he’s the one that killed him. He also shot me as we were trying to escape.”

“Max shot you?”

He looked over at me and nodded. “He almost shot your friend. I pushed him out of the way.”

“What?” Now Brian seemed more interested.

“Look, I’m sure he told you not to believe me. I would have done the same thing.” Nickolas looked over at me again, “But, you have to figure out who to trust because I need to leave right now. I really want you to come with me, but if you choose to stay, I’ll understand. We’ll just have to come up with another plan and it’ll be more dangerous for you, especially if I’m gone. He’ll realize you believe me and then he might actually go ahead and kill all of you.”

During Nickolas’s plea, AJ put the gun down. His whole arm was shaking. “So, what are you going to do?”

I looked over at Brian for an answer, but he only shrugged at me. “What should we do?” I asked D. hoping he would be the decisive one.

He let out a sigh, “I think maybe we should go.” He then looked over at AJ and Brian for approval. Both of them didn’t look overly excited but they nodded in agreement.

“Alright, let’s go then!” Nickolas said as he grabbed a towel from the bathroom and wrapped it around his injured arm, using one of the scarves that had bound him to the chair as a tie to hold it in place.

We all gathered our coats and bundled up. I had a huge pit in my stomach. It was a feeling I have never had before, not even when I was scared out of my mind. The uncertainty of what lay ahead was terrifying to me. The mere idea that if this was the wrong move, we could all end up dead was so real it was almost comical in its simplicity.

“Okay let’s get out of here.” Nickolas said as he glanced at all of us and made his way to the front door.

I took one last look back at our Christmas tree, “No turning back now,” I whispered to myself just as Max let himself into the suite.
Chapter End Notes:
Thanks for reading guys. I can't promise that I'll have a new chapter next weekend. November and December are crazy months for me, but I shall try my best. This story and some of my others, have been nominated for Felix Awards. Thanks so much for the noms. If you haven't voted for your favorites yet (and they don't even have to be mine lol) you should go do that now! http://bit.ly/FelixAwards and as always, thanks for reading and reviewing! :O)