Chapter 1


Nick sighed as he dropped on to a bad in yet another hotel room. He wished that he could be home right now, sleeping in his own bed. He looked around the room, there wasn't anything unique about this room. He had seen so many at this point, that it was like he had seen everything. Nick let his head fall onto one of the pillows. He closed his eyes, he was even to tired to change. Which wasn't unusual. Since tour rehursals began, Nick had been working his butt off trying to learn the new dance moves. His whole body ached from the stress that came with the job.

Nick turned to his side and grabbed the remote for the television. He turned it on and began to flip the channels, trying to find something that would help him relax. Much to his dismay, he came across nothing. Sighing, he turned off the television and ran his hand through his hair. It was soaked in sweat. Nick let out another sigh when he noticed this.

Now he was going to have to take a shower. He looked towards the bathroom and groaned. There was no way that he was going to be able to get himself out of bed. He was comfortable and was just plainly too tired to get up. Then again, he really needed to take a shower before he started to stink. Groaning, he got up from the bed and walked into the bathroom. He turned the knob, causing the water to start rushing from the shower head.

Maybe a shower wouldn't be so bad after all. It might help to relax his sore muscles, he thought. Soon, steam from the hot water started to fill the bathroom. Nick took a deep breath and began adjusting the temperature of the water so that it wouldn't burn his skin. Finally, he got the water at the right temperature and he stepped in.

After a few minutes, he stepped out. No need in soaking for no reason he told himself. He shut off the water and began to dress. Once in his boxers and sweats, he walked out of the bathroom. He took in his surroundings once again. Not to his surprise, he didn't find anything of interest. He rubbed his sore neck and went to go sit on the bed that he had abonded so that he could shower. Once again, he laid back on the bed, but this time he stared at the celing.

Nothing interesting up there, he told himself. It was too early to go to bed so he just had to find something to do that would help to make the time go faster. He stood up from the bed again and he walked over to the doors that lead to the balcony. Once he was outside, he began to look over the side. The wind felt cool as it blew across his still wet body. It didn't bother him, he just kept looking off the side. It wasn't the best view, but it would do. It was something to look at other than the walls of his room.

Nick turned quickly when he heard someone knocking at his door. He stepped back inside of the hotel, closing the doors to the balcony in the process. He opened the door and saw Brian grining at him.

"What?" Nick asked arching his eye brow.

"Nothing, I just wanted to see what you were up to," Brian answered, the grin dissapearing from his face, "I was kinda bored."

"Yeah same here. There really isn't much to do," Nick reliped, feeling Brians' pain.

"Come on, let's get AJ. Maybe he can come up with something."

"Alright, just let me grab a t-shirt," Nick answered walking over to his bag and pulling out a white t-shrit and pulled it over his head. "Let's go."

"Nothing on tv?" Brian asked as they walked down the hallway towards AJ's room.

"Nope, nothing."

"No games, or anything?"

"Nothing," Nick said again.

"Damn," Brian said, "you would think with all the channels we got, there would be something on."

"Go figure," Nick said with a small smile coming across his face. He was thinking the samething when he was going through the channels.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH," Nick and Brian turned to face each other with wide eyes. That wasn't the kind of scream that they usually got from fans. This one was filled with fear. The two of them took off in the direction that the scream had come from. When they arrived, they saw a young lady sitting on the floor shaking.

"Honey what's wrong?" Brian asked kneeling down beside her. She looked over at Brian, but didn't say anything. "You're going to have to tell us what's wrong so that we can help you," Brian added.

"In there," she forced out. Brian looked in the direction that she was poiting in. He stood up and walked over towards the door that was slightly opened.

"Brian what are you doing?" Nick asked.

"Checking to see what it was," he answered. The door slowly swung open when Brian lightly pushed it. He gasped. Nick looked at him but didn't know. He wasn't sure if he wanted to see what Brian was looking at.

"Call 911," Brian said seriously.

"I don't have my cell," Nick told him. He stepped back and closed the door. He then knelt down by the young lady again.

"Do you know what happened sweetheart?" Brian asked.

"N....... no," she said, she was shaking violently.

"Why don't you get up?" She shook her head. Whatever it was that was behind the door had caused her to go into a state of shock. "I'm Brian and this is Nick. We just want to get some help. So could you please come with us honey while we call the police." She nodded and Brian helped her stand up. They walked back to Brians room, because it was closer and they went inside. Brian went right over to the phone and dialed 911.

"What's your name?" Nick asked.

"Lisa."

"How old are you Lisa?"

"17."

"Okay, now do you want to tell me what happened?"

"I don't know what happened."

"Who was the guy in the room?" Brian asked after he hung up the phone.

"My boyfriend," she said sheepishly. Brian looked at her and took a deep breath.

"Do you know anything about what happened?" he asked.

"Just that he's dead," she said with her face covered in tears. Nick's heart stopped when he heard that. Good thing he didn't look behind the door.

"Did anyone know that you guys were here?"

"No."

"Well, the police are going to be here in a few minutes. Just relax and calm yourself down alright?" She just nodded and Brian took a deep breath and ran his hands through his hair. Why the hell would this be happening? Neither of the guys knew anything about this girl so they tried to keep from jumping to conclusions. Even though it scared them to know that someone was killed in the hotel. If it happened once, it might be possible for it to happen again. That's the last thing that either of them wanted.

"B-rok, come here for a second," Nick said stepping towards the door.

"We're going to be right back. I'm going to step outside for a second, alright?" Brian said to her. She nodded and Brian went into the hallway right after Nick.

"This isn't making any sence. What the hell is going on?" Nick asked his best friend.

"Nick, I really don't know what this is all about either."

"What exactly did the room look like?" he asked curiously.

"There was blood all over. I don't know what killed him and I wasn't about to walk in and see either. I can understand why she's so upset."

"Don't you think she knows more than she's telling?"

"Why would I think that? I don't even know the girl."

"Come on Brian, her boyfriend ends up dead at a hotel. What do you think they were doing here in the first place?" Nick said looking into Brians eyes, "I bet you, she did it."

"What?!"

"Just hear me out. He and her might have had a date ya know, but he brings her back here and she finds out what he really had in mind. She flips and attacks him. In the process, she kills him by accident."

"Nick what happened to this guy wasn't an accident. From what I saw, who ever did this, really wanted this guy dead and they made sure that he was before he or she left."

"Then how come Lisa wasn't in there to see at least something?"

"Think about this," Brian said, "what if you're right to the point that he had taken her here to uh, ya know, and she got mad at him and left. While she was leaving, she felt bad and went back to apologise but found him dead."

"Then who killed him?" Nick asked.

"How the hell should I know? It wasn't like I was there to see it or anything."

"Alright, go back inside. I'm going to tell security about what happened. Hopefully we can get tighter security around here," Nick told him.

"Okay bro, I'll see you in a few Brian said walking into his room where Lisa was still crying. Nick turned around and quickly walked down the hallway. Thankfully they had decided to put one body guard on their floor for extra protection. When Nick reached the room where he had been told they were staying, he knocked on the door and then a large man appeared at the door way.

"Carlos, someone's been murdered," Nick said. The body guard just looked at him, but said nothing.

"Carter I know you're bored but that doesn't mean that you have to go around pulling these kind of pranks. That's real serious," he said to Nick sternly.

"I'm not kidding. B-rok was there and he saw the body. The guys girlfriend is with Brian right now. They are waiting for the police to come. Just come over there with me and I'll prove it."

"If you're just joking I'm going to kick your ass you know that right?"

"I'm not joking, just come on," Nick said walking down the hallway back to Brians room. They opened the door and Brian was softly talking to Lisa.

"He doesn't believe me," Nick said grabbing Brians attention.

"How could I? You're the one known for practical jokes," Carlos said.

"He's telling the truth. Me and her saw the body," Brian answered, defending Nick.

"What's your name darling?" Carlos asked kneeling down beside her.

"Lisa."

"Tell me about tonight. I want to know everything that you know about what happened. Can you do that for me?"

"I'll try," she said softly, she was still shaking slightly.

"Okay, start at the beginning, what were you guys doing here in the first place?"

"Uhh....," she said softly, blushing, this was obviously a sensitve subject for her to talk about, "we were uh... going to sleep together."

"Alright," he said making no futher comments about what she had said, "what happened when you got into the room?"

"I had forgotten something in the car and I went to go get it. When I got back, he was dead," she said with her eyes showing signs of tears.

"Do you have any idea about who would want to do this?"

"No, he was popular, everyone liked him. He was a really great guy. I loved him."

"Alright," he said and then looked at Brian, "you called the police right?"

"Yeah," he answered. Nick bit his lip to keep himself from saying something that he would regret. He remained quiet as Carlos left the room

Chapter 2

When the police arrived, Brian took them to the room where the body was still laying lifelessly. One officer stayed with Nick and Lisa and began to question them.

"Alright sir," the female officer said, "what do you know about what happened?"

"Nothing really, me and my friend were walking down the hall to get one of our other friends and we heard her scream and ran to see what happened. Brian, my friend, looked inside of the room that she had pointed to and there was a body inside," Nick answered.

"Okay thank you sir. Ma'am, can you tell me about what you know about what happened?"

"He was my boyfriend. We were staying here and I had forgotten something in my car so I left to get it and when I came back, he was dead so I screamed," she answered.

"Do you know if he had recived any threats of any kind? Or of anyone that might what him dead?"

"No, he wasn't the kind of guy that would make any kind of enemies. He was a really nice guy, he always helped everyone. I don't know why anyone would want to do this."

"Ma'am, there are a lot of reasons. Jealiousy, maybe someone from his past wanted revenge, anything is possible really," the officer told her. Nick looked at her face with began to fill with anger.

"I've known him my whole life, there isn't anyone from his past or anything like that who would want to kill him," Lisa yelled.

"Please ma'am, lower your voice. I only know what you're telling me. We are going to look into this and see what we come up with. Until then, don't leave town," she said walking off to join her partner. Nick looked at Lisa who was crying.

"Relax hon, you're safe," he told her without knowing if it would make her better.

"That's not it, I loved him. Now he's dead," she whispered.

"Kaos," AJ said stepping into the room, "what the hell happened? What's with the police?"

"Someone was murdered," Nick told him.

"Say what?" AJ asked shocked. He then looked over towards Lisa, "who's this?"

"The guys girlfriend. She was the one that found him dead," Nick answered. AJ looked over at Nick but didn't say anything.

"Where's Rok?"

"He's with the police." A long silence fell over them. Brian soon came storming back into the room, startling all of them.

"Yo Rok, what's wrong?" AJ asked grabbing his arm.

"Nothing, everything's great can't you see that?" Brian snapped sarcasticly. AJ looked at Brian shocked, he NEVER flipped out like that, even when he was mad. "AJ, I'm sorry about that."

"Hey it's alright man," AJ said softly, keeping his distance. Brian smiled lightly but made no futher comments. The female officer came into the room not long after that.

"I'd like you guys to give me a call just incase anything comes up," she said handing us each a card, "Ma'am, if you remember anyone that might have a reason to do this, call me and we'll look into it." Lisa just nodded as she took the card and put it into her pocket. "Good night."

"Do you want me to take you home? Brian asked Lisa once the officer had left.

"Yeah," she said quietly.

"Alright," he smiled, "I'll make sure you get home safely."

"Thank you," she said trying to be polite. She stood up and walked out of the room. Brian was quickly heading towards the door as well. Until AJ grabbed his arm.

"Becareful man," AJ warned.

"Come on, I'll be fine. Right there and right back, I promise," Brian assured him. AJ nodded and let go of Brians arm. Brian dissapeared into the hallway immediately upon his release. Nick looked over at AJ to see that he was staring at him.

"What?" Nick asked.

"Nothing, wanna go hang in my room till Rok comes back?" he said.

"Yeah alright," Nick answered walking into the hallway with AJ. They walked into hallway at the exact moment that the body was being taken out. Thankfully it was covered, neither of them wanted to see the damage that was done. They just stood there watching, they couldn't make themselves leave. When the body was finally taken into the elevator and it began it's journey down, was when they were awaken from the trance like state that had fallen over them.

"I still can't believe that this happened," AJ said to Nick who was still staring at the elevator.

"Me either AJ," he answered and turned his attention to AJ.

"What do you think we should do? I mean we can't stay here any more! There is some fucking phsyco in the building, I sure as hell know I ain't stickin' around," AJ stated.

"AJ, I'm not really sure what's going to happen from here. I agree with you cause I want to get my ass out of here as soon as I possibly can. We just have to wait," Nick answered and was greeted by AJ's sigh.

"Okay, lets just go inside alright? I don't think that we should be standing around in the hallways without security," AJ commented.

"Good idea," Nick said. They continued the few steps in their journey that had been stopped when the body was brought through. AJ opened his door slowly, as if he was expecting someone to be in there. Nick just watched the inside of the room closely as the door slowly opened. AJ stuck his head in and looked around. Nothing was out of place. He let out the breath that he had been holding and stepped inside. Nick followed him into the room slowly.

"This is crazy," AJ pointed out, "no one is in here. What the hell am I getting all worked up about?"

"AJ, I'm scared too," Nick told him hoping to help him feel better.

"Do D and Kev know about this?"

"No, you just happened to walk in just as everything was unfolding," Nick told him.

"Come on, lets go talk to them," AJ said walking out of his room and into the direction to where Howie and Kevins rooms were. They arrived at Howies room first. AJ knocked and waited. They waited and waited but there was no answer. So AJ knocked again, but this time much harder.

"What??" Howie said opening the door, "I was sleeping."

"Sorry 'bout that D, but we just wanted to tell you that someone was just killed...," AJ said.

"What?" Howie said, not believing them one bit,"come on guys that's not funny. Where's Brian? Or is he in on this too?"

"Howie, this isn't a joke. Someone is dead. Brian went to take someone home, he'll be back in a few. You have to believe us!" Nick answered.

"You're serious aren't you?"

"Yes D, we are!" AJ said looking into Howies eyes.

"Oh my god," Howie said when the belief overtook him, "who's dead?"

"A guy that none of us know. Me and Bri were going to get AJ but we heard a scream, which was nothing like a fans scream it was much more....... horrorfying. So me and him went to go see what it was and this girl was there. She pointed to a room and Brian looked inside and thats where the body was," Nick answered seriously.

"Damn, does Kevin know yet?"

"No we were just going around to tell you two," AJ replied.

"Okay, I'll go with you," Howie said stepping out of his room. The three of them walked the few feet to Kevins room and AJ knocked. Kevin was quicker with his responce than Howie was.

"What's up guys?" he answered.

"Someone was murdered," AJ said quickly. He looked over at Nick, and then at Howie as if he was trying to decide if this was a joke or not. After a few moments had passed, Kevin had still said nothing.

"I have to hand it to you guys, you really had me going for a minute. How'd you keep AJ from ruining it?" he asked slightly amused.

"Kevin this isn't a god damn joke," AJ exploded, "someone was fucking killed in the hotel!"

"Oh shit, this is serious," Kevin said realizing that, dispite their past of pranks, this was true.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you," AJ said, trying to keep himself calm.

"Where's Brian?" he asked realizing that he wasn't with them.

"Hey went to take someone home," Howie answered.

"Who?"

"The girlfriend of the guy that was killed," Nick told him.

"Why would he do that?" Kevin asked upset.

"Because she was really upset. I don't think she would have been able to drive herself home after what happened," Nick replied.

"How long ago did he leave?"

"Not long," AJ answered, "but he promised that he would go right there and right back."

"Did he take any security with him?"

"No."

"Why the hell not?" Kevins voice boomed, echoing down the hallway.

"Kevin calm down," Nick jumped in, "he's going to be right back. Nothing will happen, don't worry about it."

"Does security at least know about this?" Kevin asked.

"Yeah, we told them already. I figured that they might want to know about that," Nick answered. Kevin looked at him but kept all futher comments to himself. Like most people, he wasn't sure just how to react. This wasn't something that anyone ever thought that they would ever have to worry about perparing for.

Chapter 3


Brian kept his word and went straight to Lisa's house and straight back to the hotel. When he arrived back and went up to his room, he found that Nick and AJ had left. He walked out of his room and began knocking on the doors of the other guys. None of his knocks were answered until he reached Kevins room and found that everyone was with him. He light out a silent sigh of relief, he had begun to think that something had happened to all of them. He was so relieved to find that everyone was alright.

"How is she?" Nick asked when Brian walked into the room.

"She's still a little upset, but I told her to keep in touch with me because I wanted to know if things worked out for her," Brian answered, "I also told her that I would be there if she needed to talk. Kinda like since she doesn't know me, she doesn't have to worry about me telling anyone she knows about how she feels."

"I guess," AJ said softly. He didn't think that anyone had heard him.

"What did you mean by that?" Brian asked looking at AJ.

"Rok, think about this, in a way she knows who you are. Mr. BackStreet Boy, if she doesn't know who you are, someone she knows will. Just don't get to worked up about helping her. You're doing a great thing in all, I'm glad you're liked that, you've always helped me, but she might not want to talk, that's all I'm saying," AJ told him.

"Yeah I guess you're right. I was just trying to help that's all," Brian said.

"She might need your help so you'll be able to step in," AJ encouraged, "you never know right?" Brian smiled. Brian had always been the one that wanted to help other people. It was probably because of how he was raised. He was the kind of person that could be made happy just by seeing someone smile because of something that he helped do to make their lives better. Overall, he was a real great guy. He had a great heart.

"What are we going to do from here?" Brian asked everyone. He was hoping that they had begun to plan something while he was gone.

"We have no idea yet," Kevin answered seriously.

"I just know I want to get my ass out of here," AJ added to the conversation, "I really don't think staying here is going to help us any."

"It's going to get us killed, that's what it's going to do," Nick said to AJ.

"No it won't Nick," Howie said.

"How the hell do you know?" Nick snapped angerly, "anything can happen."

"We have enough security to keep us safe. No one will be able to get to any of us," Kevin informed Nick.

"What about everyone staying here? What are they supposed to do?" Nick asked.

"This is probably an isolated incident, not a random act of violence. It was premeditated," Kevin explained to Nick.

"You don't know that."

"Nick just stop this shit," AJ warned, "you're freaking us all out."

"Hey, I'm sorry that I don't want to die. I just have a lot to live for ya know?"

"We'll be safe," Brian said putting his hand on Nicks shoulder. Nick turned to look at him, but didn't say anything. Rather, he just looked at Brian, showing him the fear that was inside his eyes. He was really scared about all of this. No one said anything for awhile after that. Nick had decided not to say anything because it would probably lead to an arugment with someone anyway. It just wasn't worth it at this point. They were all startled by a knock that came upon the door. Brian looked over at Kevin, with his eyes wide.

"I'll get it," Kevin said standing from the chair in which he was seated and slowly walked towards the door.

"Becareful," Brian warned. Kevin nodded when he arrived at the door. Slowly, he unlocked it and slowly opened the door partway, just so that he could see into the hallway.

"Is everyone there?" a voice asked. It was instantly familiar to all of them. It belonged to one of the security guards that had been with them for a long time. Relief filled the hotel room.

"Yeah, we're all here, safe and sound," Kevin answered.

"Good, just checking on you guys. Just wanted to let you know that we've toughened security. No one will be able to get into the building unless they have ID checked and they are signed in at the main desk. We have security guarding all back and side doors. No need to worry about safety," he said.

"That's good. I'll sleep a little better tonight knowing that," Kevin told him.

"Okay guys, if you need anything, or if there is anything that you want to be checked out, come get one of us," he told them, "don't go wondering around by yourselves."

"I doubt that any of us was going to do that any way," Kevin repiled.

"Well just to make sure. Just remember, do not investigate anything on your own. You may be putting yourself in danger. Call me or one of the other guys."

"Sure, we can do that. No problem," Kevin answered. The guard nodded and left the room.

Chapter 4

The night was uneasy. Nothing seemed like it should be. That may have been simply because of the murder that had taken place or because the guys really were in some sort of danger. With security on high alert, nothing was going to go wrong, at least that was the impression that everyone was under. This guy had gotten past them before and commited the murder before anyone noticed that anything was wrong. AJ tossed and turned in his bed.

Nightmares filled his mind. He was rendered helpless and could only watch all of the horror unfolding before him. Not even being to even scream, he had to watch as one by one, his best friends were killed. Each murder even more horrorfying than the last. Finally his time came, but he wasn't going to have it. He tried to hard to escape, but failed. AJ shot up from the bed.

He found himself to be covered in sweat. His breathing was labored. When he gathered his composure, he began to tell himself that it was only a dream. He whiped the sweat that was running onto his face with the back of his hand and slowly began to get out of bed. He walked over to the window and opened it. Enjoying the cool air that brushed across his face. Finally, his breathing returned to normal and he was able to think clearly once again.

AJ shut his eyes tightly and took in a deep breath of the cool air. When he opened his eyes, he stepped away from the window. Slowly he began walking away with the look of sheer terorr on his face. He run out of his room and down the hall. Loudly he banged on Brians door. Slowly, Brians door opened and he looked at AJ, puzzled.

"Rok come here," AJ said taking Brians arm and began to pull him towards his room.

"AJ what the hell happened?" Brian asked letting AJ have control over him. When they reached AJ's room, AJ turned to Brian.

"Look out the window," AJ said with no emotion. Brian just looked at him but began to walk towards the window. He stopped half way there and turned his attention to AJ.

"What exactly am I going to be looking at?" Brian asked fearfully. There eyes met though neither of them said anything, Brian walked over to the window and gased when he took in the sight before him. Quickly he turned to AJ, "What the hell happened?"

"I have no idea," AJ answered, "I was having a bad dream and I woke up and went to open the window and looked out and that's what I saw. Scared the shit out of me."

"I'm going to get security," Brian said walking out of the room. AJ was now left alone. He looked around and then quickly decided to met up with Brian.

"Rok," AJ said catching Brian, "wait for me." Brian nodded and they walked down the hallway towards Carlos' room. Brian knocked and instantly Carlos was at the door.

"We have a little problem," Brian said, "come back to AJ's room and you'll see what I mean." He nodded and followed behind the guys as they lead him back to AJ's room. Carlos looked past them and looked through the window. He shut his eyes and then took his radio out of his pocket.

"We have a problem in the south end of the building. Another body," he said. Then he turned his gaze back to Brian and AJ, "Do either of you guys know what happened?" They both shook their heads no and Carlos looked at them understandingly. Moments later security was filing into AJ's room. Carlos directed them towards the window. Two guards than left the room to recover the body.

"Do you think this was suiside?" AJ whispered to Brian. Brian looked over towards AJ. His eyes were filled with confussion and fear.

"The police have been called and they are going to be here in a few minutes," Carlos interupted.

"Do you know what happened?" AJ asked.

"No not yet. I haven't gotten a full report. You guys will know as soon as I know, I promise," Carlos told them, "Brian go back to your room and get some sleep. AJ, we are going to find some place for you to stay."

"How 'bout I just stay with Rok until the morning and I can go back into my room," AJ asked.

"Alright, we can do that. Is that alright with you Brian?"

"Yeah I don't mind. He can stay with me," Brian replied.

"Okay, you guys should head over there now. I'll come get you guys as soon as something is made positive. Just get some rest because it might take awhile."

*The next morning*


Brian walked out of the bathroom to see AJ looking out the window. He seemed to be lost in his thoughts. Brian walked up to him and just looked out the window with him.

"So what's out there?" Brian asked softly.

"Nothing, thankfully. What's going to happen now?"

"I have no idea." AJ nodded and soon the room was filled with the sound of someone knocking. Brian walked over to the door and opened it. Carlos came in and told Brian and AJ to take a seat on the couch. After a few moments of silence, Carlos began to speak.

"That was another murder last night. It looked as if it were suiside when you looked out the window. That was my initial thought too. If you see someone hanging from a tree, you generally think that it was the persons doing. When the two guards came up after you guys came here, they told me that the guy had been beaten and stabbed several times. Then he was hung from the tree," he explained.

"Do you guys know who it was?" Brian asked softly.

"No, we're still trying to figure that out. He didn't have a wallet or any ID on him. We assume that he was staying in the hotel. That would explain what he was doing here. So far, no one staying here as suddenly dissapeared. It's still early though and we are keeping an eye on that possibility. So all we do is wait until someone is reported missing and the police can get someone to identify the body."

"What if he wasn't staying here?" AJ asked.

"Then we have to start looking at missing person reports and see if the guy we have fits the description of anyone that is missing. Then we get someone to look at the body and either confirm or deny that this is the body of the person they are looking for."

"What happens if you guys don't figure out who it is? What's going to happen then?" Brian asked.

"Bri, I don't really know. Truthfully, I'm learning just like you guys are. I'm usually just security and thats all. The police have asked us to work with them because we are in the hotel and we've been finding the bodies. They think that if they have someone in the place where the murders have been taking place. They want us to, obviously, report any activity that seems suspisious, or any person as well. Since they can't have any of their men here at all times, it helps to have us around."

"So that means we aren't chaning hotels?" AJ asked, disapointed.

"No, we have to stay here. I know that sounds like bullshit but you guys have to. My job is to protect you guys and I want to get you out of here as much as you want to you out of here. All security has been ordered to stay here and we can't let you guys stay at another hotel without," he answered softly, "Now, the other guys don't know about this murder yet and I know they are going to freak out when we tell them. I also know that it's going to piss them off to know that we have to stay so if you guys have any problems telling them about it, you tell them to come to me and I'll straighten them out."

"I don't think there is going to be any problem," Brian said to him.

"Didn't expect any, but just incase alright?" he said walking out of the room. Brian looked over at AJ and AJ quickly turned his attention to Brian.

"Wanna break the good news to them?" Brian asked sarcasticlly.

"May as well. Let's go," AJ said standing up from the couch and walking towards the door. Brian joined AJ in the hallway and they began their jounery to the rooms of the other guys. First, they arrived at Nicks door. They knocked and a half-sleeping Nick answered the door.

"Hey koas, you look like hell, but we need to talk to you," AJ greeted.

"Can't it wait? I was finally getting some sleep," Nick told him.

"There was another murder," Brian said suddenly. Nicks eyes opened widely, in shock.

"What? Another one? Who was it this time? When the hell are we getting out of here?" Nick shouted his questions.

"They don't know who the victim is. They are waiting to see if it was anyone who was staying at the hotel. And about getting out of here, ain't happening," Brian answered.

"What!" yelled Nick.

"The police want our security to help them to keep an eye on this place. That means we can't go any where 'cause we need them to look out for us, and besides, like Carlos told me and AJ, he doesn't want us going and staying some place else when there is some killer on the lose," Brian answered calmly.

"So these are random murders like I thought!" Nick pointed out.

"We don't know that yet Nick. We have to wait and see if these two guys had any connections to the first guy who was killed," AJ said knowing where Nick was going to take this if he didn't have a reasonable explaination as to why these weren't random murders.

"Come on AJ, you know as well as I do that these two murders are be connected! I mean think about it this way, they were both killed at the hotel....," Nick started but was interupted by Brian.

"How did you know that the second guy was killed here?" Brian asked. Neither of them had told him that the body was found hanging from a tree outside of AJ's window.

"I just....," he began, "I heard you get security last night. I kept waking up during the night and I heard you guys. I didn't want to go out there because I didn't want to see it." Brian nodded and let out a silent sigh of relief. For a moment he thought that Nick knew more than he was telling. Worse, that he might have even been involved.

Chapter 5

The others were stunned to find out about the most recent murder. What bothered them even more was that they were not able to leave the hotel. Even though they tried to accept it, any one could tell that there was still a bit of uneasyness about remaining at the hotel. They all had felt that it wasn't a safe place for them to be staying and were sure that they would be leaving. They also tried to accept that security still had a job to do there. Besides, they wouldn't let anything happen to any of them. It was their jobs to make sure that they were all safe.

"What are we going to do about rehursals?" Kevin asked taking a sip of his coffee.

"They've been postponed. Everything has been," Brian informed his cousin.

"So we can't we just go home?"

"Security doesn't want us to leave."

"Don't you think it would be better if we were home so that we wouldn't be in the center of this? I don't know if you noticed, but almost everyone that was staying here, checked out," Kevin told him, "they knew this place wasn't safe."

"Don't you think I realize that? We've been ordered to stay Kevin. Hey, I want to go home too, this is the last place that I want to be, but there is nothing that we can do about it."

"What if we get security to take us home? Do you think that they would let us leave that way?"

"All security has been ordered to stay here. They can't leave either."

"What kind of shit is that? We have to stay here when there is a killer on the lose?"

"I know how you feel. I don't want to stay here any more than you do, but we have to. Trust me, if there was a way for us to get home safely, they'd let us leave."

"It's not like we're safe here. For all anyone knows, one of us could be next!"

"Kev, don't say that. That's not going to happen."

"You know as well as I do that it's a possibility. Everyone that was killed here didn't think that they were in any danger either and look at what happened to them. I just have to tell you that staying here is so stupid."

"I agree with that much, but security has been ordered by the police to stay and their jobs are to make sure that we are safe. Since they can't leave, they don't want us to either, it's for our safety."

"If this was really for our safety, we'd have been gone right after the first murder and not have stuck around for the second."

"That was in the middle of the night and we wouldn't have known were to go that late. Besides, they were both killed the same night so there really wasn't anything that we could have done till morning anyway and with the second murder, things changed. We ended up in another situation. Now we can't go any where because we wouldn't be safe."

"We're not much safer here. Even with the hightened security last night, someone else was still killed. How safe does that make you feel Brian?" Kevin asked, looking into Brians eyes knowing that he had brought up a point that he couldn't argue with.

"We're just going to have to make the best of this. We aren't going anywhere anytime soon I don't think so we'd better learn to just live with it."

"Aren't you scared?" Kevin asked, "I sure as hell know that I am. Anything might happen and you know that. You can't tell me that you aren't scared knowing that."

"I never said that I wasn't scared. Truthfully, I'm scared out of my mind. This is way too much for me to handle all at once. People are dead; killed and we don't know why. That scares me. It scares me to know that there is someone in this world that is that sick. We have to stay put until further notice, it's what we've been told to do. It is for our safety."

"Alright fine," Kevin said giving in. He knew that he wasn't going to be able to talk Brian into telling him that he wanted to leave. It would have been losing battle and he knew it.

"Sorry," Brian said, noticing Kevins fustration.

"Hey Kev," Nick said as Kevin stormed passed him.

"What's up with him?" Nick asked Brian.

"He doesn't want to stay here. Not that I can really blame him, but you know we've been ordered to stay here," he answered.

"I'd like to leave myself," Nick said sitting across from Brian where Kevin had been siting.

"I know, I know. We all would like to leave, not excluding myself. I'm scared out of my mind and I don't know how much more I can take. But like I told Kevin, we can't leave. We aren't allowed to 'cause we wouldn't have security."

"Lets just drop this," Nick suggested.

"What are we going to do today?" Brian asked.

"Aside from finding any more dead bodies, we've been on a roll with that one lately, I have no idea," Nick joked, flashing Brian a wide grin. Brian smiled and looked up at Nick.

"You're something else you know that?"

"Yeah and I'm damn proud of it too," Nick answered him with a goofy smile on his face. Brian laughed at how silly his best friend was being.

"Hey, I think we should call our families and let them know that everything is alright ya know? I'm sure that they've heard about everything already. They did know where we were staying and they might be worried," Brian commented.

"Good idea," Nick answered, "come on. We can use the phone in my room. Then when we've called everyone, we can chill for a while."

"Okay lets go," Brian said and then they started to head to Nicks room. It only took them a couple of minutes to reach Nicks room. There was really no activity at the hotel because a lot of people had checked out because of the recent events. Yet there was still several people who had stayed to tough it out. Whether it was because they had no choice or not, who knew? When the two men reached Nicks room, they walked over towards the phone. Nick let out a long, tired sigh as he dropped down to the bed. He stared up at the celing for a moment.

"Go ahead," Nick said, "you use the phone first."

"Okay," Brian said. As he reached towards the phone. It began to ring. Startling the both of them. "You expecting a phone call?" Nick shook his head no and Brian slowly reached towards the phone.

"Probably security," Nick suggested when Brian was within reaching distance of the phone.

"Hello?" he answered, agreeing with Nicks suggestion. Something probably came up and Brian wasn't in his room so they knew that they could probably contact him in Nicks room.

"Ahhh, Mr. Littrell," a stange voice said, "wasn't expecting you to answer."

"Who is this?" Brian asked worried. He looked over at Nick, who was now staring at him.

"Time will tell. I'm sure that we'll meet one day soon. Probably sooner than you think actually," the voice informed Brian, "I was hoping to talk to Mr. Carter, but seeing that I've got you on the line, I figure, why the hell not talk to you."

"What is this all about?" Brian asked getting slightly fustrated. The voice laughed.

"You'll find out soon enough my friend. But for now, just listen to me. I know a lot more than you think I know."

"Who the hell is this?" Brian asked again.

"Now Mr. Littrell, don't go getting me angry, you just might regret it. Now you better listen to me and you better listen good alright? Your life is in my hands. I see everything that you do. You can't as much take a shit without me knowing about it and that goes for everyone else. Now, I will be keeping in contact with you and everyone else to let you know exactly what I want. Just one warning though, don't tell anyone about this little conversation of ours. Otherwise," the voice laughed, "you won't live long enough to prove it."

Just as Brian was about to speak, he heard the dial tone. His hands were now shaking from the shock of the phone call. Slowly, he placed the phone back onto its craddle. Nick looked at him and waited for him to say something. When he didn't, he knew that he had to ask.

"Who was it Bri?" Nick asked, looking into Brians eyes with were filled with such a fear that Nick was almost afraid to know what had just happened.

"No one," Brian answered quickly.

"What do you mean it was no one? You just had the shit scared out of you. I can see it man, there's no use in hiding it. Now, do you want to tell me what that was all about?"

"It was some guy. He had called to talk to you, but when I answered the phone, he knew my name," Brian started.

"Bri, a lot of people know your name. It kinda comes along with the job," Nick joked.

"No, it wasn't a fan or anything," Brian defended, "He said that my life was in his hands. He said that he can see us, and that he's going to be keeping in touch with us so that he can tell us what he wants."

"Oh come on," Nick said rolling his eyes, "someone actually fooled you with that? Come on, you know it had to be a prank. I've pulled enough to know that someone wants revenge. That was probably it and you just happened to intercept it."

"Nick this is not a prank!" Brian yelled, "no one would do something like this right after two people were murdered!"

"There are a lot of sick people out there and you know that. I doubt that this call is anything that we should be getting all worked up about. Just go back to what you were doing. Call Leighanne and everyone and tell them we're fine. Forget this," Nick said laying back down on the bed. Brian hesitated for a moment but then picked up the phone and made a few phone calls to let everyone know that he was alright and for them not to be worried cause they have a great security team looking after them. That didn't even make him feel safe.

"Feel better?" Nick asked as he watched Brian hang up the phone. Brian glanced at Nick who was smiling. His smile faded when he saw that Brian wasn't smiling too, "What's wrong?"

"I think if we are going to stay here, we should get different rooms. Just to be safe you know?" Brian suggested. Nick looked at him with concern in his eyes.

"Don't you think that we're safe here?"

"What about that phone call? I don't want this guy to know what rooms we're in."

"Come on, it was a prank," Nick began.

"That might be, but I would rather change rooms anyway, just in case? Rather be safe than sorry right?" Brian asked Nick. Nick sighed softly as he ran his hand through his hair.

"I guess if it would make you feel better. We can talk to Carlos about that. I'm sure he won't mind us changing rooms."

"Thanks Nick," Brian said lightly. Nick half smiled at Brian. Nick was concered. Everything about this was getting to Brian and Nick didn't want it to drive him crazy. He convinced himself that if they changed rooms, Brian might feel a lot better about all of this and maybe gain some composure in the process.

Chapter 6


Howie dropped his suitcase on the dresser in his new room. Nick had convinced him that by doing this, he would be helping Brian and that things would probably be a little bit better as well. Howie walked over to the window and opened it. His new room was really hot. There seemed to be no air in the room. Once the window was open, the room became more tolerable. Taking in his new surroundings, Howie decided to sit on the couch and read the book that he had started. When he dropped onto the couch, he opened the book to the page that he had left off.

In a few minutes time, Howie was completely lost in his book. His mind was so lost in the book that he didn't hear the balcony doors open and a strange man walk in and stop after only taking one step into the room. Howie began to feel that something was wrong when the breeze that was in the room had suddenly become stronger. Folding down the page where he had left off, Howie looked up and was frightened to see someone in his room.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked the strange man. A mask covered his face. The only feature that anyone could see was the dark brown eyes that this man had. Those eyes made Howie become uneasy. "What do you want?" Howie asked when he saw the man taking a few steps towards him. Howie stood up from the couch and began to walk towards the door.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you Mr. Dorough," the man warned. Howie stopped where he was when the man spoke. His voice was filled with something that could only be described as pure evil.

"What is it that you want?" Howie asked again hoping that he would be able to get himself safely out of this situation. He tired to hide all of his fear and was fairly succesful.

"You're a smart man, why don't you figure it out," he said pulling a gun out from his pocket and slowly pointing it towards Howie.

"Woah," Howie said, "you don't have to do that. Whatever you want, you got it man. Take whatever you want, just don't hurt me." The man released the safety as Howie remained where he was, not moving. His heart was racing. Was this it? Was this how his life was going to end? Did his fate say that he was to be murdered in a hotel when he had finally achieved his dream? One thing was for sure, he wasn't going to go quietly.

"Just think about it," the man said, "this has all just begun." Howie remained still as did the man. The man aimed the gun towards Howie's head. Instantly, Howie reacted and he ran out of the room. It wasn't exactly the heroic escape that he had wished for, but he was alive and that's all that mattered.

"Brian!" he yelled when he was in the hallway. His voice was filled with fear, "Brian!!"

"D what's wrong?" AJ asked coming out of his room.

"Call 911 or something. Someone was just in my room and he tried to shoot me," Howie quickly told AJ.

"What? Are you alright?" AJ asked concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine but we have to get the hell out of here."

"Lets go get Carlos," AJ said exiting his room and made sure that his door was locked tightly. He motioned his head for Howie to follow him when he was sure that the door was locked. The two men took the elevator down to where all of their security was staying. They found themselves are Carlos' door and they knocked loudly.

"What's wrong?" Carlos asked as he saw the anxioty in Howies eyes.

"Someone broke into my room and came after me," Howie answered, still in complete shock that this had happened.

"Did you get a good look at him?"

"No he had a mask on, but I can tell you that he has a gun. When I realized that he was going to shoot me, I got my ass out of there. I wasn't going to go out like that, no way."

"Did you leave your door unlocked?"

"No, but he got in through the balcony doors," Howie explained.

"You have to be shitting me," he said with fustration in his voice.

"No, I'm serious. I was reading my book and I saw him when I decided to look to see where a breeze was coming from."

"Did he say anything to you?"

"He told me to think about it because it has all just begun," he answered softly.

"What the hell does that mean?" AJ asked.

"Gee I don't know, maybe we should go up there and ask him," Howie snapped.

"Don't get smart with me. I'm not...."

"Stop it," Carlos warned. Howie looked at AJ, but both had decided that any further comments to each other would get them into a situation that was worse than the one they were already in. "I'm going to let the police know what happened."

"What am I going to do now?" Howie asked, "I'm not going back to my room."

"You should get everyone else and bunk up with each other. If you're not alone, this person can't strike. There would be a whitness."

"Unless he killed the whitness," AJ commented.

"Just tell the rest of the guys and get them to bunk up so that they're not alone." They nodded and headed back upstairs. When they reached their floor, AJ and Howie knocked on Nick, Brian and Kevin's doors. Soon, they were all gathered in the hallway.

"What's up?" Brian asked, "and why are we all out here?"

"Howie was attacked," AJ informed.

"What!" Brian shouted shocked, "I told you that phone call wasn't a prank Nick!"

"Wait, what phone call?" Kevin asked.

"Before we switched rooms, me and Nick were hanging out and we were going to call everyone back home and let them know that we were okay, but the phone rang and I answered it. It was some guy and he was talking about how he was always watching us. When I tried to find out who he was, he threatened me. He also said if I told anyone about the call, that I wouldn't live long enough to be able to prove it," Brian answered.

"You should have told us about that! Someone could have been hurt!" Kevin scolded.

"I didn't know what to do! Nick was trying to convince me that it was just a prank. I kinda believed him but figured that we should change rooms anyway just incase."

"Why the hell would that have been a prank Nick?" Kevin yelled.

"Come on, you have celebrities in a hotel that just had two murders. Someone out there took advantage of the moment. I sure as hell know that I would have. I figured that they just called to give us a little scare and not do any harm other than that, sorry," Nick answered.

"It's alright," Howie told Nick, "but I just want you guys to know that Carlos wants us to bunk up with each other so that we aren't alone any more. Cause I was alone when I was attacked." They nodded, this was for their safety and it really wasn't a bad idea.

"Me and Bri can share a room," Nick suggested.

"Yeah," Kevin said, "so that means me, Howie and AJ share."

"Actually," AJ said, "I would rather go with them."

"Alright so me and Howie," Kevin said, "Now do we stay in these rooms or get more?"

"I guess we can stay. Since we aren't alone anymore, this person won't attack. At least I hope so," AJ thought.

"Okay, lets get movin'," Kevin said walking into his room. Howie remained where he was standing. AJ, Brian and Nick looked over at him.

"What's wrong D?" AJ asked.

"Can someone come with me to get my things?" Howie asked, "I don't want to go in there alone."

"Yeah, no problem," AJ said, "Rok, we can take my room. I'll see you guys in there in a few." Brian nodded. Then he and Nick walked off to their rooms to get their things. AJ and Howie began to walk down the hall. Soon, they arrived at Howies room. The door was still open from when he made his escape. Slowly, AJ leand into the room, checking to see if anyone was in there waiting. "It's safe."

"Okay," Howie said walking into the room. He walked over to the dresser and grabbed his bag and then to the couch to get his book. When he had all of his possesions, the two of them left the room. Howie let out a long sigh of relief after they left the room. It was completely obvious that he was glad to be leaving that room. Not that anyone could blame him. His life was almost ended there.

"Okay D, here ya go," AJ said as they walked passed Kevins room, "you know where to find me if you need me." Howie nodded and began to open the door. "Oh and D," AJ said causing Howie to look at him, "I'm glad you're okay."

"Me too," Howie said with a hint of relief in his voice. AJ smiled and began to walk towards his room. When he opened the door, Brian and Nick were inside.

"Just one thing," Brian said when AJ came into the room, "sleeping arrangements. How is that going to work? There's only one bed and one couch and I don't think any of us want to sleep in the same bed with each other."

"We can see if they can send up a cot or something," AJ told Brian, "and then we can alternate every night."

"Good idea," Nick said, "cause I really wouldn't like waking up and seeing one of your faces first thing in the morning."

"Hey, we're the ones that are being spared here. How anyone could wake up to you," AJ said but stopped.

"What were you going to say? Tell me," Nick demanded.

"That I sympathis with the poor soul," AJ said with a wide smurk on his face. Nick brushed off AJ's comments with a laugh.

Chapter 7


Brian looked around the room. Both Nick and AJ were sleeping. He sighed and he stood up from the couch. He walked out onto the balcony and looked around. While he was sleeping, his mind and heart made him feel guilty for convincing the guys that staying was the right thing. Everything had been postponed anyway because of the recent events. Brian took in a deep beath of the fresh air that surrounded him. Thankfully nothing else had happened after the attack on Howie. Mainly because none of them were ever alone after that. Fear had been brought upon all of them and they found comfort in being with someone because they knew this person wouldn't strike if they weren't alone. Brian was startled by the ringing of a phone. It wasn't the phone to the room. Then he realized that it was his cell phone. He walked into a grabbed the phone, but went back on the balcony to answer it.

"Hello?" Brian answered.

"Mr. Littrell, you think you're slick don't you?" the now familiar voice asked.

"Why did you go after Howie?" Brian demanded.

"You didn't stay put. I told you I could see everything that you did. Did you think I was lying? Your friend was lucky this time but he won't be so lucky next time and I'll make sure of that. Now am I making myself clear Mr. Littrell?"

"Why are you doing this?" Brian asked fearfully.

"I'll be the one asking the questions if you don't mind. Now answer me Mr. Littrell! Do you understand that whatever happens from this point on is on you. I make my decisions based on our little phone chats. You fuck up, someone dies. Simple as that. So you better not fuck up because I'm watching you," the voice said and then the line went dead.

Brian took a deep breath. He couldn't believe that he had gotten another one of these phone calls. How the hell did this guy get his cell number? All Brian knew was that he was scared and wasn't sure what to do so he went over to Nick and started to wake him.

"What do you want Bri? I was sleeping," Nick answered half asleep.

"I got another phone call," Brian said seriously. Nick sat up and looked over at Brian who looked extremely frightened. You could see the confussion and sadness in his soul through his eyes.

"What?"

"This time the guy called my cell phone. Nick what the hell am I going to do?" Brian asked.

"What did he say this time?" Nick asked.

"That everything was 'on me.' He said that whatever he decided to do from now on would be based on what he said while he called me. What am I going to do?" Brian asked fearfully. Nick took a deep breath but didn't say anything. He was at a complete loss.

"I don't know what to tell you man," Nick finally answered. Brian looked even more scared now than he did before. Nick looked at him and waited for some kind of responce, but there was none. They were both scared. Nick had ruled the possibility out that this was a prank. This was for real. Way too real. When Nick thought about it, he felt guilty. That first call, the one that started this, was supposed to be for him. Why did Brian have to answer it? Nick should have been the one going through this, not his best friend. It was killing Brian inside and Nick knew it.

"I want to go home," Brian suddenly said, "I want to get out of here!"

"Weren't you the one that said that we had to stay here because security had to stay? We aren't safe without them," Nick recited, "remember that?"

"I don't care any more! This sick freak has my cell phone number and he went after Howie. What's going him from doing this all again?!? I'd rather be any place but here."

"Man I wanna get out of here but we can't. Like you said we can't leave without security. Besides if this guy knew where to find Howie even after we changed rooms, what makes you think he wouldn't be able to find our houses? At least here we have security, home we don't," Nick told him.

"Shut up so I can get some sleep," AJ's voice came over to them.

"Come on Mr. Sensitive, Brian just got a phone call from the guy that attacked Howie. You'd be scared to so don't be gettin all mad about it," Nick shot back.

"The guy called you?" AJ asked confussed. He sat up and looked at Brian who's skin was pale and his face was filled with fear. To put it rather bluntly, he looked like crap.

"Yeah," Brian answered after a few moments of trying to force himself to talk. All of this was really getting to him. The fact that he was getting these calls didn't help him understand the situation any more than he had before. Everything was still confussing, but these calls made things worse. What did this guy have against them? Or Nick? Being that Nick was the person that the call was intended for. Did Nick have someone in his past that might have wanted revenge? Or was this just some bored sicko that wanted to whipe out a band that he hated. Whatever the answer, it disturbed Brian.

"Come on, we're going to get Carlos or someone and tell them about this. This is bullshit. If you got a phone call, they should be able to trace it or something so we know where the mother fucker is. Brian get your phone," AJ said as he got out of the bed. Brian looked over at him. He was afraid to tell security because he didn't know what would happen as a result. He didn't want to make this guy angry. No one else should get hurt. Two people were dead, that was enough.

"I don't think that we should do that," Brian protested. AJ stopped in his tracks and looked at Brian, he was totally confussed.

"And why not?" AJ asked.

"When he called the first time, he told me not to tell anyone...."

"You didn't tell anyone and he went after Howie. Do you really think that this guy is playing fair? Cause from what I've seen, I don't think so. We are going to tell security about this and thats the end of it Brian because maybe they can use this. It could help them and we could get the hell out of here!"

"AJ leave him alone," Nick said noticing that Brian had seemed almost 'out of it,' "Bri are you alright?" Brian nodded but made no attept to say anything. He couldn't say anything at that point. Everything was coming at him all at once and he wasn't able to put everything together just yet.

"Rok I'm sorry about my outburst but you have to do something about this because otherwise things are only going to get worse. More people might die. That's why you have to tell security so that they know what's been going on," AJ explained softly, "I wasn't trying to scare you or anything."

"It wasn't you," Brian told AJ, "I just don't want this guy to hurt any of you guys. That's what he said that he would do and I don't want that. What would you do if you were in my shoes?"

"I don't have the slighest idea," AJ confessed.

"Now do you see why this is so hard for me? I just don't want to see anyone else get hurt. He said everything that will happen will be based on the phone calls that he makes to me."

"So that means you can just go tell security," AJ told him.

"No, he said that he see's everything that we do. I don't know how but he does. He found Howie and he'll know if I tell security."

"We can have security stand gard at our rooms so that this guy can't do anything. How's that?" AJ suggested. Brian shook his head no. "Why the hell not?"

"AJ chill," Nick said, "he's scared. Not that I can blame him. I'm scared too. This guy knows way too much and I don't like it at all. Just let Brian figure out what he wants to do. Or at least get his thoughts straight before you go verbally attacking him." AJ didn't say anything. He looked over at Brian who was staring back at him.

"Brian I'm sorry but I'm going to have to tell Carlos. I don't want this to go unlooked at," AJ said walking into the hallway. Brian stood up to go after him but Nick stopped him.

"Just let him. You wouldn't have been the one that told security," Nick said lightly hoping to soothe Brians worries a little. Brian looked at him and nodded. Brian sat down at the couch. He was then startled by what sounded like a gun shot. Nick and Brian looked at each other wide eyed and ran into the hallway. They looked around and saw AJ laying on thr ground.

"Shit, AJ can you hear me?" Nick asked.

"Yeah," he answered and they let out a slight sigh of relief.

"Brian call an ambulance," Nick said and Brian ran into the room, "What happened?"

"I came out here to tell Carlos about what happened, and then this guy came out of no where and it was like bam, I'm on the ground," AJ explained with pain evident on his face.

"You have to hang on for me alright buddy?" Nick said softly.

"I'm tryin man. Tryin real hard," AJ told him with a weak smile.

"You aren't going to die on me are ya? You'd never do that right?" Nick asked.

"I'm not goin anywhere Koas. I promise."

"They're on their way," Brian said stepping out of the room.

"Alright now get security," Nick ordered. Brian nodded and walked down the hallway and knocked on Carlos' door. "You still with me AJ?"

"Yeah," he answered weakly.

"What the fuck happened over here?" Carlos said running towards them.

"I was tired so I thought I would take a nap, what the hell do you think happened?" AJ snapped sarcastically.

"Did you call an ambulance?"

"Yeah, they are going to be here any minute," Brian answered.

"AJ, did you get a look at the guy?"

"He was wearing a mask so I didn't get to see his face at all. Besides, it all happened in like a second, I couldn't even react," AJ said flinching in pain suddenly.

"Woah man are you alright?" Nick asked, but didn't get an answer, "AJ answer me now!"

"Man, I don't know how much longer I can hold on," AJ confessed.

"Just a few more minutes and help will be here. That's all. You have to fight it. You can do it alright?" Nick encouraged.

"It's gettin really hard."

"Come on, you're strong. You can beat this," Nick told AJ. After only a few minutes, which to them felt like hours, the EMT arrived and took AJ out to the ambulance. Nick rode to the hospital with him while Brian went to get the rest of the guys.

"Howie, Kevin," Brian yelled while knocking on the door.

"What's wrong?" Kevin asked still half asleep.

"AJ was shot, he's going to the hospital. We have to go over there and make sure that he's okay," Brian blurted out quickly.

"What?" Kevin asked quickly becoming aware that this was real.

"I'll explain on the way, get Howie," Brian told him, "I'm going to get dressed. I'll be out in a minute."

"Yeah, we will too," Kevin told Brian as he watched him walk towards his room. He dissapeared inside. Kevin stepped into his room and went over to the bed where Howie was sleeping.

"Howie wake up," Kevin said.

"Is it morning already?" he asked.

"No, but we have to go to the hospital," Kevin told him.

"Why what happened?" he asked sitting up.

"AJ was shot."

"Oh my god," Howie said getting out of the bed, "are Nick and Brian alright?"

"Brian came to get us, Nick wasn't with him though."

"Do you think Nick was hurt too?" Howie asked while getting ready to run out of the hotel.

"I doubt it. Brian would have told me about that. Nick either is with Brian right now or he went to the hospital with AJ," Kevin said. Howie nodded and they were ready to leave seconds later. They went into the hallway just as Brian was walking their way.

"Is he alright?" Howie asked.

"I don't know, we have to go to the hospital and find out," Brian answered. Soon they were riding the elevator down stairs. When they reached the lobby, they were met by security. Security escorted them to the hospital to prevent futher damage. Once they reached the hospital, they were let into a waiting room where Nick could be found, lost in deep thought.

"Nicky," Howie said. Nick quickly turned to face them, he took a deep breath and sighed.

"He's being looked at right now," Nick said, "they might have to take him in for surgery to remove the bullet because leaving in there might cause permaniate damage."

"Damn it," Brian said sitting down on one of the chairs across the room. Nick looked over at him, and felt his pain. They all did. This time, this guy had hit close to home. He almost took one of their brothers and they weren't about to let that go unnoticed.

"Did they say how long it would be before they knew anything else?" Kevin asked.

"No, they said it could be quick or it could take hours. It all depends on how much damage was done," Nick answered. He looked to be close to tears.

"Then we wait," Kevin said. They all nodded, they weren't going to leave until they knew that AJ was alright anyway. Brian had sliently promised to himself that he wouldn't leave until he was sure that AJ would be alright. He didn't care how long that might take, he would stay there for as long as he needed to.

Chapter 8

Nick brushed away a single tear that had found its way to his cheek. They had been there all night and they didn't hear anything about AJ's condition. All they could hope was that the doctors would be able to save him. That was the most important thing. Even though Nick wished that he knew what was going on at that very moment, he tried to remain relaxed. Which had just about become impossible. He was tense from head to toe. His mind was filled with worries about AJ. Nick ran his fingers through his hair and let out a long sigh.

"He's going to be alright," Kevin assured Nick, "AJ has overcome a lot and he's going to pull through this like he pulled through everything else. I know he will."

"I didn't know that you were awake," Nick said lightly. Kevin smiled.

"Didn't get much sleep. Maybe about a few minutes but that's it. I was way too worred to even begin to let myself get a decent rest."

"I know the feeling," Nick confessed, "I didn't sleep at all. Not only was I worried but I kinda felt guilty. Brian got another phone call last night. He didn't want to tell security because he thought that something like this would happen. AJ thought that we should tell security so he went to tell. Brian went to stop him but I told him to just let AJ do it. That's when it happened."

"It's not your fault Nick," Kevin told him, "AJ was just trying to prevent this. He would have gone no matter what either of you guys did, he's like that and you know it."

"But if we had just went into the hallway with him, this guy wouldn't have had the chance to get AJ," Nick thought, "we could have done that."

"Nick you couldn't have stopped this. If you were with him, he would have shot you too," Kevin tried to explain, "this guy obviously doesn't care who he hurts and he would have gone after you too. It's not like he had anything to lose."

"Not if me and Brian were there. I don't think he would have attacked us because there was a greater chance that one of us would be able to get away. We, I, could have stopped him at least until morning. Or he could have just called security instead of going out alone," Nick said.

"Don't go killing yourself over this. It won't change anything," Kevin informed Nick, "we just have to wait and see if AJ's alright. That's all we can do right now." Nick nodded. Kevin forced a small smile to hopefully comfort Nick. Visually it did, but emotionally, nothing had changed. Nick was still over run by fear. Fear that AJ would die. On the way to the hospital, his condition only worsened. He hadn't told the guys because he didn't want them to worry any more than they already had been. Also, he wasn't sure if he would have been able to tell them anyway. He was still in shock about it himself.

"Morning guys," Brian said. Nick and Kevin looked over at him. He looked like crap, but then again, they all did. These past few hours had been very hard on them all. Espcially AJ.

"Hey Bri," Nick answered, "how'd ya sleep?"

"Horribly. I kept hearing the voice," he confessed, "that was all that was on my mind. I couldn't get myself to think about something else. Everytime I thought I had it out of my mind, it all came rushing back. So anything new about AJ yet?"

"No," Kevin said, "we were waiting for some news ourselves."

"You guys didn't get any sleep?" Brian asked.

"Very little," Kevin answered.

"I don't blame you. Trust me, if you did get some sleep, you wouldn't feel much different," Brian commented, "I'm still tired so it really wasn't worth the effort actually."

"Gentalmen," a voice interupted, "you are here on behalf of Mr. McLean I assume."

"Yes we are," Kevin answered quickly.

"What is your relation?" the doctor asked.

"Cousins," Brian lied. The doctor nodded and took Brians word.

"Well, I'm doctor Johnson and I'm here to tell you guys that he's alright," he imformed them, "he is actually very lucky. Everything just happened to work out for him. Meaning that if he had arrived here ten minutes later, we wouldn't have been able to save him. Also, the bullet just missed his heart. Which as you know if it had hit there, he would have died on the spot. We had to remove the bullet which took a extremely long time. It was a delecate operation. Like I mentioned, it was in a crutial part of his body. Thankfully we had some amazing doctors here last night and they saved him."

"So he's alright. He's going to live?" Brian asked the doctor.

"Yeah, but he's going to have to stay here for a few days just so that we can make sure that he heals correctly. Other than that, he was very lucky."

"When can we talk to him?" Nick asked.

"Well, he's still sleeping. Last night was a stressful night. But I will be sure to inform you guys as soon as he awakens and you can go in there," he answered, "maybe you guys might want to go home, get some sleep and something decent to eat. Because to tell you the truth, the food here isn't all that good. You can go home knowing that he's alive and he will be alright."

"We'll consider that, but I'm sure that we all would probably like to stay for awhile. I think that once we all talk to him, we'll really know that he's okay cause we've seen him for ourselves," Nick told the doctor.

"I understand," the doctor said softly, "you guys are welcome to stay. I'll make sure that you are kept up-to-date about Mr. McLean's progression."

"Thank you very much doctor," Brian said shaking the doctors hand.

"Don't mention it. I was only doing my job. I was more than glad to help," he told Brian, "and I'm sure that the rest of our staff was as well." They remained silent as the doctor left the waiting room.

"Think we should wake Howie and tell him?" Nick asked innocently.

"Yeah," Kevin answered softly. Nick nodded and walked over towards Howie. Nick put his hand on Howies shoulder and Howie jumped.

"Chill man," Nick said a little startled by Howies reaction, "It's only me. I was going to tell you that we just talked to AJ's doctor."

"Sorry Nicky, I'm just a little jumpy," Howie apologised, "so how's AJ?"

"He's going be to alright. The doctor said that everything just happened in his favor. If anything was done differently, it might have cost him his life," Brian answered seriously.

"So he came really close to dying?" Howie asked with almost all of the color in skin gone.

"Yeah, but thank god that he's alright."

"Can we see him?"

"The doctor said that he's still sleeping. He said that he would get us as soon as AJ woke up and we could go and talk to him," Brian informed him.

"Did he give you any indication of how long that was going to be?"

"None at all," Kevin answered for Brian.

"So what do we do now?"

"We just wait. That's all we can do," Nick regretfully replied. Waiting proved to be the hardest part of their situation. The doctor had told them that he would be alright but each of them still had their doubts. None of them would be completely convinced that AJ would make it until they talked to him for themselves. Not only that, but they wanted to tell him that they were happy that he was still with them. Once this happened, they all reevaluated exactly what importance each of them held for each other. They were like brothers. The past nine years of their lives have been spent with each other, achieving their dreams.

Hours pasted and they heard no change in AJ's condition. Security had been posted outside of AJ's door just to make sure that no one who wasn't cleared to be in the room was able to gain access. They had actually been watching over AJ's room since they had arrived. They even waited outside of the the operating room when AJ went in just to be sure. Nick had gone over there several times trying to convince the guard that was assigned the post at the time to let him in. Each time he was told to wait until the doctors gave him clearance. Each time, Nick left slightly fustrated. Though he knew that they were just doing their jobs, he wished that they would let him see AJ just for a minute.

"Anything new?" Nick asked when he walked back into the waiting room where the rest of the guys were still waiting for word.

"No," Brian answered with slight disapointment in his voice.

"They still won't let me in to see him," Nick told them.

"You act like you're surprised. You knew that they weren't going to let you in until the doctors said that it was okay. They are doing what they have been told to, which I think should make you feel better because you know that no one is getting in there that shouldn't be there," Kevin explained.

"Yeah I know but I just really want to see him. Waiting is killing me," Nick whinned.

"We all want to see him but we all have to wait. You're not alone little Bro. We all want to go in and see him too."

"Maybe one of us should go and find his doctor so that we can ask him if we can see him yet," Howie suggested.

"He said that he would keep us up-to-date about his condition. Maybe nothing changed yet and that's why we haven't been notified," Brian reasoned.

"Still, he should have at least let us know something. We've been sitting here, waiting. He could have at least looked in at us once in a while," Howie argued, "How many hours have we been sitting here?"

"Three or four," Brian told him.

"Something had to have happened in that time. There has to be some kind of change," Nick thought out loud.

"Not nessicarily," Brian informed Nick, "he could stay in the same condition for god knows how long but I hope that he snaps out of it soon cause I would like to go home and take a shower and get something to eat."

"Why don't you go back to the hotel really quick?" Kevin suggested, "We could all take turns. Brian you could go and shower and then I could go or Nick or Howie could go. That way someone is always here and can call whoever it was that left and let him know what's going on."

"I'd rather stay for now," Brian answered, "if later on we decide to go to the hotel then that will work. I would just rather hang out here for a while."

"Alright but the offer still stands just incase you change your mind."

"I know, thanks."

"Gentalmen," the doctor said as he stepped into the waiting room, "I apologise for not keeping you guys as updated as I wanted to. There has been a lot happening today and this was the first chance that I got that I was able to come over here and talk to you guys. Just because I haven't been talking to you doesn't mean that I haven't been watching over Mr. McLean. He is doing amazingly considering the condition that he was in when he arrived. I talked to your security before I came here and told them that you guys can go in there at any point from now on. He needs the support to help. I've noticed that when a patient has people around them that care then they are more likely to recover and I support that. So go visit him and let him know that you're here."

"That won't be a problem," Nick told him, "the problem will be getting us out of here." The doctor smiled at Nicks comment.

"Thats understandable. It's hard to leave someone that you care about alone especially after something like this has happened," the doctor said, "I just want to let you guys know that their is a possibility of emotional problems that will come with this. He might have bottled up anger and, in like most cases, end up taking it out in the wrong ways. Or he could be overcome by fear. Never wanting to be alone because he's convinced himself that this is going to happen again. It all depends on the personality of the person who goes through it and how they take it. Each case is different, but I just wanted to let you guys now what might occur in the future."

"Alright. So should we prepare for the worst?" Kevin asked curisouly.

"I don't know how to answer that," the doctor confessed, "You are the ones that know him well enough to notice any dramatic changes in his personality. I'm not sure how Mr. McLean is going to handel this. You really can't predict this because who would ever imagine that this would happen to a person? All I can tell you to do is help through whatever course his mind takes him on. There is really no way to prepare for that because like I mentioned, you don't know how he is going to react to this. If things become bad, then I suggest a phycologist."

"That would be in AJ's best interest right?" Brian asked.

"Of course it would. I wouldn't suggest anything that I didn't think would help. But it all depends on how he's affected by this. Just keep a close eye on him. That way you can prevent things from getting any worse."

"So can we see him now?" Howie asked.

"Of course you can, but if you have any more questions, feel free to ask me. I would like to be of any service to you guys."

"We'll send any questions that we have your way. Thanks a lot for helping us out. It really helped us to know what we might have to prepare for," Brian said.

"I'm just glad that I could help you," the doctor said leaving the room. In no time, they were up from their seats and heading towards AJ's room. It was a great feeling to finally be able to talk to him and to know how he felt. Moments later they arrived at AJ's door where security was waiting; watching. Nick was the first one to reach towards the door. This time security made no attempt to stop him. Knowing this made him grin because he was finally going to be able to do what he so despriatley wanted to do, talk to AJ.

"Bone?" Nick said lightly when he walked into the room with the other guys behind him. There was no responce. They all looked at each other, disapointed.

"I guess we should wait until he wakes up," Howie suggested.

"You figure that all by yourself D?" AJ's voice came. Instantly they turned their attention to where AJ lay.

"AJ's back," Nick said jokingly.

"You know it Kaos," he replied.

Chapter 9

Nick looked through the window of the moving car. He was being taken back to the hotel after another visit with AJ. Doctors said that they wanted to keep him for another few days for observations. Nick couldn't understand why he just couldn't come home. He was well enough that he was doing things for himself, he wasn't dependent on anyone. To Nick, AJ was almost completely better. Still, he was forced to listen to the doctor.

This ride seemed longer than all the others had. Even compared to the first trip he had taken with AJ in the ambulance. That had to have been the worst ten mintues of Nicks life. All he could hear was all the machinery that they were using to keep AJ alive. Occaitionally, there was the sound of AJ whimpering in pain, which had to have been the worst sound Nick had ever heard. Some scary things had occured to Nick before but having one of your best friends, brothers, almost die made everything else pale in comparison.

When they finally arrived back at the hotel, Brian had to tell Nick that they were there so that he would get out of the car. Nick opened his door and took in a deep breath of the cool air. He looked over at Brian who was looking at Nick with worry on his face and in his eyes. He knew that Nick was taking this pretty badly. If only Nick knew how badly Brian was actually taking it. He had been succesful in keeping most of what he felt out of conversation. There was no way that he was ready to talk about what he felt his role was in this intire situation.

The two best friends walked into the lobby of the hotel and walked over to the elevator. Brian reached out and pushed the button to the floor that they were staying on. The entire journey up was silent. Neither of them knew that to say to each other. They both possesed guilt for what happened that night. Each of them thought that in some way they could have prevented it. Finally, they stopped on their floor and walked over to the room that they, along with AJ, were sharing.

Once they entered the room, still nothing was said. Nick had suddenly found himself trying to fight of the tears that were threatening his eyes. He didn't want to cry, because then he would have to explain to Brian why he was crying. He couldn't lie because Brian could always tell when he was lying. Nick figured thats what he got for spending so much time with him. Not that it was a bad thing. They were the best of friends so he didn't know why he just couldn't come out with what he wanted to say. It was like part of him was telling him that if they knew, they would hate him. They would think that it was his fault this happened because he didn't do anything.

Nick and Brian looked at each other when the phone rang. Neither of them made a move to answer it. They were both afraid that it was that crazy man who had been calling Brian. The phone didn't stop ringing even when they didn't answer. Brian looked at Nick with fear in his eyes.

"Should I get that?" Nick asked Brian in almost a whisper.

"What if it's him?" Brian fearfully asked.

"Then we are going to handle this the Carter way," Nick told him. He gabbed the phone before Brian could say anything to him, "Hello?"

"Nick, hi. Is Brian there? I would really like to talk to him," Leighann's voice came.

"Sure, I'll put 'em on for ya," Nick answered and held out the phone, "it's your wife." Brian let out a long sigh of relief when he took the phone from Nicks hand.

"Hey honey," he answered.

"How's AJ?" she asked softly.

"He's doing better. His personality is back with a vengence," Brian answered.

"That's just proof that this man can bounce back from anything," she told Brian, "when are they letting him out of the hospital?"

"In a couple days, they just want to make sure that he's okay." Nick rolled his eyes at the statement. AJ was fine and everyone knew it.

"Rather be safe than sorry."

"I know."

"So how are you doing?"

"Alright. I'm exausted though. I've been spending most of my time at the hospital. I couldn't get myself to leave AJ like that. I wanted to stay there still but security made me and Nick come back to the hotel. Kevin and Howie are over there now."

"I'm going to let you get some sleep then. You sound like you need it. Tell AJ that I'm glad that he's alright."

"Okay, love you."

"Love you too," she said and hung up the phone. He looked over at Nick who was laying down on the couch with his eyes closed. Poor kid was probably just as tired as he was he realized. It was like he was seeing what this was doing to everyone else for the first time. Even though he knew that they were all in it since the beginning. The phone rang again, Brian smiled he thought that it was Leighann again. He reached for the phone and grabbed it.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Hello, Mr. Littrell," the familiar voice came again, "I'm sure that you've been expecting my call."

"Why did you hurt AJ? He didn't do anything to you! I didn't do anything wrong! Just tell me why alright!!!" Brian yelled.

"My my Mr. Littrell, are we the gutsy one today?" The voice joked but then quickly turned serious, "I do hope you know that if you do any more stunts like that, I will be forced to take action. You think I didn't know how close I came to killing Mr. McLean? I do know that I just missed his heart. Next time, I won't miss. This was a warning shot, so don't fuck with me."

"What did I do that made you go after AJ?" Brian asked again.

"You told him about our little conversation. I thought you would have figured that part out. He was going to tell about our little chats and I was not about to let that happen. You think this is all a joke, but it's not. I am more serious than you think Mr. Littrell."

"Why are you doing this? Just tell me what you want, just stop this please. I don't want anyone else to get hurt," Brian pleaded.

"Then play by my rules and nothing else will ever go wrong again. Can you remember that?"

"Yes, but..."

"Good, now I look foward to talking to you again," the voice said and then the line went dead. Brian dropped the phone and took a deep breath. He looked over at Nick who had fallen asleep. At least he didn't know about this other wise this guy might go after him too. Brian didn't want to see any more of his friends getting hurt, they had already been through too much. The only thing that Brian could think of to prevent the guys from getting hurt again was to play by this mans rules. The lives of the guys depended on it.

Brian sat on his bed and let his head drop into his hands. What the hell was he going to do now? He didn't have anyone to talk to because talking about the phone calls were off limits. It wouldn't be long before somone noticed that he was hiding something, and he didn't know what he was going to say when the time came for an explaination. Since they already knew about the phone calls, they would ask him if that was it and he wan't sure if he would be able to lie.

Chapter 10

Brian filled the sink in the bathroom with cold water and cupped the water in his hands and wet his face with it. He took in a deep breath and looked at himself in the mirror, he looked horrible. He didn't get much sleep, he kept hearing the mans voice. Everytime he thought that he could put it out of his mind, the sound of the voice came rushing into his mind. Whoever this guy was, he had Brian more scared than he had ever been in his entire life. He emptied the sink and walked out of the bathroom.

"Hey Bri," Nick said as he watched Brian step out.

"Hey," Brian answered softly.

"What's up?" Nick asked.

"Nothing."

"You sure? It looks like you got something on your mind. You wanna talk about it?"

"Nick it's nothing, I'm just worried about AJ."

"Oh, but he's alright," Nick told him.

"I know, but I don't like how close we came to losing him. We shouldn't have told him about the phone call."

"We did," Nick laughed, he was starting to sound like Kevin, "can't change that. Just think, he's alright, he's still with us."

"Thank God."

"The calls stopped after the other night didn't they?" Nick asked. Brian knew he couldn't tell Nick about the call that he had gotten, he didn't want to risk putting Nick in danger.

"Yeah, that guy never called me back," Brian lied, hoping that Nick would buy it. He didn't want to lie to his best friend but he knew that he was protecting him in the long run. He did feel guilty but he knew inside of him that he was helping to keep him safe. He just kept telling himself that. This was the right thing to do.

"Maybe he won't call any more," Nick commented.

"Yeah."

"Weird though. I mean he just calls out of the blue looking for me and gets you. You talk to him a couple times and he goes after Howie and AJ. Then when he hurts AJ, he suddenly stops. He didn't even ask for anything."

"I know," Brian said soflty.

"You don't want to talk about this do you?"

"Not really. It's too weird for me," Brian answered.

"It's all good. We can talk about somethin' else," Nick told him, "so you wanna play some PS2? Ya know, to get your mind off of things." Brian laughed, and smiled at Nick.

"I'm up to a good distraction," he answered.

"Cool," Nick grinned, "but I bet you that I can beat you without even breaking a sweat."

"You're on Carter!"

AJ sighed as he stared out of the window in the hospital room that he was occupying. He was kind of angry at himself for not getting a good look at the guy. If he had, there wouldn't be anything to worry about. No one else would be getting hurt, but no, he had to totally miss even a small glance at this guy. Next time, he thought, wait, there won't be a next time he told himself.

"Wonder when the guys are coming by," he thought to himself. He didn't like being alone at this point. Having almost lost his life, he knew that he wanted to ebrace what he had and never let it go again because he realized that he could go at anytime. He shook his head at his thoughts, he really shouldn't be thinking like that. Slowly, AJ reached for the phone. He didn't want to make any sudden movements out of fear that he might cause himself emence pain. He dialed in a number and waited as it rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey D, how's it goin'?" AJ said, glad to hear someone's voice.

"Shouldn't you be relaxing?" Howie mentioned.

"I am. Just wanted to call my friends, got a problem with that?"

"Lonely?" Howie asked, knowing full well that AJ would never admit it.

"Who me? Nah, just thought that you guys missed me. I figured why cause them any more pain, call 'em up and let them know that I'll be back to normal before you guys know it."

"Almost there already," Howie commented.

"You know me, nothing can keep me down for long. I fall and then I get right back up and go after it all again," AJ smiled. He was glad that Howie wasn't babying him. He didn't want them to feel bad for him because there was nothing to feel bad about. They didn't do anything, this happened cause AJ was being AJ. Not like he would let anyone take unneeded blame. Nor was he the type to lay back and let everyone do everything for him, not now, not ever.

"Did the doctor tell you when you can come home yet?" Howie asked.

"Tommrow," AJ answered, "so which one of you guys are coming to pick me up?"

"I can drop over and get you," Howie told him.

"Don't forget to bring security with you," AJ reminded.

"I know. I don't think any of us are ready to go any place with out protection yet, at least not until they catch the guy that did this to you."

"Don't blame you D," AJ responded, "You know how they say that a paper cut is the worst kind of pain D?"

"Yeah, I've heard that."

"Well, I think they're wrong. This hurts a hell of a lot more," AJ laughed and Howie laughed softly with him. AJ was getting better, thankfully.

"I bet it does, but you have the doctors there to help you get rid of the pain," Howie commented.

"Yeah, whatever the hell they're giving me, beats the shit out of tylenol."

"Well, they are a hospital, of course they have stuff thats stronger than what you can get behind the counter. Besides, I don't think tylenol, was ment to help a gun shot," Howie added.

"Maybe they should reconsider their decision and make it for people who have gotten shot," AJ said jokingly.

"Yeah well, I doubt that they are going to do that anytime soon J," Howie informed him.

"Damn," AJ smiled, "so you guys droping by today or am I going to have to sit around here all alone all day?"

"We were going to swing by later on. I don't know exactly when though," Howie answered.

"Okay, I'll be waiting for you guys."

"Why do you want us to come over so badly," Howie asked, knowing why, but just wanting to hear AJ admit it.

"Cause there is only so much that I can do alone and I'm running out of ideas quickly," AJ answered.

"Really? Or is it because you miss us dearly?"

"D, don't start with me man!"

"Admit it!"

"Admit what? I'm not hiding anything for ya D," AJ lied, he was actually scared out of his mind. No way he was going to tell anyone that though. That would be out of character for him.

"Alright man. I'll let you get some rest. We'll see ya later," Howie said and hung up.

Chapter 11

Brian sighed when he put down the remote control of the PS2. He wasn't thinking clearly enough to even decently play the game. He had too many things on his mind. That caller was one of them. It scared Brian to think that someone might be watching him at that very moment. He knew getting into this career would cause him to lose his privacy, but he didn't know that it would come down to this.

"What's wrong man?" Nick asked when he noticed Brian getting up from the floor.

"I can't play anymore. I can't think straight," Brian answered.

"Why not?"

"I just keep thinking about AJ," Brian lied, it sounded honest. They all were worried about him. That gave him time to find something else to blame his mood on. Though he knew that his friends would pick up on that he was lying in time, it was something that he knew that he couldn't avoid.

"He's alright," Nick said to Brian, "probably hitting on nurses at this point." Brian smiled and looked at Nick. He had to admit, that was sort of funny, though he wasn't sure why.

"I'd be surprised if he wasn't," Brian added with a wide grin on his face. Leave it to Nick to make him smile, even at some of the roughest times that a person could face. That was probably why they were as good of friends as they were. They could always make each other feel better.

"Well, we need a break from the game anyway," Nick said turning the game off and then looking at Brian, "what to get something to eat?"

"Not really hungry," Brian answered.

"Come on, you haven't eaten since yesterday afternoon," Nick told him, "we need to get something in our systems."

"Alright, I guess a little something wouldn't hurt," Brian said.

"Nope, not at all," Nick said, "lets go down to the resturaunt, get some breakfast. Then maybe we can go and check up on AJ."

"We'd have to get security and I'm sure that Howie and Kevin are going to want to come with us," Brian commented.

"Yeah, we can get them too," he answered, "that is if they haven't already left."

"They wouldn't leave without us."

"I know, I was just messin with ya."

"Lets go downstairs before I change my mind," Brian said pushing Nick towards the elevator.

"Where are you guys going?" one of the security guards asked.

"Morning Jack, just going to be some breakfast no harm in that right?" Nick answered.

"Let me go down with you," he told Nick.

"Woah, we are just doing downstairs, we aren't leaving the building," Nick protested, "we can handle that on our own."

"If you don't want me to go down with you, then you better have it brought up because none of you guys are leaving my sight. I am under strict orders to not let you guys go anywhere without protection."

"Jack, we'll be alright," Brian told him, "I'll be with Nick, he won't get into any trouble if that's what you're worried about. I've got him."

"Brian, that's not it," he answered, "I know you guys would usually be alright going down together. Just not this time alright? You've gotta trust me on this one."

"What do you know that you aren't telling us Jack?" Nick asked walking over towards him.

"I can't tell you, I'm under...." he started.

"I don't want to hear that bullshit, now tell me what you know!" Nick interupted.

"Remember we were bringing new security to the crew?" he asked.

"Yeah, so?" Nick asked.

"Well, he was supposed to meet us here. None of us knew him so we didn't know who we were looking for. He got here just before the first murder," he explained.

"So why haven't we met him yet?" Brian asked suspisously.

"He was told to come here a day later but decided to fly out early," he answered, "he got a room here and was waiting for us. When we got here, he didn't know because we were supposed to have met him, not the other way around."

"Okay, so what does this have to do with anything?" Nick asked.

"He was killed," he answered, "he was the guy that was found hanging."

"What?" Brian asked stunned.

"We just found that out a couple of hours ago and you guys weren't supposed to know because they didn't want you guys to get scared..."

"How could security have been killed?" Brian asked softly.

"I really don't know, and that's why we have to keep a closer eye on you guys than usual. He was highly trained. Who ever the killer is, he is dangerous. He has a lot of skill to be able to take down a guy like that with all his training."

"If this guy was able to take down security, then why would he go after Howie and AJ with a gun? He must have knew that there was a chance that they would survive," Nick pointed out.

"We don't know Nick. Right now, all we can do is speculate about why he's doing this. What I think is he wanted the attack on AJ and Howie to be warnings to who the hell knows for only god knows why. As you can see, we don't have much. It's not like we have a lot to go by," he told them.

"Suddenly I'm not very hungry any more," Brian said looking over towards Nick.

"Neither am I," he answered.

"Get the others, I think we should go pay AJ a visit," he said. Brian looked down at his watch.

"It's not visiting hours yet," he informed Jack.

"Alright," he said softly, "just go back to your room and stay there until me or someone else comes to get you. I don't want you going any place without security. It's not safe out there and I don't want any of you guys getting hurt alright?"

"Yeah, sure, fine," Nick said turning back to the room where he and Brian had just left. Brian quickly caught up to him and followed him inside.

"I can't believe that," Brian said as he sat on the couch. Nick sat next to him and looked over at his best friend. He was just as confussed as he was. Nothing was clear for either of them. For Brian, things just seemed to be getting worse. The calls hadn't stopped and he couldn't talk to anyone about them because then this guy would go after that person. That was the last thing that he wanted. Too many people were hurt and killed already.

"I can't either. This guy should have been able to protect himself but he was killed. I don't know about you but that scares the shit out of me. This guy is still out there and I sure as hell know he ain't gonna stop anytime soon. I just don't want to be next," Nick told him.

"We'll be alright," Brian replied and looked at Nick who's fear was shown clearly upon his face, "nothing is going to happen to us. Jack and them have things under control, they won't let anything happen to us. We are gonna be safe."

"For some reason I doubt that. First Howie and then AJ," Nick said, "if he was able to get the both of them, he might be able to get the rest of us. We had tight security both times this guy attacked, he obviously knows how things are run around here. I don't like that. Not one bit, I just want to get the fuck out of this hotel and as far away from here as I possibly can before something else happens. I don't want to be involved in this anymore. I'm really starting to get scared."

"It's alright to be afraid man. I am too and I'm sure that the rest of the guys are scared too. We can't leave until AJ is let out of the hospital. Besides, security has to stay behind anyway, we may be here awhile. We are just going to have to make the best of everything."

"How do you make the best out of everything when there has been two murders and two attempted murders? That's not something that I can find any good in at all. I just want to get my ass out of here and be safe."

"Nick we might not be safe anywhere. I mean we are in the press all the time, if this guy wants to find us, he will be able to. Our fans have been able to find us so that means this guy can find us easily. We're as safe here as we are anywhere else."

"No, we're in the middle of where this is all happening right here! We are in the line of fire and me or you could be next. It's too dangerous here, I want to get out of here."

"Hey, I don't blame you, I want to get out of here too but as long as we have security, we'll be alright," Brian told him.

"Someone was killed who was trained to be able to defend himself and us as well. If he was killed what makes you think he won't be able to kill everyone else?"

"If he wanted to do that he would have done it already!" Brian yelled, "nothing else is gonna happen so please just stop freaking me out!"

"What's wrong man?" Nick asked Brian as he put his hand on his shoulder.

"I'm just as scared as you are! I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know why this guy is coming after us. I don't know what he wants or what he's gonna do. Staying here scares the hell out of me but we have to do it! I know you hate it, cause I hate it too but there is nothing that we can do about it, we just have to take it!"

"Calm down, I didn't mean to get you all worked up," Nick told him, "I just kinda let my fear take over. You're right, we'll be safe."

"No, you were right! There is no way in hell that we are going to be safe here," Brian mumbled.

"Bri, chill man. We have a lot of security looking out for us. A lot of things could have happened that night you know? This guy could have known the killer or something and that's why he didn't act," Nick said to Brian softly, "or maybe he thought that whoever the killer is, he was with our security."

"I just want to get out of here," Brian answered, "I don't feel safe here."

"I know, and I don't either but like you said, we have to stay because this is where security is. We are safer if we're with security and you know that."

"Security was around when AJ got shot, they didn't help him," Brian said under his breath.

"It was late when that happened," Nick answered. Brian looked up at Nick because he didn't think that he had heard him.

"We should be under 24 hour guard. Someone should be partolling the hallways," Brian pointed out, "we'll be safer that way."

"Fine, we'll tell security about that."

Chapter 12

Kevin looked around the hallway of the hospital. There was doctors in with AJ and they were told to wait outside until the doctor was done talking to AJ. It was probably about him almost being ready to go home. Kevin, as well as the others, had thought that he was well enough to be released days ago, but were forced to listen to the doctor when they said it was just to be safe. In that extra time they were able to see if the bullet had caused any damage that they may have missed at first glance. Which Kevin felt should have not gone over looked. Someones life was in the line.

AJ was lucky they told them. The bullet missed hitting anything by a fraction of an inch. If the bullet had hit any futher to the left or to the right, he may not have made it, or the damage done would have been so extent that AJ would never completely heal, if he was lucky enough to have survived the ride to the hospital. Hearing that made Kevin realize just how close they were to losing AJ. He wasn't only a fellow BackStreet Boy, but he was a friend, a brother.

"Doctor Johnson, how is he?" Kevin asked as the doctor walked out of the room.

"Healthy. I was going to release him tommrow, but I think that it would be okay to let him go home today. He seems to have almost completely healded. He does still have minor chest pains but I did perscribe him with something so that he can go about a normal life. The pains in his chest shouldn't last for too long, just get him checked up on every now and then and he should be alright," the doctor answered.

"Alright, thank you for everything," Brian stepped in, "is there anything that we should know about what he can and can't do physically?"

"He just has to take it easy for now. Nothing that might be to strenious should be forced on him at this point and time. He's informed me of his career and I've told him to not jump right back into it. He needs time to recover, physically, that will take no more than a month at the longest. As for emotionally, like I said before, just keep an eye on him, but from what I've seen, I don't think that he's emotionally damaged by this," the doctor answered.

"Again, thank you for all of your help," Brian responded, "so can we take him home now?"

"Yes, I'm going to inform the nurses, and have him formally released which should only take a couple minutes. Remember to keep an eye on him and make sure that if he's feeling any pain that he takes the medication and other than that, there isn't anything that you should know, but you can call me if you have any questions about his condition."

"Don't worry doctor, we will," Howie informed him, "and we'll take good care of him."

"I'm sure that you gentalmen will. Now go, he's waiting for you," the doctor told them. They headed straight for AJ's room and saw him standing by the window.

"Ready to go J?" Nick asked.

"I've been ready to go for the longest," he answered smiling.

"Guys, we should go now," Jack interupted. AJ nodded and walked out of the room without futher word. He wanted to get out of there more than anyone. The guys turned and left the room and were headed towards the back exit. They had come in that way to avoid any fans that may have found out what hospital AJ was at. When they got into the van, they were off to the hotel.

"So what's been going on since I've been gone?" AJ asked.

"Nothing really," Howie answered, "we've all been wondering when you were coming back. We just wanted things to go back to normal."

"Well you got your wish," AJ smiled. Brian looked over at them and smiled. He hadn't told Kevin and Howie about what Jack had told them about the man that had been killed. They already had a lot on their minds and this wouldn't make things any better. It hadn't helped Brian and Nick. It just made them more afraid. This guy may have been trained to kill.

"How you feeling Rok?" AJ asked and looked over at Brian.

"Alright. A lot better now that I know you're alright man," he answered. AJ smiled.

"You know me man, no one can keep me down for long. Not even this guy, who ever the hell he is. So, do you guys know anything new about what happened? Did the police say anything to you guys while I was in the hospital?" Jack looked over at Brian who said nothing.

"Nothing," Kevin answered, good old Kevin. Brian knew that AJ would have gotten the truth out of him somehow. He always knew just how to do that.

"That's not completely true," Jack mentioned.

"What do you mean?" Howie asked, "I thought you guys were telling us everything that you knew."

"You guys know almost everything. We didn't tell you that we indentified the man AJ found hanging," he told them.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Kevin asked.

"I was ordered not to tell you guys anything. I'm not supposed to be telling you this now, but I think that you guys should know. You remember about the new addition to security that we were supposed to have when we got here?" the guys nodded, "well the reason why he hasn't met up with us is because he was the one that was killed. He decided to come to the hotel before we arrived instead of after."

"Why didn't we know about this?" Kevin yelled.

"I told you, I wasn't supposed to talk about it."

"What about Carlos?" Kevin asked, "why didn't he tell us anything about this?"

"It was his idea to keep it from you. He didn't want you guys to worry."

"But we had the right to know," Howie added.

"I know and that's why I decided to tell you guys. I was sure that you were going to realize that this new guy didn't show and you would start asking questions and I told Carlos that I wasn't going to lie to you guys and he understood but told me not to tell you guys until you asked about it and if at that point I felt being truthful was the right thing to do."

"So that means that the killer is staying at the hotel?" AJ asked.

"Pretty much," Jack answered, "he's been there the whole time and we didn't know it. He's probably still there actually. We just don't know who he is or anything that could help us identify him. He could be anyone that is staying at the hotel right now."

"Then why are we still staying there?" Nick asked.

"You know that we've been ordered to stay," Jack answered.

"Come on, you're incharge of our safety! If we are in danger, it's your job to keep us safe! Right now, safety is getting us out of that damn hotel and putting us where this guy can't get to us," Nick yelled.

"Carter relax!" Jack warned, "nothing is going to happen to you guys while we are watching you guys. Carlos and myself as well as the rest of the crew are going to keep you safe and out of harms way."

"Both Howie and AJ were attacked," Brian yelled, "I think that's putting them in harms way! We could have lost them both! We came pretty damn close to losing AJ. I want us all out of the hotel because I am not going to sit back knowing that all of us are in danger! I'm not losing someone I love!"

"You won't lose anyone!" Jack yelled back, "no one else is going to get hurt. We've learned from what happened and we are going to start handleing things better. I promise you that no one else is going to get hurt and we are all going to make sure of that so just relax!"

"If were weren't staying at that god damn hotel we wouldn't be in this situation to being with!"

"How the hell were we supposed to know that people were going to get killed there Brian? It's not like we set out to look for the worst hotel to put you guys in! It just happened there! This isn't anyones fault so stop trying to put the blame on me or anyone else! No one could have ever imagined that this was going to happen to any of us. We are trying to figure it out just like you are so chill out!"

"If you had gotten us there out of the first murder..." Brian yelled.

"Brian that's enough!" Kevin yelled, interupting their fight, "wasn't it you that said we have to stay here because security was here? I told you from the beginning that I wanted to get the hell out of there but like you said, we might not be safe leaving without security so we can't leave until security has done their jobs and figured out who's behind all of this!"

"Kevin, you don't know who's behind this, you don't even have the slightest clue and neither do they! I just think we are keeping ourselves in danger by staying," Brian yelled.

"Shut up, all of you," AJ yelled. Everyone looked over at AJ who was looking at all of them in angry. Brian looked down, he felt horrible already, but he knew that he had the right to be scared. Everyone else was so what was so different about him?

"J, you alright?" Nick asked looking over at him.

"I'm fine, I just don't want to listen to this shit! It's not making things anything better so I don't think that it's worth it for everyone to be fighting about this. I just say we get the fuck out of the hotel. We can get more security for where ever it is that we go. We need to get new alliases because Brians been figured out," AJ said causing Brian to look up at him in fear.

"What do you mean Brian's has beem figured out?" Jack asked looking at Brian and then at AJ.

"Some fucking freak has been calling Brian and threatening him."

"Brian why didn't you tell us," Jack asked glancing over at Brian.

"I was scared. He told me not to say anything because he would go after one of the guys. I didn't want anyone else to get hurt," Brian responded.

"Has he called you recently?"

"No, the last one was the night AJ was shot. Right before it happened, he was going to tell Carlos about it," Brian answered, "because I wouldn't."

"This could have been serious Brian," Jack told him, "this guy could have been involved in the murders. You should have told us so that we could look out for you guys."

"I just thought that it was a prank," Brian explained, "the first call happened when me and Nick were in his room and we were calling family to let them know that we were okay and then the phone rang and it was this guy. He called me once after that and that was it."

"Still, you should have let us know what was going on," Jack said again. Brian looked back to the floor. He hoped that nothing would happen after this. Security knew about it so no matter what, this guy would find out that he had talked. He didn't tell them about the new calls. Would that really matter though? This was obviously someone who had something wrong with him, otherwise no one would have been killed.

Chapter 13

"You did the right thing Rok," AJ said looking at Brian who was staring out of the window that they shared as well as with Nick. Brian turned to look at AJ.

"If you didn't know about them, you never would have gotten hurt," Brian replied.

"Man, that wasn't your fault. Besides, how do we even know that it was the same guy, it could just be a conicedence. There is a killer walking around here and I may have been his next victim but you and Nick came along just in time to save me. Don't let this get to you, like you said, the calls have stopped so there is nothing to worry about."

"Someone out there is capable of killing us. That is something that's going to get me until we catch this guy."

"We are going to be alright. I went out late at night when no one was around so I have to take some of the blame for what happened. I shouldn't have gone out there alone man so don't go blamin' yourself for all of this. Besides, we have around the clock security now. No one is going to get close to us."

"Hey, I believe that," Brian lied, "I'm just a little edgy thats all."

"That's alright," AJ said putting his hand on Brians shoulder, "we all are. It's okay to be scared but don't let that control you."

"I know," Brian answered looking back towards the window. He had to come up with a plan for the next time that this guy called. Or at least and explaination as to how everyone found out about the phone calls, but there was a great doubt that this guy would really care about anything that Brian had to say, he hadn't in the past. What was going to make him change. It was up to Brian to figure that out.

"Hey, I'll be right back," AJ said, "I'm going to have Jack come with me so that I can take a walk, I need it. Wanna join me?"

"No thanks," Brian answered absent mindedly. AJ nodded and left Brian alone. Brian sighed and continued to look out the window. A tear almost came to his eye when he heard his cell phone ring. He hesitated but he answered it.

"Hello?" Brian forced out.

"Mr. Littrell, nice to talk to you again," the voice said.

"Look, I'm tired of this god damn game! Just tell me whatever it is that you want so that we can end this and things can go back to normal," Brian yelled.

"Have it your way Mr. Littrell," he voice said and Brian found himself taking a deep breath because he knew that he would soon know why this guy was doing this to him, "I want you to leave the hotel, without security. You are going to walk until you reach the park. When you get there, I want you to wait and you will wait there until I tell you other wise."

"I can't get out of the building. Security it watching all the doors," Brian told the voice.

"Well, you had better find a way out because you only have half an hour to get there or someone will pay the price. Do you understand that Mr. Littrell?"

"Yes, I'll be there as soon as I can."

"The clock is ticking," the voice said and then hung up. Brian looked around. How the hell was he going to get out? He couldn't just walk through the door because there was someone guarding it at all times. Brian looked over towards the window. He walked over to it and opened it. Slowly, he looked out, seeing how high up they were. They were only on the second floor, which was a good thing because he was afraid of hights and he probably wouldn't have considered this if he was much higher up.

Soon Brian put his leg through the window and then he brought the other out. He slid himself down until he reached a ladder that he was able to climb down on. He slowly brought himself down and then found himself on the ground. Brian looked around to make sure that there was no security around and then began to walk towards the park.

Security was going to kill him when they found out that he had left. He wouldn't be able to get back in the way that he had gotten out. So he basically had to face the wrath of security and Kevin. If they only knew about what he was going through. These phone calls were really scaring him and he didn't want anyone to get hurt because of him. Finally, he reached the park and he sat down on a bench and began to look around. Everything seemed so happy. Everyone was happy.

Things would be happy for him again once all this was ended, he told himself. Once this guy got what he wanted, he wouldn't need to keep harrasing Brian or anyone and this whole nightmare would be over. If only that day would arrive. Brian sat there and waited but no one came to him. It was in a way a relief because then he didn't have to face this guy, but on the other hand, what might he have had planned that required him to leave the hotel. He knew that the guys would be alright though because they were being watched from every angle.

It was his safety that began to worry him. He was the one that was out there alone, without anyone to look after him, to make sure that he was going to be alright. Soon his nerves began to set in. With each passing second he became even more nervious. What made this all the much scarier, was that this guy could be anyone. Brian had never actually seen him. That means that the guy could be watching him at this very moment. Watching for a mistake of some kind. Looking to see if Brian had betrayed him by bringing security.

Twenty minutes must have went by and still there was nothing. No one looked suspisious or anything that would cause Brian to think twice about them. He ran his fingers through his hair and stood up from the bench. He began to walk towards the other end of the park in hopes that the guy would be there. As he continued walking, the number of people lessened until he reached the other end of the park where the was no one. Brian sighed, he walked all the way for nothing. Suddenly, he felt something that he thought was a gun at his back and went to turn around.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you Mr. Littrell," the all to familiar voice said.

"Look, I'm here," Brian answered trying to keep from looking at him, "now tell me what it is that you want so that I can give it to you and this will be over."

"It's not that easy Mr. Littrell."

"What do you mean?" Brian asked confussed. The man simply hit Brian in the back of the head with the gun and he hit the ground. Blood began to lightly flow from Brians head. The man looked around and then dragged Brian over to where his car was.

Chapter 14

"Hey Rok," AJ said knocking on the door, "why've you been keeping yourself locked up all day for? I know we agreed to give each other privacy but me and Nick want it." AJ waited but did not recieve an answer.

"Brian," Nick yelled, "let us in."

"I have the key Nick, I'm going to open the door," AJ told him while pulling the key out of his pocket. He put the key to the lock and the door was opened. AJ looked inside and saw that the lights were off and he smiled, "Rok, I know you ain't sleeping," he said turning on the lights, but was stunned when he saw that the bed was empty.

"What the hell," Nick mumbled when he looked around the room.

"What you find?" AJ asked Nick.

"Nothing, but I want to know how the hell he got out of here," Nick commented.

"The window," AJ said gesturing towards the window. Nick glanced over and took in a deep breath. "We have to tell security that he's gone," AJ told Nick.

"I know, lets go," Nick answered following behind AJ to get Jack who had just left for the mens room. Nick and AJ waited until Jack returned to his post and he looked at them and saw the worry in their eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked quickly.

"Brians gone," AJ answered.

"What do you mean Brian's gone? We had someone at his door all day. There was no way that he could have gotten out without us knowing about it," Jack said.

"He climbed out the window," AJ explained, "it was wide open when me and Nick went in there."

"Why the hell do you think he would do something as stupid as this?" Jack yelled, "He knew that he was supposed to have someone with him at all times! God, if anything happens to him..."

"Jack chill man," Nick interupted, "he probably just went for a walk. We can bust him when he tries to climb back into the room. This has really been stressing him out, he just needed some alone time."

"He knows that taking off like he did isn't safe! Even if there wasn't a killer out there he could be in danger. You know how your fans get when they see you guys!"

"Leave the fans alone, they can't help it," AJ told Jack, "come on. Brian wouldn't have gone too far because he had to have known that me and Nick were going to come back in soon. You know what, he's probably on his way back right now. Lets just go into our room and wait for Brian to come back."

"Fine but if he's not back in ten minutes I'm sending someone out to find him. He can't be out alone, especailly at night," Jack told them. They nodded because they knew that there was a small chance that Brian could be in danger at that moment.

Brian held the back of his head in pain. When he felt something warm on his hand he took it off of his head and pulled it around so that he could see what it was. Blood. That would explain the headach that he had. Slowly, what happened began to come back to him. He remembered going to the park and meeting up with this guy, and then he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head and then he ended up here.

Brian began to sit up but he found it difficult because the blow to his head caused him some slight dizziness. When he was finally able to sit up, he found himself light headed. He closed his eyes in pain. That blow really did some damage. Brian opened his eyes again and began to look around. Where was he? There was hardly any light so he couldn't really make anything out. He didn't even know how long he had been there. Suddenly he thought of the guys, they might be worring about him by now. Brian frantically reached for his cell phone but couldn't find it.

"Looking for this?" the man in the shadows said holding out Brians cell phone. Brian squinted but he couldn't make out any distinct features to whoever this man was.

"Where am I?" Brian asked, knowing that he wouldn't get an answer. The man laughed.

"I see that you're feeling better," he answered, "I'm glad that you finally decided to join me. I've been waiting for you."

"What do you mean?" Brian asked, he wasn't really thinking straight enough to put anything together. The pain was too over powering.

"You'll see," the man answered but made no movement.

"If you're going to keep me here," Brian answered, "at least get me some kind of medical attention. I'm bleeding pretty badly."

"You'll get over it," the man answered, "it's only a little blood. You're a man right so you can handle it. Besides, I'd rather you stay like that for a little while."

"What is it that you want?" Brian asked with his thoughts slowly starting to make sence.

"Both guys that I killed didn't want to die," the man said turning his back to Brian, "The first one even cried. He was on his knees begging me not to kill him. That only made it all that much sweeter. The weakness that people possess, it's amazing. Most people said that they would fight back if they were in that sort of situation, but not him. He was a poor excuse of a man."

"What does any of this have to do with me?" Brian asked.

"Trust me Mr. Littrell, you'll figure that out soon enough," he answered, "you weren't the one that I wanted here. As you know, my first call was intended for Carter. I want you to help me get him here."

"What do you want with Nick? What did he ever do to you?" Brian asked.

"That's none of your concern. Your job is to lead Carter here. If you don't do that willingly, I will be forced to kill you and lead him here to your body. Don't cross me," he told Brian evilly.

"How am I supposed to get him here if I don't know where here is?" Brian asked.

"Leave that up to me Mr. Littrell. Everything will be taken care of. You just have to tell Carter to go where he's told, without security."

"Why so you can do the samething to him that you did to me?"

"No, I have no intention on doing that. I intend on...," he said then stopped, "well, you'll see."

"I swear if you hurt him I'll kill you myself," Brian yelled.

"I highly doubt that Mr. Littrell. Carter has a larger roll in this than you think," the man said turning back to face Brian and then began to walk towards what little light was in the room. Brian looked at him, and tried to get a good mental picture of him. He wasn't much taller than Brian was. Slightly more built, dark hair and dark eyes. Brian would forever be able to identify this man.

"You're lying!" Brian yelled not completely sure what this guy meant, but he knew that whatever it was, was something that could hurt Nick, and everyone that cares about him.

"Am I? Can you really be sure of that? You can never really know a person. You may think that you know everything about them, but then it turns out to be all a lie. Anyone could be behind those lies, even someone that you think you know so well."

Chapter 15

"We're calling the police," Jack said to AJ and Nick, "it's been twenty minutes. We are probably just wasting time."

"No," Nick said to Jack, "he's alright. Come on, lets just wait a little longer."

"That's really not a good idea. He might be in real danger," Jack said softly. Nick nodded and Jack went off to talk to the rest of security and get help there as soon as possible.

"Nick what's wrong with you?" AJ asked, "why didn't you just let Jack call the police? What if like he said, Brian was in real danger? We could just be making this worse by waiting."

"He's alright AJ," Nick said.

"How do you know that?" AJ asked angrly.

"I just do alright!?" Nick yelled and began to leave the room and then he felt AJ's hand grab him.

"You're not going anywhere. It's not safe to go out there and you know it. So just sit your ass down and relax because I'm not letting you out of here. I don't want anything to happen to you. Is that clear?" Nick continued to look at AJ but made no attempt to answer him. "Is that clear Nick?" AJ yelled when he didn't answer.

"Yeah, fine," Nick answered and AJ loosened his grip on Nick but neither men moved.

"Where's Brian?" Nick and AJ turned to the door and saw Kevin standing there, worried.

"We don't know," AJ answered, "but they are getting the police and it's probably only a matter of time before we find him, safely. After all, we have security and the police looking for him. It's their jobs to bring people home safely, they won't let us down."

"Wait," Kevin said, not completely clear on what AJ had said, "Brian's missing?"

"Yeah," he answered, softly, carfully.

"How long as he been gone?"

"We don't really know. Originally, we thought that he had just went for a walk and that was like twenty minutes ago. We don't know how long he had been gone before that," AJ confessed. Kevin rubbed the back of his neck, not really sure what to do. He was so conflicted as to handle this. Mostly, he was upset, his cousin was gone, possibly hurt. Yet, a part of him was angry. Brian knew that he wasn't supposed to leave the hotel without security, but all the blame couldn't be placed on Brian, this was a tough time for all of them.

"What's going to happen from here?" Kevin asked softly.

"We don't know. Jack just went to get the police, when he comes back, he'll probably have some rules for us and stuff so that the rest of us don't get into this situation. We're going to be taken care of," AJ answered. Kevin glanced over at Nick.

"What's wrong little Bro? You look mad," Kevin commented.

"It's nothing," Nick answered quickly.

"Alright, but you can talk to any of us, you know that right?"

"Yeah, Kev, I know that. I've always known that." Kevin smiled.

"Well, I'm going to head back to me and D's room. Better not leave him alone in there," Kevin told them and then headed into the direction that his room was in.

"Kaos, what's wrong man?" AJ asked once Kevin had left.

"Nothing, didn't you hear me tell Kevin the same thing when he asked me?" Nick snapped, sitting on a chair and letting his head fall back.

"I know you're upset but don't take it out on me," AJ said, "I'm only trying to help you. We all are. You're not the only one going through this. Kev, D and myself are too so don't take your anger out on us. Cause we sure as hell don't need it right now." Nick looked at AJ, but again, said nothing. "I'm going to see what's up with Jack, stay here."

"Yeah," Nick answered and AJ walked into the hallway. Nick stood up and walked into the bathroom and locked the door behind him. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed quickly.

"Hello?"

"Why the hell did you take Brian," Nick asked angrly.

"Why are we jumping to conlusions?" the voice asked, "you don't even know that I have him for sure. You have no proof."

"Come on, don't fuck with me. I told you I was good. You don't have to do this. Brian doesn't have any part in this. Just leave him alone. You already attacked AJ. I got your point then," Nick yelled.

"It doesn't hurt to have a little security to make sure you keep your word," he answered.

"My word is good, just leave Brian alone. He doesn't have anything to do with this. This is between me and you. So lets keep it that way."

"He'll be alright as long as you keep your word. It's as simple as that. But if you try and pull something, well, I'm sure you can figure that much out for yourself."

"I swear to god if you hurt him..."

"You two sound so much alike," he interupted.

"What?" Nick asked confussed.

"He said the samething to me when he thought that I was going to hurt you," he said evilly, "it's a shame that he doesn't know what you're really all about, but I'm sure that he'll find out soon enough though. You can't hide what you are forever."

"Nick what are you doing in there?" AJ called out while banging on the door. Nick hung up his cell phone and put it in his pocket.

"Nothing," he answered opening the door and stepping out into the open, "I just needed to go to the bathroom and I was side tracked by something outside the window."

"What was it AJ" asked quickly.

"Nothing, just the view. There was no one out there AJ," Nick answered when he saw that AJ hadn't believed him, "you can even check for yourself. I'm just so out of it, it was that easy for my attention to be lost."

"Alright man, I was just looking out for you. I don't want anything to happen to you. It's bad enough already with Howie getting attacked, me getting shot and now Brian's missing," AJ told him, "I know how you're feeling. It's scary man."

"Scary isn't the word to describe it," Nick said, "it's more than that, it's personal."

"What?"

"Come on, you can't say that this isn't striking a little to close to home for you. We are all getting pulled into this and who knows which one of us is next?" Nick answered.

"This isn't going to happen to any of us. Jack and the rest of the team are looking after us, they'll make sure nothing happens to us."

"Like they were watching when you got shot? Or when Brian left here?" Nick yelled, "if you ask me, that isn't really doing a good job. Brian is probably in a lot of danger right now, and what are they doing? Not a fucking thing!"

"Nick, relax. They aren't doing anything because they have nothing to go by. I'm sure that when they get some information, they are going to act on it and it'll be alright."

"What information are they going to get? There was two murders already and they don't know a god damn thing! The son of a bitch attacked you and you didn't even get a look at him," Nick yelled, reminding AJ of that night, "if you came that close to him and got nothing, what do you think they are going to get huh?"

"They are trained professionals!" AJ pointed out, "and they are handling this the best that they can with the little that they have. It's not like you know anything that would help them out so I don't know why you're getting so crazy over something that you don't even know how to fix."

"You're right," Nick said falsely giving in, "I'm just as helpless as you are, but that doesn't mean that I don't have the right to worry about my best friend! I'm doing this because I don't know if I'm going to lose him or not! You, you have other friends outside of the band, me, it's all you guys. You guys are all that I've got and I'll be damned if I let you guys go without a fight!"

"We're not going anywhere Nick!" AJ yelled.

"You almost died on me," Nick yelled back through his tears, "I was in the abmulance when they said that they weren't sure if you were going to make it! Man, do you know how much that fucking hurt me? Now Brian might be in the same situtation and I'm not about to sit back and let that happen. There is no way in hell that I'm going to sit back and watch as we all go crazy because of some sick fuck."

Chapter 16

Brian looked around where he had been moved to. He didn't remember being moved, but never the less, he was in a different room than he was before. This room, would be almost impossible to get out of. It was smaller and darker than the room before had been. Brian sighed and touched the back of his head. The bleeding had stopped but he was still in great pain. His eyes attempted to adjustice to the darkness but he was in too much pain to clearfy things enough for him to make out where he was. What was going to happen from here, he wondered. In the time that this man had been harrasing Brian, he said nothing about what he wanted or why he was doing any of this to begin with.

Thinking back on his entire life, nothing came to mind that might have made someone want to do this to him or two the other guys. Kevin wasn't hiding anything like this, at least Brian thought that he wasn't. He was the best target if Kevin for some strange reason had something to do with any of this, being that they were cousins. This would really be hitting close to home. Going after someones flesh and blood. Then again, there was no way that Kevin was involved, there was just no way. He wouldn't have anything to do with this guy for any reason, Brian thought.

There had to be a reasonable explaination for all of this. There was no way that AJ had anything to do with this considering that he was one of this guys targets. Howie, another target. Besides, Howie wasn't the kind of guy that would get himself mixed into anything like this. He was careful. Kevin, well, he already knew why it wasn't Kevin. All who was left was Nick, but he had known each other since Nick was only 13, there was no way that Nick was involved. He had done somethings that would get him in trouble before, but who hasn't done something that they wished they hadn't? Oddly, Nick being involved made sense, this all started off with a phone call that was intended for Nick.

What was he thinking? None of the guys were involved. What would ever make him even consider one of his brothers being involved in something that had hurt them all so much. This guy was probably jealious. Jealious of all the fame that they had. Who ever he was, he wanted the spotlight. He wanted to be who they were and would stop at nothing to get that, Brian told himself. That was probably how he knew all of their names and everything. He was a fanatic who would go to the ends of the earth to make his plan work. It wouldn't look as if he had planned it if he killed two other people that he thought had nothing to do with them. There would be no evidence that he intended to kill at least one of them, if not all of them. Then maybe a few other people then he would stop, just to make it look as if the guys weren't his intended targets but innocent by standers who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Nick lay in the bed, staring at the celing. AJ had fallen asleep about twenty minutes before, he was lucky Nick thought. To be able to sleep so carefree and not have gulit hanging over his head keeping him awake, wanting to make things better. Brian might be dead right now, he realized. This guy wasn't really one to keep things clean and easy. He would probably hurt Brian just to make sure that he had Nick in his complete power and that he would be able to get anything that he wanted from Nick. Nick hated that this guy had so much control. At this point, now that he had Brian, Nick was willing to do almost anything to make sure that his best friend, and brother, was returned to them safely.

Nick rose from the bed and walked into the bathroom. He sighed and looked at himself with almost hatred towards himself. He had caused all of this, and he was the one that was going to have to end it. It was up to him to make sure that no one else was hurt because of the stupid choices that he made. Kevin, Howie, AJ and Brian didn't desirve to suffer like this. None of this was supposed to happen to them. The only thing that was left to do was to put an end to all of this.

Everyones life may be in his hands, and he knew that he couldn't mess up. Too many lives were at risk right now, including his own. Nick went into the bedroom and grabbed his cell phone and went back into the bathroom so that he wouldn't wake AJ. Nick dialed that all too familiar number and waited as it rang. He kept waiting but no one answered. He sighed and hung his phone up, he would have to try again later. Then as he was heading out of the bathroom, his cell phone rang.

"Hello?" he answered softly, and as calmly as he could manage.

"Trying to check up on Mr. Littrell are we?" the man asked.

"Look, come on, lets just end this alright?" Nick asked, "Brian has nothing to do with this. He doesn't know anything so please, just let him be. Whatever you're planning to do to him, do it to me. I'm the reason for all of this, not Brian."

"Brave move, but unlikely," he told Nick, "I want to make sure that he knows what you really are."

"I told you, I'm done with that," Nick said angerly, trying to keep his voice down so that he wouldn't wake AJ.

"It's not that easy Nickolas and you know it," he answered, "once you're in, you're in. If you want out, the only way to go about it is to be killed."

"No, that's not what my understanding was," Nick told him, "I was told.."

"Everything that everyone else was told. Do you really think they were going to make an acception for you? Just because you're famous? They would kill you just like anyone else and not think twice about it. So you better just keep playing by the rules or things are just going to get worse."

"How are things going to get worse? Two of my best friends were caught in something that they never should have known about. I walked away from that point in my life and I told you that, and I told everyone that I was done, I was happy with how things were going."

"You're so ignorant," the man told him, "you gave your life to us. There is nothing that you can do about that. You belong to us."

"Look, I told you I would finish my business and then I was done. I'm not coming back to you guys and that's that. There isn't anything that you can do to make me change my mind alright?"

"Nothing huh? Well, I've got something that might make you change your mind about that," he laughed, "Mr. Littrell means a lot to you right? I'm sure that it would be absolutely devistating to you if something happened to him."

"I swear to god if you touch him," Nick warned, "that will be the last thing that you ever do."

"No, I don't think so," he answered, "well we just have to wait and see what happens now don't we?" he said and then hung up the phone. Nick closed his cell and leaned against the wall. Why did he have to open his big mouth. This guy was crazy and now he was probably going to do something to Brian because of what just happened.

Nick let his body slide slowly down the wall. When he reached the floor, he let his head fall back and hit the wall. He let a tear of guilt run down his check. While he remained on the floor, he uttered a silent prayer that Brian would be alright. When he was able to pull himself together, he stood up from the floor and walked back into the main area of the hotel room. AJ hadn't moved, which meant that he didn't know what had just gone on. If he could prevent this from happening to anyone, then that's what he was going to do even if it took everything that he had to do it.

Now how was he going to make sure that this guy was going to leave his brothers alone? Lately he hadn't been thinking straight since this whole thing started. At first it was out of fear, then it was out of anger when he found out who was behind all of this. Nick walked to the window and looked out at the peaceful night that lie before him. Nick let his head drop into his arms. Guilt was really something that could drive someone crazy. Suddenly, Nick looked up, he knew what had to be done

Chapter 17

Nick knew making his plan work would take a lot of effort. It would defintely take a lot of well thought out actions. He knew that getting away from security would be one of the hardest parts. Since Brian had left, it was much harder to leave the hotel. Nick had even considered leaving the way that Brian had but security had placed someone at all sides of the hotel. There was no way that he was going to be able to leave without security. That meant that he would have to leave the building with security with him, but how would he be able to ditch him?

Nick knew that was the only way. He had to find a way to lose who ever went with him before they knew that anything had happened. Once he was gone, they wouldn't know where to find him, and so as long as he had that moment to escape, it would be alright. That's all he needed. Brian's life relied on it. Nick walked out of his hotel room and was stopped immediately by security.

"Where do you think you're going Carter?" Jack asked as he sureyed Nick. He was wearing black jeans and a black t-shit with dark sunglasses, and topped off with a black leather jacket.

"I was coming to get security," he answered softly.

"Why? What happened?" Jack asked.

"Nothing. I just need to get out for a little while and I know that I'm not supposed to leave without one of you guys."

"I'll go with you, just let me have someone take my watch," Jack told Nick and he nodded. Jack opened the door of the room that security was staying but didn't go in. He just called in that someone needed to take his post for a little while. Nick walked behind Jack as they headed out of the hotel.

"So where did you want to go?" Jack asked, looking at Nick.

"I don't know. Just needed to get out for a while so that I could think without being stuck in the hotel," he answered looking away from Jack and across the street.

"What's over there?" Jack asked looking in the direction that Nick was looking.

"Nothing," he answered and smiled, "I'm just glad to be able to look at something other than the same four walls all day long."

"Enough to make anyone go crazy right?" Jack asked.

"Tell me about it." Jack smiled and then they started walking. Nick kept his eye open for any thing that could help him escape from Jacks watch. All he needed was a second. They continued to walk and nothing came up. Nick kept trying to think about what he could do that would make it look like he didn't have anything on his mind.

"Hungry kid?" Jack asked. Nick looked over at him, and a grin spread across his face.

"Yeah, actually I am," he answered. His chance might be coming.

"Ok, I saw some place up ahead, we can stop over there," he told him.

"Yeah," Nick answered. This was going smoothly, he thought. It wasn't as hard as he thought it would be. Everything just happened to be working in his favor. When the reached the resturaunt, they walked into it and Jack turned to Nick.

"Go grab a table kid," he said. Nick eyes almost lit up. This was a hell of a lot easier than he thought that he was going to be. Nick nodded and walked around the corner where he was out of Jacks sight. He quickly spotted a door and opened it and walked out. When he was outside, he picked up his pace so that he could be far enough away when Jack realized that he had left.

He had made a lot of turns do that no one would be able to find him. Nick relaxed after nearly twenty minutes had passed and no one had found him. He was away from security and it was time to put his plan into motion.

Nick began to walk towards the house that he had become familiar with years before. It was a time in his life that he wished never happened. Too many bad things happened to him then, but he didn't seem to care, or even notice. It was just another day in the life as he was told. He would have reached the house sooner if he wasn't on foot, but he had to work with what he had. When he finally reached the house, he walked up the steps to the front door. He grabbed the knob and opened the door. He stepped in and looked around. Not much had change, other than it was empty.

Nick walked deeper into the house. Memories of a life that seemed like it wasn't even his began to fill his mind. When he had left this house, he hoped that he would never come back, but now it was a matter of life and death and he wasn't about to let that happen to the guys. They were the ones that straightened out his life, but they never knew it. He really owed a lot to them, if they only knew how much.

Nick continued to walk. He was here, it was a large house, he just had to be patient. He cautiously opened doors with the fear that he might be behind anyone of them and ready to strike at the drop of a dime. Nick covered the whole first floor and then began to head up to the second floor. His heart was beginning to race. When he reaced the top of the stairs, he saw him, sitting in a chair seated a few feet after the landing of stairs.

"It's been a long time Nickolas," he greeted softly; politely.

"Not long enough," Nick replied. He smiled at Nick but didn't rise from the chair.

"I've been expecting you," he answered Nicks reply. Nick didn't say anything. He really didn't know what to say, he didn't want to be there. "We've missed you."

"You're going to keep on missing me," Nick told him, "because I'm only here to get my friend and that's it. I told you I don't want anything to do with this any more. Tell me where Brian is so we can end all of this before it goes further than either of us want it to go."

"We may be able to arrange something," he said to Nick and finally stood up from the chair and walked over to the window, "I don't want to hurt your friend. Like you've been saying from the beginning, he doesn't have anything to do with this. Besides, it wouldn't benfit us in any way to do away with him. I'm willing to let him go, unharmed, if you agree to come back to us."

"How do I know that he isn't already hurt?" Nick asked staring at the older man before him. He smiled and snaped his fingers and Brian was walked out by a large man, "I told you that he would be alright as long as you kept your word. You know my word is good."

Brian looked at Nick. He couldn't believe that this was happening. Nick really did have something to do with all of this. But why? How? What would Nick have in common with any of these people? He was so young, how did he get involved in something that was so serious?

"Fine, I'll stay," Nick answered, Brian looking at him stunned, "just take him back to the hotel."

Chapter 18

Nick looked over at Brian. He didn't look as if he had been hurt and that he would be alright physically in a few days tops. As Nick looked into his eyes, he could see just how confussed Brian was. He could see all the questions that Brian had about all of this. As he continued to stare, he even saw the deception that Brian felt towards him. Nothing could change the past but Nick was determined to change the future.

"Take him to the hotel," he told the guard, "he's served his purpose." The man nodded and began to walk Brian away.

"Nick, what's going on?" Brian yelled to Nick.

"Frick, forget about it. Just leave. I have to do this, for you for everyone. So go back to the hotel and forget about everything that you saw. Nothing happened alright?" Nick said to Brian.

"Nick," Brian answered, "what's all of this about?"

"Just leave Brian and foget about all of this. You'll be a lot better off. Trust me," Nick answered. The man took Brian's arm and pulled him away and out of sight to take him back to the hotel.

"It's great to have you back Nickolas," the man said stepping towards Nick then embracing him in a hug, "it really has been a long time." The stepped back and walked away from Nick and smiled. "You were always my favorite."

"Look, I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing this because I don't want you to hurt my friends. They are the only reason that I agreed to come back. I want you to promise me," Nick said to him seriously, "that you will never harm any one of them again. You've got me and that's what you wanted so you have no business with the guys."

"Nickolas, I promise that they will never be harmed by any of my men or anyone that works with me," he told Nick. Nick nodded.

"Good," he replied.

"Now, why don't we get you back into the loop of things," he said smiling at Nick. Nick remained where he had been since he had found him. He took a deep breath, he had to get himself out of this. He was able to do it once, so he would be capable of escaping again. "A lot of things have changed since you left. We've had to change a lot of the ways that we handle things here because the police were catching on."

"So why not just stop?" Nick asked.

"You know the answer to that," he replied, "it's become slightly harder to get our shipments, but we've come up with ways. You were always a great decoy, but now I think you're ready for bigger things. Come, I'll show you." Nick followed behind him as he was lead through the house. Finally, they reached one of the rooms in the back of the house.

"We've been able to get closer to the man that we need to get to by having one of our less known men going to him and convincing him that he was the person to go to to hire top of the line body guards. This is the young woman that he has asked be protected," he told Nick handing him a picture, "this is his daughter. She's twenty-one years old and the most important thing in his life. Once we have her, we can get anything from him. That's where you come in. You are the one that I'm going to send to be her body guard. You're the only one of us that hasn't been identified by the police as part of our operation and you'll be able to quickly gain her trust. As soon as you do, the case is in the bag."

"What if I can't get her to trust me?" Nick asked and the man smiled.

"Nickolas, I know that you will be able to gain her trust. You two are close in age and I think that will be a key factor," he told Nick.

"When do I leave?" Nick asked.

"Right away. We have a car waiting for you outside," he informed Nick. He nodded and went out back to where the car was waiting. He sat in the back seat and was greeted by a driver that he hadn't known in his time here. When the car was in motion, Nick let his head fall to the back to the chair. A tear rolled down his cheek and he remained silent. Then, he was hit by an idea. Nick slowly pulled out the gun that he had hidden and pointed it at the back of the drivers head.

"You are going to take me to the hotel that I was staying at," Nick told him, "or I will fucking blow your brains out."

"I can't do that sir, I'm under orders to take you to the airport," he answered Nick.

"I don't give a shit what your orders are! I'm ordering you to take me back to the hotel. Because if you don't, I will. Don't think that I won't shoot you. I've killed a lot of people in my day, what's one more?"

"Yes, sir," he said driving towards the hotel. Nick relaxed against the chair. When he saw that they were getting close to the hotel, he pulled out his cell phone and called his room.

"Hello?" AJ answered nerviously.

"J, tell security to get downstairs," Nick told him.

"Nick?" he said confussed.

"Yeah J, it's me. Now go and get security. Tell them to go to the front of the hotel," Nick ordered. "Alright man," AJ answered and hung up the phone. Nick sighed and put his cell phone back in his pocket.

"That was Nick?" Howie asked quickly.

"Yeah, and he told me to have security at the front of the hotel," AJ answered and ran out into the hallway with all of the guys behind him. "Jack," AJ called as he saw him turning the corner. Nick just called me, he wants security out side of the hotel."

"What? Why?"

"I don't know why, but he just called me and told me to have security out by the front of the hotel. I think you should get some people down there," AJ answered.

"No shit," he said to AJ and then picked up his radio, "all units, abondon posts and assemble at the front of the hotel."

"Why?" a voice came.

"Carter requested security," he answered.

"But isn't..." he started.

"Just go now!"

"Yes sir, we're on our way out right now," he answered.

"You guys should come down with us because there won't be anyone left up here to look after you guys. Just keep a safe distance together and everything will be alright," he told them and they nodded. They began to head down to the main lobby. Jack told them to wait by a side exit just incase they had to make a quick exit.

"I hope Nick is alright," Howie said.

"D, there's a lot about him that we don't know," Brian told him suddenly.

"What are you talking about Rok?" AJ asked curiously.

"He knew the killer," Brian answered.

"What! That's crazy!" Kevin yelled.

"But it's true! He called me and told me to meet him. I did that because I thought it would put an end to all of this. He knocked me out and that's why I didn't come back. He took me some place and then I saw him. This morning, Nick was there and they were talking. They knew each other, I swear," Brian told them.

Chapter 19

The driver pulled up to the front of the hotel and stopped the car. Nick slowly stepped out of the car, still pointing the gun towards the driver. He looked around to see how many people from security was down there. He spotted Jack, who was staring at Nick in total shock. Nick turned his eyes back to the driver, he didn't want them to know about what he had done before, but they were there to help him end it.

"Jack," Nick yelled, "get over here." Jack came running towards Nick. He was still in shock as to what was unfolding before him.

"Who's this?" Jack asked nodding his head towards the driver whos hands were in the air.

"A driver," Nick answered.

"Why do you have a gun pointed towards him?" Jack asked. Nick looked at Jack and then slowly lowered the gun.

"That was the only way that I could get him to take me here," Nick told him.

"Nick..." Jack started but was interupted.

"I want you to take him. He is going to take you to the man who was behind all of this," Nick told Jack, then pointed the gun towards the driver once again, "aren't you?"

"Yes sir," he answered softly.

"Now, are the police on their way Jack?" Nick asked still aiming the gun towards the driver.

"Yeah, they'll be here any second," he answered, "why don't you put the gun down Nick. We've got it from here. Besides, this man doesn't look like he wants to cause any harm. So Nick please put down the gun." Nick felt tears forming in his eyes as he lowered the gun again. He didn't want to hurt this guy, he just wanted to make sure that he helped him put an end to all of this.

"I just don't want to be a part of this any more," Nick answered softly.

"Part of what?" Jack asked as a car came speeding by. Nick was frozen in place when he saw the window roll down. Everything seemed as if it was moving in slow motion. He didn't know what to do. Then suddenly a gun was slowly slid out the window, towards Nick. Jack took notice of this then pushed Nick to the ground so that he wouldn't be hit. Then Jack hit the ground and a shot was fired. The car went speeding down the street. Once they were sure that the car was gone, they stood up. The driver had been killed. Nick closed his eyes and turned away so that he wouldn't have to look at the body that was in the car.

"Part of that," Nick said, answering Jacks last question. Jack looked at him and then down the street. Whoever it was had made a clean get away. No one saw where they went.

"What was that all about Nick?" Jack asked as he turned to face Nick.

"The life that you guys weren't supposed to know about. I was done with it. You have to get the guy who's behind this because he isn't going to stop until I'm dead."

The police arrived shortly after and took as much information out of Nick that he was willing to supply. Meaning, he told them about the house and about the man involved but didn't mention the nature of his involvement with him was. He simply said that he happened to be in the right place at the right time and that was good enough to save someones life, the life of his best friend.

"Nick, what was that all about?" AJ yelled as he saw Nick and Jack walk in. All of them had seen and heard everything. It was almost like the person standing before them wasn't the guy that they had known for the past nine years but someone who was so close to him that it was scary.

"We should talk about this upstairs," Nick simply answered and walked off towards the stairs. He walked up with everyone following slowly behind him. It was almost as if they had become fearful of him. Probably because in the past 24 hours, they had seen so many things about him that they didn't even know exisited, it seemed like he was a complete stranger. When they reached the room, Nick ordered that Jack stay out side and keep guard and the other followed him in.

"Now, do you want to tell me what this was all about?" Brian asked. Nick looked over at him, and took off his sun glasses. His eyes were bloodshot and he was near tears.

"I was hoping that you guys never had to find out about this," Nick started, "I've known him, that guy you met earlier Brian, for a long time. When I was younger, before the group, I started to hang out with the kid, this guys son. Me and him became friends and then I was pulled into his whole operation. It was kinda like the mob, but it wasn't ya know? They were just in it to be in it, you understand. These people are well known drug and weapons dealers. They were the people that got guns and stuff to the people that weren't supposed to have them and a lot of people died because of it. I ended up learning too much and they made me decided. They would either kill me, and I knew they had the means to do it, or I could join them. At that point, I didn't know how bad things were. I didn't know the complete extent of what I was doing. I started to become more and more involved in everything, I even killed a few people," Nick continued crying, "then I met you guys and the group got together and things were getting better for me. I just didn't leave them. I couldn't, I was too scared. Then finally, one day about a year ago, I said that I was done. That I didn't want to be involved in it any more and that was I was happy with where my life was taking me. Then the first murder happened. At first, I didn't know that it was him, then I started to get phone calls from him and I promised that I would join them again. I didn't want anyone else to get hurt, but he didn't stop. He got a hold of Brian and I guess he wanted a little fun. He did that so that he could have Brian to hold against me just incase I changed my mind. I had to make him believe that I was staying. He even assigned me something to do. Then the driver was going to take me to the airport and thats when I pulled the gun and made him take me here. After that, I called here and asked for security." Everyone just looked at him, they didn't know what to say to him. Their brother had been living a secret life.

Chapter 20

It had been six months since the murders at the hotel and the attacks on the guys lives. Since then, nothing else had happened. The man who was behind all of this was never caught so Nick was kept under constant security because he had recieved threats on his life, which were taken very seriously considering everything that had gone on.

"Nicky," Howie called as he walked up to Nick who was looking at the stage for their latest world tour, "what's up?"

"Nothing," he answered never taking his eyes off of the stage before him.

"How you feeling?" he asked knowing Nick had been distancing himself from everyone.

"Fine," he lied.

"Nicky come on, you can talk to me. What's on your mind?"

"Nothing. I'm just thinking about the tour. This is the biggest thing that we've ever done. It's going to be completely amazing. I can't wait," he answered, hoping to change the subject.

"It's not that and I know it," Howie informed him, "I can see that you have something more serious on your mind. Come on, you can talk to me man, I want to help you out and so does everyone else. All you have to do is talk to us."

"I got another threat," he answered reluctantly.

"Does Jack know about it?" Howie asked.

"No."

"Well, what exactly was the threat?"

"I," Nick started with tears beginning to roll down his check, "can't do the tour. He's going to get me during one of our shows. He didn't say how, or when but he's going to do it."

"Nothing is going to happen to you. Security has taken every step to make sure that nothing gets in here that isn't supposed to be here. No one is going to be able to sneak anything in here that can hurt you. You are going to be alright."

"Howie, you don't know this guy as well as I do. He is going to be able to do things that we can't even imagine and that was years ago. Who knows what he's capable of doing now?" Nick answered.

"Come on," Howie said, "we have to go tell Jack about this. Maybe he can arrage tighter security or something. I'm sure that they'll do everything that they can to make sure that you are going to be alright. We just have to let them know what's going on." Nick sighed and began to walk towards security with Howie close at his side.

"Jack," Nick said causing Jack to look over at them, he instantly took notice of the worried look on Nicks face.

"What's wrong Carter?" he asked.

"I got another threat. This time he said that he was going to strike during one of the concerts," he answered softly.

"He's not going to be able to get anything in here Carter. Don't worry. We have tightest security for a concert that we can have. The whole crew is constantly moving looking for anything or anyone that looks suspisuois. You don't have to worry about this, because we have everything under control. We thought that he might want to strike at a concert."

"So you already had this looked at?" Howie asked.

"Yeah, we thought that it might only be a matter of time before he decided to strike at a concert. Besides, we have to be prepared for anything at this point. We don't know much about this guy but from what we've seen and heard, he's a sick son of a bitch and I'll be damned if I let him hurt anyone else. Especially on my watch." Just then, a loud explosion came from the stage. They turned to see, the entire set colapsing.

"Shit," Nick said stunned.

"John, get the guys out of here now," Jack yelled and another member of security was quickly at Nick and Howies side. Howie and Nick were told to walk with him. They began to walk away from the stage, Nick never took his eyes off of the damage. Once they were in the hallway, John started banging on the guys dressing room doors.

"Everyone out now!" he yelled. Brian, Kevin and AJ were soon out of their rooms and in the hallway filled with confusion.

"What's wrong?" AJ asked. They had been far enough away that they hadn't heard the small explosion.

"There was a small explosion on the stage. I have to get you guys out of here because we have yet to figure out what caused it," he explained to the stunned members.

"Alright but where's Nick?" AJ asked.

"What do you mean?" John asked puzzled, "he's right...." he stoped when he turned and didn't see Nick standing behind him.

Nick ran towards the back of the venue where the trucks were brought in. That was the only place that he could have gotten in without being noticed since people were walking about freely and no one stopped to ask anyone anything. He looked around but didn't see anyone that was familiar to him. Nor did he see, him. He would have wanted to be the one that did it since Nick had crossed him. That's the kind of guy that he was. He liked to hurt those who didn't follow his every command.

Nick walked until he reached a back room where he found himself alone. Great thinking Nick, he thought to himself. This was a really great place to be in if he decided to show his face and with Nick's luck, that's just what was going to happen. When he thought about it, he wanted it to happen, he wanted him to show his face so that he could make sure that this was ended for sure. Sure enough, Nick was going to have his chance.

"Nickolas," the man said bitterly, "I thought that you had come to your senses and that being with us was the right thing. Why did you have to go and do what you did."

"Because I told you, I don't want any part in this. How hard is that to understand?" Nick yelled, Forcing me isn't going to make me change my mind."

"Please Nickolas, reconsider or I'm going to have to come here and do what I intended to do and I don't want to do that to you. I like you kid, you have a bright future with us."

"One that I don't want!" Nick yelled once again, "can't you just leave me alone? I'm no threat to you in anyway so just leave me the fuck alone."

"You know that I can't do that, Nickolas," he said with his hand moving slowly. Nick took notice and quickly pulled out the gun that he had hidden on him and aimed it at the man before him who was threatening his life.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Nick told him, "if I learned anything from you guys was it's what I have to do what I have to do. Right now, if that means killing you, then so be it. Anything to get you out of my life."

"If you kill me, everyone will know that it was you. There will be those who will want revenge."

"No, I don't think so. We're going to do this in a way that's going to put an end to all of this once and for all," Nick said grabbing the older man by his arm with the gun still aimed towards him and began to walk to the supply room. Nick opened the door and pulled out a pen and a note pad. Then he took him outside and looked around to make sure that no one was watching him. He then walked over to his car and made him get in. Nick walked over to the drivers said and looked at him.

"I want you to write a letter saying that you killed yourself," Nick demanded handing him the pen and paper, "You can write anything that you want, I don't give a shit. Just tell them to end all of this and leave me alone." He looked at Nick and began writing.

Chapter 21

"Let me see it," Nick said and took the pad from the mans hands and looked at the note. He was satisfied with what was written there and then he made him get out of the car. They were once again back at that house. Nick walked him inside and upstairs. When they were in the office Nick made him sit in the chair.

"Nickolas," he said, "you don't have to do this."

"Like hell I don't. If I don't end this right now, you are never going to stop. You are going to keep coming after me until you've killed me but I'm not going down easily. This is all going to end right here, right now. You're not going to be able to hurt me, my friends or anyone else ever again," Nick told him. He walked over to him and put the gun in his hand with it pointing towards him.

"Nickolas," he started in fear, "please..." Nick shook his head no and guided his fingers to the trigger and pulled it so that it would look like it was a suicide. Nick left the note and pen on the desk and looked at the body of the man that had caused him so much pain. It was finally over.

Nick reached the hotel and parked his car in the back parking lot so that no one would see him coming in. He entered through the VIP enterence and headed up stairs. He let his head hit the back of the elevator wall as he thought about everything that had just happened. It was all over. Finally his life could be the way that he wanted it to be and he didn't have to worry about anyone trying to hurt. When Nick reached his floor, he heard arguing coming from securitys room.

He knew that it was about him dissapearing on John, he knew. The closer he came to the door, the more voices he heard. Everyone was in there. This would be the best time to tell them that it was over. The man behind all of this was dead.

"Guys," he said as he opened the door. Everyone stopped yelling and turned to face him.

"Carter what the hell were you thinking?" Jack yelled.

"Putting an end to this bullshit," he answered.

"What?" he asked.

"When John was getting the guys, I ran off because I knew that he was there. I was someone that he was going to want to take out personally. I didn't think that he would have had enough time to get out of there, and I was right. I found him and I put an end to all of this," Nick explained.

"You know that it wasn't that easy Nick," Kevin told him, "this guy can't be trusted."

"And that's why he's dead," Nick answered emotionlessly.

"Wait," Brian interupted, "you killed him?"

"It was the only thing that I could do," he explained.

"Carter no, we could have given him major jail time," Jack started.

"But the attacks on me wouldn't stop and they wouldn't until he gave the word," Nick futher explained, trying to keep from becoming fustrated.

"Well now that he's dead, how is he going to 'give the word' so that no one will hurt you any more?" AJ asked.

"On the way back to the house," Nick started, "I made him write a suicide letter. In it he was to give the order to leave me alone. Everyone is forced to follow that no matter what. No one is going to come after us any more."

"Wait, if he was at the venue," Brian asked, "then wasn't someone with him?"

"I thought the samething. He had come alone. He usually does when he's on 'special cases' he says that it helps to cut back on accidents. After I had shot him, I went back and brought his car to his house where he was then I walked back to the venue, got my car and came here," Nick explained.

"What am I supposed to do now Carter?" Jack asked, "you've admitted to murder. If anyone else found out about this, I would be forced to arrest you."

"Then no one else finds out," Nick said sternly, "this stays between us. What I just said to you guys never leaves this room. So basically forget that this conversation ever happened. If anyone asks where I was in that time, I just got seperated from you guys and you had to come back to the hotel and it took me a while but I was finally able to meet up with you guys safely."

"Carter I can't do that, it's against..." Jack started.

"I don't give a shit what it's against," Nick snapped, "you are not to tell anyone of this ever. No one knew about any of this. Not my family, anyone and I want to keep it that way. I'm done with all of that and I am going to live my life for the group. This is over, am I understood?" No one answered him, he had brought a fear upon them that they had never known before. "Am I understood!" Nick yelled again. "Yeah Nick," AJ answered, "this never leaves us."

"Yeah," Brian said, "it's over. What's done is done right? You can't change the past, only make the future better."

"I'll never mention it again," Howie said when Nick glanced at him. Then Nick looked at Kevin.

"Not a word little Bro," he responded and Nick smiled at him.

"What about you Jack?" Nick asked.

"It's as good as over," Jack answered him, "it's all forgotten about."

"Thank you," Nick replied. Jack nodded.

Once the news had gotten out about the explotion on the stage of the guys rehursals, they had to come up with something quickly, and they did. They simply said that there was some mechanical problems which caused it but everything had been fixed and no one was in any kind of danger from that point on. News soon got a hold of the suicide of 'The Boss' as he was known to those who worked for him. He had the longest record that the local police stations had ever seen. It ranged from gun and drug possesion to murder.

There were no more attacks made on Nicks life though the police wanted to know why Nick was metioned in the suicide note. Nick simply told them that he didn't know. There were probably a lot of reasons why. Like maybe he wasn't able to get in contact with him to have his fame help him with his plans and was angered by it, which became the official ruling of Nicks involvement in the case and he wasn't charged with anything.

The thing that was the best for Nick was something that I'm sure is natural. He was just relieved that his nightmare was over. He no longer had to live his life in fear that someone might be trying to kill him. He was finally able to go about living his dream with the people that he cared about most. It was soothing for him to be able to say, that everything was over.