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** BRIAN **

I vomited until there was nothing left. My shaking fingers fumbled to flush the toilet and I lay down on the bathroom floor as the water whirled down the drain. The tiles felt cool under my cheek and I drew my legs up to my chest, pressing my eyes shut. I still felt nauseous; sick and numb over the image that I had seen of Howie and Kevin.

I opened my eyes and examined the tiles. They were large and black with flecks of grey, probably chosen for the simple fact that they could easily hide the dirt. I continued to hug my legs to my chest as I surveyed the bathroom, my knees digging in to the place where my scar distorted my skin. I wanted to cry, but I knew that it wouldn’t help. AJ and Nick had already broken down. If I fell apart there would be no hope for the three of us.

Nick’s voice was so loud that I had no choice but to sit straight up. The only words that I could make out were curse word, the rest were unintelligible. I pressed my palms against the tiles and pushed myself to my feet. My heart was hammering in my chest, testing the strength of the scar that my knees had been hugging no less than fifteen seconds before. I caught sight of my own face in the mirror as I hurried towards the door; pale, tired, and terrified.

“Where’s Brian?”

I froze with my hand on the doorknob. There was so much noise coming from the front of the house that I was having trouble identifying the voice, but I was pretty sure that it belonged to either Joey or Tony. I strained to make out more of the conversation admits the other noises. It sounded like there was some kind of a scuffle going on in the family room.

“He’s not here!”

I hastily pressed the lock on the bathroom door into place at the sound of AJ’s voice. He sounded panicked and angry all at the same time, and he had clearly raised his voice for my benefit.

“Bullshit! I left the three of you here together!” Tony’s heated claim drifted through the door.

I took a step backwards, my lower back connecting with the edge of the granite countertop that extended over the vanity. Something was definitely wrong, and I had a sickening suspicion that Joey and Tony were to blame.

“He’s not here!” AJ repeated his earlier statement, louder and with more purpose. “You can look wherever you want. Brian’s not here!”

Dammit! I looked frantically around the bathroom. Foolishly, my first thought was to hide behind the shower curtain. I was almost in the bathtub when I noticed the small window overtop of the toilet. I could still hear a series of thumps and bangs emitting from the family room. Nick was still swearing like a trucker and AJ was still screaming that he didn’t know where I was. All of that meant that I probably still had time to escape.

I yanked the window open and punched the screen out onto the grass below. Using the toilet for leverage, I pulled myself up and began to wiggle myself out of the small opening. It was a good thing that I was the one who had decided to be sick. Nick never would have managed to squeeze his taller, wider frame through the tight space. Even I was having difficulty; sucking my stomach in as far as it would go and holding my breath as I forced my body through the window frame.

I was gasping for air by the time I managed to force my torso into the warmth of the afternoon sun. The lower half of my body, however, slipped easily through the opening and I landed in an ungraceful heap on the lawn. Thank God the police had placed us in a bungalow. I probably wouldn’t have been able to recover from a two-storey fall. As it was, I scrambled to regain my balance, shooting my hand out to steady myself against the side of the house as I got to my feet.

“He’s in the bathroom!” Joey’s angry voice carried through the bathroom door and out the open window. “I’m gonna kill that little, southern son-of-a-bitch!”

The adrenalin was coursing through my veins as I regained control of my body and began to run towards the front of the house. I didn’t really have much of a plan, other than making it to the street and running away really, really fast. Behind me, I could hear Joey smashing through the bathroom door and screaming about the fact that I had climbed out of the window. I dared a glance over my shoulder at exactly the wrong moment. By the time I turned around, it was too late to avoid the arm that had suddenly jutted out from around the corner of the house. I slammed into the sturdy limb at full speed; the impact sending me straight to the ground, flat on my back.

“I got him!”

I grabbed at my chest as I writhed on the grass. The pain was shooting across my body in spasms, and I groaned deeply with every stabbing blast. A monster of a man was standing above me; his pock-marked face contorted in satisfaction. Like Joey and Tony, he was Italian with rippling muscles, a thick neck, and a strict buzz-cut. The man leaned down to grab my arm and I instinctively did the only thing that I could think to do in such a desperate situation; I kicked him hard in the groin.

The man’s eyes bulged in surprise and pain. He let out a loud hissing sound and grabbed at his wounded crotch before dropping to his knees. Seizing my opportunity, I forced myself to get to my feet. My breathing was laboured as I struggled to re-establish the pace at which I had been moving before I had run headlong into the man’s monstrous arm. My chest was burning from the effort, and my mind seemed incapable of focusing on a single thought for more than five seconds at a time. I could hear the man getting to his feet behind me as I stumbled into the front yard and pointed myself in the direction of the driveway. All I wanted to do was make it to the street.

“The little bitch sacked me!”

“I fucking knew that he was still here!”

I pushed myself to move faster at the sound of Joey’s voice. I didn’t dare look over my shoulder, but I could tell that he was in the front yard. I could hear his footsteps following me as I reached the driveway and began sprinting with all of my strength towards the street. The scenery was bouncing with every step, my eyes glued to my end goal of the dark pavement just beyond the edge of the driveway.

I didn’t make it to my target. Joey slammed into me from the side. His arms wrapped around my waist, my feet lifted off of the ground, and the two of us went careening into the thick hedge that separated the property from the neighbouring lot. The thin branches scratched at the bare skin on my arms and the brambles pulled at my jeans as Joey and I tussled within the confines of the hedge.

It was a losing battle and I knew it. Joey already had his strong fingers wrapped around one of my wrists and my legs were of little use because of the overgrown foliage. I was panicking; thrashing about with my one free arm in the hopes that I would somehow manage to escape. It didn’t take long for Joey to secure my other wrist and to twist both of my arms painfully behind my back.

“That hurts!” I yelled involuntarily, well aware of the fact that my outburst was both belittling and unnecessary.

“You ain’t seen nothing’ yet.” Joey promised as he yanked me out of the hedge and positioned me on the driveway. He slapped a cable tie around my wrists and pulled tight; the plastic digging roughly into my skin. “This is what happens when you try to escape.”

“Why are you doing this?” I hoped that my voice didn’t betray the fact that I was terrified. “I thought that you were hired to protect us.”

Joey snorted in amusement as he led me roughly back up the driveway towards the house. “Things aren’t always what they seem. You, of all people, should know that.”

I struggled to decipher the hidden meaning behind Joey’s words. At the same time, I struggled to maintain my balance as the beefy man shoved me directly towards a black SUV. Thankfully, Joey had the decency to pull me back before my face connected roughly with the heavily-tinted rear passenger window. I hadn’t even noticed the vehicle when I had been running for the driveway, but I had been so preoccupied with escaping that I hadn’t really noticed much of anything.

Joey pulled open the backdoor and motioned for me to get inside. When I hesitated, he pushed me angrily into the car, forcing me to use my shoulder to steady myself against the doorframe. The man whose genitals I had all but mutilated was sitting in the driver’s seat and he looked less than impressed as our eyes locked in the rear-view mirror.

“Hey there, Brian.” The man’s face lifted into a knowing smile.

I ignored his greeting and wedged myself into the farthest corner of the third row of seats. I still couldn’t think straight as he started the engine and began to fiddle with the radio. Why had Joey and Tony turned on us? Who was this other man? Where were they taking me? What had happened to Nick and AJ? The questions were swirling around in my mind, and I squeezed my eyes shut in an attempt to turn off my brain. I needed to get it together if I wanted to even entertain the idea of getting myself out of this mess.

When I opened my eyes, the answer to my final question was answered. Joey and Tony were leading Nick and AJ out of the house and towards the SUV. I stared out of the windshield in shock as I watched the four of them make their way down the front walkway. Both AJ and Nick were silent, their heads bowed, and their behaviour strangely compliant. Neither one of them was acting like I would have expected them to. Neither one of them was putting up a fight, and it wasn’t until the sun glinted off of the guns that Joey and Tony were holding that I understood why.

The backdoor flew open and Joey shoved AJ forward in much the same way as he had directed me into the car. AJ stumbled and, like me, used his shoulder to steady himself. His eyes widened in relief and dismay when he caught sight of me cowering in the corner.

“Fuck!” AJ cursed. “Are you okay?”

I began to move my head in response, but Joey roughly cut into our exchange. “Get in the back with the southern bell.” He commanded, pushing AJ towards the third row of seats. “Nicky and I are going to spend some quality time together.”

“Asshole.” AJ muttered, sitting down unceremoniously beside me.

As AJ manoeuvred himself into position, I noticed that his hands were also bound behind his back with cable ties. The plastic had already pierced the skin and I could see angry red marks beginning to form beneath the thin binding. Blood was slowly trickling out of a small cut on his left wrist. I swallowed hard and forced myself to look away from AJ’s wounds. I didn’t have the strength to vomit again.

Nick’s eyes found mine as Joey forced him into the car. I wanted nothing more than to offer him a look of support and encouragement, but all I could do was return his look of panic and uncertainly. Nick had to stoop in order to fit himself into the seat without the use of his hands, and he looked positively terrified as Joey climbed into the seat next to him and slammed the door.

Tony hauled himself into the passenger seat and immediately gave instructions to the driver. “Let’s go, Vinny. We’re already running behind.”

Vinny grunted, his neck muscles popping in protest. He shifted the car into gear and began to back down the driveway. “It’s Brian’s fault. He tried to run.”

AJ blinked rapidly in my direction at Vinny’s words. It was as though he was truly looking at me for the first time since getting in the car. His eyes quickly scanned the small cuts on my arms and the leaves that still clung to my jeans. “What the fuck happened to you?”

“No talking!” Joey announced. He looked at each of us in turn and cocked his gun into position. “The next person who talks gets a bullet in their brain. Understood?”

My whole body was trembling as I nodded my understanding. AJ visibly tensed beside me and I knew that he was seriously contemplating testing fate by opening his mouth. I purposefully knocked my shoulder against his and he, thankfully, nodded his own understanding after taking in my pleading expression. Nick simply turned his face to the blacked out window. I could see the tears slipping silently down his cheeks as he stared into the nothingness.

I sat back in my seat and tried to ignore the pain in my wrists as I watched Joey play with the loaded gun in his lap. My heart was beating so hard and so irregularly that I was beginning to question whether or not it would be possible for me to drop dead before we reached our destination. The more I thought about the possibility of dying on the spot, the more appealing the thought became. I had already come to the conclusion that death would be preferable to whatever it was that we were about to endure.