Waiting rooms suck. I just don’t understand the whole concept of them. I mean come on, how can you just sit around and stare at some stupid talk show or soap opera or whatever the hell is on the stupid little screen while someone you love is under the knife, or fighting for their life, or missing or…or all of the above?! Sure, it’s distracting and the overstuffed chairs and couches are comfy and all, but it just seems like we should be *doing* something. We should be out there searching! Brian had to know where they are; or at least where they were. So why wasn’t he telling? Brian was up to something, but I’ll be damned if I was going to sit there and listen to him defend that psychotic asshole. Brian was obviously lying, but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why. And just why the hell did Agents Nutter and Grey believe his outrageous story? Even our guards seemed to be hanging on every word. Did they even know us? I can’t even imagine Kevin holding a gun, much less that he would do something crazy like kidnap Nick. As pissed off as the kid can get him sometimes, there’s no way I’ll ever believe that Kevin would beat the shit out of him like that. I paced the room as Brian continued spewing his crap about Kevin turning psycho and running off to Mexico with Nick. I didn’t buy it. Not for a moment. I wanted to trust Brian knew what he was doing, but it was grating on every one of my already frayed nerves listening to him. When the agents made him start telling it all over again, I couldn’t take it. I had to get out of there. I saw Agent Grey look up as I made my way to the door, but when I glared back at her, just daring her to stop me from leaving, she simply nodded and turned her attention back to Brian and his ridiculous fabrication. Once I was out of the waiting room, I realized I had absolutely no where to go. I wanted to do something, anything, to help Nick and Kevin. But what the hell was I supposed to do? According to Brian they were on their way to Mexico. If I thought it would help I would go rent a car and chase them down at the border, but I just couldn’t imagine that that’s where they really were. So I paced the hallway until I noticed one of the nurses giving me an evil glare and nodded toward the waiting room. I looked over to find that Lon was standing in the doorway, tactfully keeping his distance even as he watched me. I knew I should go back there, but I don’t want to wait anymore. Maybe I should go and rent a car. Yeah, I’m going to do it. Then I’ll drag Brian’s ass into it and make him show me where Ed left their bodies. All the air rushed out of lungs and I suddenly couldn’t breathe. It was that moment that I realized that I honestly thought they were dead. Ed killed them. He dragged them out to the desert somewhere, forced them to their knees, stuck the barrel of the gun to the backs of their necks and… I was never going to make it to the restroom even though it was only a few yards down the hall, so I stumbled and grabbed for the waste basket next to the nurse’s station, falling to my knees before it. Two of my best friends--my *brothers*--were gone. “AJ?” I heard Howie call my name and suddenly he was there, rubbing my back as I dry heaved again and again. I hadn’t eaten anything since before the concert, and that was hours ago, so there was nothing to throw up, but that didn’t stop my stomach from trying its hardest. “Shhh, calm down,” he was trying to soothe me, but it just wasn’t working. How could I calm down when Nick and Kevin were rotting out there in the desert somewhere with bullets in their brains? I heard a few people asking Howie if I was okay, but it wasn’t until I heard Brian’s voice that I even tried to respond. “How could you just leave them…?” I rasped out, sitting back slightly on my heels, though I couldn’t look at him. “You dolt,” he hissed and I felt him swat the back of my head. Startled, I looked up, forcing myself to look at him. “You know me better than that. You think I left them because I wanted to?” he growled, looking angry, hurt, and worried at the same time. I shook my head. I knew he wouldn’t if he had a choice. I just couldn’t figure out what was going on with him. And not that I wasn’t grateful or nothing, but why was he here when the others weren’t? Why did Ed spare him? “I don’t have time to explain,” he said, as if he could read my mind. He glanced over his shoulder then back to me again. “I need your help.” His eyes darted over to Howie for a moment. “Both of you.” “Of course,” Howie answered without hesitation. “What do you…” “Think you can procure us a car?” Again, without as much as a question as to why, Howie agreed. “You’ll have to ditch security,” Brian added, his grim expression indicating that this was no joke. At Howie’s confirming nod, he continued. “Meet us back here in half an hour. That enough time?” Howie nodded yet again. “Okay. Exactly half an hour, then,” he added nervously. “Just wait in the loading zone, leave the car running.” I could tell that Howie desperately wanted to ask the same million questions I wanted to, but Brian shook his head to cut off any questions. “Not here. I’ll explain once we’re out of here. Half an hour.” He was borderline babbling as he repeated the time frame. With that, Howie headed down the hall, stopping to talk to Lon for just a moment. Lon gave him a long hard look and for a moment I thought whatever Brian’s plan was would be halted before it even began. But then Lon waved Jack over and after a quick word sent the two on their way. Howie would still have to figure out a way to ditch his guard, but at least we weren’t dead in the water. I felt a whole lot better knowing that within half an hour we’d be on our way to Mexico or wherever it was that Kevin and Nick were rather than just sitting around here feeling helpless. “You done with all that?” Brian asked, glancing at the garbage can. I shrugged. Honestly, I did still feel sick, but it wasn’t going to do anyone any good to focus on that. “What do you need me to do?” Brian closed his eyes for a moment, his lips moving as if he were saying a tiny little prayer. His skin paled a bit and I thought for a moment he was going to be sick. When he opened his eyes again, they wouldn’t quite meet mine. “I need you to get a gun.” “Excuse me?” I couldn’t have heard him right. “I’m thinking it’d be easiest to get it from Geo,” he added hastily. “Lon won’t even let you get close to his. Geo…he’s more trusting and he might not even notice it’s gone if you’re quick enough.” He was serious. “Brian,” I started, a bad feeling growing in my gut. He was going to kill Ed. That’s why he needed Howie to procure a get-away car and be ready and waiting. Not to go after Kevin and Nick, but to escape. I couldn’t let him do it. It wasn’t that Ed didn’t deserve it, of course, but even under the circumstances it would still be murder one. And prison wouldn’t agree with Brian. I’d like to say I’d do the deed for him, but prison wouldn’t agree with me, either. Which meant I really couldn’t help him. Howie would have the excuse that he didn’t know, but me? I’d be an accessory. I shook my head. “AJ, we don’t have a choice. We can’t let the police arrest him or they’ll die before we ever find them. So will you help me?” I rubbed my hand absently over my chin. My instinct was to say yes, of course. I mean it was Brian for godssakes. But could we really do this? Except…now I wasn’t sure what exactly “this” was. Brian said they’d die, which meant that Nick and Kev were currently alive, so that was good. And while I didn’t know exactly what it was that Brian had planned, I trusted him. He’d never done anything to steer us wrong before, and I couldn’t believe he’d do so now. Besides, if I didn’t get the gun myself, he’d probably do it himself. As long as I had the gun, I’d be able to talk him out of doing something completely crazy. Brian let out a small sigh of relief and gave me a grim smile. “Good. Meet us at the car. Don’t be late no matter what. If you can’t get Geo’s gun without tipping him off…we’ll figure something else out. It’s more important you’re there on time. And make sure he doesn’t follow you” “What’re you going to do?” I asked. He smiled bleakly. “You don’t want to know.” For a moment I saw a glimmer in his eyes that made me think that life was actually normal again as he added, “Plausible deniability.” While I wasn’t sure what he meant by that, and I did want to know, let it go and we went our separate ways. He ducked into the restroom while I headed back to the waiting lounge. Which led me to the question of how the hell was I supposed to get Geo’s gun while Lon and the agents were all right there watching? I sighed and flopped into the chair next to his, my heart beating rapidly, my nerves completely on edge. “I can’t believe this...” I murmured, glancing sideways at our guard. “Doesn’t make any sense,” he agreed. “I can’t believe Kevin would do something like that.” “He wouldn’t. There’s got to be something we’re missing.”
Geo bobbed his head warily. “Can’t believe he’d shoot Ed.” “Yeah. Hope he’s gonna be okay,” I lied. “Sounds like he’s going to be fine. Doctor came in a few minutes ago and said he’s already out of surgery. They’re waiting on a room, I guess.” Damn it that was so wrong! He should be dead or dying or something. I angrily punched the armrest on my chair. “I just hate waiting,” I lamely explained. “Yeah, me, too, kid.” And then he presented me with a perfect opportunity. “You know, I bet they have a cardio gym here. We could see if they’ll let us work out a bit. Get our minds of things.” I nodded and looked over at Lon, almost holding my breath as we waited for his verdict. “I’ll come get you as soon as they let us know Ed’s room number.” The lovely ladies of the cardio unit turned out to be quite accommodating. Not only did they invite us to spend as much time as we wanted using the equipment, but Kelli the cute little blonde therapist on duty even offered us use of some scrubs to wear as workout clothes and use of her very own locker to secure our own belongings. I smiled brightly as I pocketed the key. All I had to do then was wait it out until it was time to go meet the fellas. If I took off too soon, Geo’d probably figure it out and come after me, so I hopped on the treadmill and took a slow jog, biding my time. Just a few minutes before my deadline, I slowed to a stop. Unfortunately, so did Geo. “I’m just gonna go take a piss,” I informed him, hoping it’d deter him from following me back into the locker room. My heart sped up as he hopped off his treadmill and grabbed another towel, anyway. “And then maybe stop and…talk to Kelli,” I added, wagging my eyebrows, hoping that he’d take the hint that I didn’t want him to follow. He hesitated for a moment and I felt my heart sinking. “Don’t worry, I won’t go far,” I lied. He glanced at the clock, then back at me. “Well, not in distance anyway,” I swear I almost cringed, myself. Like I’d really hook up with a girl now while my brothers were still out there in danger? Still, it was the only thing I could come up with on short notice. I’m not sure if I should be a bit pissed or proud of the fact that Geo bought it. He broke into an amused grin and shook his head, chuckling. “I’m sure you won’t.” I let out my breath and headed alone to the locker room to retrieve his gun and get the hell out of there. My heart raced as I stole through the halls, expecting someone to stop me at any moment, be it Kelli, or perhaps a fan recognizing me, or worse Lon or one of the agents. Miraculously, though, I made it outside unscathed. Unfortunately, there was no sign of Howie or Brian when I got there. Crap. I looked at my watch. I was only a minute late. They couldn’t have left already. I looked back toward the building, wondering if I should cut my losses and hope I got Geo’s gun back to him unnoticed. Where the hell were they? I couldn’t just stand out here. Sooner or later someone would recognize me, or one of the guards would come looking or…I looked up as I heard the sound of tires squealing on the pavement as a car roared around the corner of the building. I tensed as it came toward me a lot faster than it should be going. I was just about to dive for the building when someone slammed on the breaks and it screeched to a stop a few feet away. The passenger side door popped open and I saw Howie waving frantically at me to get in. I swear I hadn’t even gotten the door shut before he was off again, racing out of the parking lot. “What the hell…?” I growled at him as I situated myself, scrambling to get the seat belt on before he crashed us into something and killed us. “Did you get it?” Brian asked tensely from the back seat. “Yeah, I got it…now what--" “And he didn’t follow you?” “You didn’t see him when Howie tried to run me over, did you?” I snapped, a little frazzled. “Sorry, we just had to get out of there quick.” “Yeah, no kidding,” I snorted. “So where exactly are we headed?” I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Brian looking over his shoulder. “I don’t think we’re being followed,” he informed us, ignoring my question. “Pull off over there, maybe?” he suggested to Howie, who slowed the car to a normal pace and then did as Brian suggested, pulling into an empty parking lot and slowing to a near stop before Brian added, “See if you can get around behind the building.” Once the car stopped, I popped my belt and turned around in my seat to talk to Brian. Except that he was already getting out of the car. Damn it. I grumbled to myself as I followed him. “Can I have it?” he asked. Against my better judgment, I pulled it from where I’d tucked it into my waistband and handed it to him. He took a deep breath and moved around to the trunk of the car. “Pop it,” he called to Howie as he raised the gun and aimed it at the trunk. I had a really bad feeling about this. A feeling that was confirmed to be quite valid a moment later as the trunk popped open revealing a ton of hospital laundry and to my astonishment, the unconscious body of our former bodyguard. Holy crap. We just kidnapped a man.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Okay, first truly new chapter for this story since...good god I don't even want to admit how long.
AJ POV
Chapter End Notes:
Okay, I know it's not that exciting a chapter, but it's all stuff that had to get done in order to get the story back on track and moving again.
