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A/n: Hi everyone! First of all, apologies for the late update. I had a minor block for this chapter and had like, 3 versions written for it, lmao. But I finally managed to clear those up so here is the final product. I would like to thank all 8 of you who reviewed chapter 14. Please check out my replies to your reviews. If there’s one thing Chaos’ site win over others, it’s this opportunity to communicate between readers and writers. I luff it!

Pps: Um…this chapter might end with you going ‘huh?’…sorry about that, things will be cleared up in the next chapter.

John Weiss knew something wasn’t right as he sat on his desk, staring at the reports that doesn’t seem to make much sense. They had hit a block in the Sarah Felding case and he couldn’t handle being in denial much longer. He thought they finally got the break they desperately needed when Kevin called him about some videos that Michael Hamann supposedly had left to him. Evidence of some sort, he was sure of it. It had got him driving back to the office as soon as he could, not wanting to miss out on this new lead, only to be disappointed that it had been a false alarm. Still, it puzzled him at how determined Kevin sounded earlier. Maybe Matthew didn’t look at it thoroughly. Maybe he missed out on a major clue, whatever those videos were about. “Ah damn it.” He sighed and dragged himself out of his chair. Stretching a little, he decided to ask Matthew Lee for the videos and see it for himself. Perhaps while he was there, he could find out what was it that had Nick Carter rushing down to see Kevin, who was supposed to be gone by then anyway. He passed by the front desk, where Officer Randy was stationed. “Hey Chief! Are you going to Chief Lee’s office?” “Yeah.” “Okay, could you remind the kid that he has to return the visitor’s pass on his way out later? Kevin forgot to return his.” John Weiss raised an eyebrow. “He did?” “Yeah. I was gone for a few minutes earlier on so I guess no one reminded him when he left.” “Maybe he hadn’t leave.” John Weiss said. Randy snorted. “Good one.” John wasn’t sure what that was about but decided to brush it off for now. “By the way Randy, when you said, the kid, you were referring to Nick Carter right?” “Yeah, that would be him.” “He’s not a kid anymore. You realized he’s 25 right?” “Oh I didn’t mean by age Chief. Just one look in his eyes and you know he’s still very much a kid. Nice kid that boy…sits and wait, never complains and always playing around with that side kick of his.” John decided not to say anything to that, knowing he would just get riled up and ended up arguing with the fellow officer. He walked away and towards the flight the stairs. Nice my ass. No nice kid would get drunk and then be that irresponsible to drive! Once on the second floor, he went straight for the door, passing by a few other officers without as much as a nod. “Gentlemen-” There was no one there except for Nick Carter, who almost jumped a feet high at his unannounced arrival. He thought he saw fear in his eyes. Or maybe guilt, he wasn’t too sure. “Where are they?” “Um…” Nick stammered. “There was nobody in here when I came in. I…I thought of waiting incase they’d come back but I guess I’ll just go wait at the bench, Brian’s waiting for me.” He rushed out of the room before John could even say anything. Dismissing his odd behavior, he called Matthew Lee using the office phone. He sat down on the swivel chair and looked around, trying to find a CD or a video tape that Kevin had brought in. There was none of those except for a visitor’s pass. Great, did the blonde one forget this too? “Chief Lee.” “It’s me.” “Yeah?” “Listen, I’d like to watch those videos Kevin Richardson passed to you. I’m in your office right now cause I didn’t know you left; so anyway, can you just tell me where I can find them?” “Well…” “Are you busy?” “Just driving.” Matthew Lee said, sounding distracted. “Look, I’m sure it’s on the desk somewhere, just look around for it.” “Okay I will. Thanks man.” “Yeah.” It shouldn’t be too hard to find a video tape or a CD in plain sight right? Where else could it- “That son of a bitch!” In frustration, he bolted out of the room and practically flew down the flight of stairs. He found Nick at the front desk, struggling to get his visitor’s pass over his head. “Hey, wait up!” John yelled across the room. Nick turned and again, he looked as if he was caught doing something wrong. He quickly shoved the pass to Randy and made a beeline for the exit, not waiting for John. “Hey, I said wait!” Nick Carter was dashing to the car park as John tried to catch up with him. He slowed down when he saw Nick started to look around for something. “Freaking lied to me!” John grumbled under his breath as he started running. There was no sign Kevin’s car anywhere, in fact, the black SUV was the only car parked at the visitor’s area. And not surprisingly, there was no Brian in sight too. And it was obvious to John that Nick was lying about waiting at the visitor’s bench. He was trying to make a quick dash! “Hey! Don’t you dare move!” John yelled as he increased his pace. Nick Carter didn’t seem to regard any of his instructions. He had climbed back in into his car and was starting the engine. By the time he reached there, Nick was already on reverse and about to speed away. “You won’t get away with this!” John yelled and then ran back to the other side of the parking lot, where the undercover police car was parked. He was going to chase down Nick Carter, if that’s the last thing he’d do. The first thing that Nick decided to do was to run back to Brian and tell him what he had just discovered. He hurried back down the stairs and passed the main desk, almost forgetting to return the visitor’s pass before making a beeline to the car park. All that time, Chief Inspector John Weiss was on his trail. Michael Hamann was wrong after all. They could trust no one. Not even John Weiss. He was Matthew Lee’s partner, in any case, they might just be working together! He was feeling sick in the stomach again, to a point where it felt like as if he had to throw up right there at the main steps of LAPD. But the thought of being chased by a man who already was hating his guts prevented him from doing just that. He made a run for the black SUV and swung open the driver’s door. “Brian there’s-” Brian wasn’t there. He closed the door and looked around. The visitor’s car park was nowhere near crowded, there was only one other person there then, and the man was about to speed off in his bike. There was no signs of Kevin’s Escalade. He felt a sense of failure. Not only had he managed to lose Brian, he was late to realize that Kevin was in great danger too. But it also meant that Matthew Lee was still around when they arrived and somehow, had managed to get Brian and Kevin to co-operate to follow him out of there, right under LAPD’s nose. He decided if he acted fast, he would still be in time to get his brothers back. Nick climbed back into his car and locked the door. John Weiss was yelling at him now. He knew he had nowhere to go but to find the guys before John Weiss realized that he knew the truth and called Matthew Lee up to kill the guys. He stepped on the gas pedal, took off and never looked back. There was one place Nick was sure he had to go to find the guys. The last place they’d think he would look for them – John Klass’ office, where it was constantly busy with supporters working their butts off for his campaign to notice that something strange was going on. - John Weiss was hot on Nick Carter’s trail. So far, he was doing good at being inconspicuous. Judging by the way the young man was driving, it was safe to say that he knew where his next destination was. He exited the main road and went for the high road, where hardly any vehicles passed through. “Where are you heading to kid?” John Weiss said out loud as he kept at a safe distance. Either Nick was really oblivious of the fact that he was being followed or he was leading John to some kind of trap. “Why would he have anything to do with this case anyway?” John said out loud again. “He’s got no motives at all.” Then again, the videos were missing from Matthew Lee’s office, and Nick was alone in there. And he did look suspicious. “But why would he take those evidence? It’s not like he’ll gain anything from it…unless…” Unless he was threatened? The screeching of a speeding car passing by pulled him back to the matter at hand. The driver was definitely going over the speed limit. He wished he could bust the person’s ass and put him to jail. Nobody else’s child have to die if they could just put drivers like them behind the bars. The white Mercedes was driving really close to Nick’s car and John even thought, for a split second, that there was no way that Nick could control the wheel should even the slightest contact occurred between the two. It all happened in slow motion, like in the movies. He saw a gloved hand coming out of the white Mercedes. He didn’t even notice the black gun until he saw the sparks of orange and the loud ‘pop’ sound as the trigger was pulled. The white Mercedes sped away as Nick’s car swayed uncontrollably, almost in zig zags. “Jesus!” John shifted gear and sped to where Nick’s car was. He was too anxious to get to him that a little miscalculation was all it took for both cars to collide in the middle of the road, leaving John to fend for his own life instead of worrying about Nick’s. The last thing he saw was a black silhouette coming towards Nick’s car and the last thing he felt was a sharp pain to his neck before he succumbed to darkness. - Johnny Wright knew that something wasn’t right with the picture he was seeing now. Everyone else was telling him that everything was all right but he wasn’t buying that. He had recounted the day’s event many times in his head, and every time, nothing ever adds up. “Guys look,” Johnny said once again. The room had been too quiet ever since his last attempt at conversation went downhill. “there’re only the six of us now in this room, granted that Nick is well…incapable of talking, you know we can trust each other right?” Kevin was the first one to show any kind of reaction. Brian was still busy rubbing the palm of his hand against Nick, perhaps hoping that the action could somehow wake him up. Howie was zoning off while AJ was busy biting his fingernails, chipping the black nail polish as he did so. “There is nothing to talk about Johnny.” Kevin sighed. “And about Nick…I’d rather we talk about it when he’s awake.” “There’re more than just Nick we need to talk about and all of you know what I mean. Now I’m on your side, but you have to tell me what’s going on.” “As oppose to whose side?” Howie asked unexpectedly. Ah finally out of the zone. “The side you guys seem to be afraid of.” Johnny replied. “Look, I would still be in the dark if it hadn’t been for what Brian told me when I called him this evening. After all that he told me, you’re not going to turn it around and tell me those were just lies.” “Fine, what is it that don’t seem to add up for you Johnny?” AJ asked in between biting his nails. “Well,” Johnny said as he leaned forward, hands clasped together in front of him. The only other sound in the room would be the beeping of the heart monitor, studiously keeping watch on the rise and fall of Nick’s heart rate. “for starters, you and Howie were supposed to be at Jive by two, but neither of you showed up. And then Nick and Brian came and started to panic when they found out both of you weren’t there. And to make things worst, they snuck out of Jive in the middle of our frantic search for you both. And how about when I called Brian and found out the whole thing about Kevin going to the police because of some videos a dead guy passed on to him? By the way, you hung up on me in the middle of me talking to you Brian, and then you stopped answering my calls and got me all panicked.” “I think we got it Johnny.” Brian frowned, as if to say that he had heard enough. “But I’m not done yet.” Johnny said instead. “I couldn’t get hold of any of you and here I was at Jive, unsure of what my next step to do. Do I call the police? Should I start making statements? What do I tell all the people we’re supposed to meet today to kick start rehearsals for your upcoming tour. Of course, I didn’t get to do all those cause next thing I know, we got a phone call that Nick here, was involved in a road accident, oh and get this, he was DUI too, and this time, there’s a casualty involved. Now tell me, do you honestly think that I would settle with ‘all right’?” Kevin left his gaze from Johnny and took another good look at his little brother now lying unconscious in the hospital bed. It would have been a normal sight to look at when you visit someone in the hospital, if not for the handcuff that was clutched on his left wrist and the other latched on the hand grip at the side of the bed. The police officer on guard right outside the room didn’t make him feel any better. “Johnny, we need you somewhere else right now. Urgent.” Lenni, the group’s PR, called out from the door. Kevin noticed she stole a glance over at Nick, the worried lines on her forehead seemed to age her by a few years. Johnny sighed in frustration. He was so close to having the guys open up to him. “I’ll be back, don’t move.” AJ seemed amused by that order. It sound like something you’d tell to a five year old. “Guys…I think he’s waking up now.” Brian exclaimed as he quickly pulled the blanket that was covering Nick from the waist down and covered the handcuff from view. He knew it would be a matter of time before Nick found out but Brian was willing to buy any amount of time just to put that off. Howie moved closer to the bed, his heart feeling heavier now than ever before. He had been telling himself that they could pull through this, that they’d get the break they needed and put everything behind them, but that hope seemed to be thinning faster every second. He watched Kevin rushing to the other side of the bed, carefully holding on to Nick’s hand as he gently pushed the blonde locks away from his eyes. That’s it baby, open your eyes. Yet another test for the five of them to face together. Looking at how twisted it had gone so far, Howie could only pray that they find a way out and survive this one.