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*See guys? I told you I wouldn't keep you hanging for too long lol*


19


Howie looked frantically for his friends amongst the crowd of people gathered around the scene of the explosion. It was a mess and his ears were still ringing, making it difficult for him to make out the voices he was most anxious to hear.

Time had stopped for a brief second or two and in that time he was convinced he had died. There was no way he could have made it out of there alive. He heard the boom, it sounded like a tornado right on top of the house. He had only experienced one tornado in his whole life and he had always said one was more than enough. The sound was nothing compared to the intense heat he felt afterwards. That’s when it dawned on him that it was no tornado but an explosion. And he was going to die.

Following the explosion that had sent him flying towards the front door and almost through it, it became eerily quiet. Like the world had decided to stand still. He had placed his hands over his head because by instinct that’s where they ended. He wasn’t sure if he lost consciousness or not. The paramedics that checked him out at the scene said besides a few scratches and bruises here and there, he was unscathed.

When he dared to look up after the heat had left and the smoke remained like a big cloud right over his head, he dared to search for his two friends. He had quickly found Brian who was in the process of limping up the front steps most likely to do some searching of his own.

They had quickly made eye contact when he rushed over to make sure his older friend wasn’t hurt. Brian had placed a comforting hand on Howie’s shoulder, “What the hell happened?”

Howie didn’t answer because somewhere in the deep recesses of his mind, his brain was trying to process the same question.

Then Brian said Nick’s name and ran off into a cloud of smoke. In that time Howie allowed himself to sit up and take a look around; realizing for the first time that something really bad had happened.

The sound of Nick coughing brought Howie out of his daze and he slowly had pulled himself off the floor. “Howie help me” He heard Brian say. He walked over to see him helping a startled Nick off the floor.

That was the last time he had seen his friends. They had managed to walk out of the burning building unharmed, well for the most part at least. He was pulled away by a fireman, he in one direction and Nick and Brian in the other. After being poked, prodded and given a clean bill of health, he had begun searching for Brian and Nick. Growing more and more concerned with every waking minute he didn’t see them.

“What a mess” He heard one fireman say to another as he walked by, ignoring the gazes of onlookers whispering the word Backstreet Boy as he passed them.

“Howie over here!” He heard Brian yell from over a crowd of reporters, once again giving him a familiar look. He didn’t care about all that right now, he just needed to make sure they were alright.

When he got closer to Brian he relaxed, seeing him sitting in an ambulance with a small bandage over his right eye. Nick was being worked on by a paramedic.

“You guys okay?” Howie asked happy he had finally found his voice.

“Fine…you?” Brian asked staring at his friend. He looked so shaken up. They all did.

“I’m okay. My ears are ringing. Is Nicky okay?” He asked glancing a concerned eye over at Nick who had his head down while the paramedic worked on him.

“He’s shaken up and got a pretty big bump on the head but otherwise, he’ll live”

It wasn’t until he heard the word live that he remembered Jessica. Maybe his mind blocked her out for a reason. He couldn’t take another person’s death.

“Jessica?” He dared to ask Brian who suddenly looked down at his feet “They didn’t find her yet”

“Maybe she got out” Howie said as if clinging onto his words as a last hope.

“Gentlemen, the police would like to ask you a few questions…well after you are done doing what you need to do in here”

The man who said that was tall and wearing a brown overcoat. No sign of a badge or anything. “We are almost done here” The paramedic assured the police officer, well if that is what he really was.

“Okay good”

The man backed away from the ambulance to let the medics finish their job. “I would like you to go to the hospital for further evaluation Mr. Carter” The medic said in front of Nick who immediately shook his head almost in total distress.

“No!!!”

“It’s for your own good; you have a nasty bump on the head. It looks innocent enough but you can never be too sure”

“No, I don’t want to and you can’t make me” He said growing more agitated and now trying to squirm away from the paramedic. Brian seeing his friend begin to make a scene jumped right next to him. “I want him to go to the hospital for further tests” He said to Brian hoping that he would be able to calm his young charge down.

“Nick it’s not a bad idea”

“No Bri…God do you remember what happened to AJ when HE went to the hospital?”

That’s when Howie stepped in, “He’ll be okay. I promise we will watch him like a hawk and if there is any change we will take him…okay?”

The medic nodded but skeptically.

“Howie don’t you think that’s a bad idea?” Brian asked when he saw the look of relief sweep over Nick’s face.

“I don’t want any of you out of my sight anymore. We will watch him, he’ll be fine”

There was no arguing.

About a minute after that, the man in the brown overcoat made his way over to the guys, “Hello fellas...my names Detective Brown” He extended his hands to them and they shook one by one.

“Pretty nasty explosion huh?” They all nodded.

“Care to tell me what happened?” He looked over at Nick hoping that he would spill first but he only continued to look down at his feet not saying anything.

“There’s not much to tell actually. We were all standing downstairs when it happened”

“Is this your residence?”

“No…a friend of ours”

“And that would be?” He took out a pad of paper and a pen.

“I don’t want to seem rude…but can we see some credentials?” Howie asked. Maybe it was the stereotypical overcoat followed by the generic name to match the color, but Howie felt like this guy wasn’t who he said he was.

The man reached into his pocket and pulled out his police badge, “Sorry. I sometimes forget people don’t always want to believe I am for real. The question would be why?”

“You can’t be too careful” Brian said with a nervous laugh.

“Right…especially if you have something to hide” Detective Brown shot back at him.

“What is it we can do for you detective?” Howie asked wishing that Kevin was here to help them out of this mess.

“Well I guess I would like t know why the three of you were here in the first place”

“Like Howie said…” Brian started but was suddenly interrupted by a familiar voice.

“Don’t answer another question son” They all looked up to see their manager staring at them, looking annoyed and flustered.

“Are you their lawyer?” Detective Brown asked snobbishly.

“NO, but they have nothing more to say until we do have a lawyer present. Come on guys we have to get you back to the hotel”

“I will be in touch” He said nodding at all the boys but glaring at Howie.

Once the detective was gone Johnnie’s look of annoyance took an angry turn, “What did you tell him?”

“Nothing, there’s nothing to tell” Brian defended.

“Why the hell are you here?” He softened his tone when he saw the reporters begin to swarm around the ambulance they were sitting in.

As Howie opened his mouth to open Johnnie shushed him, “Not here and now, when we get back”

The look of dread was evident on their faces as they made their way past the crowd of people staring at them on the street. Reporters, onlookers, police and fire crews all staring at them with suspicious yes, well at least that’s how Howie felt.

He felt like he was suddenly guilty of something.

He placed a comforting hand on Nick’s shoulder, who had for the most part been quiet through this whole ordeal. “You okay Nicky?” He whispered as they walked with Johnnie to the awaiting van.

“No, I’m not okay. God Howie what the hell happened in there?”

“I said don’t talk about it now!” Johnnie shot back at the two men which stopped the conversation.

“Howie would you like to make a statement?” Some random reporter shouted at him. He shook his head. “They say you were inside at the time of the blast…”

“We have nothing to say” Johnnie said forcefully plowing into the barrage of reporters waiting by the van.

“They think you had something to do with this…it that true?”

“No comment” Johnnie yelled. Howie’s heart numbed at the words he had just heard though. They were blaming him.

“Were all three of you involved in a drug deal gone wrong? There are reports that AJ is in rehab for drugs” One arrogant reporter said getting up into Brian’s face this time.

“No comment” He answered ushering himself along, grateful when he saw the van door opening for him.

“Howie…Does this have anything to do with your reported fight at the Lion’s Den?” Howie’s eyes shot up to the man that asked that question. He had an Inquisitor badge on and was smiling from ear to ear.

In a second without even thinking about it, he charged at the reporter and knocked the man off of his feet. “You son of a bitch! Why are you doing this to me?” The crowd parted at the scene as men tried to pry Howie off of the reporter.

As they were on top of each other the man whispered, “Only the beginning” Before Howie could get a final punch to the guy, Dave had successfully pulled him off of the reporter and literally flung him into the van.

“We have no comment on anything. When we are ready to make a statement we will” Johnnie said before he ran into the van.

A policeman was talking to the reporter as he was rubbing his neck in disbelief. “Why the hell did you do that?” Johnnie hissed, beyond the point of making civil conversation anymore. “Since when do you have anger management issues?”

“I…”

“Wait, I don’t even want to know. I am tired of you boys tonight. You are beginning to be worth more trouble than any of us could have bargained for. You guys have some real explaining to do. This is a mess”

None of them said anything, just kind of looked at each other. Nick was wiping tears away from his cheek still looking down at the floor.

“A big mess and to top things off, Richardson is MIA”

“What?” Brian asked looking past Johnnie to Dave, who had made the declaration from the front seat.

“Oh yeah, while you guys felt the need to send me on a wild goose chase, Kevin decided to just disappear on us”

“He wouldn’t just disappear. It’s not in his character”

“Oh kind of like you guys just running off and starting a fire”

“We didn’t do it!” Nick said very defensively. He looked mad. Very agitated.

“Well you need to get your story ready for our lawyer because the police will be back gentlemen and they will want answers”

They sat quietly for the rest of the ride, knots forming in their stomachs unsure of what was going to happen next.