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27

Kevin and Brian sat leaning against the wall, edgy, nervous and cold. At first when Kevin saw his cousin enter the room he was confused; then the confusion turned to relief until the grim reality set in. Why was he happy to see his cousin in the same desperate situation he was now in?
After hugging Kevin, Brian relayed the day’s events to him right up to his frame up in the hospital.

“This is not good Bri”

“I know”

“We have to get out of here. What do they want from us?” Kevin stood up and walked over to the door, as if hoping he could use his mind to open it up and get them out of there.

“I don’t know; after I figured out what a scum Grimes was I wasn’t quite sure what would happen. I asked him a few times in the car what was going on but he just ignored me. I really thought he was going to take me to a back alley and slit my throat or something Kevin…I have never been so scared in my life” Kevin turned towards his cousin and gave him a sympathetic smile, “I’m happy you are okay Brian”

“Yeah me too…but I’m not sure about AJ though”

Kevin nodded and blew out a deep breath; the fact that AJ was trapped didn’t help him feel any better. “What about Howie and Nick?”

Brian shrugged, “When I talked to D, I told him to find Bolten”

“Brian why the hell would you do something like that?” His harsh tone cut through Brian.

“I didn’t know what else to do”

“You don’t think he’s dumb enough to actually go there alone do you?” Kevin asked walking over to the other end of the room just in case he had missed an escape route.

“He will probably bring Nick with him”

“No he won’t that’s way too dangerous. He would leave Nick behind. But I hope he brings security. This is a real mess!” He said finally giving up and sitting on the bed.

Brian stood up and walked over to Kevin, “I hope they don’t intend for us to share this small cot”

“Maybe they don’t plan on keeping us here for much longer” Brian winced at the thought. Kevin turned away and once again started to formulate a plan to try to escape because who knew what would happen the next time somebody was to walk through that door.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Howie stood hesitantly in the main hallway of the huge building. It didn’t look this menacing before to him, but now the giant entranceway looked like the mouth of a monster, ready to take them in and swallow them whole. There entrance seemed to go unnoticed by the people who were bustling through the lobby; most had their heads down and hands filled with papers.

The receptionist however was staring at them with a look of curiosity. As Howie and Nick walked closer to her desk, she straightened her nicely ironed red suit and picked up a phone.

“Here we go” Howie said looking over at his young charge and smiling. Nick had nothing but a look of terror on his face as they continued forward towards the desk.

She looked at them and smiled, “Hello Mr. Dorough, we have been expecting you” Her statement caught Nick off guard, but nothing seemed to totally surprise Howie anymore.

“Who is expecting us exactly?” He asked bending closer to the lady in red. She was beautiful, long blonde hair and stunning blue eyes. If he weren’t in such a situation he would totally be flirting with her right now. Going out with a worker from a tabloid. Talk about irony.

“That would be me” The woman who said that was standing directly behind both boys causing their heads to turn very quickly. She was about 40 years old and had her hair firmly placed in a bun. She was turning prematurely gray but there was no mistaking her for an old woman. Not by a long shot. She wore the word important on her sleeve. You could tell just by looking at her.

“Dorothy Wigton” She said extending her hand to first Nick than Howie, who recognized her name instantly as the person who replaced Bolten at the magazine.

After exchanging small pleasantries she looked over to Howie, “If you will follow me this way Mr. Dorough I’m sure Mr. Carter can get nice and cozy on a chair in the lobby until we are done”

Howie took a step forward and then stopped, “Why would Nick have to wait out here?”

“I was told my meting was to be with you and you alone”

“Who told you that? And how did you even know I was on my way?”

“Follow me and I’ll enlighten you” She said, “Maria, if anyone calls for me just take a message, Mr. Dorough and I will be a while” The blonde nodded and went about her business.

“Actually Miss Wigton…I’m not going anywhere unless Nicky can come too” Nick let out a breath that he had been holding ever since he thought he’d be trapped in this place alone.

She laughed, “Howie…it’s not like there are a pack of lions out here ready to eat him”

“Tabloid reporters are close enough for me” He said which could have been conceived as a joke if there was any humor on his face, but he was dead serious; so Dorothy huffed, “Fine, come along Mr. Carter”

Nick picked up his pace to catch up to both Howie and the woman. “Thanks man” He whipered into Howie’s ear as they headed towards the ladies office.

Dorothy Wigton however was not happy not at all.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
AJ sat on the floor of his room counting to sixty over and over again, trying to calculate how many minutes it was going to take for this tray of food that held his escape to come. He had gone over in his head about a thousand times all the reasons why leaving would not be a good idea. For starters, who was to say that person he talked to earlier could be trusted. Maybe she was just trying to set him up farther by having him caught leaving the premises.

Then what would happen if he were to get caught? Would he end up having those same treatments that the Nick guy was having? Shock therapy or whatever it was called?

In crisis situations like this, there was never a doubt in anyone’s mind of escaping. In all the movies and TV shows he had ever watched. You have your chance to leave….you take it.

But now as it was getting closer to time, he was really having second and third thoughts about it. He heard the people delivering dinner; he could tell by the squeaking wheels he heard slowly making their way down the hallway. From his calculations he was going to be the next one and sure enough his door opened and two ladies dressed in white walked in and placed his tray on the table, “Now eat up Alex. It’s roasted chicken tonight” One of them said smiling.

He didn’t even acknowledge them, just sat on the floor staring at the bed. Once they clicked the door closed he stood up and ran over to the tray knocking it over, not even caring he was leaving a mess behind. He had to make sure the key was there; and it was. Taped to the bottom of the tray. A key and a key card were both double taped to the tray. Right in the middle where no one could see them. AJ instantly began to sweat, his heart racing as he pulled the keys from their hiding spots and stared at them.

“Okay AJ, don’t be a wuss! This is for Kevin. He needs you and boy will he owe you big for this” He said as he took the keys and placed them in his slipper sock. He would attempt to leave during visiting hours. That was the best time. Too early and he would be noticed. Too late and it would be to obvious to the hospital personnel. So he would have to wait it out until he heard the bingo g the loud speaker announcing that visiting hours were almost over. He was going to do this and it was going to work.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Nick and Howie sat in the office. The same one Howie had visited earlier on when his quest to find the man jumping off the ledge was no more than idol curiosity. How quickly things had changed, if he could have taken all of what had happened back he would have. Totally ignoring the man crying and pretending that the jumping off of a ledge was just a figment of his imagination. How many people’s lives have changed forever because of his persistence?

“Okay I know you have some questions Mr. Dorough”

“Call me Howie” She smiled, “Okay fine Howie”

“Actually all we really need to know is where Kyle Bolten is. Do you know where we can find him?”

“Why do you need Mr. Bolten?” She sat up straight behind her desk and glanced from one boy to the other.

“We just need to talk to him; this is about a personal matter”

“You know we can’t hand out personal information Howie. It just isn’t done”

“How did you know we were coming? Um…I mean you said you were expecting us” Nick added which caused the older woman to give him an evil stare. Nick was becoming more and more convinced that underneath those hoity toity clothes she was wearing lived the essence of an old witch.

“That is unimportant...”

“Frankly Miss Wigton nothing is unimportant to us any longer”

“Like I told you on the phone when we had last spoken, Kyle no longer works here. He left that day and we haven’t heard from him since”

Howie sat back in his chair frustrated as he watched this woman. She definitely knew more than she was letting on and he couldn’t help but think that maybe if Nick wasn’t in the room she would be opening up more about things. “Miss Wigton…before you said you were only expecting me. Does that mean if Nick left the room you would be willing to tell me more?” Nick looked at the lady while biting on his lip. He didn’t like where this conversation was going.

She bent closer to Howie then, “Perhaps” is all she said before leaning back in her seat again, giving Nick a small smile.

“Whatever it is you have to say to Howie you can say to me too. We are in this together”

“I beg to differ honey. I really do” With that, what Nick was dreading most happened as Howie turned his way, “Buddy…you can wait right outside the door I promise I will be right there”

“But Howie…”

“Nicky it’s okay…” then he looked sternly over at Dorothy, “If he disappears or anything happens to him at all I will hold you totally accountable!”

“Relax…” She laughed, “I guess it’s true what they say about you guys. You are very protective of each other aren’t you?”

“We will be about two minutes, think you can manage? If you’d like I can get an armed guard to…” The sarcasm in her voice made Howie want to smack her. If she had any idea what kind of hell they had been through the past few days; but then again she might very well know wouldn’t she?

“Nicky…I promise I will be right out” Howie said in a soft loving voice, as if he was promising a three year old some ice cream.

“Okay D…but you better not try anything on him either!” Nick warned wagging his finger in the air at the lady.

“Oh goodness no, I would never dream of it; I would not want to contend with you!” She said winking at him.

They were nothing more than a joke to this lady.

Seconds later Nick left the room very hesitantly, once gone Howie became all business, “Okay what do you have to tell me?”

Dorothy Wigton leaned over her desk and handed Howie a piece of paper. “I don’t have anything to say…just a note to give you”

Howie grabbed for the note and read it. It was very short and sweet.

Meet me at the Lion’s Den

Come alone and all your questions will be answered.

K. Bolten

“When did he leave this here for me?” Howie asked as Dorothy stood up and went for the door, “I think your two minutes are up, we don’t want poor Nick having an anxiety attack do we?”

“But when did he…”

“It was nice meeting you Howie” She said extending her hand towards the confused Latino who kept staring at the note.

As he walked out the door he could feel her eyes staring at him from behind; most likely a smirk was on her face. He almost turned but didn’t when he once again couldn’t manage to find his friend sitting in the lobby.

“Well this is beginning to feel a little familiar” He said to himself taking a deep breath and heading for the front desk in hopes that maybe she had seen where Nick went off to this time.