The Art of Deception

The Art of Deception
Part Two



Nick had the cab driver stop at the park. Paying the fare, he told the driver to go ahead and not wait. Nick took his cell phone so he figured he would call a cab for the return trip back to the hotel.

Walking into the center of the deserted park, Nick found a bench and waited for this person to show up. He was wearing his sunglasses and a ball cap, so he figured this person wouldn't spot him right away and be scared off.

After roughly 15 minutes of waiting, "Paul" showed up, dressed as he described to Nick. Although his body was seething with anger, Nick managed to keep his cool and stayed sitting on the park bench for a few moments until he knew that he had his emotions in check.

"Hey, you looking for Sherry?" Nick called out as he approached Paul from behind.

Paul whirled around, his height was equal to Nick's. "Yeah, who are you, her brother?"

"Worse," Nick replied flatly.

Paul fidgeted, he appeared nervous and kept looking over his shoulder.

"So you're Nick Carter's body guard?" Nick questioned.

"Yeah," Paul lied.

Nick laughed sarcastically. "Funny, I don't know you."

"Well, um, I just got assigned, only been working for about a week or so," Paul lied again. "How would you know me anyways, what are you, in the band or something?"

"You could say that." As Nick was speaking, he took off the sunglasses to confront the poser face to face.

"Hey, you look a lot like Nick Carter," Paul stated.

"That's because I am Nick Carter, dumb ass," Nick replied.

"Holy shit, this is incredible!" Paul gushed.

"Holy shit is right. I know what you've been doing, leading poor innocent girls online to believe that you are me, making promises you can't keep and for god sakes, what the hell are you doing meeting them? That is just sick. You need to stop this now or I will press charges for defamtion of character. Who the hell knows what else you've been doing," Nick fired off at Paul.

"Like you could do anything, pal," Paul sneered.

"Remember, you emailed Sherry? That was me, moron," Nick replied. "Just stop what you're doing and quit playing these games."

As Nick tured to leave, he felt a sharp blow to the back of his head. As he reached up to protect his head, his knees gave out and he fell onto the grass, unconscious.

*~*~*~*
Maria kicked off her slippers as she sat down in front of her computer. The conversation with the one guy last night left her shaken a little and totally confused as who to believe was Nick. She got to know the first one really well and was in love with his online personality. This other Nick was kind of abrasive and rude as far as she was concerned.

Logging onto her email account, she scanned the listing of emails she received. There were two listed from Nick. One with the email addy she recognized. The other email had to have been from the latest Nick. Maria wasn't sure how this person got her email addy. Maria opened the email from the Nick she knew and loved:

Hey Sweetheart,
Loved our chat yesterday. I really wish I could blow off work tonight, but you know, duty calls. It really sucks because I will be gone from 2:00 on and probably won't be able to log on again until about midnight after the show. If you're around then, I promise to talk.
Love ya lots,
Nick

Maria smiled as she read the email. This had to be Nick Carter, he knew everything that was going on with the concert. No one would deliberately make those types of comments if they didn't know the schedule, she reasoned. After reading around the other Nick's email, Maria finally opened the letter and read it.

"I can't believe this person is going to these lengths to get me to believe he's Nick Carter," Maria sighed. She debated on deleting it, but then decided against it. She felt that Nick may want to read the email from this person.

*~*~*~*


Brian returned to the hotel room he and Nick shared after spending the morning with Leighanne. Placing his shopping bags on the bed, he looked around the room for a note that Nick should have left, telling him what his plans were for the day. When he didn't see one, he checked in with Kevin to see if Nick was down there.

"Nope, haven't seen him at all this morning," Kevin replied. "I hope to god he's not out messing around with AJ, we do have a show tonight."

"No, Nick was in the room when I left this morning," Brian explained. "I guess I'll call them and see if he's down there. Thanks Kevin."

Brian hung the phone up and immediately dialed AJ and Howie's room.

"umm?" AJ mumbled. Brian could tell that he had been sleeping.

"AJ, this is Brian," Brian spoke the words slowly to make sure AJ had a chance to wake up. "Have you seen Nick today by chance?"

AJ coughed and then cleared his throat. "n-no."

"Is Howie there?"

AJ leaned up on his elbows looking around the room for Howie. He was just about to tell Brian no when Howie entered the room. AJ held the receiver out at Howie.

"Phone....Brian," AJ held the phone in the air and when Howie took it, he collapsed back into the bed.

"Howie, tell me you've seen Nick today," Brian anxiously asked.

Howie sat down on his bed. "No, I haven't seen Nick all morning, why?"

"I left this morning for breakfast and he was still sleeping, and it's close to noon and Nick is gone and he didn't leave a note," Brian explained.

Howie chuckled at Brian's panic. "Bri, don't worry, we're talking about Nick here.

"I'm checking to see if Jay left, Nick wouldn't leave the hotel without security," Brian stated.

"I saw Jay in the hall on the way back to my room, he hasn't been with Nick this morning either. Don't worry Brian, Nick will be back, we have sound check at 3:00, he'll be back," Howie tried to calm Brian's nerves.

"Well, he better be," Brian replied.

*~*~*~*~*


Looking down at Nick's body on the grass, Paul realized that he had two options. He could take Nick with him to get medical attention or he could just leave him.

Paul grabbed Nick by the ankles and dragged his body over towards some thick bushes. Once he was sure that Nick's body was obscured from view, Paul looked around the park quickly to see if anyone was around.

He took one last look at Nick laying there, blood staining his head from the blow.

"Shit, I hope I didn't kill him," Paul mumbled and the he turned and ran off, leaving Nick to fend for himself.

*~*~*~*


"Okay, now it's time to start to panic," Brian stated as he paced backstage. "It's 5:00 and no Nick. I've tried paging him and calling his cell phone....nothing."

"What are we gonna do? We should cancel the show now," Kevin suggested.

"We can't, it's too late to notify the public, people are already out there waiting to be let in," Howie reasoned.

"I think someone should call the police and report Nick as a missing person," AJ announced as he stood up from his chair. AJ stopped on of the roadies on their way past the group. He told the man to get Jay, Nick's personal bodyguard.

"Where did he go? What could have been so damned important that he didn't tell anyone?" Brian thought out loud.

"I don't know Brian, but he'll turn up, he always does," Kevin consoled.

"I'm not sure about it this time. Something just doesn't feel right about this," Brian replied.

~*~*~*~*~


Nick woke up to raindrops splashing on his face. As he tried to sit up, the pain in his head caused him to gasp. He gently put his hand to where the pain was and quickly jerked it back when he felt the blood.

"Oh shit," Nick mumbled as he saw the blood coating the palm of him hand. He wondered where he was as he looked around the park. Nothing looked familiar to him.

His cell phone started ringing on his belt. Nick picked it up and stared at it. He had no idea who was calling him, more importanly, he was clueless as how to turn the cell phone on to answer it.

Forgetting about the phone, Nick slowly stood up, first getting on his hands and knees and then using the branches of the bush for leverage, he pulled himself up to a standing position. After taking a few faltering steps backwards, Nick headed towards the gazebo that was in the center of the park. He knew that at least there he would be sheltered from the rain.

It took him a few minutes to reach his destination. Once inside the shelter, Nick leaned against the wall and took it all the way down to the ground. The walking caused the blood to start flowing from the wound in his head and Nick started feeling dizzy and tired. He knew for some reason it would be important to stay awak, but the more he faught it, the harder it was. His head bowed forward, the drops of blood splattered on the wooden floor.

~*~*~*~*~


The small hotel room ws cramped with the four remaining members of the band waiting for some word on Nick from the police or Nick himself.

Brian paced back and forth, the worry evident on his face and in his bloodshot eyes. The concert the night before was one of the worst shows he had done. He knew the crowd was cheated, there wasn't anything any of them could do.

Brian dialed in Nick's pager number once again. Kevin watched his younger cousin and sadly shook his head.

"Brian, if Nick had it on him, he would have called you back by now."

"But there's always that one chance Kevin, he might have had it turned off and now it's back on," Brian reasoned. Finishing with the pager message, Brian punched in the numbers to Nick's cell phone.

In the park, nine year old Lexie Stevens was playing softball with her best friend Amanda Webb. The ball went over Lexie's head and under some bushes.

"Oh, thanks a lot, Amanda," Lexie cried out as she sprinted off towards the bushes. Just as she bent over to get the ball, Nick's cell phone rang. Lexie picked the phone up.

"Hey! Look what I found! It's a green cell phone! Cool!" Lexie said as she waved it in the air while it was ringing.

"Ain't you gonna answer it?" Amanda asked.

They stood there for a few moments staring at the ringing phone. Lexie finally shrugged her shoulders and hit the talk button.

"Hello?"

"Who is this?!"

Lexie held the phone back away from her ear. The person on the other end of the phone was loud and demanding. She was read to set the phone back down onto the grass when the voice on the phone sounded a littler calmer.

"Hello? Please... is anyone still there?"

"Y-yes?" Lexie softly spoke into the receiver.

"Is Nick there with you?"

"No sir," Lexie answered, puzzled.

"Who are you?"

"Momma said never to talk to strangers," Lexie replied.

Frustrated, Brian raked his hand through his hair. The guys sat quietly, holding their breaths as Brian talked to the person on Nick's cell phone.

"Can you tell me where you found the phone?"

"In the park."

"Was there anyone by the phone?"

"Nope."

"Can you tell me where this park is?"

"Nope, cause you are a stranger and Momma said not to tell strangers where you live and stuff."

Brian wanted to scream out in frustration. He needed to find out where this girl was to at least start looking for Nick.

"Sweetheart, I need you to take the phone to your Mommy and tell her to take it to the police station and tell them you found the phone. Can you do that for me, please?" Brian asked calmly.

Lexie nodded her head in agreement.

"Honey? Did you hear me?"

"Yessir."

"Okay, you have to speak cause I can't see you. Will you take the phone to your momma and go to the police station for me? Brian asked again.

"Yessir."

"Okay, thank you."

Brian waited for her to reply but was only answered with static and then the phone going dead. As he closed his cell phone, he quietly prayed that Nick would be alright.

*~*~*~*~*


Maria sat at her computer, sorting through her email. She was hoping that Nick would get online. She had read an article in the morning newspaper about last night's concert and was concerned when she read that Nick was a no-show because of illness.

Suddenly, one of Nick's screen names flashed on Maria's buddy list. Normally she would give Nick a few minutes to get situated before she messaged him, but she was too anxious to wait.

MariaB: Are you okay?

KidNicky: Sure, why?

MariaB: Because you weren't at the concert last night. Are you sure you're ok?

KidNicky: Oh that, yeah, I was sick with like the flu or something. It hit me all of a sudden and I couldn't do the show last night. I guess the audience was pretty bummed about it.

MariaB: Well, I think I would be too. Hey I got an email yesterday from this guy that said he was you.

KidNicky: oh? Did he do a good job?

Paul was starting to get nervous. Now Nick Carter was dipping into his online friends. They must never know he met up with him in that park.

*~*~*~*~*


Nick woke up to a dull, throbbing in his head. He grabbed onto the railing next to him and slowly dragged himself to a standing position. The sunlight hurt his eyes as he looked around the park and to try and figure out where he was.

Feeling dizzy, Nick slumped back down onto the floor of the gazebo. He lost consciousness again, but was woken up by a poking in his side. Nick opened his eyes to find an elderly woman, dressed in mismatched dirty clothing. Her face was dirty and her hair was matted. She was holding a walking stick in her hand and started poking Nick again in the side.

“What cha doing, boy?” the old woman quizzed Nick.

“I... I dunno,” Nick softly replied.

“Where ya from?”

Nick looked at her and thought for a moment. He knew he was from someplace warm, but where? “I... I’m not sure, I think Alaska?”

“Alaska? What cha doing here?”

Nick shrugged his shoulders. That was question he was not sure of how to answer.

“My name’s Maggie,” the woman said as she offered a boney, dirty hand. Nick took it and gave it a slight squeeze. “That’s a sand handshake on ya boy. What’s yer name?”

Nick stared at the old woman. He knew he was someone that was well known but he couldn’t come up with his name. Once again, he shrugged his shoulders.

“Ya don’t know yer name, eh? Well ya can’t walk around without a name, how about I call ya Mike. I had a boy once named Mike,” Maggie rambled.

“Mike is okay I guess,” Nick replied, barely audible.

“If yer used to living in Alaska, this cold spell we’re having must be like a heatwave to ya,” Maggie commented as she rubbed her arms.

“Um.... actually, I’m a little cold,” Nick replied.

Maggie offered Nick her hand. “Well then, we can’t have that now, can we? Come on, I’ll take ya down to my place.”

Once Nick got to his feet, he was overcome with a wave of dizziness and stepped backwards, the railing stopping him from falling.

“Easy there, Mike, why don’t ya take my stick.”

NIck accepted the walking stick and leaned on it heavily as he followed Maggie from the gazebo towards the wooded pathway leading away from the park.

*~*~*~*~*


Maria laid her biology book open on the living rom floor. She dreaded studying for the chapter test that the teacher was giving on one-celled animals tomorrow. Maria knew that she had to discipline herself and study before she went to the computer to check her emails and possibly chat with Nick again.

Turning on Mtv, Maria headed straight to the kitchen grabbing a bag of potato chips and a soda. She laid down on the living room floor and cranked the volume on the television while it was playing the new Bon Jovi video.

Suddenly, the words that were spoken on the tv made Maria’s heart drop.

Police in Raleigh, North Carolina are searching for Backstreet Boy Nick Carter who has been reported as a missing person. Carter was not at a concert appearance yesterday and the crowd was told that he had taken ill. He has been missing since early yesterday morning. No foul play has been indicated as of yet. Calls to the Backstreet camp or the North Carolina State Police have not been returned.

‘Missing since yesterday morning,’ Maria thought to herself. “He couldn’t have been missing since then, I talked with him online this morning. They must have this all wrong.”

Maria logged onto her computer and brought up her email account. There were no new emails from Nick, which was what she was hoping to discover in a way. She looked at the screen names of people online in her buddy list. None of the names that Nick used were indicated as being online, which again was what Maria had hoped to see.

She opened up the email again that the other Nick had send her and re-read it again. She was beginning to wonder if maybe this poser Nick had something to do with Nick’s disappearance. On a whim, Maria picked up the phone and dialed the police.

“Yes, this is Maria Lewis and I was wondering if it is possible to track someone down by an email?”

“Yes it is, but the modem is where the information is held and we would have to take the modem to the forensics lab, why are you asking this?” the female voice on the other end of the phone asked.

Maria suddenly felt silly about calling the police in the first place. Her first thought was to hang the phone up, but she decided against it, knowing that the police would already have her number on their screen.

Maria closed her eyes tightly as she spoke. “I... um, well, I think I have an email from someone that may be involved in Nick Carter’s disappearance.

*~*~*~*~*


The old woman led Nick to a secluded, wooded area along a river. A shelter had been made from layered cardboard boxes and old blankets. Tree stumps were placed around a fire pit and there were boxes stacked neatly off beside the shelter with different items in them.

"Ain't much, but it's home," Maggie said as she turned to face Nick. "Hey, Mike, yer bleedin." She scurried quickly towards the boxes and came back with a flowered purple rag. She ripped it into several strips, taking the first one down to the river and dipping it into the water.

"Here, let me wipe yer face off a bit," Maggie said as she gently swabbed the side of Nick's face. Taking the next strip of cloth, she laid it across his forehead and tied it in the back into a knot. "There, that should keep it covered," Maggie said as she sized up Nick and her handiwork."

"Thanks," Nick replied.

"I bet yer hungry, eh Mike?"

Nick thought about what she asked for a moment. He decided that he was more tired than hungry. "I'm really tired, I'd rather go to sleep than eat."

"Okay Mike, hows about you go lay down on this here bed," Maggie gestured inside the shelter towards a pile of blankets on the floor, "while I go scrounge us up something to eat."

Nick gave a slight nod, indicating to Maggie he heard and then followed her directions and crawled into the shelter and laid down.

*~*~*~*~*


The ringing cell phone drew the attention from AJ's rambling on that Nick was playing games with them.

Brian picked up the phone and read the screen. "It's from Nick's cell!" he exclaimed excitedly.

All eyes in the room were focused on Brian.

"Hello?" Brian asked with a tone of uncertainty in his voice.

"Sergeant Dan McKay, Raleigh Police Department, who is this?" the man's voice boomed at Brian.

"Brian Littrell, sir."

"Ok Mr. Littrell, you need to come down to the police station to claim your cell phone. Two young girls said that they had spoken with you and that you told them to come to the police and tell them where you found it," the police officer stated.

"That is Nick Carter's cell phone," Brian replied.

"Then have Mr. Carter come and pick the phone up," the officer snapped.

Brian sighed heavily out of frustration, raking a hand through his hair. AJ, sensing Brians frustration, reached a hand out towards the phone, indicating that he wished to speak to the policeman. Brian turned his back away from AJ.

"That's all Nick would need is for you to piss the police off, AJ," howie reprimanded, smacking AJ in the shoulder.

AJ plastered a fake smile on his face and settled back into the couch, folding his arms across his chest.

As Brian disconnected his cell phone, he told the group that the little girls had found the phone at Greenbush Park and there was no sign of Nick or anyone else in the park. He also told them that the police would be going to the park to conduct a search for Nick.

"What the hell are we doing, sitting around here? I say we go to that park and help look for Nick," AJ suggested.

*~*~*~*


Maggie noticed all the commotion with the police in the park. The police always made her nervous. They had a tendancy to pick on the river residents and she knew that the police were nothing but trouble in her book. She avoided her usual path down to the river and walked past the park towards the woods beside the park.

She arrived at her shelter finding Nick laying where she had left him. The sound of rustling paper bags woke Nick from his sleep.

"Hey! I hit pay dirt Mike, lookie!" Maggie said as she held the brown garbage bag out in front of her. "They had just taken these out to the trash bins so it's fresh. Pick out what cha want, okay?"

At first Nick was repulsed by the thought of eating food from a dumpster, but when he looked into the bag, he found an assortment of McDonald's food, still wrapped in the original wrappers just like when you buy them.

"It's the stuff that they cain't sell cause it's past the time," Maggie commented.

Nick picked out a cheeseburger and noticed the warmth of the food. "Wow, this is still warm," he mentioned as he unwrapped the burger.

After they had finished getting their fill, Maggie took the garbage sack and folded it up neatly with the remaining food. Sticking the bag in a corner, she told Nick that this was for their supper later tonight.

"Hey Maggie, who's the kid?"

Nick turned and saw an older man with a dirty gray beard standing stooped over in front of them.

"Howdy Floyd, this here is Mike," Maggie said as she nodded in Nick's direction.

Nick gave Floyd a slight smile and a nod.

"Did you see all the commotion up in the park?" Floyd asked as he pulled a tree stump up near the fire pit.

"Yeah, them damn cops anyways," Maggie replied.

"Yep, I heard they were looking for a boy, friend's say he's missing," Floyd continued, pulling out a cigar. He offered a cigar to Nick and to Maggie. Maggie took the cigar while Nick declined the offer.

"No thanks, I don't smoke .....at least I don't think I do."

Floyd and Maggie kept grumbling about the police snooping around in "their park" and Nick never put two and two together thinking it was him they were looking for.

~*~*~*~


Maria carried her computer’s modem into the police station. The heavyset officer sitting at the front desk eyed her warily, glancing up at her as if she was an interruption to his day.

Maria was nervous and uncertain about how to go about explaining why she had the computer modem with her. She decided to skip the pleasantries and just jump into the situation.

The police officer appeared to look as if he was going to laugh at Maria. She knew deep down that this did seem odd, but she figured she had nothing to lose by bringing the modem into the police station. If Nick was in trouble, she wanted to make sure he got the help he needed.

“I told them that I have an email from someone that was posing as Nick Carter and mentioned in the email about having to go to a park and meet up with him here in Raleigh. The person I spoke with said that I needed to bring in my computer’s modem and then they would be able to trace the email’s source and sender.

Finally, after a few moments, the officer spoke.

“Do you remember who you talked to?”

“Oh shoot, it was Francis or Francheck? I don’t remember,” Maria apologized.

“Francherea? Would it be Sergeant Franchera?”

“YES!” Maria shouted and then quickly lowered her voice. “Yes, that’s the name.”

The police officer stood up and started to walk away from Maria. “Wait right here.”



*~*~*~*


Brian sat opposite of Nick's hotel bed, staring at the suitcase, clothes laying all over the bed, just the way Nick left it.

"Come on Brian, they're doing all they can, there's nothing more we can do sticking around here," Kevin coaxed.

Kevin started picking Nick's things up and shoving them into the dark green duffel bag on the floor. Brian sat on the bed and stared at Kevin. To Brian, taking Nick's things and moving them made the realization that he may bever come back more obvious.

Brian picked up the Nintendo Game Boy and held it in his hands. Kevin was now holding onto both of Nick's suitcases and made one last sweep of the room with his eyes.

"You ready to go, Brian? The bus is waiting for us," Kevin asked.

Brian sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the computer game.

"Bri?" Kevin touched his shoulder.

Dazed, Brian looked up. "Huh?"

"I said are you ready to go?"

"Oh.... um, yeah," Brian replied, walking towards the door.

*~*~*~*~*


Sergeant Franchera re-read the results of the investigation once again. The searches that had been done over the past week turned up empty. It was as if Nick Carter had disappeared without a trace. The modem that the girl had brought in had no specific leads.

One of the emails written was off of a laptop computer, a model that had been purchased in Cologne, Germany. The other email was from a basic computer, purchased in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Both phone links were still inconclusive and the FBI was now running tests on that particular trail.

*~*~*~*~*~*


Nick walked towards the fire pit with an armful of brush he had gathered from the woods. He laid it down next to the pit.

"Maggie, is this enough?" Nick asked as he stood up.

"Fer now, it looks okay Mike," Maggie replied.

Nick squatted down next to the fire pit. Taking the slate stones and some paper, he started the fire the way Maggie had taught him. Within seconds, the spark had ignited the paper and soon smoke was rising.

Content witht he fire he started, Nick settled back onto a tree stump that was next to the pit. He had been living down by the river with Maggie for the past week. Nick couldn't remember his life being any different before that. Maggie had kept Nick down at the river while he was recuperating. She sate down on a tree stump opposite of Nick.

"Well Mike, do you want to come with me to find our lunch today? I think yer probably up to it now," Maggie said. She looked Nick over as she waited for his response.

Taking a stick, Nick poked at the fire. Maggie watched Nick play with the fire. His hair was now darker from being greasy, his face was smudged with dirt and his hands were dirty. The clothes she had found him in were now covered with different layers that Maggie had found that thad been discarded in trash receptacles.

"Sure Maggie," Nick replied, glancing up.

Part 3

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