The weekend was over all too quickly. The tour coaches were arranged, the first venue confirmed the gig- and rehearsing continued. However, the hurricane Floyd struck the lower regions of Florida, which meant that the first two gigs were to be the last two. There was much juggling with the schedules, and things were hectic for a few days. By that time, Rachael knew the whole setup like the back of her hand. And she got some vague ideas about the malicious calls that woke her client up in the middle of nights. However, she couldn’t get a through information- the people she asked either didn’t know or were hesitant to talk about it. Brian had told her that Nick didn’t talk about it until they dragged it out of him.

“When was the last time he received the call?” she asked.

He frowned thoughtfully. “Um, I think.... The one that we know about...was the night of the launch party. That just reminded me,” he said curiously, “Nick totally freaked out when he saw you last week.”

“Uh-huh,” Rachael answered absently.

“ You were at the club, weren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“He thought you were the stalker,” he said.

“So I noticed.” She replied dryly.

“Why were you there?” he persisted.

She gave him a flat gaze, then answered, “I was told to have a look at my future client before I decided anything.” She paused. “Come to think of it, I don’t think I was given the choice,” she said thoughtfully.

He looked dumbfounded. “Excuse me?”

“My boss was so eager for me to take this job that he literally forced me at gunpoint.” She said sardonically.

“You serious?” he asked incredulously.

“Yeah.” She said shortly.

He shut up after that.

It was the afternoon before the day of the tour. They got onto the tour buses and headed for the first venue- North Carolina. Nick looked like he was about to protest as he saw Rachael coming in with Marcus. Kevin shot him a look that clearly said don’t even dare. Nick retreated into a sulky silence. Rachael didn’t even glance at him. She was too busy scanning some documents, a frown on her face.

Things were a little uneasy during the ride- but except for the two silent people, the general mood was pretty good. And Nick was too excited about the tour to stay sulking for long.

Brian leaned over to him. “She’s quiet, isn’t she?” he whispered.

Nick shrugged.

“Would it help if I said she’s not as happy as you are of this?”

He shot a contemptuous glance at Rachael. “Really? And I suppose the double fee didn’t interest her either?”

Brian looked surprised. “The what?”

“Julian had to offer her a double before she agreed.” He said disgustedly.

“Well,” Brian breathed. “I didn’t know that.”

Nick snorted.

“She told me that her boss forced her at gunpoint to take the job.” Brian continued.

AJ turned around. “What’s this? What gunpoint?”

“Nothing.” Nick said shortly. She was probably sucking up to the others to make them at least friendly, he assumed. He glanced at her- she was deep in work, her legs crossed, absently twirling a pen between her fingers. She would jot some notes down now and then. And she never looked up. Nick realised that she was immersed in sheer, intense concentration, and idly wondered how on earth she managed that in an atmosphere like this. Just as quickly, he dashed the thought from his mind angrily.

Last night he had tried to take off the beeper- to his fury, he couldn’t. Unless he broke the chain, which was absolutely out of the question. So here he was- a victim of crank calls and reluctant for protection. Great, he thought bitterly. Where does that leave me?

He fell into a fitful doze, uncertain where this would lead to, but determined to continue the battle.

Author’s note- okay, break time! (cracking knuckles) Ow! That hurt. Anyways, what do you think of it so far? Stubborn little guy, ain’t he? (Well, not little as in little.. he’s pretty big... he’s big little...Ok, I’ll shut up now.
Chapter 7 is pretty short, cuz I had to join up the events... my biggest problem is joining things up... I pretty much got the events layed out, but don’t know how to join them up... is anyone following me? :)
But back to the story.... from here on everything twists and turns.... Nick gets more calls, but he refuse to tell Rachael about it (as I said he’s stubborn). Rachael finally explodes... she’s not a patient character to begin with. And the ONE thing she can’t abide is immature people. Mind you, I’m not calling Nick immature- it’s just that in her job she can’t afford to waste time.
I just realised that I’m telling you the whole story- (gasp) I’d better zip it now.
Read on.