Chapter 2
“Get up,” a rough voice barked at AJ from the side of
his bunk. AJ was on the bottom and he
listened to hear the sounds of Howie rustling around on top and heard
none. “I said GET UP!” The male’s voice
bellowed again, this time striking AJ with the cool end of a hard object.. Not a hard object, a gun, AJ hastily
corrected himself as he woke up for real and realized for the first time that
this person trying to wake him up wasn’t one of the guys, and it surely wasn’t
Max. AJ slowly crawled out of bed
feeling the man grab his upper arms roughly and yanking him the rest of the way
out. AJ’s head hit the wooden bunk bed
frame, “Ow!”
“Shut up!” The man was dressed in black, black
encasing his body and his face. Only
his eyes could be seen, but in the darkness AJ couldn’t even decipher their
color. “What’s going on? Who are you? Where are..?”
“Shut up!” was hollered at him again. AJ felt himself being propelled forcefully
to the front of the bus. As they
reached the living room area AJ began to make out faint silhouettes of his
friends, and more strangers dressed in Ninja suits. This was too surreal! AJ
began to wonder crazily if he was still asleep, was he having some weird
post-pepperoni and pineapple dream? He
had heard stories about those. When he
felt the cool butt of a weapon again being pressed into the small of his back,
he knew for sure that this wasn’t a dream.
“What are you gonna do with us?” AJ heard Brian’s
shaky voice asking. He was told to
‘shut up’ just as AJ had been. The five
Backstreet Boys basically stood in silence as the Ninjas silently discussed
their next synchronized move. He heard
the noises of cloth being stretched, then he saw the blackness cover his eyes
like an eclipse, and felt the pressure in his head as the cloth was tied. He had been blind folded. Everyone had been quiet and cool so far,
until the blindfolds... AJ heard Nick
cry out. Poor kid, hated the dark... He
heard the men or women... He decided to go back to designating them as Ninjas,
reprimanding him to be quiet. He heard
Kevin’s low voice, though unsteady, but protective shouting at them to leave
Nick alone. He heard a grunt, that had
to have been Kevin’s. He heard Brian
cry out for him and felt his pulse quickening.
“Damn it Brody, they are supposed to be delivered
unharmed!” A female voice snapped. A
girl? One of the Ninjas was a
girl? “Move!” was barked from behind AJ
and he felt himself being shoved forward then he felt the cool breeze bristle
his goatee and tingle across his bare arms as he was led down the stairs of the
bus. He felt the cool roughness of the
pavement beneath his feet, they were must still be on the street... The
question was, what happened? How did
these people get on the bus without them knowing? “Stand here.” AJ felt relief as the barrel of the gun was removed
from his back. He almost sagged with
relief. The only thing between that gun
and his skin was a thin cotton undershirt... That wouldn’t protect him. He felt smooth hands, maybe feminine hands
grabbing hold of his wrists and binding them behind his back tightly with some
sort of cord or rope.
By then the reality of the situation was sinking
in... AJ could feel a fine tremor running throughout his body. He felt his body break out into a cold sweat,
his stomach was churning. He felt his
knees buckling. These people had guns,
guns.. He was being kidnapped. He was blindfolded, standing out in the
street in his underwear freezing his butt off, with his hands tied behind his
back and... As his body slowly let itself crumple and fall to his knees on the
pavement, he could still hear Nick’s hysterical pleas, “Just take it off,
please... I won’t look at anything, I’ll close my eyes, just take it off!”
He could hear some sniffling as if someone were crying. He thought his head would explode. He couldn’t hear any other noises that night
but the panicked voices of his friends his own heavy breathing, and the
pounding in his head. Rough hands
seized him from the ground and hauled him to his feet. His knees gave way again and he was shoved
forward. He stumbled and felt his knees
scrape the concrete. He bit his lips on
his cry of pain. He was yanked up
roughly again and felt the man’s gloved hands on his head lowering it. He was being pushed inside a warm enclosed
space. He felt the cloth beneath him as
he fell inside. It was a car. He was shoved against the cool glass pane of
a window. He sat stiffly trying to
catch his breath, then he heard Brian’s voice cry out and felt a body being
shoved into him. AJ could hear Brian
panting and praying under his breath, “Who is this?” Brian paused his praying
to ask.
“AJ,” AJ answered, surprised that his voice even
worked. He grunted as his body was
forced against the window again, and he heard Brian’s grunt of pain as someone
was thrown into him. Howie’s voice
could be heard, uttering curses, “Who’s here?”
“AJ and Brian,” Brian said weakly, “I think Kevin’s
hurt, and Nicky’s still freaking out.”
They could hear Nick’s pleas and then the sound of a
gun going off, twice... There was silence..
“Please God no, please God no...” Brian was praying in a whiny pitch.
“Nick?!” Howie began to scream, “Nick!”
There was nothing...