Chapter 41
“You know if you don’t go to sleep then neither will
I...” Nick was feigning sleep and Aaron knew he was faking it. He was tired, he glanced at his clock that
showed him the glowing red digits “4:49.”
He was determined to stay awake until Nick fell asleep.
“You’ve been saying that all night,” Nick whined from
the other bed. Ah... at least he was now acknowledging the fact that Aaron knew
he was awake.
“Why won’t you sleep Nick?” Aaron asked sounding
exasperated, maybe Nick was trying to pretend he didn’t need sleep, but Aaron
wasn’t.
“I’m not tired,” he said lamely. Aaron groaned and slid off his bed to join
Nick in his. He tapped his brother’s
shoulder, “Nick you look like a member of the living dead. You’re tired. Are
you trying to stay up to make sure Mom and Dad can’t sneak off and leave
without you noticing?”
Nick blinked, Aaron had hit it on the nose, “How’d
you...?”
“You’re my brother Nick, I’ve known you all my life.
I can read you like a book...a picture book,” Aaron joked and grinned at Nick’s
sour expression.
“You cannot,” Nick argued, “Now get out of my bed.”
“I can too,” Aaron said sticking out his tongue and
giggling as he felt Nick trying to shove him out of bed. “Nicky, they’re not gonna let you go. Would you please just realize that and get
some sleep. You need it. Did you sleep at all when you were.... were with the
guys?”
Nick was quiet, and Aaron became concerned. He
shouldn’t have asked... he couldn’t help it, but he knew he shouldn’t have
asked. “Nick?”
“I tried to sleep, cause when you’re asleep you can
forget where you are... but every time I woke up it would hit me. Ya know, that
I was still there... And then I would... would have these dreams.....” he
paused and was quiet again for awhile before he finally answered Aaron, “No, I
didn’t sleep.”
“It’s ok now, Nicky. You’re here with me, and Mom and
Dad, and Angel, and BJ, and Leslie. You’ll never be in that place again.”
“I know, but when I close the eyes, I see the guys
down there. I see Brian, and AJ, and
Kevin, and Howie....”
“They’ll be ok,” Aaron said, “You’ll see...”
“I know I’ll see, cause I’m going with Mom and Dad to
the site. I wanna see!” Nick sat up in bed, “I think I hear them stirring in
there.” He slid out of bed and crept to
the adjoining door which was slightly opened. He opened it a little more to
peak inside, “They’re getting out of bed, both of them!”
Aaron groaned, “Nick leave them alone, come on!” He
got up and grabbed his older brother by his t-shirt, “Bed!”
“Bed my foot,” Nick grumbled, he pulled away from
Aaron and headed for the drawers. He
pulled out the pair of jeans he had worn the night before and put them on. Then
he went rummaging through the drawer for some socks. “Nick, what are you doing?”
“What’s it look like dummy, I’m getting dressed,”
Nick snapped. He pulled a sweatshirt over his head. Then he slipped into the bathroom to wash up.
Nick was gonna get his face cracked Aaron knew it.
Mom and Dad had no intention of letting him go anywhere, especially not to that
place.
Aaron listened to the gurgling sounds of water the
door to the room opened a bit and Bob stuck his head in. Probably just to check
on them, because he did a double take when he saw Aaron awake and sitting on
Nick’s bed. And Nick was nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s Nick?” Bob sounded panicked.
“He’s...”
“He’ s right here, so when are we leaving Dad?” Nick
came out of the bathroom and looked at his father intently.
“Nick, what are you all dressed up for? Go back to
sleep,” Bob hissed.
“Well I can’t very well sleep and go with you at the
same time, now can I?” Nick batted his eyes obnoxiously and took a step back as
his father’s face reddened.
“Nickolas Gene Carter, you get those clothes off, get
back in your pajamas, and go TO SLEEP! You are not leaving this hotel and
that’s final!” Bob yelled causing Jane to come into the picture.
“But that’s not FAIR! Mom, you said that we would
talk about this in the morning. Well it sure as HELL looks like you’re sneaking
out THIS fine morning... hoping I’d be asleep!
How the hell were we going to talk, huh? On the phone, while you were
already there?!” Nick was fuming, “It’s not fair!”
“Nickolas, lower your voice and watch your tone,”
Jane said in his direction, “You’ll wake the dead.”
Nick paled at the word “dead,” and Jane flinched,
“I’m not a kid anymore...”
“But you’re acting like one now,” Bob said flatly,
“Nick why can’t you see we’re doing this for your own good, your own safety,
your own health. You can’t leave.”
“But I don’t wanna do things for me Dad, Mom, why
can’t you see? They saved me.... They
knew I was in trouble and they sat around making a plan to get me out. I want
to be there for them. Maybe I can help... maybe I can tell the police something
that may be important.. I don’t know, just please let me go...Let me
go...” Tears fell from his eyes as he
released his testimony.
Tears fell from Jane’s eyes too. She stepped into the
room and collected Nick in her arms. She held him as he shook with sobs,
“Shh...”
Bob looked on with pain emanate on his face, he
looked back at Aaron for a second then back to Nick being smothered by his
mother’s embrace. Slowly Nick pulled
away from Jane and she wiped his tears from his face with her hands, “I’m sorry
Nicky, but...but...”
Nick groaned in barely held in frustration and
whirled away from his parents. He stood with his back to them and they
stared. “We’ll be back in the afternoon
Nicky. We’ll call if anything happens...”
Bob beckoned Aaron inside their room.
Aaron reluctantly entered the adjoining room shutting the door behind
him.
“Aaron, keep an eye on him. Make sure he doesn’t
leave the room, in fact go wake BJ,” Bob said.
The door opened again and Jane entered, “He says he hates me, Bob.”
Bob sighed, “Don’t take it personally Jane, he’s going
to hate us until he sees his friends again.”
“Well that’s not too comforting to know Bob,” Jane
said. She patted Aaron on his shoulder
as she walked by to her night stand.
She grabbed her purse, “Well come on then, if we’re going lets go.”
Aaron watched his parents leave, before closing the
door Bob poked his head back in, “Aaron, what did I tell you to do?”
“Oh yeah,” Aaron sighed and followed his parents out
the door into the hallway to go wake up BJ.
“Thank you,” Agent Parker hung up the phone and
turned to look gravely at the parents standing around him.
“What’s happened?” asked Paula.
“Um... there’s a slight hold up with the money...”
“WHAT?”
“I seems there’s a computer virus going around and
the amount was wired to Hawaii...”
“HAWAII?!!”
“Now, calm down. We will get it back, it is just
going to take a few more hours...”
“How long is a few more hours people?” Denise stepped
up to Parker, “Are a few more hours, 24, 48, 72? What is WRONG with you people! There are 4 young men trapped in that
building depending on us to get THEIR own money to them so they can be set
free! My son is going to be a hostage
for a longer time than necessary because you FOOLS shipped HIS money to Hawaii!
Well I bet there’s gonna be some pretty happy Hawaiian’s in an hour cause guess
what, they’re all gonna be rich. HOW DO YOU SHIP 7 MILLION DOLLARS TO THE WRONG
PLACE?!!”
“Madam, calm down. We are on top of the situation...”
“If you were that then tell me WHY THE HELL IS 7
MILLION DOLLARS GOING TO HAWAII?! Is my son in Hawaii? NO!”
“Madam if you do not calm down I will have to have
you escorted away from the proximity.”
Denise’s face reddened as she clenched her fists, but
she felt a hand on her arm. Hoke was
pulling her out of the agent’s face and pleading with her to calm down.
“I’ll calm down when that money gets here,” Denise
was grumbling to herself, “Idiots. I’d expect this kind of service from UPS,
not the FBI!”
An agent behind her giggled at her criticism and she
whirled around to give him a withering glare, “I do not find any of this funny
sir, so maybe you can explain to me what you are laughing about?”
The agent she was scolding was rather young, and his
ears were turning rather red.
“This is ridiculous,” Harold was muttering watching
Denise continue to give the FBI a tongue lashing.
“We should have just taken the Carters’ money,”
Jackie was murmuring to herself, but Harold heard her word, “We don’t need
money from a child Jackie.”
“Harold?” Jackie grabbed her husband’s arm, “Where are
we getting the money to get Brian and the others out? From Brian’s
accounts! How does that make us any
better than the Carters? They did the same thing! You are being a hypocrite!”
“It makes every difference. The Carters have direct
access their son’s account. They spend his money freely. Did you ever wonder how they got that
mansion, the boat...? Do you think they make that much money?” Harold fired at her.
Jackie flinched away, “Ok, ok Harold. You’ve made
your point. So they are wrong for what they’ve spent... but Nick didn’t mind,
and that’s what’s important to me!”
Harold groaned, “I am tried of discussing this
Jackie. Why should I have to explain myself to you? You’re supposed to
understand.”
“I understand you Harold.... I just can’t understand
your behavior,” Jackie said coldly, “Never before have I seen you behave in
such a rude manner, and I do not find it attractive.”
“J....”
“Let her go Dad,” Hal said taking his father’s arm
and watching his mother walk away, “You try to talk to her now and she’ll bite
your head off... with her teeth.”
Brendon sat in the kitchen sipping on a cup of Irish
Creme coffee. He stared at the covered
window in deep thought. Where would he
go when he got all his money? Europe? Australia? A plate of eggs and bacon was set down in front of him and he
began to stuff his face vigorously, he looked up at Ariella, “None for yourself
dear?”
Ariella shook her head quickly. She went to the fridge to retrieve the
carton of orange juice. She wore gloves.
Everyone in the house had worn gloves... no fingerprints could be left
on anything. She poured the juice in a
glass and set that beside him too, “I suppose in doing all this you think I’ll
take you with me?”
Ariella’s green eyes were large and hope-filled.
Brendon laughed heartily at her and spoke with food
in his mouth, “Baby, you’re a loser. When I am rich and top of my own social
class, I cannot be associating with your type. You’re the daughter of a whore
my dear... I just cannot do that to my new status quo. When we get out of here
baby, you’ll be on your own.” He took her face and began to run his hands along
it, “I’ll find better lays than you in Paris, Rome, Sydney...” He laughed as
tears spilled down her face, “Why darling when we’re free of this place, maybe
you can go find your precious Nick Carter... maybe he’ll take you in. Let you sleep on his porch... Pop stars are
notorious for having many lovers. Maybe you can be Wednesday...”
Ariella pulled her face away from him and backed out
of the kitchen leaving Brendon alone with himself and his megalomaniac
thoughts.
“Damn it! Is there anything else on this TV besides
Disney?” Nick was asking hitting random buttons on the remote and coming up
with only Disney movies, “I never knew Disney made so many movies.” He stopped
in his remote-rampage and suddenly threw the remote on the floor, “Who had the
TV put on child lock?”
Angel and Aaron looked up from their game of checkers
and grinned at him devilishly.
“You little brats. If I’m stuck in here babysitting
you, then I should at least be able to watch what I want!”
“Babysitting us?” Angel questioned raising an
eyebrow.
“I think you got that one backward big bro,” Aaron
laughed completing his sister’s train of thought.
Nick scowled at them both and kicked the remote
across the room, “BJ!”
The door opened and BJ’s head poked into the room,
“Yes brother dear?” BJ’s voice was dripping with sarcasm. Nick’s continuous whining was really
beginning to get to them.
“BJ, this is ridiculous! I just wanna watch the news.
If I can’t be there for the guys, can’t I at least see what’s going on?”
“Nick, we’ve already gone over this. It’ll just upset
you, and we all know what happens when you get upset.”
“It happened once BJ!” Nick was pacing, “I was
scared. But this is driving me crazy!
I’m getting more upset arguing with you over this than what I would see on the
TV!”
“Nick calm down ok,” BJ was running her hands through
her long blond hair, “We can watch... a movie. Why do we have to watch the
news?”
“Watch a movie... HOW THE HELL MANY TIMES CAN A
PERSON WATCH THE LITTLE MERMAID??” Nick’s chest was heaving and he was
practically pulling his hair out.
“Nick, ok.... Ok. We won’t watch the Mermaid, we’ll
watch...”
“If you say Pocahontas I’ll scream,” Nick said in a
low voice. He fell back onto the bed,
“This SUCKS!”
BJ sighed and watched her brother’s distress, “We can
play a game...”
“BJ, Mom and Dad will never have to know. Just get a
car and we can go down there and blend with the bystanders, something. Please
BJ,” Nick stared at her with large pleading eyes.
“Nick, no. Do you know how dangerous that would
be? What if someone recognized you?”
“I’ll wear a disguise...”
“No, Nick.
You’re sick, and you’re staying inside,” BJ looked final. She tossed the remote back at him, “I bet
The Lion King’s on.”
Nick mimicked her bitterly and threw the remote back
on the floor.