Selling Out

By: Maple Beanie

Chapter 1:

In a dimly lit room in some ‘abandoned’ building 33 year old Ray Adams stood in front of local lone shark Tony Collins, surrounded by several of the latter’s men. Ray was an extremely big guy, in both height and weight, particularly compared to the men that were currently surrounding him, in his particular line of work he almost had to be, and you would think that alone would intimidate the numerous men around him, but instead, Ray himself was the one that stood nervously waiting for the man in front of him to acknowledge his presence.

Several of Tony’s men had shown up just an hour earlier telling the big man that his presence was required and when Ray tried to refuse stating that he was currently on duty the men did not hesitate in showing him the guns each one of them had in their possession and quickly escorted him to where their boss’s workplace was located.

“Well?…” The man in front of him finally asked

“I’m sorry Tony but I still don’t have your money…. I’m working on it and if you’d just give me maybe another month or two I’ll for sure have it ready for you by then and even with some interest probably…” Ray started babbling but was quickly interrupted

“Raymond, Raymond, Raymond, you mean to tell me that you are one of the bodyguards to one of the biggest groups out there right now and you don’t have a measly ¾ of a million dollars handy at any given time….? You swore to me that you were good for the loan and it would be nothing to pay me back…” Noting the shocked look of the bodyguard in front of him Tony had to chuckle slightly.

“Ah yes Raymond I know all about your job including who you work for and how much they make a year.”

“But…”

“I’ll tell you what Raymond I’ll make a deal with you… you either get me my money or you bring me at least one of those kids so that I can ransom him to pay for your debt…”

“I can’t…”

“The minute his ransom is paid, and not any sooner I might add… I will erase your debt completely and that will be the end of our acquaintance.”

“How can you ask me to do that? Those kids are like my little brothers! I can’t just sell them out like that!”

“Well it is either that Raymond or well I’m afraid I’ll be forced to have you killed.”

A look of fear, realization and defeat quickly passed over the larger man’s features as the words just spoken sunk in.

“Can I at least have a couple weeks to think about it? Try to get your money another way?” Ray asked hopefully.

“Certainly Raymond, I’m not a completely unfair man I’ll give you two weeks, but be warned in no more than two weeks time one of three things will happen.

You will pay me my money,

You will bring me one of those nice boys you guard, or

You will die.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

He had been walking aimlessly about for a couple hours thinking of his wife and children, how that he couldn’t just leave them… his children were so small only babies… But the boys whose lives were entrusted to him were also like a family to him, they were his family away from home. How could he just go and change all of that? But there was no way he would be able to get that kind of money in just two weeks it was impossible…

So wrapped up in his thoughts Ray hadn’t even realized that he had unconsciously made his way back to the venue where the guys were playing until he had stumbled into the Nsync toy room and came across the five guys wrapped up in what appeared to be a wrestling match and couldn’t help but smile at the sight in front of him.

The boys were all in one big pile, slightly pink from exertion and laughing so hard, still going at it as the bodyguard watched. Noticing that one of the boys had managed to sneak out of the fight and sit off to the side watching the spectacle with a smile on his face. However the others would have none of that.

“Hey guys! Looks like Jace isn’t having enough fun!” Chris exclaimed to the other 3 members of Nsync

“Ya JC don’t you want to be part of the excitement?” Justin added

“I have been, but now I’m resting in case you three idiots have forgotten we have to perform in a couple hours, it is time to save energy not spend it.” The Brown haired man replied with a smile.

“I don’t know I think he needs to have some more fun what do you guys think?” Joey asked, evil smirks spreading across the four faces across from JC.

“Oh no you stay away from me!” He exclaimed attempting to back up as his band mates approached him.

“Attack!” they all yelled and pounced on their brother, his small skinny frame mixed with the four of them working together allowing them to easily pin him to the ground and sit on him keeping him in place.

“Get off me!” JC said while trying unsuccessfully to hold his laughter.

“Oh hey Ray, where have you been, haven’t seen you in couple hours.” Lance said after looking up and finally seeing the bodyguard.

“Oh you know out and about Lance, making sure everything is cool… So it looks like you guys have been keeping yourselves amused…” Ray added with a smirk… “Care to get off the skinny man before you crush him?”

A chorus of four “Nopes” and one “Yes” rang out which set the bunch off into another fit of laughter.

“Ok, but JC here is right you guys should start thinking about conserving energy now…” Ray said knowing that there was no chance of that… “I’ll see you guys in a bit” he added with a chuckle and exited the room, smiling as he heard the laughter and noise pick up again. “Poor JC…” he thought with a smile and shaking his head while walking down the corridor. The musical tune of his cell phone going off jarring him once again from his wandering thoughts.

“Hello?”

“Hi Ray.” The voice of his wife came through the phone.

“Hi sweetheart, anything wrong?” She didn’t normally call him until after they had the boys secure in the hotel or buses for the night unless something was wrong.

“No not really we all just miss you. Sammie was crying today because she missed her daddy… do you think there is any chance you can get home for a visit sometime during the month?”

The word month stopped Ray in his tracks completely, he might not live passed two weeks if he didn’t get Tony Collins money… but he was needed at home and in that instant he knew what he had to do.

“Sure babe, I’ll try to get some time off in a couple weeks….”

Chapter Two:

“Hello?”

“Mr. Collins?”

“Why Raymond I must admit I wasn’t expecting to hear from you so soon, can I take it this means you have come to a decision?”

“I’ll do it…”

“Good choice Raymond…”

“Let me finish I’ll do it but I’ll only agree to get one of them to a designated place. The rest is up to you and your men, I’ll have to pretend to fight you for him, I don’t want them to know, but I’ll do it…”

“I suppose that is an acceptable solution, when?”

“I’ll contact you in a few days to give you the details.”

“As long as it happens within the next week and a half Raymond… or else I’ll be force to take action…”

“Yes Sir.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Four days later found Ray sitting looking over the boy’s schedule for the week while waiting for the weekly bodyguard meeting to distribute jobs to start. While the guys of Nsync are taking the week off from performing there were still a number of events the various guys wanted to attend during the week, Ray was looking for all of those events to which only one of the guys were going to and within the next couple days or else his body would be found floating in the near by ocean.

“Well it looks like there are only these three things… and these two would be to hard to create any kind of diversion… to many people… so it looks like it is this one…” Ray thought to himself.

“Good Morning guys” Nsync’s head bodyguard Lonnie said as he walked into the room. “Well it is that time again I am sure you are all extremely excited that you just want to volunteer for everything” he continued sarcasm in his voice clearly present “But there aren’t very many activities the boys have planned, just enough that everybody does five a piece, so volunteer before I am forced to assign tasks, now lets get started shall we?”

Time passed way to slowly for Ray’s tastes but finally they reach the one that he had been waiting for.

“Ok, there is this one on the 18^th… I know it isn’t exciting but the poor boy was very adamant and excited about going to it. Any takers?” Lonnie asked fully prepared to assign it

Silenced reined over the room and Ray took a deep breath, he didn’t normally volunteer for duties like this actually he usually did everything possible to get out of them and he was certain to be reminded of that fact…

“I’ll take it Lonnie.”

“Do my ears deceive me?! Ray is actually volunteering for…”

“Yes Lonnie I’m volunteering, besides I only have one thing for this week so far while the others all have two, you are going to make me take it anyway.”

“True…”

“Hey guys!” Nsync’s oldest member Chris Kirkpatrick comes running into the room. “Joey is kind of ready to kill me because he thinks that I stole his cell phone and hid it on him while he was getting something, which naturally I did, but that is beside the point, the point is he was on long distance with Kelly at the time and I didn’t hang up and it will take him forever to find it meanwhile his bill will be huge and essentially I’m going to hide from him in here where you guys can protect me from his murderous rage.” Chris added with a huge grin

“Geez little man how much caffeine and sugar have you had?” Lonnie asked, shaking his head at how the smile on Chris’s face got even bigger…

“Oh not much Lonnie… 4 cokes and a bag of some kind of really sugary candy I got in the last town.”

“Well consider yourself cut off.” Lonnie snickered “Meanwhile you’re just in time to witness history in the making, Ray here volunteered for something.”

“Wow… what did he volunteer for?”

“That’s what makes it even better.” Lonnie replied pointing out the item in question, smirking at how Ray rolled his eyes.

“Hey cool man. I’m going to tell him he’ll be so excited that someone wanted to actually go with him… should make your night interesting… because then he won’t shut up.” Huge grin once again plastered to Chris’s face

“Just for that shorty I’m not going to protect you from Joey in fact… JOEY HE IS IN HERE!!!!” Ray said

“Hey aren’t you supposed to protect me from being attacked or whatever?!” Chris exclaimed not noticing that the smile Ray had been wearing wavered slightly, but all was forgotten as Joey crashed into the room and pandemonium broke loose as Joey tried to tackle Chris while Chris tried to get away knocking over anything and everything in the process.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Hello?”

“Mr. Collins…”

“Hello again Raymond, I hope you had some news and information for me?”

“Before I give you anything I want you to give me your unbreakable word that you will not harm this boy or any other the other boys in anyway.”

“Raymond I’m surprised what kind of man do you think I am?” Tony Collin’s replied causing Ray to grimace. “Now are you going to cooperate or am I starting the motions for an alternate option?”

“*sigh* In two days there is some sort of an exhibit one of the boys wants to attend. I have arranged it to be his bodyguard. “I’ll create some sort of distraction or excuse to get him out of there and get him to a infrequently used parking lot two blocks away, the rest is up to you, I won’t fight you too much but I have to make him believe that I have nothing to do with it.”

“What makes you think they won’t find out anyway Raymond?”

“They might but as long as I have a chance to prevent that from happen I will… I’m selling out one of my little brothers here Mr. Collins.”

“Alright Raymond whatever you want…. One more thing… Which young man are you bringing me?”

“JC Chasez.”

Chapter Three:

“Chasez? Which one is that?” Tony Collins asked

“Umm… brown hair, blue eyes, medium to tall in height, skinny….” Ray Adams replied

“Is he going to give my men a lot of trouble?”

“Well, considering he is very skinny it shouldn’t be too hard for your men to over power him, but he is stubborn so he isn’t going to go anywhere without a fight… remember your promise Mr. Collins….”

“Yes Raymond I’ve told you already that you have my word the boy won’t be hurt, but I have to know if I need to prepare measures to ensure his capture…” Tony Collins replied causing Ray to wince yet again.

“God what am I doing?… I can back out of this right now… but then I would be dead, and my family…” Ray thought to himself

“Do you have an approximate time that you’ll have the boy at the parking lot?” Tony asked interrupting Ray’s thoughts

“No not really, the kid likes to sleep so he will probably sleep in until early afternoon at least, I’d guess we would be going at night say after five? I’ll call you if it changes.”

“Be sure you do. I’ll have my men hanging around there shortly after 3 just in case. Is there anything else I should know Raymond?”

“No Mr. Collins, that’s it.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

He sat anxiously waiting for his charge for the day to show and tell him it was time to go. It was going on 4:30 and he had still yet to see the young man emerge from his room, and he was starting to think and worry that the boy had changed his mind and wasn’t going at all today, then where would that leave him?

Dead that’s where… How would he explain it to Tony Collins and would the lone shark give him another opportunity or just kill him straight out? He had to fight off the audible sigh of relief when the door to Nsync’s JC Chasez room finally opened and the slender man emerged.

“Hey Ray, I’m sorry I didn’t come to talk to you sooner, I slept in and when I woke up I had this great idea for a song that just seemed to spring to mind! So I had to try it and I’ve been doing that since…. On the plus side I finished the lyrics.” JC said with a smile

“Another famous Chasez song huh? Which one is this modeled after? Lets see you’ve already done one about space and the millennium, and chat rooms where you…” Ray started only to be cut off by JC

“Finish that sentence and you’re fired, I get enough teasing from the guys don’t you start on me.” JC interjected with a good nature chuckle to show that he was only kidding. “So I figure I’ll go get ready and then we will get an early dinner and head over to the exhibit, does that sound ok to you?”

“Sure skinny man you look like you could use something to eat… mind you, you always look like you could use something to eat.”

“Hey I can’t help it if I’m naturally skinny! Hey I heard that you actually volunteered to go with me today, is that true?” JC said with a grin, changing the subject.

“Yes and the little bird named Chris that I’m sure told you that has paid for that comment, and will pay some more I might add… Besides my wife has been on my case to do things like this more often so hear I am.” Ray lied

“Cool man. We can discuss the paintings together.” JC said either ignoring or not hearing the groan that came from the older man “I’ll just go get ready and be back in 30.”

As he watched JC go back into his room Ray was mentally going over his plan. He had already called the museum to inform them of their impending visit and gone over standard security measures – if anything should arise the bodyguard would usher out his employer to a nearby location while the buildings security would check the place out then contact that bodyguard. It was then up to him and his charge whether or not to return to the scene. Ray planed to use the policy as his opportunity to get JC out of the building and to the parking lot Tony’s men were waiting for them at.

He obviously couldn’t let JC get to far into the museum, so he paid off some guy to follow them relatively closely and when 15 minutes after their arrival had passed and nothing else presented an opportunity for an excuse to usher JC out of the building the man would make some sort of scene or distraction. Ray just hoped that the man was trustworthy enough and would follow through with his promise. Meanwhile Ray would take JC out to the car and drive him to the nearby parking lot to “wait for the head of the buildings security to give them the ok to return.”

Only that would never occur, because by then Tony’s men would be making their move. Ray was prepared to fight but knew that he couldn’t do so for long and would eventually have to be “knocked out” or whatever the situation would present to prevent the young man from knowing he had any part in his kidnapping. Now all he could do is hope everything went according to the plan.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Almost two hours later found JC and Ray pulling up to the museum where the exhibit was being shown. Ray had managed to get word to Tony Collin’s men that they were running late but would still be coming, when JC had gone back into his room to get ready.

Pulling the car up to the curb Ray looked through the windows to see a small gathering of fans waiting outside the building with camera’s, and in addition to the fans there were a few photographers and press there, all there to see if they could get a glimpse of the Nsyncer.

“Looks like you’ve been found out.” Ray commented looking at the young man in the backseat to see him staring out the window at the group of people with a disappointed look on his face.

“Guess so Ray. You know it isn’t that I don’t love the fans but sometimes can’t they just give us a little privacy and time to ourselves?” JC said with a hint of sadness in his voice.

“You want me to have the building’s security clear them away?” Ray asked hoping that this could be that easy… “We’ll go just a little further down the street to wait, shouldn’t take to long.”

“Nah, thanks man but I couldn’t do that to them. Besides I like meeting with them and they probably won’t follow us around for to long.”

“You’re probably right… only you can stare at every single painting for 20 minutes each…” added with a smile hoping to cheer the younger man up slightly.

“Gee thanks Ray…” JC said, sarcasm present in his tone but a smile on his face. “Lets do this.”

Ray stepped out of the car and made his way to the other side opening the back door for JC to get out. He watched the crowd anxiously as he had been trained to do but also watched to see if he could find the man he knew was suppose to be there somewhere.

JC walked over to the crowd of fans first, smiling and chatting with them, singing a few autographs, then making his excuses to leave he then headed over to where the group of photographers and press were standing answering some of their questions and smiling for their pictures. He was starting to suspect it was the museum that had tipped them off to his presence here tonight.

Meanwhile Ray was trying to keep a neutral face. The fifteen minutes had almost gone bye and he was now waiting for anything to be used as a distraction. Just when he was starting to think that the man didn’t show and that he would have to make something up the sound of glass breaking filled the air. With the startled gasp from JC, Ray wasted no time springing into action.

“Come on kid, let’s go.” Ray said to JC grasping the shorter man’s shoulders and pushing him quickly back to the car all the while giving the signal to the museums’ security guards - who had come out sometime while JC was talking with the gathering of people – to get rid of the crowds and check the noise out.

“Ray it was only…” JC started to say as he fought against being pushed into the car.

“I know kid but better safe than sorry.” Was all Ray would say in return, as he ushered JC into the car and ran around to the driver’s seat getting in, turning it on and driving towards the parking lot.

“This is it, no more chances to back out now.” Ray thought to himself.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

About five minutes later found Ray pulling into a parking space in the deserted parking lot. Getting out of the car Ray opened one of the back doors bending down to see the figure sitting slumped in the backseat.

“You okay?” He asked.

“I don’t understand why we left Ray. It was only a light bulb popping or something, we’ve heard it many times before and never had to leave… why would we do so now?” JC asked, his confusion clear.

“It has never happened on my watch JC and I wasn’t willing to take the chance, usually there are more than one of us around to check it out.” Ray inwardly winced at the lie. “The building manager will call as soon as everything is clear to go back.” Looking at the young man before him who seemed to be a little more than miffed at having to leave the museum before they even got inside.

“But…” JC started to say but stopped, his eyes focussing on something behind the bodyguard.

Ray watched as the young man’s eyes widened in fear and his mouth open trying to form words. Instantly Ray knew what was happening but tried to keep his express as neutral as possible while resisting the urge to turn around.

“Hey… you okay kid?” Ray said hoping his voice didn’t betray anything. He gently grasped at JC’s knee to get the young man’s attention. When all of the sudden something happened behind him and JC snapped out of his daze and screamed out.

“RAY LOOK OUT!”

Chapter Four:

“RAY LOOK OUT!”

Before Ray could twirl around to see what was going on behind him, he was hit on the back of the head with a heavy object. With a small groan he allowed his eyes to roll back and fell to the ground motionless.

“Geez I can’t tell you how much I’ve been wanting to do that!” One of the men exclaimed to the other while the 2 men dragged the bodyguard away from the car and into the shadows.

“Shut Up, now isn’t the time to be getting into this, lets just get the kid and get out of here.” The other hissed in response and looking to where JC sat motionless in shock still in the back seat of the car, staring at the spot his bodyguard had been not moments before. Not fully comprehending that he was in trouble and should be trying to get away and get help.

The movement of the two men towards JC brought him slightly out of his daze and he started to inch back towards the other side of the car in an effort to get away from the approaching men. His mind not realizing just yet that he should be making a run for it. But within seconds one of the men’s hands was reaching in through the still open door and trying to get a hold of the young man.

“NO! Leave Me ALONE!” JC screamed out while starting to kick out at the man reaching for him. But the man would not be deterred and managed to get a hold of JC’s kicking feet and held him steady by the ankles trying to drag him out of the car.

“Oh God! Please stop! Take whatever you want but please just leave us alone!” JC cried out again grasping at anything that would keep him from pulling pulled from the car while renewing his struggles and kicking.

Managing to get one foot free from the man’s strong hold he kicked out and hit the man in the face, giving the man a bloodied nose. He scrambled as far to the other side as possible, back pressed against the door and feet curled up into the rest of his body, searching for any means of escape.

Unexpectedly the door behind him was yanked open and with out any way to stop his fall he tumbled from the car hitting the ground harshly only to be yanked up by his collar seconds later. Up until that point he hadn’t even seen the other man and now found himself fighting against the strong grip around his waist.

“NO! LET ME GO! HELP! SOMEBODY H… MMPH!” JC tried yelling only to be silenced by the man’s hand going tightly over his mouth. His eyes widening and movements growing more frantic in search of escape.

“Shut Up Kid! You are coming with us whether you want to or not! “ The man holding him hissed in JC’s ear. Then turning his attention to his college. “You alright over there?”

“I think the little brat broke my nose!” Came the muffled reply of the other man now holding his nose.

Seeing the men distracted JC took the opportunity to bite the hand over his mouth and stomp on one of the man’s feet, causing the man to lose his grip on the singer. Now free JC took off running towards the street in hopes of finding someone to help him, silently cursing the fact that Ray had parked so far back into the lot, not knowing that the bodyguard had done so intentionally.

Just as he thought he was going to make it, he was tackled from behind. Strong arms circled round his arms and waist pinning them to his sides, while a hand was again roughly placed over his mouth to prevent him from calling out for help. He tried to fight against the hold but all the struggling and fighting from before as well as the mounting fear weakened his body and his struggles and he felt himself being pulled back into the depths of the parking lot.

“No trouble my foot” He heard the man who wasn’t holding him mumble, watching apprehensively while the man approached him with a cloth in hand.

JC strained against the hands holding him in a last effort to get away from whatever was about to happen, but the man stepped forward and placed the cloth over his mouth and nose, while the other man removed the hand over his mouth that had been slowly cutting off his air supply. In an effort to get the lost air back in JC took in a big breath inadvertently inhaling the fumes of the chloroform that the cloth had been drench in. The smell invaded his senses and he moaned softly as the world began to tilt and darken.

In the last moments before darkness over took him JC felt himself being lowered to the ground onto his stomach, his hands forced behind him and tied, ankles tied together and a cloth was placed in between his lips effectively gagging him, muting his moans as the world spun around him. Until finally unable to fight the darkness anymore he went limp in the grasp of the men holding him.

“Man, that was hardly the piece of cake it was suppose to be.” One man commented out of breath as they loaded JC’s limp body into the back of a dark blue van.

“Yeah, well in any event we got him and that is all that matters, Mr. Collins would have killed us if we failed.” The other man said climbing into the back of the van with JC in case the unconscious man woke up on their way back to Tony Collin’s hideout and had to be further restrained or drugged.

“Right, Lets get out of here it has already taken us longer than it should have.” Closing the back door the man moved to get into the drivers seat, turning on the car he could feel a pair of eyes on him.

Looking over to where they had placed Ray the man cocked his head to the side then gave a mocking salute to the now sitting up and wide-eyed bodyguard.

As the car drove away, Ray, who had heard and even witnessed some of the whole thing - the blow to his head hadn’t been enough to knock him out - watched the retreating vehicle ashamed of what he had just done. As the van pulled out of site the musical notes of the bodyguard’s cell phone ringing somewhere off in the background could be heard.

Chapter 5:

Michael Sterling sighed heavily leaning forward to once again hang up his phone. Leaning back in his chair he swiped his hand over his face in a tired manner debating his options. He was the owner and manager of Sterling Art Museum and Gallery, a modest but established place, which happened to be where JC Chasez and his bodyguard Ray Adams were scheduled to visit that night.

Michael was excited when the boy’s bodyguard had contacted him to inform him the young man wanted to come to the museum and insisting they had to discuss security features to ensure the singer’s safety and privacy. He had to admit that he got so excited that he might have let the young man’s impending appearance slip to one of his friends who worked for the press. And consequently he felt responsible for the scene that took place outside his museum no more than thirty minutes prior.

Although unsure of what exactly spooked the bodyguard into removing his charge from the premises, he was aware that the bodyguard would take him to a nearby location to wait for his call informing the pair that is was indeed safe to come back again. It would then be decided whether or not they actually would return and in any event the bodyguard would let him know their decision. Where or what that location was he wasn’t sure…

Now hanging up after no answer for the fifth time, Michael was starting to worry that something had happened to the duo. Looking at the mess that was his desk he groaned and set to work trying to find the notes he took when he had spoken to the Bodyguard so he could better assess what to do next.

Ten minutes later after finding his paper and trying the bodyguard one more time Michael Sterling was dialling the emergency number given to him by Ray, unsure of what to expect and what exactly to tell whoever answers the phone. But he didn’t have long to think about it as the other end was picked up and a man’s voice came across the line.

“Hello?”

“Uh… yes hello… My name is Michael Sterling… I’m the manager of The Sterling Art Museum and Gallery… I was given this number by Ray Adams…”

“Yes hello Mr. Sterling, my name is Lonnie, head of Nsync security what can I do for you?”

“Well I was given this number in case of an emergency and well…” trying to find just the right words to say what he had to say.

“I think you better just come right out with it Mr. Sterling I tend to worry anyway at the mention of an emergency… what happened to my boys?”

“You see there was a substantial crowd here this evening when Mr. Chasez and Mr. Adams arrived, and at first everything was fine, but something happened – I’m not sure exactly what – But something happened with the crowd and Mr. Adams had to hustle Mr. Chasez back to the car and my security went to work dispersing the crowd. To make a long story short, my men cleared the crowd and check the possible danger relatively quickly and I’ve been trying to contact Mr. Adams since… that was over half an hour ago now… I’ve tried several times and have gotten no answer. I was worried and was told to contact this number if anything happened… I’m about to send my men up the street to look for them but I thought I should let you know in-case you have other procedures you would prefer us to follow?”

“Ok, Mr. Sterling, I would appreciate it if you sent out your men to start looking for them, I’m on my way there with some of my men and will be there as fast as we can. In the meantime don’t call the police yet, we don’t want the media getting a hold of anything that could be absolutely nothing in the long run… or anything that could be something before we are ready for them to…” Lonnie added softly into the phone and promptly hung up.

Michael slumped back in his chair at those words, hit hard by their meaning. As he set to work organizing his security he silently prayed for the safety of the young man and his bodyguard.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Lonnie hang up the phone and turned around to find four pairs of very worried eyes looking at him. Cursing to himself for forgetting that he was in the same room as the rest of the Nsync men, he hoped that not saying anything to them at all would make them leave it alone he didn’t want to be worrying them just yet… A foolish thought that was immediately proven wrong.

“Lonnie what was that about?” Joey spoke up realizing the bigger man wasn’t going to give up any information.

“Nothing Joey.”

“But Lonnie your obviously worried and I seemed to remember the words ‘emergency, looking for them, police and not wanting the media to get a hold of anything just yet’ Those are not the kind of words you use when nothing is wrong…” Joey replied the growing concern clear on his face.

“Look guys I don’t know anything yet, so it could be nothing.” Lonnie tried.

“Could be… so you are admitting there is or at least might be something wrong…?” Justin spoke up.

“I don’t know anything yet…” Lonnie tried again.

“Then what do you know?” Chris asked.

Lonnie sighed and proceeded to tell the boys everything that Michael Sterling had told him moments before. By the time he got to the end of it the concern on the boy’s faces and mounted into full-blown panic and fear.

“But like I said boys it could be nothing… You know how Ray can be sometimes… the two of them probably just got out of the car and Ray left his phone in it and they just aren’t hearing it. I’m sure by the time we get there they will be found and JC will be inside cheerfully looking at all those boring paintings…” Lonnie said trying to diffuse their panic, but even he didn’t really believe his excuse.

“Lonnie…” Lance tried.

“I’ve got to get going boys… I’m going to leave only Tiny here with you” Lonnie said referring to one of their bodyguards, “so no one leaves this room. Please try not to give him a hard time, he won’t know anymore than you guys do now… Don’t worry I’m sure it is nothing…” With that he swiftly left the room, the click of the door closing echoing through the silent room.

“But what if it isn’t?” Justin asked, a heartbreaking look on his face as he got up and went to stare out of the window.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Meanwhile a dark blue van pulled up outside the warehouse Tony Collin’s uses as a hideout. Inside the van the atmosphere and occupants were quite, the twenty minute or so ride to get to their destination had been uneventful and the young man they were holding captive still sound asleep thanks to the chloroform they had administered earlier.

“He still out?” the man in the front seat asked looking into the back of the van.

“Yeah, hasn’t even really moved I think.” The other man replied.

“Okay, well come on I’ll carry him and you should really get someone to look at your nose, it is starting to swell up pretty bad.”

“Damn kid…” The other muttered in return.

The driver cautiously got out of the front of the van looking around to make sure nobody was watching he moved to the back opening the door and reaching for the slack figure that lay on the van floor, while his partner got out of the van and continued to keep watch. Lifting JC out of the van the man placed him over his shoulder and started to head inside the building.

“Is that him?” a voice sounded from across the room they just entered

“Yes Sir.” The man carrying JC said as he put the limp form on the ground and looked up to the approaching figure.

“Lets see him.” Tony said bending down to grab a handful of JC’s hair, using it to turn his head to face him, causing the unconscious man to moan softly into his gag but not wake up. “He looks pretty harmless but judging by your face he can fight pretty good.”

“Yeah, we had a heck of a time with him… had to use the chloroform we had.”

“Okay well go get yourself cleaned up and someone to look at your face.” Tony said

“What do you want me to do with him?” The man that had carried JC in asked.

“Just leave him here for now… I want to have a talk with him when he wakes up.”

Chapter 6

Ray jerked awake to the feel of hands touching him. He had laid back down with the intention that just encase he was found before he “woke up” to call someone it wouldn’t seem like he had been awake for long. Instead he must of passed out or fallen asleep while he was waiting, the blow to the head stronger than he had originally thought. A voice sounded from somewhere above him and it was time to pull out all of his available acting abilities.

“Your alright don’t worry, Lie back down Sir we’re calling an Ambulance now.” Said a voice Ray didn’t recognize while hands tried to push him back down as he tried to sit up.

“No. No Ambulance I’m fine.” Ray said in a voice laced with pain. That part wasn’t that hard to act out. The blow to the head he had received giving him that at least. Looking around he spotted Nsync’s head bodyguard Lonnie standing off to the side looking at him with concerned eyes.

“You listen to the man Ray and take it easy…” Lonnie said noticing that Ray’s eyes had landed on him

“No. I’m fine I don’t need an Ambulance.” Ray said wincing in pain again. Then taking a deep breath hoping that his next question was asked in a voice that sounded scared, frantic, concerned or a mixture of any of the above. “Where’s JC? Is he alright?”

The look in Lonnie’s eyes was heartbreaking to Ray. “We don’t know Ray… he isn’t anywhere around here. We… uh… we found blood over there a little way… but we won’t know if it is JC’s for a little while yet… Ray… what happened?”

“Sir he needs to get inside to somewhere it is warm before he can start answering questions. Especially if he is sure he doesn’t want to be checked out at the Hospital.” The man that had been checking over Ray interrupted.

“I’m sure. No Ambulances or Hospitals.” Ray said directly to Lonnie. Not sure whether to silently wince or cheer when he heard the other man heave a large sigh.

“Alright, lets get him back to where the other boys are… I’m sure they are out of their minds with worry by now, then this way Ray doesn’t have to repeat himself more than once.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“WHAT IS TAKING THEM SO LONG!” Justin screamed in frustration. “If he was alright shouldn’t Lonnie have called and told us by now?”

“You have to try and be a little more positive than that J. I’m sure Lonnie is just caught up in giving the two of them a reprimand for going off without a phone or something.” Joey tried to reason. Only receiving a glare from Justin for his efforts. “Ok… that wasn’t the best excuse but at least it is a positive one Justin… Not like your ‘Oh my God he must be dead’ ones.”

“This is not the time to start fighting you two. I’m sure everything is fine and Lonnie will call us as soon as he can. Stop pacing Justin… Why don’t you come over here and try to beat my butt at Playstation…” Chris interjected trying to add a smile for good measure only not succeeding.

“In case you haven’t noticed yet Chris, JC is missing at the moment and Gosh knows what else. Now is not the time to be playing with video games!”

“Calm down Justin we are all worried, but we can’t do anything until we hear what’s going on from Lonnie. So you mind as well sit down and try to breath.” Lance said pulling Justin down beside him onto the couch he sat on.

“I’m just worried about him…” Justin said in a small voice.

“I know, we all are but freaking out isn’t going to help him or us so you have to try to calm down. At least until we hear from Lonnie.” Lance said rubbing calming circles in between Justin’s shoulder blades.

As if on cue the door buzzed signalling someone was about to enter and Lonnie supporting Ray came in, followed by a handful of police. Causing all of the boys to stand up quickly and look towards the group for an explanation.

“Where’s Jayce?” Justin demanded. Getting a sympathetic glance from the men who just entered the room. Sighing for what seemed like the millionth time that night Lonnie spoke to the four frightened men before him.

“Why don’t you boys sit down? We need to talk.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

His head hurt. A lot. And for some reason he was lying on the ground and could hear voices from somewhere nearby even though they sounded as though they could be far away. Lying still he tried to focus on the voices listening closely to what they were saying.

“They just picked up the bodyguard Sir and took him back to the Hotel where the rest of the group is staying.”

“Just now? We’ve had the boy for over an hour already. Incompetent people aren’t they?” Tony Collins chuckled to his aide.

“Yes Sir very. Has the boy woken up yet Sir?”

“No not yet, although I suspect he will at any moment… I’m to understand that they didn’t use much chloroform on him and it is only suppose to keep him out for a few hours under regular dosage.”

‘That’s odd.’ JC thought to himself. ‘They are talking about some guy they have kidnapped or something… I don’t usually have dreams like this.’

He cut off his own thoughts as his head pounded again. Attempting to bring his hands up to his head he was surprised to find that they for some reason wouldn’t cooperate with him. When he tried again and felt some sort of form of resistance around his wrists and he inadvertently groaned out loud as his head throbbed again attracting the attention of the voices.

“Well speak of the Devil.” The voice of the boss rang out.

The sounds of footsteps approaching him caused JC to fight against whatever was holding his hands behind him more violently, all of the sudden he really didn’t like where this dream was going…

“You can open your eyes young man.”

No he couldn’t… this was a dream how could he open his eyes if he was dreaming? JC pulled against whatever was restraining him again.

“No young man. I’m afraid you put up such a fight with my men in the parking lot that we had to tie you up as a precaution. Better safe than sorry I always say. Mind you we probably would have done that anyway…” The voice said with a hint of laughter to it.

He was tied up? Why on earth was he tied up? Blinking heavily JC finally opened his eyes to find two pairs of cold looking ones staring back down at him. Confusion shone clear in his blue eyes as he tried to move again to only yet again find the same resistance. Looking down at himself he could see that his ankles were in fact tied together, his hands were firmly held behind his back and he could feel the press of cloth that was forced in between his lips and around his head shift as he went to ask what was going on, stopping when he realized he couldn’t. His eyes went wide as he searched his surroundings. He was in a warehouse by the look of it and there were lots of other men throughout the place in addition to the two that were still looking at him.

As all of this slowly sank in he started to frantically search his mind, trying to remember anything that would give him a clue as to how he got here. And then it hit him… that man had said parking lot…. Like a ton of bricks everything came back to him. The museum, the sound of glass shattering, Ray taking him to a parking lot, the men sneaking up behind the bodyguard and hitting him over the head, watching them drag him off somewhere into the shadows. And then the men turning on him, the chloroform, being lowered to the ground and tied and then nothing….

JC’s eyes flew to his two captors still standing over him. They could see a mixture of confusion, question and fear in the young singers eyes.

“Yes… perhaps now is a good time for you and I to talk Mr. Chasez.” Tony Collins said.

Chapter 7

The panic on the faces of the four young men in the room was clear and immediate. It took a split second of silence before the room erupted in sound. The men who had just entered being bombarded with questions that grew more frantic with every one.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE SHOULD SIT DOWN?”

“TALK? WHY WE WOULD WE HAVE TO TALK?”

“I DON’T UNDERSTAND?”

“WHERE’S JC?”

“IS HE IN HIS ROOM?”

“WHEN CAN WE SEE HIM?”

“IS HE HURT?”

“WHY IS RAY HERE AND NOT JC?’

“PLEASE TELL US HE ISN’T IN THE HOSPITAL?”

“PLEASE TELL US IT ISN’T WORSE THAN HIM BEING IN THE HOSPITAL?”

“FOR CRYING OUT LOUD LONNIE TELL US WHAT IS GOING ON!!!!!! WHERE IS JC?”

Trying to compose himself before answering Lonnie took a few deep breaths and spoke in a voice that he hope held more confidence and control then he currently felt.

“You boys need to calm down. We are going to tell you what is going on but it isn’t helping anyone if you are like this. Have a seat please guys.”

He watched as the four remaining members of Nsync lowered themselves to various pieces of furniture with frantic and frighten looks passing amongst the young men. Once all were seated and at least remotely settled down he started talking again.

“Now I’m not going to lie to you boys because you’re all smart and probably have figured it out already. It isn’t good news.”

He had to pause here and cast a stern look at the 4 young men before him to get them to be quite again so he could continue.

“We’re not to sure exactly what is going on or what happened, that is why Ray and these officers are here. We brought them here so Ray only had to do this once. What I can tell you is that we found Ray unconscious just a little way from the car. He had been hit in the back of the head by someone and well… we can’t find JC anywhere.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Yes… perhaps now is a good time for you and I to talk Mr. Chasez.” Tony Collins said. “Or can I call you JC? You don’t mind do you? I hate the formality of using a last name.”

Receiving nothing more than a glare from JC, he watched as his captive scooted back away from him a bit and attempted to right himself into a sitting position. Only to be unsuccessful and wince in pain as his head throbbed once again.

“Does your head hurt?” Uncertain of whether or not the man in front of him actually wanted an answer JC slowly and hesitantly nodded his head watching the man in front of him with a cautious and confused look.

“Not to worry it is just a side effect of the chloroform my men used on you it should go away soon.”

‘Not to worry?’ JC thought to himself. Surely this man knew that he had kidnapped JC and currently had him tied up on the floor of an unknown location with no apparent means of an escape in sight? ‘Sure not to worry the headache would go away in a while and all will be just peachy…. Never mind the fact that I will probably still be kidnapped and god forbid whatever else, but as long as the headache is gone…’

“I’m sure you’d like to probably know what is going on? I know I would if I were in your position.” Tony said breaking him out of his thoughts.

JC nervously nodded his head again unsure if he really wanted to know what this man said, but certainly wanted to know why he was being held captive.

“You my dear boy are here as a kind of collateral. You’re here so I can collect the money that I am owed by someone you know very well. Someone who has betrayed you and your trust.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ray cleared his throat and kept his head bent eyes focused on the carpeted floor. He was about to ‘reveal all he knew’ about JC’s kidnapping and he had to be sure to choose his words carefully or else they would know he had something to do with it and he was afraid that if he looked up at the wide-eyed and pale faces of the young men before him he would mess up and reveal something he shouldn’t.

“Well… we arrived at the exhibit and there was a fair sized crowd outside of fans and reporters. I had asked JC if he wanted me to have them cleared away before he got out of the car, but he said no and got out. He signed a few autographs and talked to the fans then went over to the reporters and started talking to them. I don’t know about ten minutes later there was the sound of glass shattering. Since it was just me there with him I signalled to the museum employees to clear away the crowds and grabbed JC’s arm and out him back in the car and drove off. I couldn’t see anything and I had thought it was best to get him out of there until I knew it was safe. Just like I would do for any other of the boys if the situation had arisen with them. I had discussed security with Mr. Sterling earlier and he knew that in the event something like that occurred his men were to clear and check the area while I took JC a few blocks away to the parking lot you found me in to wait for his call telling us it was all clear. We pulled into the parking lot and I turned off the car and got out, went to the back to bend in and see JC… he was a little pissed that he never actually made it inside and we were talking about how it was for his own safety when his eyes focused on something behind me and he screamed for me to look out. I went to turn around and see what was behind me but before I could I was hit in the back of the head and that is the last thing I remember until I woke up and the paramedics were checking me out.”

“Michael Sterling said that he didn’t know where you had taken JC, are you sure you told him?” One of the officers asked.

“Yes, I’m almost positive I did. It is second nature to do so, so naturally I didn’t really think anything of it. But I’m sure I did.” Ray answered.

“So you didn’t see how many men, what kind of car they were driving or anything?” another officer spoke up.

“No sir.”

“Why did you park so far back in the parking lot?”

“JC has a lot of fans, I didn’t want him to be recognized and cornered. He was already upset about being followed to the exhibit.”

“Why that parking lot? Why not just drive around the museum until Mr. Sterling called you?”

“You above all people officer should know what it is like to try and drive around this city… It is common practice for us to pick a secluded spot to wait. We’ve just never had to use it before.”

“Can any of you think of anyone who might want to Kidnap Joshua?” The officer asked and then quickly scribbled down something in his notebook after receiving negative gestures from everyone in the room. “Well until we get a call for ransom all we can do is wait. I suggest none of your go far or alone, you don’t know if Joshua’s kidnappers are watching and waiting to get another one of you boys.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It had been a couple hours since Lonnie and Ray got back and had told them JC was missing. All of the boys had retreated to their own rooms for a while to try and collect themselves and their thoughts.

Lance sat staring out of his hotel window lost in thought. Something just didn’t seem right about the whole thing to him…

First Ray volunteers to go with JC to an event he usually pays someone else to take body-guarding duties off of him.

Second the sound of glass breaking that could have very well have been as simple as a camera’s light bulb popping sends Ray into full blown panic. He knows himself first hand that Ray has never done that before. The bodyguard accompanying him and several occasions where he can recall hearing glass shatter and Ray doing nothing more than stepping in front of him and making sure everything was alright.

And there were other things… ones that Lance just couldn’t put his finger on but there was certainly something off there…

“I’m going to have to have a talk with Ray… and watch him closely… my instincts are telling me something definitely isn’t right here…” Lance said quietly out loud to himself.

Chapter 8

“You my dear boy are here as a kind of collateral. You’re here so I can collect the money that I am owed by someone you know very well. Someone who has betrayed you and your trust.”

Tony Collin’s watched with delight as JC’s _expression clearly turned from one of nervousness to confusion. He reached forward ignoring the flinch from his captive and tugged JC’s gag down so it hung around the boy’s neck and watched with amused eyes as JC tried to comprehend what had just been said to him.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

He had been standing outside the door for 5 minutes trying to find enough courage to knock. Something wasn’t right with Ray’s story and he wasn’t sure how to approach the issue without raising the bodyguard suspicions. With a shaky hand Lance knocked lightly on Ray’s door. When that failed to gain attention he knocked again stronger than before. Moments the door was flung open.

“Lance?” the bodyguard questioned.

“Uh… Hey Ray. Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Sure. Come on in.”

Ray stepped aside to allow the blond singer to enter the room and settled himself on his bed, watching while Lance closed the door and set himself on the couch. After a few minutes of silence Ray cleared his voice to get the boy’s attention.

“So what did you want to talk to me about Lance?”

“What happened with JC.”

“Ok… what about it?”

“Well I… I think was in a real daze. We were all so shocked and worried. I was just wondering if you would tell me what happened again. Just so I have it straight in my mind… and maybe you might remember something else that happened.”

“I’ve already told you all I can remember Lance. They came at me from behind and knocked me out.”

“I understand that Ray but… could you please just humour me?”

Ray looked suspiciously at Lance unsure if the plea was sincere or just some elaborate trap. He then mentally kicked himself when he saw the worry clear on the face of the boy in front of him. Of course it couldn’t be a trap his friend was missing and he is just worried, anxious and trying to cope with the reality of it.

“Ok Lance, but don’t expect anything more out of it than the last time. After I was knocked out I have no idea what happened. I can speculate just like everyone else but it still wouldn’t change anything.”

He waited for Lance to nod his accent before he proceeded.

“Well as I’ve already said we arrived at the exhibit and there was a lot of fans and reporters. I asked JC if he wanted me to have them cleared away before he got out of the car, he said no and got out. He signed a few autographs and talked to the fans then to the reporters. About ten minutes later there was the sound of glass shattering. I was worried because it was just me there so I signalled to the museum employees to clear away the crowds and grabbed JC’s arm got him back in the car and drove off. I had discussed security with Mr. Sterling earlier and he knew that in the event something like that occurred his men were to clear and check the area while I took JC a few blocks away to the parking lot you found me in to wait for his call telling us it was all clear. He says I didn’t tell him but it is standard procedure and that is second nature to us. We pulled into the parking lot and I turned off the car and got out, and started to talk with JC who stayed in the car… he was a little pissed that I rushed him away and we were talking about how it was for his own safety. His eyes focused on something behind me and he screamed for me to look out. I go to turn around and see what was behind me but before I could I was hit in the back of the head and that is the last thing I remember until I woke up and the paramedics were checking me out.”

Lance sighed to himself. That was practically the same way he explained it the first time. Maybe he was wrong, his nerves are just on end because he is worried and Ray doesn’t know anything more than he is telling.

“You said you could speculate? What do you think happened after you got knocked out?”

“Well, I was by the car when they knocked me out so I’d imagine they moved me back into the shadows at some point, since that’s where they found me. Then the two of them went after JC next. You know he wouldn’t go without a fight so they probably knocked him out someway too, then threw him into their van and drove off.”

Lance sat staring wide-eyed at the bodyguard. Had he just really said what I thought he did? Mentally reviewing the words he could only stare. “‘Then the two of them went after JC next… then threw him into their van and drove off….’ Oh… no… he couldn’t have actually…”

Worried by the look on Lance’s face and the progressing silence Ray spoke up.

“Lance is everything ok? I didn’t say that they knocked him out to scare you or anything… you asked me what I thought might have happened and that is just one of many possibilities…”

“Uh… no it’s alright Ray. We uh… all knew that was a possibility. I guess it… it just shocked me to hear it voiced that’s all… You know what I think I’m going to go to bed now. Or at least try to. Thanks for telling me what happened again. Goodnight.” Lance said tripping over his words.

He scrambled out of the bodyguards room and into his own. Once his door was firmly closed and locked he leaned against it and sunk to the floor holding his head in his hands.

“My God… what if he really did organize JC’s kidnapping? No… it could have just been a slip of the tongue or something…he is suppose to be one of the ones protecting us from stuff like this….”

As he let all the possibilities take over his mind Lance mentally promised himself not to let Ray out of his sight for the next few days.

Chapter 9

JC tried to understand what he had just been told, sure he was known to be a little spacey and often was the last to get a joke but he frantically searched his mind and there just wasn’t anyone he could think of that had access to his whereabouts and would actually do that to him.

“No you’re lying… there isn’t anyone who would do that to me…” He said with as much confidence he could manage.

“Are you quite sure about that JC? There isn’t anyone you can think of that could or would have any reason to put your life jeopardy in order to save their own? The prospect of death will do that to a person JC.” Tony Collin’s said smiling as he watched the uncertainty pass over the young man’s face again.

“Yes I’m certain. My friends would never ever do that to me. If they had been threatened they would have told me. And our bodyguards and other personnel are like family to us, we trust them like we do our own mothers and fathers. They would never do anything to go against that.”

“Your faith in them is admirable JC, if not a little missed placed. Of course I cannot name names for obvious reasons, but I can assure you that someone you know and trust is responsible for your current… shall we say position.”

“You mean being kidnapped by you! No you’re responsible for that. If you can’t tell me who then how am I even suppose to remotely believe you? All that means to me is that you‘re lying!” JC said through gritted teeth.

“Yes… I can see that you don’t believe me and unfortunately I made a promise not to mention names so I suppose there is nothing I can do to change that.” Tony said checking his watch. “Well I’m sure your friends are aware of your absence by now and are extremely worried about you, but it really is to late to be phoning them and making demands so we’ll leave it to the morning shall we?”

He chuckled at the horror-struck look on JC’s face and turned to a couple of his men.

“Why don’t you two see JC to another room and make sure he is comfortable…” Tony Collins said smile evident in his voice. Then turning back to JC he continued. “Oh and JC I wouldn’t try anything if I were you… seems you already have two of my men quite angry at you for whatever you were trying in the parking lot. I’m afraid it looks like you broke the nose of one of them… they were not very impressed if I may say so consequently neither is any member of my staff.”

JC just silently glared at the man in front of him while one of the other men he had just talked to stepped forward. As the man bent down to pick him up JC raised his bound feet and kicked out as hard as he could colliding with the man’s stomach. The other man quickly rushed forward and backhanded JC across the face causing JC to simultaneously hit his head against the floor.

However, undeterred JC tried to blink back the dizziness as he saw a blurry figure go to stoop over him again, he raised his feet yet again and tried to kick out at the figure missing as it easily moved out of the way this time. Moments later he was curled up into himself in as much of a defensive ball as he could get into to, having been kicked hard a couple times in the stomach.

“I did warn you not to try anything JC. It was your own fault that you got hit.” His captors voice floated out from the dizziness somewhere in front of him.

To light-headed and woozy to even try, JC didn’t fight again as he was lifted and placed over the broad shoulder of someone and was carried off further into the warehouse.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It turned out that ‘comfortable’ in Tony Collins view, JC mused unimpressed to himself, was for him to be tied to a chair, hands behind his back, feet tied together and then to the bar underneath the chair. Not to mention gagged again.

He sighed to himself. He was already starting to lose the feeling in his hands and lower arms. He look up and saw that the sun was starting to shine through the very small window high up in one of the corners in the room he had been placed in.

“I guess that means they will be calling the guys soon… I wonder if he will let me talk to them or not.” JC thought to himself.

Just as soon as the thought had crossed his mind JC could hear the bolts of the locks being turned and the door was opened. A tall man stepped through stopping just short of where JC sat regarding the singer, who shifted in his bonds, with a critical eye.

After what seemed like forever to JC the man reached and tugged harshly on the Leo pendant that hung around JC’s neck.

JC gave a sound of protest as the cord parted and the necklace fell from his neck, but the man simply ignored it and turned leaving the room again.

He wrestled hysterically with his bonds slumping in defeat, breathing heavily as he realised that they weren’t coming off anytime soon.

“Great. I suppose that is a no.” He thought to himself.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Someone pounding on his door woke Joey up. As he sat up and cleared the cobwebs of sleep from his head he realized that there was more than just the pounding on his door, but also the sounds of a general commotion coming from just outside his door.

Rolling out of bed and stopping only a moment to pull a sweatshirt over his head he made his way to the door of his room he opened it to find a startled face of a young police officer staring back at him and Justin and Chris in various disarray coming out of their own rooms as well.

“I’m sorry for waking you Mr. Fatone but I was sent up here to gather you and your friends. They want you all downstairs.” The Officer said slightly apologetically.

Nodding his head slowly Joey looked up at the worried faces his other bandmates but still addressing the police officer. “Why? What’s going on?”

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you that Mr. Fatone, they just said that you and the others were to come down right away.”

“They got a ransom call Joey.” Chris’ voice interrupted “Lance and I were awake when they called. I just came back up to get dressed and get you two. They waited as long as they were patient enough for you both to wake up.”

“You should have woken us up sooner.” Justin interjected appearing at Chris’ side, still in his pyjamas. “As soon as it happened.”

Joey nodded again showing his support for Justin’s comment. “I can’t even believe I fell asleep…” he said stepping out into the hall and closing his door behind him. “Alright lets go.”

Chapter 10:

Chris hadn’t been able to sleep, his brain just wouldn’t shut down enough for him to be able to. So an hour after they had all been told that they wouldn’t hear anything until morning and should go try and get some sleep he was up again. After quickly checking on the 3 remaining members of the group he had quietly snuck downstairs and out onto the back porch watching as the sky turn from dark to light, lost in the thoughts in his head.

Sure he was known for his never ending energy, driving anyone and everyone up the wall pretty much several times daily, but he could be one of the most serious people you’ve met when someone he cares about is hurt, sick or in trouble. The four men that he spent his life with, Spent practically 24 hours a day with over the last 6 or 7 years were part of his family. Granted not by blood but to anyone who asked he wouldn’t hesitate to call them his brothers. And right now one of them was missing and there wasn’t a thing he could do about it.

That thought terrified him to no end.

Around 5am so lost in his thoughts Chris failed to notice a figure silently make his way over to the older man. It wasn’t until the person sat down beside him did Chris jump from his thoughts and focus on the man beside him.

Chris ran an appraising eye over Lance’s form. He looked haggard. His eye red and a little puffy from lack of sleep and possibly tears, his clothes were slightly rumpled and his hair messy from what little sleep he had managed to get but there was a stone _expression on his face as he faced forward watching the Sun rise, not even acknowledging Chris’s gaze.

“Hey Lance. What are you doing up? You look like you could use some more sleep why don’t you go back to bed for a little while?” Chris said trying to keep his voice soft but cheerful.

“I can’t… I… I just can’t. How long have you been up?” Lance said eyes never straying from the sunrise.

“I never really got to bed.”

“Oh.”

They sat in silence for some time like that, both just watching the sunrise. Chris could tell his friend had something on his mind that he wanted to ask or talk about but Lance sat stubbornly silent and under the circumstances Chris felt it was best not to push the younger man into anything.

“Do you think he is alright Chris? Justin was dreaming last night… talking in his sleep I could hear him through the walls… he… I can tell they were about Jace… and they weren’t good.” Lance’s voice cracking with emotion cut through the silence sometime later.

“I’d wouldn’t be honest with you Lance if I said I wasn’t worried. But I think he is all right. They are better off keeping him alive if they are going to ask for something…”

“But we haven’t heard anything yet. Nothing. Don’t you think we would have by now?”

“You heard the police last night Lance. Whoever has him took him late at night and probably wants us to be worried… thinking the more worried we are the more cooperative we will be. Lets not go down that bridge until we absolutely have to ok?”

Watching Lance nod he turned back to the sun raise, the distinct feeling that wasn’t all Lance had on his mind. Silence set in over the pair once again and it wasn’t until a good several minutes later that Lance broke it again.

“Chris? Who do you think kidnapped him?”

“I really don’t know Lance, I wish I did though.”

“What if it was someone we know. If someone really close to us played a part in all of this?”

Chris’s head snapped towards his friend, the question ringing in his ears. It didn’t sound like a hypothetical type of question; he never even considered it himself. He watched silently for a few seconds as Lance looked down into his lap, his hands playing nervously with the hem of the t-shirt he was wearing.

“Do you have something you want to share with me Lance? Do you know or suspect something?” Chris asked very seriously and slowly hoping that the younger man would continue on.

“I… well… It’s just that…”

Before he could get any further the glass sliding door to the house opened and an officer poked his head out side.

“They are calling, come on we need one of you to take the call.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

They all sat gathered around the dining room table, minutes previously they had received a call from JC’s kidnappers and all had not gone as well as they hoped.

“I want to warn you all before we play the tape that it is probably going to be difficult to listen to. Mr. Kirkpatrick who took the call was asked by us not to agree to anything until we had JC on the phone and confirmation that he was still alive and ok. To say the least he kidnappers didn’t appreciated it much. But we don’t think there is any extreme cause for alarm just yet…” the officer in charge rambled on

“Officer why don’t you play the tape for them and then explain… as it is I think you are upsetting them more than you are helping.” One of the many bodyguards in the room suggested.

“Right. Ok. If at any time it is to much just let us know and we will turn it off or leave the room, whatever it best for you.”

A few moments later Chris recorded voice filled the room.

“Hello?”

“Who is this I am speaking to?”

“Chris Kirkpatrick.”

“You are a friend of JC Chasez?”

“Yes I am where is he?”

“He is with us and safe for now. But to get him back you will have to do as we say.”

“Nothing is happening until I can talk to him.”

“I’m afraid that isn’t possible right now…”

“How am I suppose to believe that you even have him then?” Chris interrupted, his fear and anger getting the better of him.

“Its called trust Mr. Kirkpatrick.”

“Trust? How can I trust you? You’ve claimed to have kidnapped one of my best friends and now you won’t even let me talk to him. For all I know he is already DEAD!”

“Very well Mr. Kirkpatrick you want proof? Watch for a package sometime today, we will be in touch later on tonight.”

The sound of a dial tone filled the air and the officer leaned forward to turn off the tape player.

“What does that mean? Look in the mail? What does that mean? They wouldn’t hurt him would they?” Justin’s frantic voice cut through the silence.

“No Mr. Timberlake we don’t believe…” the officer started

“You don’t believe?! That isn’t an answer Officer!” 

“Mr. Timberlake please calm down. We have to certain JC is still alive and alright we didn’t know they would react like that but it is a risk that we have to take in order to…”

“Have to take?! You just put our friends life in MORE danger!”

“Its my fault. I shouldn’t have agreed to it. I should have just dropped it when they said I couldn’t talk to him.” Chris voice broke through the yelling but only reaching Joey’s ears who was sitting next to the older man.

“It isn’t your fault Chris. Don’t even think that it is. We don’t know anything right now and they never said they would hurt him.” Joey said patting the smaller man on the back.

“Yes it is… I might have just killed him and it is all my fault.” Chris said pushing his chair back from the table and heading back outside.

Joey sighed to himself. Justin was still yelling at the officer and Lance was now trying to calm the baby of the group down. Chris was blaming himself and everyone else seemed to be occupied with one thing or another… this was going well so far. He looked towards the door hearing the doorbell chime. Glancing back at the room it was obvious that no one had actually heard the bell over the commotion. Shrugging to himself he got up and went to answer the door. Accepting the packing as it was place in his hand. Closing the door again he walked back into the family room where everyone was still arguing, absentmindedly opening the package and taking the contents out… eyes widening at the item in his hand.

“Oh my god.” He said to no one in particular but everyone turning his way to see what he held.

“What is it Joe?” Lance asked from across the room.

“It’s JC’s Necklace.”

Chapter 11:

“What?” Lance asked.

“It’s JC’s necklace.” Joey repeated, lifting up so that it dangled from his hand and everyone could see it.

“Justin go get Chris.” Lance said watching as the younger man scrambled from the room to get their oldest bandmate.

“Mr. Fatone is there anything else that came with it?” one of the officers asked.

“Hmm…?” Joey said distractedly, staring at the pendant hanging in his hands.

“Was there anything else in the package Mr. Fatone?” The officer asked the preoccupied man again. He stepped forward slowly so as not to startle Joey and placed a hand gently on the young man’s arm in an effort to get his attention.

Joey looked up at the officer blinking as he processed what was being asked of him.

“Oh. I didn’t look…” Joey said nervously as the thought there might be more hit him… Turning as Chris and Justin entered the room once more and then looking back as the officer spoke again.

“That’s ok, may I see the package Mr. Fatone?”

Joey nodded silently and handed over the package.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

JC startled awake as the sound of a key in the lock filled the room. Lifting his head he was greeted but the sight of the man responsible for his current position entering the room smiling at him.

“And how are you this morning JC? I hope you slept well?” Tony Collins said with a grin, chuckling slightly at the look of anger on his captive’s face. “My associates will be in, in a minute to allow you the use of the facilities and to give you some breakfast. I don’t know when the last time you ate was but I’m sure you are hungry just the same. I don’t need to remind you that it is in your best interest to cooperate with them do I?” Tony said casting a speculative eye over the bound man in front of him.

Several moments pass as Tony Collins eyed JC and JC tried not to squirm under the scrutiny and return the look. Finally the man in front of him nodded slightly obviously getting whatever answer he was looking for and turned heading back towards the door.

“If you’re a good boy maybe I’ll let you talk to your friends when we call them back later.” Tony said over his shoulder and with that he left the room.

“When we call back later…” JC thought to himself. “That means they’ve already talked to them once… then why did they take my necklace…?”

His thoughts were interrupted as the door opened once more and 3 men entered the room. Approaching him they stopped just short of JC so that the towered over him…

JC helplessly shrunk back in his chair as much as he could.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

All eyes were trained on the officer beside Joey as the man opened the package and pulled out a piece of paper.

“Well?” Justin asked impatiently.

“It’s addressed to Mr. Kirkpatrick.” The officer said glancing at Chris. When the shorter man failed to step forward or move at all the officer read it out loud. “Mr. Kirkpatrick. I hope this is enough proof for you that your friend is alive and well. In the future you should note that it is unwise to antagonize the people holding the life of your friend in their hands… it will only end poorly. We will be calling back at 8pm, it is perhaps in your friend’s best interest that you let someone else answer the phone.”

“Well that’s fine by me. I’m not doing anything that will put JC’s life in danger again. I almost got him killed once I won’t risk doing that another time.” Chris said.

“So we know that they have him but we still don’t know if he is alive or hurt…” Justin said throwing his hands in the air. “We have no choice but to trust them because if we don’t and JC is alive god knows what they would do to them.”

“Exactly Justin. SO you need to calm down before you get out of hand and do something that could get JC killed like I nearly did.” Chris shouted.

“Ok you all need to calm down.” An officer interrupted. “You guys’ falling apart isn’t going to help your friend at all. Now I suggest you guys decide which one of you will answer the phone call so we can be prepared for it.”

“Well don’t look at me I did it once already and look where it got us.” Chris said

“I’ll do it.” Justin volunteered.

“No offence J, but I don’t think that is a very good idea…” Lance interjected.

“Why not?!” Justin practically screamed.

“Well… to be honest because you are entirely to worked up and it’s possible that you good only make things worse.” Lance said softly

“Fine!” Justin huffed sitting down in an open seat. “Well I guess that leaves it to either you or Joey.”

“I’m not trying to get out of doing it because you know I will if you guys want me to but I think Joey should. He is always able to stay calm under stressful conditions.” Lance said.

“You ok with that Joe?” Chris questioned.

“I… ok. I’ll try.” Joey said quietly.

“We aren’t going to force you if you don’t think you can do it man…” Lance said

“No I can do it.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

JC tried to jerk his head away as a hand reached out towards his face but the chair limited his movement and he was stopped when the hand grabbed hold of his chin turning his head up to the 3 figures standing over him.

“Listen Kid. We’re going to untie you. Try anything and my friend over there will shoot you. Got it?” The man said gesturing slightly to the man holding a gun.

JC nodded and the hand moved up towards his face yanking the gag out of his mouth. The man disappeared behind his back and moments later he could feel the cords around his wrists being loosened until finally they were pulled free. JC cautiously pulled his numb arms back in front of him groaning lightly when they started to burn. A bottle of water and a pre-made sandwich that looked like the kind you would buy in a corner store or gas station was shoved into his hands minutes later.

“Eat.”

JC struggled to comply. His mouth was so dry, even after taking a sip of water; it was hard to swallow the stale sandwich. He tried to take his time, the more time he spent untied the better as far as he was concerned. But the sandwich was gone too quickly and the man stooped down to untie his feet as well. He was yanked up so that he was standing and pushed to a bathroom in the corner of the room stumbling over his legs because of disuse.

“Do what you have to do kid but do it fast.”

Again JC nodded and 10 minutes later he was being led back to the chair again.

“Can you handle him from here?” The man asked one of his companions.

“Yeah no problem. I don’t think he is dumb enough to try anything again.”

“Well watch him carefully anyway.” And with that two of the men left the room.

“Hands behind you.” The man said stepping behind the chair.

JC bit his lip and did what he was told. He desperately wanted to ask the man some questions but he wasn’t sure if he should risk it. He winced as the cords were once again wrapped tightly around his wrists.

“Why am I here?” JC asked, his voice so small it barely carried to the man behind him.

“I can’t tell you kid.” The man answered

“That guy said someone I knew was responsible for me being here. Do you know who it is?”

“Yup.” The man said moving to tie JC’s feet back to the chair now.

“Who?”

“Listen kid if the boss hasn’t told you then he doesn’t want you to know. I’m not about to go and break his orders for you.”

“Please… my friends could be in danger… I…”

“And what are you going to do. You’re here tied to a chair. I suggest you shut up and stop asking questions, the others aren’t as nice as I am.” The man said harshly. Taking the gag off from where it lay around JC’s neck. “Open”

“Please, I promise I won’t say anything. I’ll be really quiet.”

“That isn’t my call to make now open.”

JC parted his mouth silently and sat still as the gag was replaced and tied firmly behind his head once more.

“I wouldn’t push your luck kid. The boss is already running low on patience.” The man said as he finished tying the gag around JC’s mouth. “Besides you want to be able to talk to your friends don’t you?”

Giving JC a sympathetic look the man left he room and JC could hear the lock on the door click over once again.

JC slumped back in the chair defeated. At least in a few hours he was going to be able to talk to one of the guys and let them know he was all right.

Chapter 12

JC looked up as the door to the room was open once again and the man that left him there not 2 hours prior walked back in the room and towards him.

“Hey Kid. It’s time to call your friends. I’m going to untie you but I’ll warn you that at this point in time it isn’t in your best interest to give them a reason to hurt you. Do as you’re told and hopefully your friends will do the same and nothing will happen.”

JC’s eyes widened in surprise at the blunt statement.

“I’m going to take your gag off first. Don’t talk unless you’re told to. Understood?”

JC nodded his head in response and tensed as the man stepped behind him. He could feel the man playing with the knots of the gag and a moment later it was slipped from his mouth.

“Ok. Your hands are next. I’m going to untie them and re-tie them in front of you for now so you won’t be tempted to try anything. When I untie them move your arms slowly in front of you and hold them out.”

JC bit his lip as the man tugged at the ropes surrounding his hands, even though his hands went numb a long time ago the ropes had been rubbing against his wrists raw for hours now and it was starting to become very painful. Finally the cords were pulled free and JC had to bit his lip even harder to keep from crying out as he moved his arms back in front of him, his bones going back into their normal positions after being awkwardly positioned for so long now. He waited patiently and very still as the man re-wrapped the ropes around his wrists several times before tying it off so that his arms hung in front of him, and then bending down to untie JC’s ankles. He was pulled up onto his feet and lead out into the out room where he first woke up after he was kidnapped.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Joey stood out on the back porch of the house, lost in thought as he watched the sun setting. It had been a beautiful summer day, the kind where there seemed like there was nothing wrong in the world or with the people in it. A notion that if Joey didn’t know better could almost have closed his eyes and believed it.

He had come outside around 7pm seeking some sort of a quiet refuge from the chaos that was happening inside the house. Justin had been livid to say the least with the police and the way they had Chris deal with the first phone call. He was completely certain that the men holding JC had in fact already killed him and they were never going to see their friend again. Chris while he hadn’t said so in as many words seemed just as likely to believe the same thing only he wasn’t blaming the police he was blaming himself for getting one of his best friends killed. Lance wasn’t really saying anything that hinted towards his thoughts and feelings, he was very adamantly trying to keep whatever was going through his head inside him and instead was busying himself trying to placate their youngest member, trying to convince him that he shouldn’t be jumping automatically to the worst conclusion, the men had said JC was still alive and for now they had to hold onto that little bit of hope.

Joey sighed wearily, rubbing a hand over his face and then up over his hair trying to banish the negative thoughts that were flowing through his brain. He had to stay focussed for when the phone call came. It wouldn’t help anyone if he zoned out our lost his cool during the phone call… especially JC. The sound of the sliding glass door leading out onto the porch filled the air and Joey turned slightly so he could see out of the corner of his eye who it was.

“Oh hey J. Have you calmed down at all now?” Joey said taking in the red features of the curly haired singer. It was obvious that he has spent much of the last little while yelling his head off.

“No. Not really Joe. But Lance does have a point we don’t know for sure if Jace is alive or not and believing that he isn’t at this point doesn’t do anyone any good. Besides I guess were are about to find out anyway…” Justin said with a slight shrug looking out towards the now fading sunset.

“Yeah.” Was all Joey could think of as a response.

Silence reigned over the pair as they stared out into the distance the silence broken by Justin a couple minutes later.

“Listen Joey, they sent me out here to get you. Its almost time for the call and they wanted to go over everything really quickly one more time and make sure everyone is where they are suppose to be when the phone rings.”

Joey nodded his head, unconsciously checking his watch and noting that it was about ten to eight.

“Well I guess we better head in then.” Joey said making a move to turn and head into the house, but stopped before he even took three steps by a hand on his arm. He looked at the hand then raised his head and turned a questioning glance on Justin.

“Are you sure you are ready for this Joey?” Justin asked and Joey almost laughed out loud at the absurdity of the question.

“I don’t think this is something you really get to BE ready for Justin.”

“No. I know that, it’s just… well you know if you don’t think you can do this Lance will, or even Johnny they didn’t say it had to be one of us…. You just have to tell us now Joe.”

“I know Justin. Don’t worry about me I’ll be fine. We better get inside now.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

JC squinted at the brightness of the main room compared to the one he was being kept in. Struggling to remain upright and follow as the man who was holding him by the bicep tugged him further into the room to where Tony Collins was waiting, sitting behind a big desk that had nothing but a phone sitting on the top of it.

“Hello JC” Tony said with mock cheeriness before turning much more serious. “Alright here is the deal JC. Don’t talk until you are told to, if you can’t handle that then I’m afraid we will have to gag you again until we are ready for you. Once I have given you permission to talk you will have no more than 2 minutes to tell your friends that you are all right and talk to them. DO NOT answer any of the questions concerning your whereabouts, your surroundings, my men and myself and anything else that is similar to any of the previously mention things, when in doubt don’t answer it. One wrong word or move then you will not be allowed to speak to your friends again and most likely punished for your actions. I can’t guarantee your safety or your health should you or your friends choose to disobey my terms and cross me. Better hope that they can do better at following orders then they did last time. I am quickly losing my patience and I won’t be held responsible for my actions.”

JC furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at that last piece of information about his friends but bit the inside of his cheek to keep from talking just the same.

“If all goes well and your friends come up with your ransom you will be going home in a day or so completely safe and unharmed.” Tony continued. “Do you understand everything I just told you JC?”

JC tentatively nodded his head but stopped immediately as he watched the man in front of him shake his head.

“I want to hear you say it JC so I know for certain that you understand.”

“I understand” JC croaked out.

“Good.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Ok Joey. When the phone rings we are going to wait till the second ring to pick it up. Try not to answer it until I give you the signal so I can start the tape recorder and tape the conversation. Just remain calm and in light of what happen last time don’t push anything to hard. Are you ok with this? Understand everything?” One of the officers said.

“Yes. Wait till the second ring and your signal so you can tape it before picking up.” Joey confirmed nodding to himself.

“Right. Don’t worry son, I’m sure your friend is all right and you are going to do just fine.”

***

“Well any second now.” Justin whispered to Chris five minutes later.

“Yup.” Chris said distractedly.

They were all sitting around in the living room waiting for the call from the kidnappers. As it was the room could not be more packed full with police, the four members of Nsync, management and the bodyguard staff, all nervously awaiting the phone call. Tension was thick in the room as silence filled the air as they waited out the last few moments before 8.

And then the sound of a telephone ringing filled the air.

Chapter 13:

(A/N: I’m going to be changing back and forth from the different view points of where JC is and where the other guys are. It’s going to be signified by three stars on either side of JC or Joey’s name depending on the Point of view (ex: ***JC***) normal change of scenes comes back into play when I start using (*~*~*~*) which I normally do to signify a different scene. Dialogue might double over itself when changing from view to view)

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

JC watched silently as Tony Collins dialled the familiar set of numbers and then hit the speakerphone button so that ringing sound of the phone filled the air.

The older man in front of him leaned back in his chair and tapped his fingers lazily against the desk as he waited for whoever was going to take the call to pick up.

JC held his breath as the familiar and almost comforting voice of one of his best friends picked up the phone.

***JOEY***

“Ok Go.” The officer said to Joey while pushing the record button on the tape recorder that was set up to the phone. Joey cautiously picked up the phone raising it to his ear.

“Hello?”

“Ah. I see that you have decided to take my suggestion seriously and choose someone else to answer the phone this time. Whom am I talking to now?” The voice on the other end asked in a mocking tone

“Joey Fatone.”

“Well hello Mr. Fatone. If it is all right with you I’ll just skip the pleasantries and get right down to business. I trust you have been told what happened the last time I called… probably even heard it for yourself since I’m sure the police you have there right now taped the conversation. You aren’t going to test my patience like your other friend did are you?”

“No I will not. My friend was doing what he was told to and if he had been warned that it would maybe put JC’s life in further danger he would have never done it in the first place. We thought it would be better however if someone else took your next phone call just the same.”

“A wise move on your behalf probably.”

***JC***

Tony Collins looked up at his captive giving him a quick wink for reasons only he himself knew delighting in the confused features of the man before him. Then turning back to Joey and addressing the singer further.

“Well I was going to wait until later on into our conversation Mr. Fatone to do this but seeing as I am a nice man and I don’t want to have a repeat performance of last time I’ll help you out and do this now. I imagine you doubt whether your friend is even still alive and that you would be much more cooperative with me once you find out that he is indeed fine. Am I right?”

“I would be lying if I said that that thought has not crossed our minds sir.” Joey’s voice said in response.

“Very well Mr. Fatone. Go ahead JC.” Tony Collins said nodded at JC and signalling he could speak.

For a brief moment JC’s voice failed him. He had been wishing he could hear the voice of a friend and talk to them but now that he was able to he just couldn’t seem to get the words out.

“Get talking JC so your friend can hear that you are indeed alright.” Tony’s angered voice cut through to him. He looked up at the man to see the growing anger etched on the other man’s face and shrunk back slightly in fear of it but forced himself to say something, anything.

“Joey?” He forced out.

“Oh thank god. JC? Are you all right?” JC could hear the rush of voices of his other friends in the background as soon as Joey said his name and closed his eyes in attempt to keep from crying, at hearing the worried voices of his friends and band mates.

***JOEY***

“Joey?” Joey blinked… yes that was JC’s voice. His voice sounded small and scared but it was definitely him. All the sudden not knowing he had stopped Joey started to breath again.

“Oh thank god. JC? Are you all right?” Joey heard the voices of Justin, Chris and Lance behind him frantic with questions of JC’s well being and the voices of the bodyguards trying to calm them down again, telling them to be quiet.

“Yes. I’m all right… I’m ok… just… I really don’t have much time Joey. I’m just supposed to tell you that I’m alright and that I’m safe.” JC voice said wavering slightly.

“Are you sure you are ok? They haven’t hurt you or anything?”

“No. They haven’t hurt me.”

“Ok. We are going to get you out of there soon Jace, just hang in for a little while longer ok?”

“Ok Joey. I have to go now.” JC sounded as if he was on the verge of tears.

“I know. I promise we’ll get you out of there as fast as possible.” Joey said almost on the verge of tears himself at how small JC sounded.

“Alright.” And then JC’s voice was gone and replaced with the man from before.

***JC***

“So Mr. Fatone now that you know your friend is in fact alive and well perhaps we should move onto more serious matters. The price I’m asking for you friend’s safe return isn’t all that much, Big stars like yourselves should have no problem getting it.”

“Alright.”

“One million dollars wired to an account that I will give you after you have the money in your possession. I think 2 days is enough for you to get that amount of money?”

“I think so. But what if we can’t?”

“Well I don’t think you would want to know that.” Tony Collins said staring straight at JC, watching as the young man eyes widen in shock. “You better hope you can. I’ll be in touch again tomorrow at noon to find out how you are progressing. Is everything clear Mr. Fatone?”

“Perfectly.” Joey said.

“Good. Speak with you tomorrow Mr. Fatone.” And with that Tony Collins ended the phone call.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Well that went well boys don’t you think?” Tony Collin’s addressed his men. A chorus of ‘Yes Sir’s’ rang out and Tony gestured his men closer to him to explain further details in their plain, temporary forgetting that JC had yet to be returned to his room.

Seeing a window of opportunity JC took a moment to search for the exit. Spotting it he took a second to look back at the men surrounding the desk and started to slowly move toward the door praying he wouldn’t make any noise to attract the men’s attention.

Reaching the door he opened it quietly turning back around to make sure he hadn’t been noticed yet. Satisfied JC readied himself to run only when he turned back around he walked right into the chest of a much larger man then him.

“Tsk tsk tsk… JC. Didn’t you listen to me when I told you not to try anything? That there would be consequences if you did?” Tony Collin’s said with malice in his voice as JC was dragged back across the room. “That wasn’t a wise move on your own behalf JC. I’m afraid I have no choice now… He is all yours boys…. Just don’t kill him. Yet.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Joey held the phone listening as the static from the disconnected call started. Hanging up the phone he leaned heavily against the desk in front of him. JC was alive and that was all that mattered. A quiet voice from beside him startled him making him jump slightly.

“Was it really him Joe?” Justin asked.

“Yes Justin. It was him. He’s alright.” Joey responded.

“Ok you boys ready to hear this?” The officer asked and then pushed play and the conversation of minutes before filled the room.

As the conversation was played Ray listened carefully, trying to determine whether or not the loan shark was keeping his end of the bargain. Feeling eyes on him he looked up and noticed that Lance appeared to be staring at him. Giving Lance what he hoped was a tentative yet sad smile he fought not to release a sigh of relief when the green eyed man turned away from him. When no information was extremely forth coming from the call Ray decided that if he really wanted to know anything he would have to sneak out and go see the Tony Collins in person, taking the first chance he got to slip away.

When the call ended the room was a flurry of motion and sound and Ray backed slowly out of the room shutting the door as quietly as possible once he was outside.

Lance watched from his place as the bodyguard left the room, raising his eyebrow at the peculiar exit. Determined to get to the bottom of Ray’s behaviour and odd story about what had happened in the parking lot, Lance looked around the room to make sure no one was watching him, grabbed his coat and followed Ray.

Chapter 14:

Lance followed Ray from a safe distance ducking behind something every now and then when the bigger man went to turn around and look behind him. He wasn’t ready for the bodyguard to spot him just yet, concerned that if he did he would never get to the bottom of the man’s strange behaviour and his suspicions of the bigger man.

Lance quickly ducked behind something for what seemed like the millionth time as the bodyguard once again looked over his shoulder. He was starting to wonder whether or not Ray knew that he was following him and was in fact leading him somewhere or to something, and Lance was now questioning his judgment in not telling anyone his suspicions and following the bodyguard alone.

He was fairly certain Ray had yet to see him though. He had been following him for the last twenty minutes and the bodyguard – other than the questionable checking over the shoulder – hadn’t given Lance any real sense that he knew the younger man was following him. Strangely enough in all the time they had been walking Ray was not making any attempt to flag down a cab. An event Lance was grateful for but puzzled by none the less… that means wherever they were going it had to be fairly close by and easily accessible on foot. It also means that if Lance’s suspicions were right and they were heading towards where JC was then their bandmate had been taking to a place not an hour from them this whole time.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

JC moaned loudly as his beaten body was dragged back into the small room and dropped to the floor. He lay still hoping they would just leave him alone and not tie him up, but much to his disappointment hands grabbed at his arms and roughly jerked them behind his back once more. He groaned loudly as pain stabbed through him, his bruised body reacting to the sudden movement. He waited quietly as course rope was once again wrapped around his wrists and tied off tightly cutting the circulation to his fingers and then as the man moved lower doing the same with his ankles. A gag was pressed into his mouth and tied tightly behind his head and then the man left him there, the loud clicking sound of the lock turning over signifying their departure.

He tried to roll over off of his stomach and sore ribs into a more comfortable position but stopped short as pain took a hold of his body yet again. To say that they hadn’t been happy with his escape attempt would have been an understatement. They had beaten him up pretty badly to the point where JC was certain every inch of his body was going to be black and blue. He was also fairly certain that at least a couple of his ribs had been broken throughout the beating. Everything hurt and he was having a hard time focusing on any one thing, right now he was desperately fighting not to lose consciousness.

He had gotten to speak with Joey and while he could hear the worry and panic in his friend’s voice and the voices of the rest of his bandmates in the background it was nice to hear the friendly and somewhat reassuring voice. He hated himself for being the cause of such distress.

A loud noise coming from somewhere in the outer room caused JC to jerk from his thoughts abruptly and pain once again overtook his body and blackness crept into his vision until there was no choice but to give into it.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Lance watched as Ray stopped a short distance away from a large building that looked as though it was used as a warehouse for storage. A shorter building stood just off to the side and he went and hid himself behind it. He watched as the older man paced back and forth a bit muttering something to himself. Deciding to try and move a little closer and see if he could hear what the bodyguard was saying Lance tried to inch himself quietly around the garbage cans his was partially standing behind when something rubbed up against his leg making him jump and inadvertently knock over the garbage cans and he tumbled over them falling to the ground causing the bodyguard to spin around and spot him.

“Thanks a lot.” He muttered to the tabby cat as it sat staring at him, meowing in response to Lance’s acknowledgment of its presence.

“LANCE!” Ray yelled and Lance couldn’t help but wince at being noticed and the angry tone. “WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING?!”

“I’m following you.” Lance said dully standing up and brushing off his pants.

“Do the others know you are gone?”

“No as far as I know only I have you figured out so far.”

“What does that mean? I think you better start explaining things quickly Lance…”

“NO… I think you are the one that needs to be explaining things Ray.” Lance said his frustration and anger getting the better of him.

“I have no idea what you are talking about…” Ray said stunned.

“I don’t believe you. Let me guess that’s where they are keeping him?” Lance asked pointing towards the warehouse.

“I…”

“What was it Ray? Money? They promised you a cut of the ransom? Or have we been so terrible and demanding of you that you decided to put us all through this?” Lance said ranting and raving starting to go red in the face from anger.

“No Lance, it wasn’t anything like that… you don’t understand.” Ray said trying desperately to get the blond to calm down.

“Then what was it Ray? You better start explaining right now or I’m walking back to the phone over there and calling the police.” Lance said practically screaming now.

“It was debt. I had several thousand dollars worth of gambling debts and was foolish enough to take a loan from them. And when it came due I didn’t have it. They threatened to kill me Lance, to kill my wife and children I couldn’t let that happen!”

“So instead you arranged to betray JC and us by planning for his kidnapping?”

“They promised me that they wouldn’t hurt him. That in a couple days it would all be over and he would be returned safe and sound.”

“THAT IS NO EXCUSE RAY! We treated you like you were part of our family! Family doesn’t go and do this to each other.” Lance screamed

“I know that Lance but what else was I suppose to do?” Ray said desperately.

“Did you ever think to tell us? To tell Lonnie? We could have helped you.”

Ray’s silence was all the answer Lance needed. He sighed and shook his head bowing it slightly so that he wasn’t looking the bodyguard in the eye.

“You and I are going to get him out of there. Tonight.” Lance said

“Lance I can’t…” Ray tried

“Yes you can. You got him into this and you are going to get him out of this!” Lance said anger clear in his voice. And Ray to stunned at this side of Lance that is rarely seen could do little else but nod.

“Listen I don’t know where in the building he is and it probably isn’t a good idea for you to be seen around here. Wait here, and try to stay out of sight while I try and find out where they are keeping JC. Then I’ll come back and we will figure out how to approach this.” Ray ordered.

Lance was going to protest being left behind but the older man simply turned and jogged toward the building without giving Lance a chance.

Chapter 15:

Chris looked about at the chaos within the room. They had received the ransom call from JC’s kidnappers about an hour before and now the room looked like a 3 ring circus. There were police everywhere, one group talking about how they can trace the money, another about how they could orchestrate JC’s return, and another talking about possible locations the kidnappers could be holding JC based on sounds heard in the background of the call verses the amount of time it took them to call when JC was first taken, hoping that they could find the young man before it ever came to giving the money over.

In another corner sat their manager Johnny Wright. He had been on the phone basically non-stop since the call came in trying to organize the money the kidnappers were requesting. He had talked to the banks, the record company, accountants and everyone else trying to figure out the best way to come up with the money in under 24 hours.

Joey was sitting quietly beside him on the couch staring off at something in front of him. He had come to sit down shortly after the phone call had been replayed for the others and had yet to move significantly or say anything since. Chris being the one who had answered the first phone call could understand what could possibly be going through Joey’s head right now and simply patted the bigger man on the back when he had sat down and left it at that. Choosing instead to keep an eye on his friend but letting him work through whatever he was thinking at his own pace.

Justin was walking back and forth in front of him and Joey. He was on his cell phone to JC’s parents letting them know what was happening. Judging by the phone call he was being asked more questions then he really could answer. He focused on the young man pacing back and forth in front of him for a few minutes listening to Justin’s end of the conversation.

“ I don’t know Mrs. Chasez… No… yes I know… I don’t know that either. I’m sorry Mrs. Chasez all I can tell you is that it was definitely him and he said that he was fine and that they had not hurt him… Pardon? 2 days… Yes, Johnny is working on it now we are hoping by mid-day tomorrow. Oh. I… Yes… No, I understand…”

Chris couldn’t help but smile slightly at his young friend’s difficulty. Getting dizzy from watching Justin pace Chris searched out the remaining figure he was interested in checking up on. Scanning the room Chris furrowed his eyebrows when the object of his search wasn’t readily spotted. Looking around the room again he frowned realising that Lance was in fact not in the room at all. The sofa dipped beside him as Justin sat down, apparently finished his phone call.

“I swear if there was any doubt where JC gets it there isn’t anymore.” Justin said trying to get the oldest Nsyncer to smile. Frowning when Chris seemed to ignore him and search around some more.

“Hey what’s wrong Chris?” Justin said growing more concerned.

“Have you seen Lance?” Chris asked not looking at Justin.

“Well isn’t he around here somewhere?” Justin said searching the room for signs of their bandmate as well, realising that they were in fact missing the bass signer. “Well maybe he just went up to his room to get some sleep or something? I’ll go check.” Justin continued getting up off the couch and making his way through the crowd of people to the stairs.

Chris watched as his bandmate disappeared upstairs only to return again a few minutes later shaking his head.

“He isn’t in his room or any of the other rooms upstairs.” Justin said grabbing Lonnie’s arm as the bodyguard went to move by him. “Hey Lonnie, do you know where Lance is?”

The bodyguard as Chris and Justin had done looked around the room quickly then over to where his staff was noticing that Ray was nowhere in sight either.

“Did you check upstairs Curly?” the bodyguard said watching as Justin starting nodding before he even finished his sentence. “Well Ray isn’t here either the two probably went for a walk around the building or something. I wouldn’t worry guys, they’ll probably be back any minute.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ray entered the building with little more then a couple dirty looks from some of Tony’s men. He knew right where to go to find Tony Collins. He opened the door to the big room that he knew Tony used as his office and immediately saw the man sitting at his desk talking to a few of his men and made his way over.

“Why Raymond. What a nice surprise.” Tony said looking up and noticing the bodyguard standing there. “Don’t you think it is a little risky coming here? After all you didn’t want anyone to know your part in this whole plan… What if I had had the kid out here with me and he was awake? He would have seen you and then you would have been in trouble.”

“I know that Mr. Collins but I had to come and see that you were keeping your end of the bargain and hadn’t hurt JC.” Ray said trying to keep a steady face, knowing full well he had already been found out.

“Aw now Ray that isn’t very nice not to trust me.”

“Why should I? I only owe you 750 thousand, yet you are asking for a million.”

“Now Ray… lets call it interest. Besides what would it look like a big pop star such as JC and a ransom that wasn’t even a measly million dollars?”

“Where is he?” Ray changed the subject.

“In that room over there.” Tony said pointing to a door across the room.

“Is he awake?”

“No. One of my men checked a few minutes ago.”

“I want to see him.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Lance was pacing back and forth waiting for Ray to come back. The bodyguard had been gone for twenty minutes or so and Lance was again starting to think it wasn’t wise on his part not telling anyone where he was going.

He stopped to look at his watch for the 7^th time in the last 2 minutes only to resume his pacing once again moments later.

“Ok. He has 10 more minutes and then I’m going to go call the police.” Lance thought to himself stopping yet again to check his watch noting the time.

Lance was about to start his pacing again when a hand reached out from behind him and clamped itself over his mouth stifling the surprised scream that came out of the singer.

Chapter 16:

"I want to see him." Ray demanded.

“Look Ray you’re just asking for trouble by going in there. Why don’t you just go home? Visit your wife and children that you would do so much for. I’m sure they miss you. Take them and disappear, start a new life. Even if you get away with not being connected to this you never know when someone might make the connection or shall we say tip the police off as to you involvement…” Tony replied.

“Is that a threat?”

“No of course not. I gave my word didn’t I? But you never know when one of my men might decide that they really don’t like you…”

Tony was cut off as a door across the room flew open and 2 of his men pulled a struggling and yelling figure towards the pair.

“Let Go of ME! What do you think you are doing?!” Ray froze at the familiar voice. “People know where I’ve gone!” Lance lied.

“Damn it.” Ray swore under his breath as the men stopped in front of Tony’s desk holding onto the struggling singer.

“Well what is this?” Tony asked somewhat surprised.

“We found him outside Boss. He was hiding behind one of the other buildings.” One of the men replied.

“Well well well… If I’m not mistaken this is another one of those nice boys you look after Ray. Why didn’t you tell me you came baring gifts? I thought we had agreed that one would suffice in clearing out your debt to me but I certainly won’t turn down a second one and the chance for more money.” Tony said with amusement in his voice.

“What? I didn’t…” Ray started to stutter but was cut off by Lance’s angry voice.

“You tricked me!”

“No I…” Ray started again.

“You told me you were going to help me get JC back, but you were never going to were you?! You were tricked me into following you this whole time and then lied to me!” Lance yelled.

“Lance…”

“Let me guess you wanted me to stay behind so you could run in here and tell them where I was. What do you get for it? More money? Did he tell you that he would pay you something if you suckered another one of us into trusting you and luring us here?!” Lance said, now fighting even harder to get out to the grips of the men holding him and to the bodyguard.

“Lance I…”

“I don’t want to hear you excuses! You sold me out just like you did JC. You took the trust we put in you and threw it away in a matter of seconds! You lied to me! You lied to all of us!” Lance yelled with rising anger and trying to kick out at the bodyguard.

“ENOUGH!” Tony’s voice cut through Lance’s ranting. “Shut him up will you?” Tony said and one of the men clamped his hand over Lance’s mouth again muffling the blonde’s angry yells.

“Now Lance…” Tony said stepping out from behind his desk and approaching the young man. “I don’t really care how you got here Lance, but you are here and I’d thank you to abide by my rules and behave yourself. Don’t forget that I am the one who holds your friend’s life in my hands as well as your own now I might add.”

Tony watched as Lance’s eyes widened and he stop struggling.

“Good. Put him with his friend.” Tony ordered the men holding Lance and watched as they dragged him off to the room JC was currently in. Once they had disappeared and the door had been shut muffling the renewed yelling of the blonde upon seeing the condition of his friend Tony turned back to the wide-eyed and pale Ray.

“Well Raymond it seems that you have a rather large problem now. Don’t you?” The lone shark asked.

“I…” Ray said trying to find words in his shocked state; his eyes still on the door Lance and Tony’s men disappeared through not minutes before.

“I don’t care if you lead that boy here on purpose or not Raymond he now knows that you have a role in this whole scheme. I doubt that those two boys will just forgive and forget knowing you are responsible for everything that they have been through. Which means if I release them alive the cops will arrest you in 2 seconds.” Tony said watching as the bodyguard’s eye snapped back towards him. “Yes… quite a little jam you’ve gotten yourself into Raymond. Take my advice, leave town get your wife and kids and start a new life. Forget all about these boys and me. If you don’t it is only going to end badly.” Tony said turning away from Ray and motioning to two of his men to come over.

“Show Raymond out will you boys?”

The next thing Ray knew was that the two guards were at his side holding onto his arms as they dragged him from the building pushing him outside as they reached the door and slamming it behind him.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Has Lance gotten back yet?” Chris asked Lonnie.

“No not yet Chris. I’ve sent some guys out to search the hotel from him and Ray but they aren’t back yet.” The bodyguard said.

Chris nodded in acknowledgment and made his way back over to Joey and Justin.

“Anything yet?” Justin asked perking up at the return of their eldest bandmate.

Chris shook his head sadly and returned to his seat on the couch beside Joey.

“I’m starting to get really worried. It isn’t like Lance to wonder off and not tell anyone where he was going.” Joey said, worry clear in his voice.

“So am I Joe.” Chris responded quietly, turning to look out the window. “So am I.”

Chapter 17:

Lance was escorted into a separate room and immediately his eyes searched the room for any sings of JC. He was about to conclude that the man had been lying about putting him with JC when his eyes landed on the immobile form of his friend, bound and gagged in a corner of the room. Upon seeing his friend his struggles increased tenfold as he tried to get across the room to make sure JC was all right.

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?” Lance yelled struggling to get loose.

He could hear the door behind him close and the hands holding him let go. Immediately he was at his friend’s side. He had to fight not to be sick when he saw that up close JC looked a lot worse. Lance could clearly see that there were bruises on the patches of skin not covered by JC’s shirt and he was willing to guess there were even more under the covered parts. JC’s wrists were raw from where the rope had cut into them and even the corners of his mouth were a little raw and bruised from where the gag had been tied tightly around his mouth.

“Oh god…. JC? Jace can you hear me? Open your eyes?” Lance reached out a hand and laid it on his friends shoulder cause JC to moan out in what sounded like pain but otherwise remain unconscious. Suddenly he was aware of a presence behind him, turning around he could feel the anger inside him start to grow again and he jumped out trying to hit and kick at the man behind him.

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?! HE TOLD US YOU DIDN’T HURT HIM!” Lance yelled taking another swing at the larger man only causing the man grunt with the blow but otherwise remain unharmed.

The man made a move to grab at Lance’s flailing arms, but Lance stepped back dodging the attempt. Having completely forgotten about the other man in the room, the blonde singer made a move to take another punch at the man before him but was stopped short as large arms circled around him from behind pinning his arms to his side rendering helpless and for the most part immobile in the circle of the bigger man’s arms.

“Listen kid.” The man in front of him hissed grabbing a handful of Lance’s hair. “If you don’t calm down I will go over there and hurt that boy even more then his is right now. I don’t know how about 2 broken legs this time?” The man said pointing towards JC’s limp body and tugging on Lance’s hair for good measure.

“NO! Don’t do that! I’ll stop! I swear I will!” Lance said frantically.

He was forced over to the chair JC had been previously in and pushed roughly down onto it. His eyes remaining focused on JC’s body willing it to move so he could know his bandmate was alright, all the while the men were tying his hands behind him and his feet together and to the chair.

“Open.” A voice said from somewhere behind him and Lance absentmindedly complied to focused on his friend in front of him to pay attention and fight anymore. Moments later a gag was placed around his mouth and tied off tightly behind his head and a hand patted him on the face in a mocking fashion.

“Maybe if you two boys behave we’ll let you talk with each other later on.” The men said laughing and then leaving the two Nsyncer’s alone in the room.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ray walked back into the main room where the police had set up camp and immediately was bombarded with questions concerning where he had been and more importantly if he knew where Lance was.

“Did you go with Lance somewhere Ray?” Lonnie said looking behind the other bodyguard trying to see if the singer was behind him frowning when he wasn’t.

“Uh… Lance? No why?” Ray said trying to cover.

“He is missing and we can’t find him anywhere. We figured he went with you somewhere.”

“No. I went for a walk outside. He wasn’t with me.”

“Damn it.” Lonnie yelled missing the wince on Ray’s face as he said it.

He didn’t however miss the startled and frightened looks of the remaining 3 men of Nsync. He smiled briefly at them hoping that would satisfy them for a few minutes then briskly walked over to the rest of his men and spoke in hushed tones so not to be heard.

“We’ve got a problem guys. Lance has been missing for a few hours and we can’t find him anywhere. Ray just got back and said Lance was never with him so now we have to go out and look for him again. This time outside of the hotel too…” Lonnie instructed stopping short as the phone rang. “Why are they calling again? They said noon tomorrow?” He said turning around to see the look of surprise and puzzle on the faces of the other occupants in the room.

***

“Mr. Fatone?” An officer called and Joey rushed across the room to pick up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Well hello Mr. Fatone and how are you this fine evening?” The voice on the other end asked cheerfully.

“I’m fine I suppose.” Joey responded bewildered at the early call.

“Good. Good. Glad to hear it.” The voice said continuing it’s mock cheeriness.

“Forgive me but I thought you said you would call at noon tomorrow? It is only 11:00pm.” Joey asked cautiously not wanting to anger the man.

“Not one for the social skills are you Mr. Fatone? Well all right then. Yes I was going to call tomorrow but there seems to have been a new development in the last couple hours that changes things Mr. Fatone.”

“Development?”

“Well it seems that another one of your friends… lets say… stumbled into my possession in the last couple hours or so.”

“What?” Joey asked shooting a panicked look towards Justin and Chris.

“Lance I believe.” Tony smiled at the silence on the other end and continued talking. “I take it you already know he is missing. For at least 2 hours now since he has been here for at least that long.”

“Let me talk to him.” Joey requested.

“I’m afraid that is quite impossible Mr. Fatone.”

“Then how do I…” Joey started but was cut off.

“Mr. Fatone,” the voice started a lot colder in tone then it was moments before. “You people have tested me once before and I was more then tolerant then I won’t be a second time. If you value your friend’s lives you will stop that question right there.”

“How does this change things?”

“2 millions dollars by the time your 48 hours is up. I’ll be in touch again tomorrow.” The voice said curtly and disconnected the phone.

“What is it Joey?” Justin asked from the couch.

“They have Lance now too.”

Chapter 18:

Justin, Chris and Joey sat watching as Johnny yelled into his cell phone on yet another phone call to get the money that was being demanded for JC and now Lance’s safe return. The manager had been making phone calls all night and his growing frustration was becoming more and more apparent.

The amount of money being requested was easy enough to get. Anyone of them could call their bank and have that amount withdrawn from their account and still have plenty of money left in the bank.

Where the problem lay however was where to get the money from so that they could have it in their possession in the shortest amount of time possible. So far most places were being highly uncooperative saying that at the very lest it would take half a day to a day to get that kind of money together in an isolated and monitored account ready to transfer over to the people holding JC and Lance.

They watched with trepidation as their manager hung up the phone yet again sighing and sadly shaking his head, not pleased with the information he had just been told.

“Sorry Guys. Best they can do is by 5 tonight. I’ve tried everything and we are all out of options. They just can’t do anything till the banks officially open in an hour and then it is going to take some time to set everything up and get it ready.” The manager said checking his watch and noting that it was just after eight in the morning.

“That’s ok Johnny. You tried and we knew it would take a while.” Justin said absentmindedly fussing with the pillow that sat beside him.

Johnny Wright took a moment to look over the three figures slumped on the couch and sitting before him. They looked haggard and tired, understandably considering no one had really slept since the whole mess started. Each had a haunted, sad look to their eyes which were also red rimmed with dark circles underneath them and it was clear they were lost in their own little worlds with their individual thoughts. If circumstances were different he would have scolded them that they all looked horrible but as it was he reached with both hands to pat the knees of the two closest young men to get their attention.

“Hey. I want you three to promise me something. Try not to worry, they will be alright.” Johnny said trying to smile but noticing none of them nodded their assent. Leaning back with a sigh he spoke again. “You know it is still really early so I want you three to try and go get some sleep before they call again at noon.”

“I don’t think so Johnny. I can’t speak for Justin and Joey but I think I would rather just stay here.” Chris said.

“That isn’t a request son.” Johnny said trying to keep his voice somewhat light but authoritative. “You are no good to Lance or JC if you aren’t running on full steam. I promise that someone will come get you if anything happens. In the meantime you three need to get some rest for when we get them back.”

Johnny couldn’t help but smile slightly at the dejected looks on the three young men’s faces at being ordered to go to bed at their ages, but a chorus of “Yes Sir” rang out and the three stood up and shuffled off to their rooms to try and get some sleep.

When they had moved out of sight the manager slump down onto the couch rubbing a hand over his face and praying that he had not just told those three young men a lie.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

JC and Lance waited with baited breath as the men disappear through the door and it was locked again. The men had just been in the room and left again after un-gagging them with the simple explanation that they “thought you two would like to have a little talk with each other.”

JC had woken up from unconsciousness a few hours earlier disoriented and full of pain but all that had been quickly forgotten when his eyes landed on his friend sitting in the same chair he had been on earlier.

Lance had watched as JC’s eyes fluttered open laced with pain and immediately he had started screaming into his gag to get the brunette’s attention on him. After several moments of JC regaining his wits Lance had finally managed to get his attention and Lance would have normally laughed at how his friend’s eyes widened in cartoon likeness as the recognition dawned on him.

Unable to communicate in any other way given that they were bound and gagged hand and foot they had maintained eye contact until the door had slammed opened making them jump and focus on whoever had just entered the room. 20 minutes later neither were sure of where to start the conversation.

“Are you ok Jace? What did they do to you?” Lance asked concern clear in his voice.

“I’m alright. They were distracted and forgot I was standing there I tried to escape and they apparently didn’t like that very much.” JC said wincing as he tried to move into a new position so he could better see his friend.

“Oh.”

“What are you doing here Lance? How?…”

“I’ll explain that after you tell me what happened to you in the parking lot and how you got here.”

“There isn’t much to tell Lance I don’t really remember most of it. We were getting out at the museum and there was a large crowd, we heard the sound of glass breaking and Ray said we had to get out of there and would go back when security checked it out. He drove us to a parking lot near by and got out of the car and opened to back door to talk to me. I saw some people sneak up behind him told him to watch out and they hit him in the back of the head. The rest until I woke up here is somewhat of a blur. I remember trying to get away and a cloth being forced over my face but other than that…” JC said shaking his head.

“So that’s how he did it…” Lance mumbled.

“What? How who did it? How did they get you Lance?” JC asked confused.

“It was Ray, Jace. He set this whole thing up. Even tricked me into following him to get me here too.” Lance said sadly.

“What?” JC asked disbelieving. “You can’t be serious Lance, Ray wouldn’t do something like that.”

“Unfortunately I’m perfectly serious. I even cornered him and he told me himself.”

“When?”

“A while ago. I followed him here and confronted him and he admitted to it and told me that he would help me get you out and the next thing I know I’m being dragged inside and this guy is thanking Ray for bringing another one of us to him.”

“No Lance… I saw him get hit, why would they knock him out if he was a part of it?”

“Because he didn’t want you to know he was. It’s some kind of gambling debt with this guy and he was hoping no one would find out so he could just keep working for us.”

“Lance, I don’t…. The man is suppose to protect us not trade us in exchange for a gambling debt…”

“JC think about it… was there anything funny about the night you were kidnapped? I’ve heard both Ray’s and your story and I can think of at least 5.”

Lance waited patiently as silence enveloped them while JC thought out the events of the night of his kidnapping.

“Ok… there might be some odd things about that night that I can remember…” JC said hesitantly “But Lance you are really certain that Ray is responsible?”

“JC he told me himself that he was.” Lance repeated.

“Ok Lance I believe you…. So what do we do when we get out of here?”

“You mean if we get out of here?”

“What do you mean if we get out of here Lance?” JC asked slowly almost as if he didn’t really want the answer.

“Think about it Jace. I know I’ve seen the faces of those men out there I can only assume you have to. Do you really think they will let us go if we can run to the police and identify who they are?”

“Oh. I guess I just never really connected that in my brain.”

“Yeah.”

“There is always a chance Lance. Whether they let us go or someone finds us there is always a chance.” JC said trying to look his younger bandmate in the eyes.

JC watched as Lance nod to what he said then leaned his head back on the ground closing his eyes jumping second later as the door to the room was flung open yet again.

Chapter 19:

Joey hadn’t expected to actually fall asleep when he had gone to lay down but a couple hours later he startled when one of the bodyguards had come into the room to get him for the next ransom call and since he couldn’t explain where those couple missing hours had gone he could only assume he had in fact fallen asleep. When he had reached the bottom of the stairs and spotted Chris and Justin once again in their spots on the couch and obviously still without sleep he could help but fell rather guilty for doing it too.

“Hello Mr. Fatone. They should be calling again in about half an hour and we just wanted to give you a chance to wake up or get prepared a bit before the call came in.” One of the female officers said quietly to him, kindly passing him a glass of orange juice.

“Are you alright? Is there anything I can get for you?” She asked sympathetically.

“No…” Joey said having to pause and clear his throat before continuing. “Thank you I’m alright.”

Joey moved to the couch taking a seat next to Chris. He settled in and leaned back with his eyes closed when Chris spoke.

“I’d drink that if I were you.” Chris said motioning to the orange juice.

“Why?” Joey asked looking down at the glass. It might have just been juice but he still wasn’t sure he could keep it down if he drank it.

“I don’t know something about us not eating in the last two days.” Chris said sarcastically. “Johnny got mad at Justin and me when we refused to eat and made us at least drink some orange juice. So if you don’t want Johnny to throw a fit I suggest you drink that.”

Joey looked at the glass of juice in dismay but sighed and drank it anyway fighting to get it down.

***

“Ok Mr. Fatone they should be calling any minute now.” An officer said beckoning him over to the table with the phone. “When they call tell them that the money should be ready by about 5:30pm and then just follow along with them from there. We’re going to have it on speakerphone this time so everyone can hear. It will just make it quicker for us to get the bank account numbers and everything if he gives it to you. OK?”

“OK.”

Several tense minutes passed in silence as they waited for the phone to ring, when it finally did Joey nearly jumped out of his chair at the shrill ring.

“Hello?”

“Ah. Mr. Fatone. Good afternoon! How are things progressing today?”

“Fine. We have the money coming but it won’t be ready until about 5:30 this evening.”

“Good. Good. Nice and fast, that’s the way I like things to happen. Well Mr Fatone I suppose so long as I get my money by 5:30 there is no need for me to call back again. Have you got something handy to take down a few bank account numbers? Oh silly me you are probably taping this right now…”

For the next few minutes the voice on the other end rattled off several bank account numbers and instructions that he wanted followed.

“Alright Mr. Fatone I think that’s all.”

“What about my friends? When do you return them?” Joey questioned.

“Oh right. I almost forgot.” The voice said chuckling obviously amused at himself. “Well Mr. Fatone once I get my money and verify it is in fact in my accounts then I’ll drop your friends off somewhere and tell you where to find them. In the meantime if the money isn’t in my account by 6 expect to be hearing from me shortly after.”

And with that the man hung up the phone. The room immediately burst into action like it had every time before and no one noticed Ray sneaking out of the room once again.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ray walked quickly towards Tony Collin’s warehouse. Something in his gut told him that he had to get back to the warehouse before the money was exchanged to make sure the lone shark actually kept his word and let JC and Lance go unharmed. But an hour later as he reached seeing distance of the warehouse his steps faltered.

He had been basically thrown out of the building just a few hours earlier and it was fairly certain that he would not be welcomed back in with open arms and certainly not a few hours before the actual exchange of money. Even if they did let him come in they would more than likely throw him out again before 5:30 rolled around.

He stood staring at the large building before him debating his options out loud.

“Well Lance knows it was me and if he had any opportunity to speak with JC since then I would have to assume that means JC knows as well so I’m screwed either way where that is concerned…. But that doesn’t really matter anymore I’ll never forgive myself for what I did but the least I can do is keep them alive.” Ray reasoned out. “But I can’t do that myself…”

Ray started pacing back and forth trying to think of how he could ensure JC and Lance’s lives.

“It’s the only way.” He mumbled to himself sitting down to wait for a couple hours.

At 5:00 pm Ray stood up ready to head inside the warehouse but not before he made a quick phone call.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The room was in complete chaos. Not two minutes ago had Ray called Lonnie to say that he knew where JC and Lance were being held, given him the address and promptly hung up the phone before any questions could be asked. Now the police were scrambling to locate the street address and get a bunch of officers to the scene.

“This address is only 30 minutes from here.” One of the officers commented.

“OK, lets go.” The officer in charge ordered.

“I’m coming with you.” Lonnie said forcefully.

“No Sir you stay here with the others. We will call you when we have the 2 young men.”

“No JC and Lance are going to need a familiar face and I’m coming with you.” Lonnie said again with even more force, shaking his head.

“Alright but stay out of the line of fire.” The officer agreed.

“Wait!” Chris yelled out. “What about the ransom money? Do we still go on with the exchange?”

“No. Don’t transfer the money until you hear from me.” The officer ordered.

“But they are expecting it at 5:30… will you get there before then?” Joey asked.

“We told them we should have the money around 5:30 and technically we have until 6 since that was when they told us they would call back if they haven’t received the money by then. We’ll be there in plenty of time before that Mr. Fatone don’t worry.”

“Why can’t we come with you?” Justin question.

“You can’t Justin. It isn’t safe. I promise I’ll call the moment we have them ok?” Lonnie said patting Justin on the shoulder then rushing out with the rest of the police.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Tony looked up from the papers he was reading as JC and Lance were dragged into the room. JC was lead off to his right and Lance lead off to his left so the two Nsyncer’s were separated and less likely to cause any trouble, even though both still had their hands tied behind their backs. Tony smiled at the looks on their faces and was about to open his mouth to speak when the door to the room flung open and Ray walked inside.

JC couldn’t help but let his eyes open wide as he looked over his shoulder and caught site of the bodyguard. He had believed Lance because his friend never lied to him but part of him just couldn’t accept that Ray would do that to him, to Lance. But with Ray standing there it obviously had to be true and he bent his head in resignation.

“Why Raymond I wasn’t expecting to see you here. To what do we owe the pleasure… again?” Tony asked.

“I’ve just come to make sure you keep your end of the bargain and let them go.” Ray stated coming to stand near JC.

“Aww Raymond I’m hurt that you once again don’t trust me. Ordinarily people who don’t trust me aren’t welcome around here but considering I’m about to get a large sum of money in… 5 minutes I’ll make the exception this once.” Tony said standing up and coming around the front of his desk to sit casually back on it.

***

5 minutes came and went in silence, as did 10 minutes. 15 minutes later Tony was getting impatient and angry and everyone was nervous.

“They told me they would have the money by 5:30! What is taking them so long?” Tony yelled in frustration.

“Maybe they had trouble getting it?” One of Tony’s men tried to offer as help only to receive a glare from his leader for the trouble.

“They have 15 more minutes to…” Tony started, stopping in mid sentence as a noise coming from the distance but growing steadily stronger caught his attention. Soon the sounds of police sirens could be clearly heard approaching the warehouse and Tony Collins lost whatever little bit of control over his anger he had remaining.

“HOW DID THEY FIND OUT WHERE WE WERE? YOU TOLD THEM DIDN’T YOU?!” Tony yelled turning an accusing glare on Ray who said nothing in return.

“Well no matter… They won’t get here in time to save their friends anyway.” Tony continued taking out his gun.

Chapter 20:

Lance watched wide-eyed from across the room as Tony swung his gun so that it was pointing straight at JC. He wanted to scream out, saying anything that would make this man change his mind, but his tongue all the sudden seemed to thick, his mouth was to dry and no sound would come out. He was literally paralysed with fear and was about to watch one of his best friends die.

Everything appeared to happen in slow motion for Lance. The police sirens were blaring through the air but the only thing Lance could seem to hear was the slow pull of the gun’s trigger and moments later the loud sound of the gun going off. Lance’s eyes snapped up to see the look of pure fear on his friend’s face, he could have sworn JC’s eyes were following the slow movement of the bullet towards him but he still wasn’t jumping out of the way. That’s when he found his voice.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

It was as if that word sent everything back into normal time. Faster than he could blink Ray appeared in his line of vision pushing JC hard to get him out of the way, the bullet hitting the bodyguard in the chest instead of JC. JC went falling to the ground unable to stop himself with his hands still tied behind his back. He landed hard on the ground, his head bouncing off the concrete of the floor and knocking him unconscious, Ray landing a few feet away from him bleeding.

Police swarmed the room yelling at the men to put down their guns and their hands in the air. Lance’s eyes snapped over to where he last saw Tony Collins eyes searching to find the man, startling when he realised that the lone shark was actually storming his way over to where Lance stood gun in hand. He vaguely heard the command of the police for Tony to stop where he was on put the gun down but the older man just kept advancing towards him and slowly started to raise his gun pointing it at Lance.

The sound of guns firing filled the air and Lance briefing closed his eyes bracing himself for the searing pain but open his eyes seconds later in confusion when he didn’t feel anything. Before him he witnessed Tony Collins collapse to the ground dead, the blood from several gunshots to the chest clearly visible on the man’s white shirt.

Lance collapsed to his knees fighting not to cry with the overpowering urge to be sick, wishing his hands were free so he could hold his head. Someone was at his side moments later making quick work of untying his hands and then wrapping him in a comforting hug. He struggled for a few moments against the hold until he registered the familiar voice. Realizing that the man holding him was in fact Lonnie, Lance completely broke down in the bodyguard’s arms as the tears he had been holding back overwhelmed him.

Several moments passed until Lance could finally compose himself again. When he finally did Lonnie helped him up to his feet, keeping an arm around his waist to support the weak kneed blond and started to lead them from the building.

“JC?!” Lance yelled out suddenly trying to turn around to where he had last seen his friend on the ground.

“Ssshh Lance its ok. They’ve already got him out of here.” Lonnie tried to sooth.

“Is he alright?” Lance asked still frantic, but turned around and kept moving as the bodyguard once again started leading them from the building.

“He’s fine. He got a really good bump to the head and is unconscious but the paramedics say he will be just fine. We are taking the three of you to the hospital to get checked out. Justin, Chris and Joey will be there waiting for you.”

“Three?” Lance asked confused.

“Yes. You, JC and Ray.” Lance gasped at the last name.

“Lonnie! Ray! There is…”

“Its ok Lance. He was shot in the chest close to the heart. They won’t know anything until they get him in surgery.”

“No Lonnie you don’t understand…”

“Ssshhh that’s enough now. I want you to calm down.” Lonnie said pushing the blond singer into a car and shutting the door effectively ending all conversation.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Lance was whisked into the hospital and immediately lead into another room where a doctor checked him over regardless of his persistence that he was fine. Twenty minutes later he was allowed to leave the room once they were certain all he had was a few scratches and bruises, the worst being around his wrists from having been tied up.

He was taken to a small private waiting room a few doors down where he was told his three band mates were waiting for him. The minute he was through the door the three pounced on him one by one hugging him and making sure that he was in fact ok.

“We are just waiting until they settle Jace into a room. They say we can go in and see him right after.” Justin said sounding tired and Lance nodded at the information.

“So what happened Lance?” Chris questioned seriously.

“Well…” Lance shifted nervously unsure how to tell them what he had to tell them. He was saved from having to give any explanation for a few more minutes when a doctor entered the room.

“Are you waiting for Mr. Chasez?” The Doctor questioned.

“Yes we are is he ok?” Joey asked.

“Yes. Mr. Chasez is fine. He is all settled into a private room and regained consciousness just a few minutes ago. I do want to warn you though that he is a little groggy and out of it. But that’s to be expected for at least the next 12-24 hours considering he does have a mild concussion and what he has been through. He also has several cuts and bruises as well as a few bruised ribs and is likely to be sore for several days. But I assure you he will be just fine.”

“Can we go see him now?”

“Certainly. He is in room… 234.” The Doctor said checking his notes.

“Thank you.”

***

“Hey Jace.” Justin said sticking his head into the room then opening the door further. One by one they filed into the room surrounding the bed.

“Hi guys.” JC said leaning back and closing his eyes.

“How are you feeling?” Joey asked.

“I’m alright…. Sore.”

“What happened to you? You said they didn’t hurt you?” Chris asked concerned that it was his fault.

“They hadn’t when I told you that. I tried to escape they didn’t like it.” JC said shrugging wincing as the movement caused him pain.

“Oh Johnny says that both your parents and Lance’s are on a plane here to see that you guys are alright.” Justin said to JC and Lance and both nodded in acknowledgement.

“Did you tell them yet Lance?” JC asked looking at his green-eyed friend.

“Tell us what?” Chris asked confused.

“I tried to tell Lonnie earlier but he wasn’t really listening to me. And I was going to tell them when the doctor came in and said we could come in and see you now.” Lance replied.

“Tell us what?” Chris asked again.

“They should know sooner than later?” JC half questioned half stated.

“Tell us what?” Chris and now Justin asked.

“He saved your life you know…” Lance said hesitantly…

“Tells us what?” Three voices now chorused.

“He did? They still have a right to know though…”

“TELL US WHAT?!” All three voices yelled in frustration.

Lance sighed and turned to his three confused friends.

“It was Ray.” Lance said quietly.

“What was Ray?” Chris asked still confused.

“He was the one that set this whole mess up.” Lance elaborated and waiting for the screaming that was sure to come.

“What!?” Three voices yelled and a minute later a nurse ran into the room to make sure everything was ok. She left a few minutes later when she was certain everything was fine but not before scolding the five men in the room for yelling like that in a hospital.

“What do you mean it was Ray that set the whole thing up?” Joey asked quietly once the nurse left.

Lance sighed again and explained everything. Right from the beginning, to when he followed Ray and Ray confessed, to his capture, to his conversation with JC and to the point where Ray saved JC’s life by pushing him out of the way of the bullet. When he finished it took several minutes for all the information to be digested and someone to speak up.

“So what do we do?” Justin questioned.

“We tell Johnny and let him deal with it.” Chris said with a shrug.

“I guess…” Lance said.

Several minutes passed as they talked quietly amongst themselves, JC dozing on and off in the hospital bed listening to his friends talk, before Johnny finally made his entrance into the room looking grave.

“Hey boys how are you doing?” Johnny asked.

“Fine… well alright. But there is something we need to tell you.” Lance started.

“In a minute Lance I have some bad news for you guys.” Johnny said pausing to make sure he had all five of their attention. “Well… uh… there is really no easy way to tell you guys this so I’ll just come out and say it. Ray… uh… Ray died on the operating table a few minutes ago. The bullet was just to close to his heart and he bled too much and they couldn’t save him.”

Johnny looked around at the five faces that were obviously shocked and speechless at what they had been told, as he had expected them to be. He could also however see the look of conflict on all of their faces but decided that in the meantime to just shrug off as part of the shock.

“Anyway… I wanted to tell you boys myself before you heard it from someone else. I have to go call his wife now and tell her what happened. I just don’t know how I’m going to do that… you know she called me the other day to ask me to give Ray a couple weeks off for a family vacation she was going to surprise him with…. She was so excited about it.” Johnny said shaking his head and turning to leave the room stopping short when he remembered something.

“Oh. Lance I’m sorry you wanted to tell me something?”

Lance startled from his shock with a look of a deer caught in the headlights of a car on his face. He wasn’t sure if he could bring himself to tell Johnny about what Ray did anymore… not now that… He looked to the faces of his band mates to see similar looks on their faces and one by one they nodded all thinking alike.

“Um… it’s nothing, don’t worry about it.” Lance said clearing his throat. “It’s not important anymore.”

“Are you sure?” Johnny asked having caught the looks between the five men.

“Yeah. You better go call Mrs. Adams, it will only get worse the longer you put it off.”

“Alright then if you’re sure. You boys take it easy I’ve arranged it so you have the next couple of weeks off to rest and everything so you be sure to take care of yourselves.” Johnny said and with that left the room.

“I’m sorry guys…. I just couldn’t… If he hadn’t pushed JC out of the way… JC would…” Lance tried to say but just couldn’t get the words out.

“It’s ok Lance. I don’t think anyone of us could have done that… not with Ray dieing when it so easily could have been Jace.” Joey said stepping up and putting an arm around the shorter man’s shoulders.

“Oh god his poor wife.” Lance continued. “I couldn’t do that to his wife… not after he died… at least let her remember him with dignity. He might have sold out our trust and friendship and put us through hell but he saved JC’s life and mine in a way too I guess and surely that has to count for something?”

“Of course that counts for something Lance.” Chris said from across the room. “On one hand if he hadn’t decided to organize this whole thing we wouldn’t have had to go through all of this. But on the other hand if he hadn’t gone back when he did then JC and you might not be here right now. And in my books that counts for everything in the world. Agreed?”

“Agreed.” Four voices echoed.

“So its over now?” JC asked sleepily from the bed.

“Yeah Jace. Its over.”

The End

Tell Maple Beanie what you thought of this story!