Chapter 80:
Sam
Sam rubbed his face wearily as he leaned
back into his seat, quietly listening to AJ and Kevin, his eyes clouding over
occasionally when AJ described some of the suffering Brian had been put
through.
"I sure wish you guys had told me
sooner," he exhaled with a heavy sigh.
"Well, we didn't," Nick spoke
up, annoyed at Sam's disapproval. He had been standing quietly in a corner but
now crossed the room, flinging his large frame into the nearest chair, his
hands running irritability through his hair. "We wouldn't have told you at
all, except that we need to know if you can help us."
"I think you need the police, not
me," Sam said bluntly.
Howie shook his head, wondering if it had
been a smart idea to inform their manager of what was going on. He glanced over
and noticed that Kevin was having the same misgivings.
"Sam, the guys and I have decided not
to get the police involved. Whether that's wise or not, who knows? But knowing
Xavier, and believe me we do, we sure don't want to endanger Brian by some
police foul-up."
Sam stood up, restless from sitting down
too long. "Okay. I don't agree with you, but I respect your decision. What
can I do to help?"
Relaxing for the first time since Sam had
arrived, Howie gave him a relieved smile. "We need to know if you can
locate Xavier, get in touch with him. Brian's with him and we gotta find a way
to get to him away from X."
Their manager began to pace, a routine
habit that all four had witnessed when Sam was faced with a problem.
"Yeah, I can reach him. Every one of the stage crew and help are required
to carry a pager so that we can get a hold of them at a moment's notice. Xavier
should be carrying his, but by the way you've described things, he might not
be." Sam stopped pacing for a moment, his temple furrowed in concern.
"So, say we get in touch with him. What then?"
Nick looked expectantly at AJ.
"Bone?"
"Well, check this out,"
explained AJ. "We're not expected in
Sam gazed up at the ceiling for a moment,
letting AJ's suggestion sink in. "Not a bad idea, but I don't think it
would work. Xavier knows the crew too well and would check it out. So we would really
have to fire someone and if we did that, it would be impossible to find someone
new on such short notice. If Xavier is as smart as you say he is, it wouldn't
be too hard for him to figure out that we were lying. No, we need a fool-proof
excuse, one that he would believe totally."
Nick perked up, interested. "Such
as?"
Sam gave the young blonde singer a
reassuring smile, reaching over to snag AJ's phone and punched in Xavier's
pager number. "Watch," was all he said.
* * * * *
More than just a little curious as to why
Sam would be paging him, Xavier waited impatiently as the phone rang and rang,
not sure if anyone was going to pick up. He eyed Brian, still slumped on the
floor, one arm wedged unnaturally beneath his body. Xavier contemplated for a
moment, wondering if he had broken the young singer's arm, then quickly
dismissed the thought, confident enough in his own expertise to know if he had.
His attention swung away from Brian when he heard the abrupt click of a phone
being picked up.
"Cooper speaking."
"Sam? This is Xavier. You
paged?"
"Yeah, hold on a minute." Xavier
could hear the clatter of a phone being settled into its cradle. "I've got
you on speakerphone cause AJ, Nick, Howie, and Kevin are here with me."
Nick shot Sam a look of pure shock and
jumped out of his seat, turning his astonishment towards Kevin. Kevin had his
hand over his mouth, studying Sam intently, and shook his head warningly at
Nick.
"Okay," they heard Xavier
cautiously reply, his voice holding a hint of suspicion in it.
"I've been trying to locate Brian.
His cell phone and pager don't seem to be working. Do you know where he is?
We've got some problems."
Xavier glanced at Brian lying on the
floor, remembering the deactivated devices shoved into his suitcase.
"Brian's here with me. But he's taking a shower right now."
Howie glanced at AJ, who was frowning at
the way Xavier ignored Sam's question about Brian's cell phone.
Al four guys listened as Xavier grunted
into the speakerphone, as if trying to stand up. "What sort of
problems?" he asked brusquely.
Howie, AJ, Kevin, and Nick looked at Sam
expectantly, wondering what he would say, their faces taut.
"All sorts of fucked-up
problems," Sam answered harshly, his irritation clearly evident over the
phone. "Someone broke into AJ's house and some things were stolen…"
Xavier eyes narrowed. That little
prick! I told him not to take anything!
"…then some jerk tried to run Nick
and Kevin off the road…"
"Kevin?"
AJ could hear a trace of incredulity in
the bodyguard's voice, realizing X thought Kevin was still back home. A fine
bead of nervous sweat trailed down his back as he shot the dark-haired singer a
concerned look.
Kevin butted in, understanding Sam's
aggressive approach, realizing the best defense was to use an offense tactic.
"Kristin and I had a little disagreement
at the airport Xavier, so I came here," Kevin drawled, making his voice
sound bored and annoyed at the same time. "It's not something I'm really
want to go into, okay?"
Xavier relaxed a little, his wariness
gone. He smirked a little at the tone in Kevin's voice. He had heard rumors
about some of their fights and realized Kevin must have flown back to
Sam continued on, acting as if the
interruption between Xavier and Kevin hadn't occurred. "…and now I've got
security problems at the Tucson McKale center! I'm
sick and tired of all this shit! So I'm calling a meeting…" Sam's voice
faded, as if he had turned his head,…"and don't give me that look, AJ! I
don't care if I am interrupting your time off!" Sam's voice became
clearer. "I'm not too happy about our standard of safeguards for these
guys, so I'm assembling everyone early in
Xavier bristled at Sam's contemptuous tone
but stopped, his lips pursed, his mind racing as he glanced once more at
Brian's limp form. Oh, this is too good to be true! he smirked, a wicked
grin forming when he suddenly saw the chance, the break he had been searching
for.
"Sam, I completely agree. Security
has gotten sloppy. In fact, we ran into trouble today too. Some
over-infatuated fans. Being just one bodyguard, I wasn't able to keep him
completely safe. Brian got knocked around a little." He nudged Brian's
motionless figure with the tip of his shoe, not expecting a response and not
getting one.
By now Nick was literally jumping up and
down, fuming with rage, his face contorted as listened to Xavier, hearing the
smooth lie in the bodyguard's calm voice. Kevin grabbed him by the arm, his
eyes wide with concern.
"How is he?" questioned Sam,
butting in before Nick could say anything. "Is Brian okay?"
Xavier eyeballed the fallen singer, a
satisfied grin on his face. "Yeah, he should be just fine. I'll make sure
of it."
"X, this is AJ. Put Bri on the phone
for a minute, will ya? I need to speak to him." The rest looked at AJ in
alarm, surprised by his request. They listened with baited breath to see what
Xavier would do, Nick praying that Brian would indeed pick up.
"Wish I could, but as I said, he's in
the shower right now. I'll make sure he calls you." Xavier's voice was
cool, in control, unnerving all four Backstreet Boys with his chilling
demeanor; all of them knowing Brian would never call, just as they knew he was
not taking a shower.
Xavier quickly changed the subject.
"When and where do you want to meet?" He listened intently, jotting
down the information Sam instructed to him. Xavier hung up, a gleam of pleasure
displayed upon his face as he got up off the bed, bending down to lift Brian
up. "Looks like our lucky day," he informed the unconscious figure.
"You're still get to make me a rich man." He placed the blonde singer
gently on the unmade bed, propping a pillow under his head. Xavier studied the
Backstreet Boy for several moments, frowning as he took note of the injuries he
had inflicted upon the young man. Reaching over into his bag, Xavier pulled out
a fine nylon rope, thoroughly tying Brian up, careful not to make it too tight.
Making a mental list of the things he would need, Xavier patted Brian's face
tenderly, careful to avoid touching the angry wound to his temple, which was
now oozing blood from the fall. He checked his handiwork once more then headed
out the door, turning back to view Brian lying prone on the bed.
"Gotta make a run to the
border," he notified the silent form, "so don't get too comfortable,
okay?" He laughed a little, then shut the door.
***
