Chapter 12

"How's Howie doing?" Nick asked with a mouthful of cereal, grinning at Tara when she rolled her eyes at him. "Cereal?" He threw a box at her with a giggle.

"Not hungry," she batted the box away and asked Kevin to pass the pot of coffee instead.

"He's doing ok," AJ chewed his own mouthful of cereal and swallowed before continuing. "Sleeping again now, but he was up earlier. Ya think getting burned makes you that tired, or is Howie just using the excuse to sleep all day?"

"Howie can sleep as much as he wants," Kevin said sternly, frowning at AJ. "Leave him alone, he doesn't need an excuse."

"I'm just saying…"

"I know what you're saying, and leave it be," Kevin interrupted. "Howie should do whatever he needs to today."

"Can I use your computer, Tara?" Deciding breakfast was done, AJ stood up. "I wanna see if that guy is in chat again."

"Sure, let me get you set up," Tara walked off with AJ, leaving Brian, Nick and Kevin eating their breakfast.

"She's nice, Nick," Brian offered softly.

Nick snorted, nearly choking on his cereal. He covered his mouth with his hand, coughing, until he recovered, staring at Brian. "Why are you telling me that? And I don't know if 'nice' is exactly the word I'd use, she'd prolly hate that as much as she hated 'baby.'"

"You like her, right?" Brian's lips were curled up in a slight smile from Nick's cereal induced fit.

"I guess," Nick shrugged, and took a sip of his coffee. "Doesn't matter."

"Why not?"

"She don't like me," Nick muttered, shoving more cereal into his mouth.

"Oh yes she does," Kevin said with a grin, laughing when Nick pointed to his mouth, showing himself incapable of answering. "You can stuff your face all you want, but I'm telling you, she likes you."

Nick just shook his head stubbornly as he chewed.

"We saw how you two were sleeping, AJ was right, friends don't sleep like that," Brian said, looking at Nick intently.

Nick shrugged, and continued chewing in silence.

"How were they sleeping?" Kevin asked.

"She was on top of him," Brian explained, smiling when Nick's face began to turn red as he continued to eat. "Well, she was, Nicky."

"On top of you?" Kevin snickered, and elbowed Nick. "Now how'd you end up like that?"

"Will you two stop it?" Nick threw down his spoon and glared at the two cousins. "You're like…like…the Wonder Twins from Hell!"

Tara walked into the room just in time to hear that, and started to laugh, "The Wonder Twins from Hell?"

"Who the fuck are the Wonder Twins?" Kevin looked at Nick, confused.

"Wonder Twin powers, activate!" Tara giggled, running over to Nick and punching his hand.

"Form of," Nick rubbed his chin, thinking. "Can I be a dolphin? One's always an animal, and one's something water, right?"

"Water, or air, or something, I think? I remember one of them being ice a lot." Tara said, laughing harder when Kevin's confusion just grew. "No Wonder Twins?"

"Cartoon, Kevin," Brian said, unable to resist a chuckle when Nick poked Tara again. "She didn't actually transform, Nick."

"Transformers!" Nick giggled, and stood up, grabbing Tara's hands. "Optimus Prime?"

"I never really liked the Transformers," she admitted, laughing when Nick's face fell. "Sorry…"

"I like South Park," Kevin offered helpfully.

"That's good, m'kay?" Nick looked at Kevin, smirking.

Kevin just looked at them, not getting the reference.

"Play nice, kids, m'kay?" Tara giggled.

"You started this, Kevin," Brian pointed out with a grin, before adding, "m'kay?"

"M'kay?" Kevin's brow furrowed as he looked from Brian, to Nick, to Tara. "I know Mr. Hanky."

"You would," Nick rolled his eyes.

"I'm not quite sure how to take that," Kevin said, looking at Nick with narrowed eyes. "You insulting me, boy?"

"Naw," Nick shrugged. "M'kay?"

"Tara?" AJ ran into the room, his eyes wild. "I need you now, the guy's in chat."

"Oh shit," Tara followed AJ back to Nick's room at top speed, with the rest of the group not far behind. "What's going on?"

"I did what you said, started my own account and all, so he doesn't know it's the person he talked to yesterday in here," AJ explained, gesturing wildly at the computer screen. "I was just watching him, and he was talking to this one girl, telling her how he was going to hurt Nicky, all sorts of stuff. He told her, god," AJ paused for breath and ran a hand through his hair, shuddering.

"What did he tell her?" Kevin prompted impatiently.

"He told her that she could stop him, if she'd meet him in person. And then, jesus, she gave him her phone number, said she'd meet him to save Nick!" AJ stared at Tara, his expression one of fear and concert. "What's he going to do to this girl? We have to do something, Tar, we can't let him meet her!"

"Did you keep the phone number?" Tara asked, sitting down at the computer and typing in rapidly. "Or her screenname?"

"He's still there," AJ offered, pointing to the screen.

"Yeah, but is she?"

AJ bent down to look at the computer screen, frowning deeply. "No, she's gone."

"Oh fuck," Nick whispered, staring at the computer with his eyes wide. "What the hell is he doing?"

"Going after our fans?" Brian said in horror. "I thought he just wanted us?"

"If he meets this girl, Tara, you know no good will come of it," AJ said, panicking when she just nodded in reply. "What can we do?"

"Nothing," she said softly, casting her eyes downward. "I mean, I can get Tommy to trace his IP again, and maybe he can hack the proxy this freak's using, but, if the girl's gone, and you don't know her screenname, …" she sighed, and frowned. "Even if you DID know her screenname, there isn't anything we can do."

"But we know what this guy will do to her!!" AJ glared her angrily. "You work for this fucking website, how can you LET this happen?"

"I'm not LETTING this happen!" Tara stood up and returned the glare. "Where are her fucking PARENTS stopping her from getting online? If she's a kid, that is. If she's not a kid, than what kind of idiot is she, agreeing to meet with someone she met in a chatroom? Someone who just threatened to kill a Backstreet Boy at that? Is it really my fault?"

"YES!" AJ shouted. "Goddammit, YES! This is YOUR website, and your chatroom, I BLAME YOU."

Tara's eyes filled with tears, and she stared at AJ for a moment, her lower lip trembling. "I'm sorry. I can't do anything," she said softly, before turning around and running out of the room.

"Shit, Tara," Nick took off after her, shooting an angry look at AJ as he went.

"It's not her fault, Bone," Brian said softly, sitting down in front of the computer and watching the chat scroll by.

"It has to be someone's fault," AJ argued, bending over Brian's shoulder to watch the screen. "I mean, look at what this guy's saying?"

"It's this guy's fault," Kevin said firmly, wincing when he saw the man begin to describe in chat what he intended to do to Nick. "He's completely to blame, and he's the one we have to stop."

****************************************************

Tara ran down the hallway and stopped, unsure of exactly where to go. She didn't want to go walking around the hotel, for fear of running into Jessica, and she couldn't leave, all of her stuff was still in Nick's room. Leaning against the wall, she slid down to the floor and hugged her knees into her chest, biting her lip against the tears she could feel filling her eyes.

"Tara?"

Tara raised her head, sighing when she saw Nick walking down the hallway. "I told you I wasn't doing any good," she said sadly, leaning her head on her knees as she felt a tear roll down her face.

"AJ was just upset, it's not your fault," Nick said consolingly, sitting down next to her. "There's nothing you can do."

"That's the problem, isn't it?" She replied, blinking rapidly to see through her tears. "God, Nick, do you realize, we're never going to even know if this girl did meet him? We don't know where she is, where he is, who either of them are….how do we know this is the first time he's done this, even? He could be out there, meeting girls through that chatroom, and killing them, and we would never know."

"Killing them because they think they're saving me," Nick said softly, his own eyes growing bright. "Jesus, this man is sick…"

"Sometimes the law protects the wrong people," Tara said, shaking her head slowly.

"What do you mean?"

"Just thinking," she hugged her knees tight, and sighed. "We didn't see anything illegal happen in that chatroom, I didn't even see enough to give me reason to kill his account, under our policies, anyway. All I saw was a guy agree to meet a girl. That's what's sick. We know what's really going on, we know what he wants to do, but we can't do anything. He has a right to his anonymity, so does she. We don't have the right to find out who either of them are, no matter what we know."

"The FBI Agent will be here soon, we can talk to her," Nick said. "Maybe she's gotten closer to figuring out who he is. She has all the letters we got too, and she's put taps on our cell phones."

"Did he call Kevin's cell phone last night?" Tara asked, looking at Nick when he didn't reply. "Did he?"

Nick shook his head sadly. "The hotel phone."

"Of course," Tara muttered, shaking her head. She looked at Nick for a moment, before sighing. "Should I go home, Nick? After I talk to the FBI Agent, I mean. Kevin had initially said I should stay through tomorrow, but, given what AJ said…"

"You're staying," Nick said firmly. He pulled her hand away from her knee and squeezed it tight, looking into her eyes. "AJ didn't mean that, and I'm sure Kevin is telling him how wrong he was to say it right now."

"You're sure? I'm not helping…"

"Will you stop saying that?" Nick interrupted her, rolling his eyes when she just looked at him dimly. "Come on, who else will make Wonder Twin jokes with me?"

"I bet AJ knows who the Wonder Twins are."

"Francine," he said teasingly, grinning when she smirked. "No?"

"I told you. It's Katchoo."

"Francine."

"Smartass."

"That's Kaos, to you."

"You gonna help me up off the floor, smartass?" Tara asked him, raising an eyebrow when he remained planted on the floor next to her. "Such a gentleman," she said sarcastically, pushing herself up off the ground. She started walking down the hallway, turning back to stare at Nick when he shouted to her. "Yes?"

"Help me up, Francine," he laughed, extending a hand to her.

"I should leave you there," she grumbled, walking back and giving him a hand up.

"Thanks, Katchoo," he said softly, kissing her forehead lightly.

"Yeah, get moving," she smacked his rear as he walked by her with a giggle. "The smartass has a nice ass, so I see."

"Oh, you bet I do," he wiggled his butt at her and continued walking. "And what's the nickname, Katchoo?"

"Kaos, gotcha, Kaos."

*********************************************************

"So, I keep killing his account, and he keeps recreating it, and putting the website back up," Tara finished and bit her lip, looking at the FBI Agent for some sort of reaction.

"Ok," Agent Palmer scribbled some more on the notepad in her lap before nodding. "Thank you, Tara, this has been extremely helpful."

"Helpful, for…" Kevin prompted. He frowned when Agent Palmer just looked at him dimly, "didn't you hear what Tara just said? He's going after our fans now, he's burned Howie, he nearly killed my wife, he's getting a little too close, isn't he?"

"I agree completely," she replied evenly, crossing her legs in front of her and smoothing out her skirt. "However, as helpful as Tara's information is, it will also make things more complicated."

"How so?" Howie asked, his brow crinkling. "More information is better, isn't it?"

"Yes, but the tone of the information online, and of the person you are speaking to in the chatroom, is extremely different than that of the letters and phone calls you are receiving." She took a deep breath before continuing, "our profile is still not complete, and this will only complicate that further."

"He's crazy. Put that in your profile," AJ said harshly.

"I don't believe so," Agent Palmer shook her head. "He's psychopathic, but not insane. There is a difference."

"How?"

"His actions are methodical, which means they will be predictable, when we can figure out what that pattern is."

"I can tell you what he's gonna do next," Nick said, his eyes narrowed. "He's coming after me."

"Well, yes, but…"

"No buts," Kevin interrupted her angrily. "He has done everything he's said he intends to do so far. We KNOW his next target is Nicky. We need YOU to stop him."

"Subpoena my company, get his user information," Tara suggested helpfully.

Agent Palmer sighed, "we cannot do that. We don't have enough evidence that the person on your service is the one sending the notes and making the phone calls to justify a judge signing a subpoena. Also, you said it yourself, there's no guarantee that information is real."

"I can get Tommy to hack his proxy next time he's on, see if he can get a definite IP that way?" She offered.

"No!" Agent Palmer's eyes flared as she stared at Tara. "Do not do any such thing."

"Why not? If it helps us find him…"

"Because it's not admissible in court. What good will knowing who he is do, if you cannot do anything with that information?" She asked, nodding when Tara didn't reply. "Exactly."

"Maybe it's no good legally, but we can know who to look out for," Brian argued. "Check hotel reservations, stuff like that."

"Hotel reservations are private, you can do no such thing," Agent Palmer replied.

"We can call and ask if he's a guest," Tara shot back. "We know he's here, or at least he was. Wouldn't knowing that at least help?"

"You know it anyway, knowing his name does no good. You cannot do anything illegal, like hacking him, in order to find out who he is," Agent Palmer insisted. "Give us some time, we will find him, I promise."

"Because you've done such a wonderful job so far," Howie said sarcastically.

"Shall I tell you what we've found out?" She turned to look at Howie, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Go for it."

"We know that the paper he uses for his notes is sold on the West Coast, mostly in the California region. His handwriting is very organized, and his grammar is always correct, leading us to believe he is highly educated. The pen, and this is where we've gotten our first solid clue," she smiled lightly. "The pen he uses to write the notes is that of a gold Cross pen, it uses a special sort of ink. Only a few hundred are sold of them every year, they are extremely expensive, the type of thing someone receives for a graduation present."

"Great, so we're looking for a highly educated psycho with a nice pen," AJ rolled his eyes. "Why don't we just go through everyone's bags and ask if they have a pen."

"The letters are always posted from towns that you are in, the latest was sent from Las Vegas. So yes, we have reason to believe he is following you," she continued. "We are currently analyzing the acid we found in Howie's bag, as well as the color tablets that had been placed in the pool in Las Vegas. The lipstick used to write on Kevin's mirror was Revlon, that result came back quickly, unfortunately, you can buy it in any drugstore in America."

"What about Kristen's bus?" Kevin asked. "That was a bomb…."

"That's still being analyzed. From what we've figured out so far, it wasn't exactly a sophisticated device, you can find out on the Internet how to build one just like it. Setting it up so it blew when the gear was shifted was a nice twist, but nothing too complicated, anyone who knows cars fairly well would be able to figure out how to set the switches to activate that way." She paused for a breath. "Which leads me to the next issue…gender."

"It's a guy, right?" AJ said, shrugging. "Has to be."

"We're still not quite sure. Hopefully with this information Tara has provided us we can narrow it down a bit more. The lipstick suggests a woman, but the knowledge of cars suggests a man. The handwriting suggests a man as well, but…" she sighed. "For each thing indicative of one gender, there is something else indicating another."

"There are only two genders," Nick pointed out with a frown.

Agent Palmer chuckled softly. "Yes. But how we investigate will change if we are looking for a man or a woman, so we must be sure to get this right."

"So what do we do now? Just wait for him to come after me?" Nick asked angrily. "I don't hear you saying anything helpful."

"I'm going to be assigning a couple of agents to tour with you from now on, for added security," Agent Palmer explained. "They will be keeping an eye on hotel lobbies, crowds at concerts, things that your bodyguards can't do. They'll also be looking for people who they see in multiple towns, things like that."

"Any suspects?" Howie asked hopefully.

Agent Palmer looked around the room, her gaze lingering on Tara. "As far as I'm concerned, everyone is a suspect right now."

"Everyone, meaning…"

"Everyone," she said flatly. "All of you, anyone on your tour, everyone. We're running extensive background checks on all people who tour with you, as well as on each of you, and I will need to do the same for you, Tara, I'm sure you understand."

Tara's eyes widened, but she nodded, "sure."

"I'm going to be returning to Washington tonight, but, I'll be in touch." Agent Palmer stood up, and smiled. "We will catch this guy. I know it looks hopeless now, but all it takes is one break, and we'll get him."

"How do you get that break, though?" Kevin asked.

She smiled wryly. "That's the hard part. We'll get it though, I promise."

"Before or after I get raped?" Nick asked angrily, standing up and glaring at her. "Do you get what he's threatening to do to me?"

"Yes, Nick, I do, and I'm sorry…" she stopped talking when Nick ran out of the room, shaking her head slowly. "If it helps," she turned around to look at Kevin. "I highly doubt this guy intends to rape Nick."

"Nicky," Brian got up and followed Nick, glaring at the Agent as he went.

Kevin sighed, and shook his head. "No. It doesn't help. Not us, and definitely not Nick."

"His game is making you fear him," Agent Palmer said, running a hand through her hair. "He wants you do be acting like this, he wants you to be afraid."

Kevin snorted, and frowned, "well, it sure looks like his game is working, then doesn't it."

"Yes, I suppose, then, it is."

***

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