Chapter 15

Tara was fighting hysteria as she ran into the hallway, staring at the closed doors. What was she supposed to do? Who's door could she knock on? Where was who?? She paced back and forth, listening for a sound, and crying harder when she didn't hear one. "God, help me," she whispered, leaning against the wall and wiping her cheeks. "What do I do?" Finally, she just took a deep breath and screamed Kevin's name, praying he would hear her.

A door down the hallway opened, and she ran over, falling into Kevin's arms as he stepped out.

"What's wrong?" He asked with alarm, taking in her tears, and lack of clothing.

"Nick, god, he's, Kevin, I can't," Tara babbled, clutching onto Kevin in her panic.

"What's going on?" Brian walked into the hallway, his eyes widening when he saw Tara in Kevin's arms. "Tara?"

"What the fuck," AJ stumbled out of his room, rubbing his eyes. "Did someone scream?"

"In my room, everyone, now," Kevin ordered when Howie joined them in the hallway. "We're not talking out here."

"Where's Nick?" Howie asked as he followed them into the room, frowning at the sight of Tara hanging on to Kevin for support. "Tara?"

Kevin sat Tara down, wrapping an arm around her shoulders protectively. "Tara, you need to tell us what's going on," he said with a calmness he didn't feel, looking at her closely.

"What did Nick do to you?" AJ asked harshly, sitting down across from her with a scowl. "Why are you like this?"

"Nick didn't do anything," Tara said, shaking her head furiously. "He went to go get water, and, now…he's gone!" she got out, before choking on her tears, doubling over as she sobbed. "He's just gone!"

"Gone?" Brian gasped, his face turning green. "What do you mean, gone?"

"I don't know where he is," Tara cried, looking at Kevin for help. "He just disappeared."

Kevin's eyes widened, and he stared at her for a moment, before turning to AJ. "Go search the floor, see if maybe Nick went to go get ice or something." To Howie, "get to a phone, call Palmer, after last night's clue, she was going to head here anyway, get her ass here now." And to Brian, "get Billy."

Tara watched, wide-eyed, as the three men scrambled out of the room, still crying softly. She couldn't believe this was happening. Her skin was still flushed from what she'd done, she could still feel him inside of her, his body surrounding her, how could he just be…gone? "Kevin, that guy, he said he was going to hurt Nick here," she said through tears, shuddering as he tightened his arm around her.

"I know, Tara," he said sadly, shaking his head. "We're gonna find Nicky, we won't let him get hurt."

"God, no," she whispered. "This can't be, god," she still felt slightly giddy from making love with Nick, her body refusing to acknowledge what was truly going on. This just didn't happen!! "Nick, god, Kevin, he has to be ok…"

AJ ran back in to the room, out of breath from running around the hall. "I looked everywhere, Kev, nothing."

"He didn't go to get ice," Tara mumbled, running a hand through her hair. "He wouldn't have, not naked…." She looked up, interrupted by Brian returning with Nick's bodyguard close behind.

"What?!" AJ choked out.

"Nick's gone," Kevin told Billy, nodding solemnly when Billy stared at him in surprise.

"How?" Billy asked, frowning at the sight of Tara crying. "What'd she have to do with it?"

Tara gasped and stared at Billy, "I didn't have anything to do with it!"

"Then why you crying?" He asked her, frowning when she just began to cry harder.

"Jesus, Billy, back off," Kevin told him, looking at Tara sadly. "You're going to have to tell us exactly what happened, Tara…"

Tara bit her lip hard, and tried to compose herself, hugging her chest tight. She looked up when Howie walked into the room, watching him in a daze.

"She's on her away," Howie reported, sitting down and looking at Tara with a frown. "So, where's Nick, Tara?"

"I don't know!" She cried, shrugging off Kevin's arm when he tried to comfort her. "Stop it," she pushed him away with a frown, shaking her head. "I can't, don't," she couldn't handle being touched right now, not when she was still feeling Nick….

"Why was Nick naked, Tara?" AJ said slowly, glaring at the heads that spun to stare at him. "What? She said it!"

Tara buried her face in her hands, not knowing how in the world she was going to say what she had to. "Nick, we, god," she stammered, unable to look at the eyes fixed on her as she spoke. "We were in the bedroom, and then he went out to get water, and he just…didn't come back."

"Nick went out to get water without any clothes on?" Billy asked, rolling his eyes when Kevin frowned at him. "It's important, Kevin, Nick couldn't exactly go walking around the hotel naked."

"Just into the other room, he said he'd be right back!" Tara sobbed, shaking her head. "He said he'd be right back," she repeated, her shoulders slumping as she hunched over on the couch.

"Did you hear anything?" Brian asked, biting his own lip against tears.

She nodded slowly, "a thud, but, I thought Nick had just walked into something, or whatever, I didn't think anything of it…"

"What kind of thud?" AJ asked, his eyes narrowing. "You heard a thud and didn't do anything?"

"I went out to see what was going on when Nick didn't come back," Tara told him, pulling her knees up under the t-shirt and shivering. "But I thought he was coming back, I mean, we'd just, god," she hugged her knees tight. "I didn't expect him to just disappear!"

"So no sounds of a struggle, no nothing?" Billy asked, frowning deeply.

"Nothing."

"What did you do then?" Howie asked, looking Tara over carefully. "That's Nick's shirt…"

Tara nodded slowly, "I put it on before going to look at him, my clothes were in the living room," she bit her lip as her tears began to fall again. God, how could this happen…. "I went out to look, and he wasn't there. That's when I went into the hall and called for Kevin."

"Ok, I need to go make some phone calls," Billy pulled out his cell phone, and looked around the room, catching everyone's eyes with his. "None of you are to go anywhere, understand? We're going to find Nick, but I'm not losing any of you in the process. We have people who will go look for him, don't you go doing it."

"Gotcha," Kevin watched as Billy walked out of the room, before turning to the other guys with a frown. "We'll find Nick, well, they'll find Nick," he corrected himself. "I'm sure of it."

Tara looked at him sadly, "before or after he gets hurt, Kevin?" She couldn't bring herself to say what the guy had threatened to do to Nick, not now that it might actually happen.

Kevin found himself fighting his own tears, and Brian gasped loudly, both of them just now realizing what Nick's torture had been threatened to be. "Oh god. Before, Tara, christ, we gotta find him before."

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"Tara, sweetie, wake up," Brian shook her gently, sighing when she refused to stir. She'd been crying in Kevin's arms for hours, until she fell asleep on the couch, but now that the FBI was here, they needed to talk to her. Whatever had happened between her and Nick, it clearly had some kind of effect on her, she was totally distraught over his disappearance. As were they all… "Tara, wake up," he tried again.

"You think she fucked Nick?" AJ said bluntly, his eyes widening when Brian glared at him. "What? Nick kept saying it wasn't gonna happen, and then he's naked…"

"I think it's pretty obvious that she did," Brian said softly, running a hand over her tear stained cheeks. "I think she's fallen for him, big time."

"Great," AJ said dryly. "Think this is part of this creep's plan? Send a girl in to win Nick's heart, then take him away?"

"I don't think Tara is part of it," Kevin said firmly, shaking his head. "And thinking that way is not helping things at all."

"Man, she sleeps like the dead," Brian frowned, shaking her again. "Tara?"

Tara's eyes slowly fluttered open, and she stared at Brian, sitting up straight on the couch. "Nick? Did you find Nick?"

Brian shook his head slowly, "no, Agent Palmer's here."

"Oh," her face fell, and she ran a hand through her hair, before nodding. "Where?"

"You should put some clothes on first," Brian said gently, gesturing to her bare legs. "You're probably freezing."

"My clothes are in Nick's room," Tara ran her hand over the t-shirt she was wearing, feeling tears come to her eyes. "I don't want to take this off," she said softly, grabbing the fabric tightly. It was Nick's, it still smelled like him, she needed to have that around her. Some underwear would be nice, though, she thought as she shivered.

"You can't go into your room now anyway, they're dusting for prints," Kevin said, going to his bag and pulling out a pair of sweatpants. "You can put these on," he handed them to her.

Tara stood up, pulling the t-shirt down as she stood. "Thanks," she mumbled, walking into the bathroom and closing the door behind her.

"I still don't know about her," AJ said suspiciously. "Doesn't it seem a little weird, she shows up, all of this stuff happens, she sweeps Nicky off of his feet…."

"The FBI ran a check on her, like they did everyone," Howie reminded him. "They didn't find anything."

"The FBI's been fucking useless so far, why would we expect them to help now?" AJ argued. He sighed when Tara walked out of the bathroom, shaking his head. "Whatever. Ignore me."

"We always do, Bone," Kevin joked half-heartedly.

"So I need to talk to the FBI?" Tara asked, looking around the room. She caught AJ's glare, and returned it, frowning. "What?"

"Nothing," he sighed, and shook his head. "Go talk."

"Ok…" she shrugged, and followed Kevin out of the room.

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

A few hours later, Nick was no closer to being found, and the group was just growing more panicked. AJ was pacing back and forth, Kevin was nearly drunk, Brian was sitting on the couch, unable to move, Howie was biting his nails off, and Tara was staring at her computer, wishing somehow, somewhere, she would find some clue that would tell her where Nick was.

She also had a feeling that the group didn't quite believe her story about Nick just disappearing out of the room. She had tried to remember more details of what had happened, but all she could remember was a thud. Just a thud. Which didn't tell them much at all.

"Dammit, show up," she told the screen angrily, watching the text in the chatroom fly by. Why wasn't he here? She clicked over to the webpage and hit reload, her eyes widening when she saw something new appear on the page.

LIVE WEBCAST STARTING NOW it proclaimed in large text, with a link off to another page. Tara clicked on the link, watching as the page loaded. She gasped, and nearly fell off the chair when the image fully loaded, unable to believe what she was seeing.

"What?" Brian jumped off of the couch and ran over to her, crying out when he saw the image on the screen. "Oh no…"

"It's Nick," she whispered, touching the image with her finger. And it was…. Nick was naked, sitting on a chair, his hands behind his back, his eyes darting around the room, fear etched into his face. "Nicky…"

The rest of the group gathered around the computer, each letting out a gasp when they saw Nick on the screen. "Oh god," Kevin gasped, before leaving the room and going to get the FBI.

"Maybe there's sound," Tara clicked around on the screen and turned up the volume on the computer, covering her hand with her mouth when she heard the unmistakable sound of Nick begging for help.

"Oh god, poor Nicky," Howie said, his eyes wide as he stared at the image. "Where is he?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Agent Palmer walked into the room with Kevin, bending down and peering at the screen. "Cute, he got a backdrop so we can't see the background," she said wryly, noting the black sheet hung up behind Nick.

"The show will begin in a moment," they heard a deep voice say, followed by text scrolling across the screen. "NEVER ASSUME…"

"Nobody really talks like that," Howie frowned, staring at the screen.

"They're running some kind of filter," Tara said softly, covering her face with her hands and staring out between her fingers. As much as she didn't want to watch, she couldn't tear her eyes away, not when Nick was right there. "Oh, god wait," she jumped up and ran to Kevin. "Give me your cellphone, let me call Tommy, find out where this is coming from."

"Don't you dare," Agent Palmer said quickly, gesturing for Tara to sit back down. "You record this, and we'll have enough for a subpoena. You hack it, and we can't do anything."

"You can stop this!" Tara shouted at her, taking the cellphone Kevin handed her and dialing quickly. "Goddamit, Tommy, answer," she begged, checking her watch with a frown. "Shit, he's probably still asleep." It was 7am in Dallas, which made it 5 in California. "Shit!"

"Good, hacking is a bad idea," Palmer said harshly.

"Hacking could stop this guy NOW!" Kevin told her, frowning when she just rolled her eyes at him. "You know what? Get the fuck out of here."

Palmer looked at him in surprise, before shaking her head, "no, I need to see this."

"If you're not going to do anything about it until later, then you can see it later," Kevin said firmly, his eyes blazing angrily. "Now get the hell out of here. We all love Nick, and this is going to break our hearts, as well as his. I don't want anyone in here who doesn't care."

Palmer snorted, "I care, Kevin, really…"

"Get out, or I will drag you out," AJ stood up and stared at her, squaring his shoulders. He winced when a loud cry left the computer, biting his lip. "You don't seem to care that MY BROTHER is the one screaming like that. Get out."

"Fine," she sighed. "Call me when its over."

"Fuck you," AJ told her as she left, shaking his head. "How can she just sit by and watch? How can we?"

"We can't do anything," Kevin said sadly, watching as another figure joined Nick on screen. The person was wearing black from head to toe, a black ski mask covering their face. "So that's him?"

"Must be," Tara said softly, retaking her seat in front of the computer.

"Tell me, Nick, does this sound familiar?" The deep voice was heard asking, followed by a high pitched scream.

Nick's face contorted, and he jerked away from the person trying to touch him, screaming at them to get away, and not to hurt her. Tears ran down his cheeks as the person ran a hand through his hair.

"Oh god no, don't touch him," Tara began to cry, shaking as she watched another person walk into the camera's view.

"Holy shit, there are two of them," AJ gasped, watching in horror as the second person, dressed the same as the first, handed something to the other.

"No, please, don't," they could hear Nick begging through the computer's speakers, as his head was yanked back. "Don't hurt me," he pleaded, his chest heaving with the force of his sobs.

"Relax, Nicky, maybe you'll like this," the deep voice said with a laugh.

"NO!" Brian screamed, watching in horror as the object in the first person's hand was shoved into Nick's mouth.

Tara covered her own mouth as she began to sob, the gagging sounds leaving Nick's throat the worst sound she'd ever heard. "Stop it, please, stop it…"

"We have to do something, where the hell are they?!" AJ shouted, jumping up and down, unable to sit still and watch Nick be tortured like this. "STOP THEM!"

The people on screen yanked Nick out of the chair and forced him to stand, one of them punching him in the stomach when he struggled against them.

"No, no, no," Brian chanted, shaking his head non-stop as he watched. "Don't, they can't, oh god," his whole body shook when he saw them force Nick to turn around and bend over, his rear to the camera. "NO!"

"Guys, I got something," Palmer burst back into the room, out of breath. "I thought that chair looked familiar, it belongs to this hotel. We got a list of all the rooms with a modem line in use right now, and we're checking them now."

"Well, goddammit, hurry up!" Brian screamed, covering his hand with his mouth as he saw the second person walk off screen. "Look at him, you have to hurry up!"

"We are, we are," Palmer nodded. "I'm going to help, I'll let you know if we make any progress," she ran out of the room, biting her lip when she heard the gagging sounds eminating from the computer.

"Oh no, god, please, stop them," Kevin pleaded, falling to his knees and watching in horror when the person returned to the first, holding another object between his hands. "Nick, oh god…"

"Nicky, I'm so sorry," Tara whispered, sobbing uncontrollably as she watched the screen. "Please, I'm so sorry…"

A loud scream was heard in the hallway, and all heads in the room turned around to stare in surprise.

"What was that?" Howie asked, his eyes wide, dreading the answer.

"I don't know," Kevin shook his head slowly, torn between watching Nick, and looking to see what was going out in the hallway . He chose the latter, deciding nobody needed to see what was about to happen to Nick, much less him. "I'll be right back," he said, standing up on shaky knees and walking to the door.

"Be careful," Brian begged Kevin, absolutely terrified over what was going on.

"I will be," Kevin told him, slowly, carefully opening the door. "Just stay here. I will be."

A second scream filled the air, and Kevin stepped into the hallway.

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