Chapter 3
"Since when do you
hang out in chat?"
The voice by her ear
startled her, and she yanked off her headphones to glare up at Tommy.
"Since now. What do you want?"
"Just to say
hi," Tommy bounced around her cubicle, picking up her action figures and
playing with them. "Want to play a game?"
"No."
"Nintendo? I got Conker…"
"No."
"Come on, it's
fun."
"No."
"Mario Kart?"
"I said no,"
"Game Boy? I got my
link cable…"
"Tommy, no."
"I'm compiling, I
can't do anything else," he sat on her desk and swung his feet, making her
computer shake. "Talk to me."
Tommy stared at her for a
moment before shaking his head, "I don't work on it, just
on the packets it sends out. So nope, I can't."
"What about the chat
server?"
"That I can get to.
Why?"
"Can you get me an
IP?"
Tommy's eyes narrowed,
"who's IP?"
"This guy who's been
threatening the Backstreet Boys. I want to see where he's coming from."
"Sure, I
guess," he shrugged. "Don't see why you care, though."
"Something horrible's going to happen, I know it,"
"He on now?"
She shook her head,
"nope. I'm waiting for him to log in."
"Well, when he does,
let me know, I'll grab the IP for you."
"Thanks."
"No problem."
Tommy bounced back over to his cubicle, the floor shaking as he went.
"Compile, dammit!" He yelled at his
computer.
********************************************************
After work,
She found a parking space
without too much trouble, and got out of her car, leaving her shoes and socks
inside. She walked to the pier and down to the sand, sitting down and
stretching out. Now this, this was heaven, she thought to herself. Definitely
the best thing about living in LA…the close proximity of the beach.
"I've been watching
you, you've been watching me."
The line popped into her
head, and she pondered its meaning. His clue. The guy had said it was a line
from a song. Which song? Who's song? The Backstreet Boys, most likely, but she
didn't know their music well enough to figure out which one. And how could a
song tell them when he was going to hurt them anyway?
The Backstreet Boys were
going to be here in LA in two days, for the party being thrown by The Firm.
Andy was nearly giddy with excitement, apparently knowing he was in the same
building as them would be close enough for him.
"They're just pretty
boys," she mumbled to herself, lying down and closing her eyes. Silly
pretty boys, who somehow managed to invoke such strong emotions in people.
Andy, with his love for AJ; the girls in chat, spending all night talking
gibberish about the boys; and of course, this guy, who hated them so much he
wanted to destroy them. Howie, AJ, Kevin, Nick, Brian. She hadn't even known
their names until a few weeks ago, but now….she could see their faces when she
closed her eyes, and worried about them with her every breath.
Why did she bother caring
so much, she wondered. After all, they were just a silly pop group. If they had
such good security, why didn't they stop this guy on their own?
As soon as she thought
about the question, she knew the answer. Because they probably didn't know.
Only SHE knew.
"I don't want to
know!" She whispered angrily to herself. She wasn't a heroine, at least
not in real life. In her games, she saved the world a thousand times over, from
alien races, from evil lords of destruction, from all sorts of things. But
those were just games, not her life. Who the hell gave this guy the right to
make her the one who had to do something?
She sat up and looked out
at the water, squinting against the glare of the setting sun. She wasn't
overreacting either, she was becoming more sure of that as the days went on.
The crazy ones, the guys who were just trying to invoke a reaction in people,
they weren't this organized, this detailed. They would just say 'I'm going to
kill you,' and leave it at that.
Not, "you love your
money and the things you buy with your money. Your money will burn you, and you
will never have felt such physical pain before in your life. Emotional will
come later. That is your warning."
He was so detailed, yet
so cryptic. Money burning. Alcohol hurting. Love destroying. And the list went
on. He'd clearly thought about each of the guys, thought long and hard about
how he wanted to get to them. It was awful.
And she couldn't tell a
soul. "Dangerous precedent my ass," she grumbled, wrapping her arms
around her waist as a chill crept over her. She understood the need to protect
their user's rights, she did, she was as much of a
champion of freedom of speech and the right to privacy as anyone. But….this was
different.
Her contract kept her
from telling the police too. Goddamn NDA. Non disclosure agreements were par
for the course with a technology company, and she'd signed it when she was
hired without thinking twice. But then again, she'd never imagined she would be
in this position….
She shouldn't even be
telling Andy all that she was about what this guy was doing. But of all people,
she'd hoped that he would listen. She was wrong, of course, he thought she was
overreacting, and she should probably stop talking to him about it. It wasn't
like he could do anything, anyway….
Her eyes widened and she
sat up straight, realizing what she had to do. Tell the Backstreet Boys themselves.
THEY would listen.
Well, if they didn't
think she was crazy.
She snorted, and shook
her head, killing that idea right there. They would think she was nuts, some
deranged fan who thought she was going to save them. Not quite the image she
wanted to project…
So all she could do was
wait and see. Hope nothing happened.
"I've been watching
you, you've been watching me…."
With that line spinning
through her head, and feeling as helpless as she had when she arrived,
She had a feeling the
beach wouldn't do much for her until she did something. What that something
was, she didn't know. Something.
"I've been watching
you, you've been watching me…."
**************************************************************
The Backstreet Boys sat
in a conference room, all their eyes fixed on the FBI Agent who was explaining
the way their investigation would work. "…and with the help of the
profile, we will hopefully locate the person who has been sending these
letters, and take action," Agent Melissa Palmer finished, looking around
the room and meeting everyone's eyes evenly. "We will need your
cooperation with this, though, you will have to stop opening letters you
receive, any communication you even suspect is from
this person, you need to send our way immediately."
"You keep saying
we," Howie said, a frown on his face. "But there's only one of you
here."
She laughed, and nodded,
"my partner is back at
"What do you have of
the profile so far?" Kevin asked.
Agent Palmer's expression
grew serious again, and she looked at Kevin as she spoke. "What we have is
very preliminary at this point, mind you, but so far? The perp is between the
ages of 20 and 40, most likely in a job that bores him. Repetitive work,
requiring attention to detail, we see that same attention to detail in the
letters he's writing. Probably a loner socially as well, maybe one or two close
friends, but no romantic interest. He probably has never had a real serious
relationship, some sort of sexual aggression's there, definitely, we're seeing
that in his descriptions of what he wants to do to Kevin and AJ," she
gestured. "Your wife's involvement in this, and the rape."
AJ shuddered, "gee,
thanks."
"It's a guy?"
Nick asked, "not some crazy girl?"
Agent Palmer shook her
head, "no, we don't know if it's male or female at this point, I'm just
using 'he' from force of habit, excuse me on that. That's part of what Bren's working on back at
"Why?" Kevin
asked, his brow furrowing. "Most of our fans are girls, doesn't it stand
to reason…"
"No, it
doesn't," she interrupted with a wave of her hand. "Nothing 'stands
to reason,' in this situation. You must understand we are dealing with someone
who does not think the way you do, or I do. Reason, and logic, to them, is not
the same as it is to you or me. It is figuring out how their mind works, and
getting inside of it, that will give us the answers you are looking for."
"So all we can do is
wait?" Brian asked softly, clearly shaken by her words.
"I'm afraid
so," she replied. "You should be just fine, I don't want you to worry
about your personal safety. This person is enjoying playing a game with you,
and it's very clear that he WANTS you to be afraid. You can't be afraid if
you're dead."
"Well, that's a
relief," Nick said sarcastically.
"Morbid," Kevin
frowned.
"But true,"
Agent Palmer said firmly. "When he kills you, the game's over. And he
wants to play."
"Guys?" A man
stuck his head in the room, looking at Kevin expectantly. "Party's
started, we need you out there."
Kevin sighed and nodded.
He stood up, extending his hand to Agent Palmer. "Thank you for coming out
here to meet with us. If there's anything else we can do…"
"Just stay safe,"
she said, shaking his hand. "All of you. I will be in touch."
"Thanks. Now we have
a party to get to," Kevin looked around at the group. "Ready?"
"Oh yeah, because
don't we feel like having a party now," Brian grumbled, standing up slowly
and stretching.
"Let's have a
party!" AJ cracked, smacking Brian's hair playfully. "Come on, a
couple drinks, and you'll be fine."
"Sure I will
be," he said doubtfully.
"Drinking cures all
ails."
"Drinking makes you
forget all ails," Nick corrected.
"Same difference,
Nicky, same difference."
************************************************************
"Like that'll tell
me anything," she grumbled. She knew full well that knowing his IP could
mean nothing, but she had to try, right?
"I've been watching
you, you've been watching me."
"Wait!" She sat
up straight as she got an idea. She quickly typed the line into the chat,
asking the girls if they knew what it was.
She watched as a flurry
of gibberish passed by her screen, the usual mess of 'who's your favorite,' and
'they're all gay,' until one girl said, "Let's Have A Party."
"What??"
"That's from Let's
Have a Party," the response came back quickly.
Oh god. His first strike
was going to be tonight.
And there was nothing she
could do to stop him.
***************************************************************
"AJ, slow
down," Kevin said in exasperation, watching the man down another shot of
tequila.
"Fuck no," AJ
banged his glass on the bar, yelling at the bartender for a refill. "I
dunno about you, Train, but that Agent didn't do shit to make me feel better
about what's going on."
"I'm with Bone, if
anything, she just made me feel worse," Nick agreed. "If the FBI
doesn't know what's going on, then nobody does."
"They'll figure
something out," Kevin said confidently. "She said her partner's
working on it."
"Yeah, well, still
doesn't help us much right now," Brian said, shaking his head. "We're
going off on tour, and this guy could be anywhere. We could be rolling into his
home town next week, for all we know."
"You're gonna drive
yourself nuts if you think that way," Howie said softly, touching Brian's
shoulder. "We're fine."
"For now."
"Calm down…"
AJ's word ended in a groan, and the glass in his hand went clattering to the
bar as he doubled over. "Fuck," he cursed.
"AJ?" Kevin
asked with alarm, bending down to look into his face. "What's wrong?"
"My stomach, god,
fuck," AJ began breathing heavily, his eyes wide in pain. He stood up on
shaky legs, before nearly falling over, both hands clutching the bar to keep
him upright. "I need to get out of here," he panted, his face
flushing bright red.
"We'll get you back
to the hotel," Kevin slipped an arm around AJ's shoulder, as Nick did the
same to his other.
"No, bathroom,"
AJ barely got the words out before he vomited, Howie and Brian jumping out of
the way. "Sorry," he said weakly, without the strength to even curse
what he'd done. Puking at a party. How uncool.
"Bathroom it
is," Kevin and Nick quickly got AJ into the bathroom, and watched as he
continued to throw up. Howie and Brian followed them in, watching AJ with
concern.
"Kev, he don't look
good," Nick whispered, his eyes widening when AJ began dry heaving,
without anything left to lose in his stomach, but his body still trying to
expel something.
"I know," Kevin
said softly, chewing his bottom lip as he pondered what to do.
AJ finally let go of the
toilet bowl he'd been huddled over and sprawled out on the bathroom floor,
holding his stomach. "I didn't drink too much man, I know what that feels
like," he said softly, groaning when his body cramped again.
"Christ," he doubled over into the fetal position, crying out in
pain. God this hurt. What the hell was wrong with him….
"Nick, go call an
ambulance," Kevin said quickly.
"Kev? You
sure?" Nick looked from Kevin to AJ curled up on the floor, then back to
Kevin. AJ looked bad, but an ambulance meant publicity, which meant a world of
embarrassment for AJ…
"Do it," Kevin
said firmly. As Nick took off, he sat down next to AJ, wiping the sweat off of
his forehead gently. "Just hang in there Bone, you're gonna be ok."
"I don't know, Kev,
I never felt like this," AJ whispered, letting Kevin pull him into a hug
as if he were a child.
"You're going to be
ok," Kevin said again, rubbing AJ's back as he shuddered in pain. "I
swear, you're going to be ok."
***