Chapter 34

Nick and Kevin arrived back at the hotel to find AJ, Howie, and Brian gathered in one room, all discussing the best path to take to solve this mystery, once and for all.

"How's Tara?" Brian asked when he saw Nick walk in, his blue eyes wide with concern.

Nick sat down on the couch, slumping down into the cushions. "She's in pain, and can barely see, and…" he sniffled, and frowned. "It's all my fault."

"We're going to make this right. Now." Kevin said firmly, pulling out a pad and pen. "Ok, so let's figure out who's going to do what…"

"Wait, first, Palmer came by," AJ interrupted. "She said that blowing up the sugar container thingy was another one of those things that can be found on the Internet, not a really hard thing to do. So she says, anyway."

"Not a hard thing to do," Nick said dryly. "Great, it's real easy to find out how to blow up a sugar container."

"Wanna know how it was done?"

Nick rolled his eyes, and sighed. "Sure."

"A little jar filled with sulfuric acid, topped with a condom," AJ snickered, and grinned. "A condom, cute, right? Anyway, that container was in the sugar container. When Tara picked it up to pour her sugar, the acid ate through the condom, it reacted with the sugar, and…bang."

"Cute," Kevin groaned, shaking his head. "So someone read how to do this online?"

"That's what Palmer said, yeah," AJ nodded. "The things you can find online…go fig."

"NOW can we figure out what we're gonna do today?" Kevin asked, looking around the room. "Why are you all up already anyway? It's pretty early."

"Couldn't sleep," Howie said softly. "We were worried about Nick and Tara, decided to just hang out until you got back."

"Gotcha." Kevin twirled the pen around his fingers, and took a deep breath. "Ok. So today."

"Tara had said that the FBI thought there was some proof of something or another at her office, she wanted to go through some stuff she'd brought home," Nick said, looking at Kevin. "I can go to her apartment, look at the stuff?"

Kevin nodded, and wrote that down. "That works. Maybe I should talk to her friend from work, then? See what he knows?"

"Tommy," Nick agreed. "Tara's cell phone in still in our room, the number's stored, you can call him to let him know you're coming."

"Cool," Kevin nibbled on the end of the pen before turning to Howie. "You want to finish up quizzing people around here about Jessica?"

"Will do," Howie nodded. "There are still some people I have yet to talk to."

"Hit up Philly, he seems to always know who's doing what around here," AJ suggested.

"Bone, you and Brian want to hold down the fort here? Go on the computer, see what's up there, and we'll call in to you with news?"

"Tara needs her laptop," Nick said, smiling lightly at the funny looks that suggestion received. "She's amazing, she's in so much pain, but she still wants to finish her hacking."

"So Brian and I can go drop it off after we check out things online," AJ said. "Unless you want to?"

"No, Nick should go to her place, I get the feeling if he goes to bring her the laptop, he'll never leave," Kevin said quickly, smiling wryly at the small nod that received from Nick. "She's gonna be ok, you know."

"Yeah, I know. I still should be there," Nick said sadly. "So what do we do about our bodyguards and the Feds? Aren't they gonna wonder what we're doing, me going to Tara's, you going to Tommy's?"

"We are going to lose them, and go rent some cars," Kevin grinned. "Been a long time since we've had to sneak out, but I think I still know how to do it."

"How you gonna get into Tara's?" AJ asked, his eyes narrowing. "You can't just break in…"

"I'm gonna look for her keys in the room, otherwise I'll just ask Andy. She's said he lives next door, and has a key," Nick laughed lightly. "I think he'll let me in."

"Isn't he a fan?"

Nick nodded, and grinned. "Yup. Not like he won't recognize me."

"Just be careful," Kevin stood up and stretched, meeting everyone's eyes as he looked around the room. "That goes for everyone."

"This is the last day we got, Kev, Tara said it, if we don't catch him now, the next thing that happens is one of us dies," Nick said with a shudder. "Careful or not, we gotta figure out who's doing this, and stop them."

"We will, Kevin," Brian finally spoke, looking around the room with a new resolve in his eyes. "Nobody's dying, and nobody else is getting hurt. It ends today."

Howie nodded in agreement. "One way or another, this ends today."

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

"Tara? Wake up. Tara!"

Tara groaned when she felt someone shake her, her eyes slowly fluttering open. "What?" She gasped when she recognized Jessica standing over her, and struggled to sit up. "What are you doing here?"

"You have to get dressed, come on," Jessica was holding Tara's clothes, and held them out to her expectantly. When Tara just continued to stare at her, she yanked on her shoulder, "come on!"

"What are you talking about, I'm in the hospital," Tara said in confusion, her head too foggy to come up with a better argument. "I can't get dressed."

"Nick needs you, Tara, get up!" Jessica pleaded with her, her eyes wide.

"What do you mean, Nick needs me?" Tara's eyes widened as best they could with the bruises surrounding them, and she accepted her shirt from Jessica.

"Nick's hurt, he's been calling for you. Come on, I don't know how much time he has left!"

Tara gasped at the panic she saw on Jessica's face, and her eyes filled with tears. "Oh god, what happened?"

"There was an accident, the other guys are with him. Just hurry up!" Jessica slipped an arm around Tara and pulled her to a standing position. "Get your pants on."

"I can't," Tara said weakly, dizziness sweeping over her she looked down at her bare legs. She fell back onto the bed, looking at Jessica helplessly. "I can't stand…"

"Goddammit," Jessica grumbled, throwing the pants at her. "Put these on, as best you can."

Tara pulled on the pants, watching as Jessica rolled a wheelchair over to her. "Nick left that here," she said softly.

"You want to see Nick before he dies? Get your ass into it now," Jessica said harshly.

"Oh god, oh god," Tara fought back a sob, and carefully stood up, pivoting before falling into the wheelchair. "What happened?"

"It's this creep who's been after them," Jessica explained as she roughly pushed the chair out of the room and down the hallway. "He got to Nick, and it's bad."

"No, god, not Nick," Tara could only watch as she was pushed through the hospital and out to the parking lot, until they were in front of Jessica's car.

"Can you get yourself in?" Jessica looked at her expectantly.

"I think so," Tara struggled to stand up, before gasping in pain. "Or not…"

"I got some pills for you, you can take them in the car. They'll make it easier on you once we get to Nick."

"Thanks," Tara said softly, biting her lip against the pain as she maneuvered herself into the front seat of the car.

"Here," Jessica got into the driver's seat and threw an unmarked pill bottle at her. "They're Philly's migraine pills, he says they're really strong. Take two."

Tara was without the strength to argue, and she did as ordered, washing the pills down with the bottle of water Jessica handed her. "Where's Nick?"

"We're going there now."

"Hurry up?" Tara asked, wiping at a tear rolling down her face. "I have to get to him."

"That's why I came to get you, babe, you're gonna see him all right."

"Alive?"

Jessica smirked, and locked the car doors before pulling out of the parking lot. "For now."

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

Nick pulled up to the apartment building in the car he had rented and parked, looking at the apartments in front of him. "Now which one's Tara's, and which one's Andy's," he muttered, getting out of the car and examining the exteriors. He walked up the steps, trying to determine which door to knock on.

"HEY! That's Tara's spot!" A man came running out of one of the apartments, skidding to a halt at the sight of Nick. "You're, oh, jesus…"

"Are you Andy?" Nick asked, quickly walking to the man.

"Oh jesus," he repeated, before falling to the ground with a thud. He sat on his rear staring up at Nick, his brown eyes wide. "Nick?"

"You must be Andy," Nick laughed, and offered Andy a hand up. He hauled Andy off the ground, before asking, "you have a key to Tara's apartment, right?"

Andy nodded, still staring at Nick in awe.

"Ok, can you let me in, then?" Nick had to yank his hand out of Andy's, as the other man was still holding it tight, refusing to let go. "Andy?" He bent down to peer into the other man's eyes, frowning at his stunned reaction. "Helloooo?"

"You're Nick Carter," Andy finally said, staring into Nick's eyes.

"So I've been told."

"You've been sleeping with my Tara."

"Your Tara?" Nick asked, a smile crossing his face. "I thought AJ was your favorite?"

Andy blushed, and looked away meekly. "Oh, he is, but," he looked back at Nick with a grin. "You ain't bad either."

"Can you let me in to Tara's apartment?" Nick repeated, gesturing towards the door.

"Sure," Andy shrugged, and walked over to the door, before looking at Nick curiously. "Although, why? Where is she?"

"She's in the hospital," Nick said, walking in the door after Andy had opened it. The man followed on his heels, and he explained why he was there, and what had happened to Tara, as he searched the apartment for the things from Tara's office.

"It's here," Andy picked up the box and placed it on a table, pulling off the top. "She hasn't looked in here since she got fired."

"So she told me," Nick said, bending down to peer at the contents. He laughed as he dug through stuffed animals and action figures, "she likes toys, huh."

"She's got a great toy now," Andy said appreciatively, looking Nick up and down.

Nick blushed, and shifted uncomfortably before returning his attention to the box. "AJ. Save it for AJ," he muttered.

"There's more than enough of me to go around…"

"Oh man," Nick gasped, pulling a gold pen out of the box. "What's this?"

Andy's eyes narrowed, and he took the pen from Nick, shaking his head. "Not Tara's. Maybe Tommy's?"

"Tara said Tommy went to Yale, that explains the graduation pen," Nick breathed, his eyes growing wide. "Oh damn…"

"Oooh, pictures," Andy pulled a stack of pictures from the box, and started going through them, giggling at them. "Look at Tara, doesn't she look so goofy here?"

"That's Jessica, right?" Nick pointed to the girl with Tara in the picture.

"Yup, Jess works for you guys."

"Yeah, I know."

"She went to Yale too, you know," Andy offered.

"She knows Tommy?" Nick asked, his face paling.

Andy shrugged. "Dunno? I think they were the same year, but Yale's a big school…"

"There a picture of Tommy in there?" Nick gestured to the pictures.

"I'm sure, lemme look," Andy shuffled through the pictures, pulling one out and handing it to Nick. "Here."

Nick let out a soft cry, and fell onto the floor, staring at the picture in horror. "Oh god."

"What?" Andy asked in astonishment, staring at Nick. "I know he's not the best looking man in the world, but Nick, he ain't THAT bad…"

"His name's not Tommy," Nick whispered, touching the picture with a finger. His face was different, new nose, new jaw, and his hair color had changed, but his eyes…Nick would never forget those eyes, not as long as he lived. "His name's Gayle."

***

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