Chapter 10

Howie sat in the corner of the dark room. He felt like he had been there forever, but he knew it had only been hours. His mind raced with millions of unanswerable questions. Where was he? Who were those five men? Did they have plans to kill him?

Howie's thoughts drifted back to AJ. The last he had seen of him, he wasn't doing good. He had been pale and to still to be healthy. It had seemed like he was dead. Was AJ their next target?

Desperate to get his mind away from that topic, Howie scanned his small prison. His eyes had adjusted to the dark awhile ago, so he could see perfectly. He noticed a small rickety excuse-for-a-bed pushed up against the far wall. Dirt stained sheets covered what, Howie figured, was an even dirtier matress. He shuddered at the thoughts of what could be crawling through it's rusty springs.

There were no windows. Howie wa susprised he hadn't picked up on that earlier. Other than that it was a regular cellar-like room.

Howie was suddenly snapped back to reality when the door crashed open. The brief flash of light was enough to rob him of his night vision. All he was able to see was a dark form collaspe into the room before the door was slammed shut.

Howie eyed the collasped form. He didn't know whether to go over or stay curled up in his corner. Not moving, he waited for his vision to return.

Slowly it came back and Howie was able to tell the person was out cold. Finally getting some nerve, he crept over to what he now knew was a fallen man. When he got close enough to see the man's face, his heart stopped.

"Brian?" He rasped.

He quickly closed the space between him and his fallen friend. Howie debated wheather he should carry Brian over to the bed or leave him on the floor. Glancing at the bed, Howie shuddered. He decided the floor was probably cleaner. Shaking Brian, he softly called his name.

"Brian. Come on man, wake up."

Brian stirred softly. His eyes fluttered open and he yawned quietly. Howie smiled. Brian looked like he was waking up from a nice nap.

"Howie?" Brian asked, softly. Howie could hear the fear in his voice.

"Yeah it's me." He answered, smiling gently. "How do you feel?"

Instead of getting an answer, Howie felt Brian throw his arms around him. Brian's body was shaking with silent tears. Shocked, Howie found himself only able to rub his back.

"Take it easy Brian." He soothed. "What's wrong?"

"W-we thought y-you were dead." Brian sobbed. "Oh God, I thought I had lost you!"

Howie smiled softly. Leave it to Brian to be worried about someone else when placed in this situation. He continued to rub his back soothingly.

"But you didn't lose me." He whispered. "It's going to be alright."

"No it's not!" Brian cried, pushing away from Howie. "I heard them in the van! I was awake long enough to hear them say they were going to kill us! And then they were going to send one of those sick letters to the rest of the guys telling them where they can find our bodies. They're going to kill us Howie! KILL us!"

Brian collasped against Howie again, his sobs muffled by Howie's chest. Howie held the younger man tightly. The news had devasted him, but he had to remain calm for Brian.

"I didn't get to say goodbye." Brian sniffed. "They just took me. I-I disappeared."

Suddenly Brian pushed Howie away and stood up. He swayed before catching his balance and shaking his head clear. Howie watched as Brian staggered to the door.

"Brian." He called softly. "Where are you going?"

"I have to find Kevin." He babbled. "He's worried about me. I only left to get a soda. I really should be getting back. You can come too. AJ will be happy to see when he wakes up."

Howie stared at Brian with wide eyes. Brian continued rambling about 'getting back before Kevin got real mad' and 'having a bone to pick with Nick about his soda'. Howie was about to get up and snap Brian out of it, when the door flew open.

Brian fell backwards and landed a few feet away from Howie. Bright lights flooded the room as the man standing in the door flipped the switch. Howie grunted. All that time spent in the dark and the damned room had lights.

He was snapped back to reality when he heard Brian panting nearby him.

"They're going to kill us." He rambled. "We're going to die."

"Shut up!" The man shouted.

When Brian continued to ramble, the man let out an angry roar. He stormed over to him and drove his fist into his stomach. Brian yelped in pain and curled up into a tight ball. Howie saw Brian's face drawn into taunt lines of pain. He wanted to get up and go over to him, but decided it would be safer to stay where he was.

"Try and talk when you can't breath." Another man laughed.

Howie looked up in horror. All five of their captors were there. He swallowed hard and licked his lips.

"W-what do you want with us?" He asked in a shaky voice.

The five men started laughing. It was an evil sound thatrolled from them and bounced off the walls. he heard Brian whimpering from a mix of fear and pain.

"What do you think we want with you!" One of them finally managed to say. "We want you dead!"

Howie had to bite his toungue to keep the shocked cry from passing his lips. He could see Brian start trembling.

"Then why haven't you killed us?" He asked.

Howie could feel all five mens' gazes turn to him. He squirmed under the sudden pressure.

"You want to know why!?" One man snapped. "Well we were going to grab all of you so you could watch each other die. But after we snagged Blue eyes we realized things became risky. Too risky to grab another. But we figured, hey! With two of you dead, the Backstreet Boys will be going nowhere fast. So to answer your question, don't worry, you'll get it."

Howie sat there stunned. All these men wanted was to see the end of the Backstreet boys. They weren't in it for money, or fame, or revenge. Just the sick pleasure of sending three people crashing and burning. He was about to ask why, but Brian beat him.

"Why?" He croaked.

The lead man's attention was averated from Howie to Brian. Howie could see Brian shake harder under the man's cold gaze.

"Because you guys are the only things standing between us and a boatload of money." He hissed. "If you guys go down, I'll have connections to a goldmine!"

Howie rolled his eyes. he had spoken to soon. It was always about money. Why should now be any different?

"W-who are you?" Howie didn't have to look at Brian to know he was crying.

"I'm Randy." The leader answered. "And that's Roy, James, Joey, and Greg."

Howie was finally able to place a name to each of the captor's face. These mens' plan was finally putting itself together. There was only one piece missing.

"What's your connection?" He asked.

"Well," Randy began to explain. "When you hit it big in Europe another small music group came out. You were the only thing between them and the fame and money you held. Do you know what group I'm talking about?"

Howie nodded. Another male pop group had come out right after they had hit it big. Some fans liked them, but most were still wary.

"Yeah." Howie nodded. "NSYNC. So what do they have to do with you and our deaths?"

An evil smile spread across Randy's face. He began to chuckle deeply.

"They're our sons."

***

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