Chapter 6
By Bianca
Ella sat quietly
beside Brian, checking his pulse every so often. She was beginning to get
really worried about him; he couldn’t stay there like that for too much longer.
To be totally honest, she didn’t know if there was much more she could do for
him and she was scared that she was going to prove Nick right.
When Brian tried
to shift his body, he let out a painful groan and shut his eyes tight. Ella
watched as Nick’s forehead became etched with concern and he reached his hand
out to his friend.
“Isn’t there
anything you can do for him?” Nick asked quietly, hope filling his voice.
Ella panicked a
little inside. How was she supposed to tell this man that she didn’t know what
she could do for his friend; that he may not make it through the night?
“Well…I…”
“What? You’re
telling me that there’s not anything you can do for Brian?” Nick’s voice rose
and became shrill. “I thought you were an all knowing med student. What the
hell happened?”
Looking down at the
tiles beneath her, Ella tried her best to remain calm and composed, but that
was becoming increasingly hard. She had not had a good first impression with
the man before her, although, she wanted to put that aside and try and give him
a chance. Maybe he was having a bad day…everyone was entitled to be in a bad
mood once in a while, but Nick Carter was pushing his limit.
“Man,” Brian spoke
quietly. “Leave her alone…she’s doing a great job.”
“No, Brian…she
said she could help you and she’s not doing a damn thing to-”
Suddenly, Ella
felt like she could have slapped Nick hard enough to send him sliding across
the floor. “You know what? You’re an asshole. Just because you’re some teen
idol with an ego bigger than this state, doesn’t give you any right to judge me
or how I’m handling this situation. If you think you can do any better than me,
have at it. Otherwise, fuck off you jerk.”
Everyone seemed
shocked by Ella’s sudden outburst; she couldn’t even believe she just said
that. To a Backstreet Boy no less. Looking around she saw that Brian was
smiling up at her. Then he mouthed “You go girl” and gave her a slight
wink.
“I’m glad you’re
all having a nice little moment over there, but I think you need to shut the
hell up,” Nate called glaring.
***
“I think we need
to call the police now,” Kevin said as he impatiently paced the room. Stopping
by the telephone he silently beckoned it to ring. Something was terribly wrong
and he didn’t want to wait around only to find out that they were too late.
“We’ve waited long enough.”
“C’mon Kevin, wait
a few more minutes…” AJ began to plead with his older brother once again.
“It’s been half an
hour AJ…how much longer do we need to wait? What do you think, Howie?”
Howie watched as
both men turned to look at him for an answer. He shifted uncomfortably under
their intense gazes and averted his eyes to the beige carpet beneath his feet.
Placing his hand on the cool marble table beside the couch, he shrugged and
continued to avoid the two pairs of eyes that seemed to be burning into his
tanned face.
“Damn it AJ, I’m
calling the police now. I’m not-” he was suddenly interrupted by the telephone.
The ringing seemed almost deafening compared to the silence they had been
experiencing for the last half hour. It seemed to startle all of them. Kevin
lifted the phone from its cradle and listened for a moment before speaking.
“Hello?”
“Well,” the
menacing voice on the other end sent chills down his spine and caused the hair
on the nape of his neck to stand on end. “I am so privileged to be speaking
with yet another Backstreet Boy. Now, onto business…”
“What have you
done with Brian and Nick?” Kevin asked, ignoring the man on the other end of
the telephone.
“We’ll get to that
soon enough. First I want to discuss our terms.”
“No, first you
will tell me what the hell you have done with my friends!” Kevin’s voice echoed
through the sitting area, causing AJ and Howie to flinch.
“Listen to me you
stupid bastard…if you want to actually see your friends again, I would suggest
you shut your mouth and listen. Or would you rather see them again when you’re
identifying their bodies?”
“Shut the hell up
you sick son of a bitch!” Kevin yelled. He listened as the man on the other end
began to laugh disturbingly.
Suddenly the
chilling laughter stopped. “I want to make one thing clear to you…I am in
control here and your friends will die if you don’t comply with every demand I
make. Do you understand? I’m not making cheap threats; I’m promising you this.
So I suggest that you take your attitude down a notch, or I will put a bullet
in Blondie’s head. There’s already one in Shorty’s gut, don’t fuck with me you
moron.”
AJ and Howie
watched as Kevin’s face grew pale and his hands began to shake. He nearly
dropped the phone but amazingly kept his grip on it. Trading nervous glances
and fidgeting, they strained to hear as Kevin’s voice dropped down to a near
whisper.
After a few more
minutes of quiet conversation—if you can call “yes’s” and “no’s” a
conversation—Kevin hit the ‘end’ button on the telephone and carefully placed
it back onto the cradle. AJ and Howie closely eyed Kevin as he stood for a few
seconds, holding his hands out to gage his nervousness. They could both tell
that Kevin was upset; his hands were shaking violently and a thin blanket of
perspiration had appeared on his forehead and above his upper lip.
“What did they
say, Kev?” AJ stood up and walked around so Kevin was facing him. They were
soon joined by Howie. “What did they say?” he repeated the question, growing
anxious.
“They said-” Kevin
had to stop and attempt to clear his throat. “He said if we don’t comply with
every demand he makes, he’ll kill them. He said that he wouldn’t have any
problem putting a bullet in Nick’s head cause he’s already put one in Brian’s
gut.”
“What the-” AJ
cried. “He shot Brian?”
Howie sat back on
the couch and put his head in his hands and unable to hold back the tears that
came suddenly. “What are we gonna do?”
“Now we have to
call the cops,” AJ said, rushing for the phone.
“No,” Kevin grabbed
AJ’s arm. “We can’t.”
“Why the hell
not?”
“Kevin, you were
the one who insisted on calling in the first place,” Howie quickly pointed
out.
“He said he would
kill them both if the cops showed up,” he answered and shifted his eyes away
from them so they wouldn’t see the tears about to spill over onto his cheeks.
“They want money. And they want a way out of there.”
“How are we
supposed to do that?” AJ snorted. “The money, okay, I can see how we can do
that, but what about getting them a way out? What are we supposed to do…give
them our rental car and say ‘happy trails’?”
“I don’t know AJ,
but we’ve got to figure this out,” Kevin sighed in irritation. He was worried
about Nick and even more so about Brian. What would he do if his cousin died?
How could something like this happen?
“Well, okay, let’s
figure this out. We can’t waste any time,” AJ said impatiently.
***
Ella slid back
against the wall and pulled her knees to her chest as she watched Brian. He
seemed to be in a little less pain, but that was only because he wasn’t moving.
Luckily, he had finally been able to get somewhat comfortable after Ella took
her lab coat and made a make-shift pillow for him to rest his head on. She had
also gotten a couple of jackets and placed them over him to keep him
warm.
All of a sudden,
she realized that David was staring at her and she became even more
uncomfortable than before. She watched with disgust as he licked his lips and
continued to stare. Looking away she realized that Nick was again glaring at
her. Not knowing where to look, she just closed her eyes and hoped they would
both loose interest in her. No such luck. When she re-opened her eyes, she
found that David had moved a little closer to her and seemed to be talking with
Nate about something; almost as if he was asking for permission to do
something.
“I don’t care what
you do, but don’t kill her,” she heard Nate reply matter-of-factly.
That’s when it
became nauseatingly clear to her. Before she knew what was happening, David was
standing over her. “Stand up,” he demanded gruffly. When she didn’t do as he
said, he grabbed her arm and roughly jerked her off the floor. “I said stand
up, bitch.”
“What are you doing?” she asked in small, terrified voice. When she
didn’t get an answer, she began to fight back. She dug her heels into the floor
in vain; David kept on dragging her toward the back of the grocery store.
“Please don’t do this,” she begged as she began to cry. She had to get away
from him, but what was she going to do? What if she did get away from him and
ended up getting herself killed because the man was crazy? Ella racked her
brain trying to think of something, but the closer they got to the back of the
store, the harder it was for her to think. Her mind was clouded with horror as
she continued to try and come up with a way to stop what was about to happen.
She had to make a decision before they reached the back room…
***
