~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Warehouse District - 3am
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~It was one of the ugliest scenes that Detective JC Chasez had been called to in a long time. The old warehouse floor had a good half-inch of blood pooled in a recessed pit where the old concrete had begun to collapse. Twenty-eight bodies lay with bullet holes where they had fallen. The cocaine that they had been weighing and bagging was spread around the warehouse like lost grains of flour.
JC made the only logical assumption he could: that one of the other two major crime families in the city had called for a hit on Pearlman?s business. There was the odd fact that the cocaine hadn't been taken with the victors but instead left for the cops. It was disturbing that the families were using teens to do the bulk of the work. If they could identify all the bodies there would be more than a dozen upset parents to notify. Then again, with all the gang symbols showing on the bodies, these kids' parents more than likely didn't care anyway.
More than likely the Fatone family was responsible for the hit. Old Papa Fatone had been killed by one of his sons, and then Steven had left his own family for Pearlman. The younger son, Joseph Jr., was now heading the Fatone family and looking to remove his brother from the land of the living at all costs. JC looked over the scene and sighed. His younger partner had gone under cover in Fatone's family just before the family had splintered. They hadn't heard from Justin in almost a month and JC was afraid that one of these times he was going to show up at one of these scenes and find the kid's body.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fatone Compound - 3:15 am
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Lance Bass stormed into the main house, scattering the family security in all directions. Pushing his way into the old mansion?s sitting room he confronted its lone occupant. Angry green eyes met cool blue ones as he backed Joey's latest girl, Catherine, up against the back wall of the room.
"Who the hell did you get your information from?" he growled. "Steven wasn't there and, as a result of our being so rash, Pearlman has put a private contract on Joseph's head! Did you really want to lose your protection this fast?" The girl stood her ground and smirked in the face of Fatone's right hand man.
"Do you think he'd believe you over me?"
"You, sweetheart, didn't grow up with him. I know he will." Catherine paled. "Did you know there were kids there? Not too much younger than Joseph's new protégé. Kids, and we killed them looking for a man that wasn't even there!" She shook her head in denial but her eyes were filled with venom towards the man who held her.
"I trust my confidants." Silence filled the room as the two continued with their stare down.
"I want you out," the young blond released Catherine and turned around to leave.
"You don't have the right to?"
"His life is my right, I want you out!" Lance cut the girl off and continued towards the door. As he covered the distance he felt all the angry and frustration at the situation they were currently in draining from his body leaving only the sadness of wasted life. It had been hard since Pops Fatone had been killed. His hand was on the door when he heard her call out to him in a singsong voice.
"Lan - ce!" As he turned to face her, Lance reached for the gun he kept in his shoulder holster under his jacket. His bullet hit her straight on, killing her a split second after she fired the little number Joey gave to each of his girls for their protection.
Less than a minute later Wes, the head of house security, pushed open the door. He was followed by Joey and Justin Timberlake, Joey's newest protégé. Joey walked across the room and knelt by Catherine's body.
"Jesus, Bass, what the hell did ya do that for?" Justin asked putting his hand on Lance's shoulder. He quickly removed it when he felt the muscles bunch under his touch. Lance walked up to Joey.
"One day I am going to find someone, other than you, who I know won't betray me," Joey said looking at Catherine. He stood up, "Wes you want to get this outta here." He turned again to see a paler than normal Lance leaning against the wall. "Lance," he said as calmly as possible, "you are bleeding all over your new jacket. Justin go and get the Doc." He pulled Lance over to the sofa to sit down. "You should have known better. Bet you thought she was too sweet to do something like that." He laughed at Lance's nod. "Sit still, Doc will be here in moment and we'll patch you up just like always." Lance nodded again and closed his heavy eyelids.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Police Headquarters - 9 am
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~JC walked into the bullpen hoping that he would find his desk free of paperwork and people needing help. He really needed sleep. A man a little older than himself sat at his desk, slowly spinning circles in his chair. Chris was coordinator for all the information going out of headquarters to any of the different precincts in the city. Chris was also one of the most irritatingly happy and active people that JC knew. It was, however, safe to assume that Chris more than likely knew more about JC's newest case than JC did.
"Jace!" he shouted across the bullpen, jumping up to greet the approaching detective.
"Any new information?" JC asked sitting on the edge of his desk when Chris sat down in his chair again.
"Do you think I'd bother you if there wasn't." The flash of hurt on Chris's face was replaced by a silly grin. "They matched the one of the guns found on the scene with some of the bullets in one of the bodies."
"Thank you Captain Obvious," it was pretty much a given that one of the multiple guns found would be one of the murder weapons.
"The important part is this gun had prints." There was a dramatic pause, "They were in our data base."
"Which one of Fatone's men?"
"How did ya?"
"Cut it out Chris, you know how. Who was it?"
"Cranky this morning aren't you?"
"Who!"
"Little Joseph Jr's crazy sister. Her prints were then ones that they pulled from the gun." Chris broke out into a fit of giggles. Joey's older sister Janine was known to be a little off. She was a trained burglar, but they hadn't been able to pin anything solid down on her. They had, however, fined her heavily for being caught shoplifting. She was an odd one. "The warrant is on the Captain's desk, and she's waiting for you."
"Thanks." JC called to the retreating figure.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fatone Compound - Lance?s Room - noon
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The faint buzz of pain grew into a loud roar before fading enough for Lance to open his eyes. As a quick flash of gold was caught in the light streaming through his open drapes, Lance watched his curly haired watchdog leave to fetch Joey. He was in the middle of debating the ceiling when he heard the door quietly open; he immediately tried to sit up to see Joey.
"Don't do that man," Joey's worry was evident in his voice. Lance had Joey's assistance as he resettled on the pillows so he could see his best friend. Surprisingly Justin hadn't followed Joey back in. The three had been glued at the hip almost since their world had fallen off center.
"Where's the kid?"
"This is a strategic meeting Lance, only family."
"It's an awfully small family now Joe." He had meant it to a joke but it hadn't come out that way. Joey started to pace the large room.
"It coulda been smaller if she was a better aim. Do me a favor and don?t do anything to get yourself killed until I get a new sidekick trained." Joey's attempt at a joke went a lot smoother than Lance's and both men laughed. Sitting down on the edge of the bed Joey spoke again, his face serious. "You didn't tell me that Janine dropped."
"She was the first one in. You know how she is when she gets possessed. Janine emptied a full clip and a half into the group before I got in there. We killed kids, buddy, and teenagers. I didn't know she dropped, she said she had everything when we walked. Did they come for her then?"
"Yeah, some Detective came and got her, I sent the lawyer to the station with her. I know you have other things on your mind," he gestured to the bindings on Lance's shoulder, "but do you mind calling your in at the station?"
"Give me your phone, I'll do it now." Lance dialed a long sting of numbers and after a few rings the call was received.
"Hello," came the voice from the other end.
"It's James."
"What can I do to help you Sir?"
"Fatone's sister was brought in this morning. I want all the information that they have on her."
"Don't worry Sir, I will send help as soon as possible."
"Thanks," Lance finished closing the phone. "He'll have it here in less than an hour."
"I never understood the connection you two mixed up," Joey said shaking his head.
"You've seen it before. Like the thing between your brother and that Kelly girl he set up with to kill you. I did him a favor and know he owes me a blood debt. He's just paying me back in a way that won't call for blood the way his request did." Lance settled back down in his pillows, blinking tiredly. "Hey Joe," Joey looked at the barely awake blond, "Things will work out. Family protects family."
Joey sat by Lance until his friend drifted off. After the incident with his brother Lance had become his only reality check. If Lance had been more careful this morning and confronted Catherine with a little more caution, he wouldn?t be where he was now, recovering from blood loss. Joey acknowledged that he would still have been in the same position, looking for a way to keep then all alive and get out of the mess that they had gotten themselves into. "Yeah Lance, within these walls, family protects family."
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