Nightmares Never End

By: Maple Beanie

Chapter 1: In the Beginning….

(A/N nightmares… is my first ever fanfiction story so I apologize if it doesn’t come off as extremely polished.)

The five men sat in the home they were vacationing in doing various activities. Off in one corner sat two of the individuals who were occupying themselves playing poker with Candy in replace of money as the bets. Another figure sat at the desk off in another corner of the room, working hard on his laptop, on pressing business matters that just never seemed to be able to wait for another day. In the middle of the room sat the remaining two men watching some old made for television movie. Actually watching was being generous only one of them was paying any sort of attention to it and even then he wouldn’t be able to tell you what just happened if you asked him. He was to intent on checking up on the younger man who was drifting in and out of a very light sleep. The young man was doing everything he could to force himself to stay awake only desperately losing the battle to sleep.

The poor guy had been having nightmares for the last few weeks and it was now to the point that he was terrified even at the prospect of going to sleep. However he know that with the four sets of eyes of the men he considered brothers, watching him that they would never let him and alone and just not sleep. They would sooner tackle him, hold him down and force something down his throat that would eventually lead him to sleep.

JC looked at his best friend who had now given the fight to stay awake and at the moment seemed to be sleeping peacefully. Looking at his friend JC’s mind wondered to the to the nightmares, all of the different types of nightmares there were in the world Justin had had them all. Justin would describe his nightmares to the others in vivide details to the rest of the group, at their persistence of course, and it was easy to see why he would be so scared by them… they were terrifying in the least. It would even make JC cringe himself as he was being told them. Nsync thought that the nightmares Justin had been having were cause mainly by the stress and exhaustion of their busy lives. In fact that is way they came on this vacation, so they could all get away for a while (and maybe get some songs written)… and even more hopefully so that Justin’s nightmares would stop with some much needed rest. So far it had been working, even Justin himself had noted that the nightmares had become less intense and less frequent than before. The group was incline to believe him, cause not only had they noticed that but they also knew him to well so that they knew when he was lying to them… it was impossible for him to get away with it…. So most of the time Justin or any other group member didn’t even tried to lie to the others.

The group had already been there for a week and would be there for at least another 3 to come…. “Plenty of time to get Justin straightened out of this hell he is in” JC remarked to himself…. But he also knew that there would be a lot to do once their vacation ended…. Missed interviews and appearances… concerts to be rescheduled their work load would not get any easy after this….

With JC thoughts wondering he hadn’t noticed when Justin’s sleep turned to a disturbed one…. The man looked as though he was trying to fight something or someone off, struggling against the air around him muttering things that couldn’t exactly be made out…. But sounded a lot like “No” and “Leave me alone”…. All eyes had been cast upon Justin as he struggled against the imaginary creature, passing worried questioning looks amoung each other unsure if they should wake him up or not, but they wouldn’t have to, seconds later Justin jolted awake with one final scream of horror…

Somewhat breathless he looked around the room at the worried faces of his friends and then relaxed somewhat when he realized that it had been just another horrible dream. He collapsed back into his seat with a sigh of relief….

Lance was the first to break the silence, “Want to talk about it Justin?”

“No, I’m fine” was the simple sharp answer, but he knew they wouldn’t leave it alone there…

“Come on J, you know your not going to get away that easily from us…” Chris said but was quickly cut off by Justin….

“I’m fine… it is the same type of dream I always have, for once just leave it alone guys!” Justin’s voice had slowly risen till he was harshly yelling that last little bit. But all was doing was worrying his friends more…. Justin huffed and crossed his arms over his chest careful not to make eye contact with anyone… 3 sets of eyes then turned to JC for guidance on what to do… JC shrugged and then waved his hand signaling to just leave it alone, he would get the story from Justin later and relay it on to the other guys…

JC had always been able to get Justin to listen to him and in most cases even talk to him, he had known him the longest so there was sort of an unspoken bond between the two men…

The 5 figures sat there in silence for a while till JC finally broke it…

“Why don’t you go up to bed Justin, maybe if you were more comfortable you can sleep better…” (The fact of the matter was that it was only about 8:30 at night)

“No” was the answer this time cutting JC off…. It was quickly followed by a more clam and slightly apologetic “I’m fine here with you guys…. Besides JC you will just wake me up later when you come up to go to bed…”

JC knew better than that… this was Justin’s way of trying to get out of being alone in a dark room, and Justin was using him as the excuse and it sure as Hell wasn’t going to work with JC….

“Well I’m going up to bed now and you are going to get you Ass up off that couch this minute and upstairs now! JC said half sternly half smiling… he didn’t really want to go to bed right now but if he really wanted to he could always come back down after Justin fell asleep, not that he would leave his friend alone if he didn’t want to be…

Justin knew what JC was trying to do… after all he had known JC just as long… He cast a somewhat evil eye up at the brown-haired figure, silently telling him to back off… he wasn’t a baby and sure as hell didn’t want to be treated like one… but his eyes met with an equally determined firm stare, telling he wasn’t going to win this one and that JC meant business… he would go as far as pulling Justin up off the couch and dragging him upstairs….

Justin sighed in defeat and slowly picked himself up off the couch where he was sitting…. The pair said their goodnights to the other guys and headed upstairs… minutes later they were both in their beds…. JC on one wall Justin’s on the wall facing him…

“I’ll be right here if you need anything J, ok?”

“Ya, JC I know your there… you always are” Justin’s voice had a hint of appreciation to it… and with that the room went silent.

JC listened to Justin’s breathing slow and steady out and he knew that the man he considered a younger brother had fallen asleep. The last thing he remembered was listening to the soft sounds of Justin’s peaceful sleep as he himself slowly gave into sleep… but it wouldn’t be for very long….

Chapter 2: The Nightmare Begins…

Shortly after JC and Justin had gone upstairs to bed there was a knock at the front door, Lance slowly moved from his computer and made his way to the door to find one of Nsync’s bodyguards standing there. He had come to check in with them before they had all gone to bed and make sure everything is all right. It took awhile but Lance, Chris and Joey managed to convince the bodyguard that they would be fine for the night and that he should go home to his wife and children for the night, but he held firm that he wasn’t going anywhere until he had checked the house over and make sure everything was they way it should be… Or at least as normal as possible with the members of Nsync occupying it(that remark had earned him three playful slaps from Lance, Chris and Joey)

Now he was standing silently in the doorway of JC and Justin’s room watching the two men as they slept. He couldn’t help but smile to himself knowing that JC when he went up with Justin had no intention of falling asleep himself this early in the night, but sure enough he had and was now quietly snoring in his bed. Still smiling the bodyguard shrugged off the thoughts and quietly snuck over to JC’s bed carefully pulling the covers up over JC’s body…

“A few extra hours of sleep won’t hurt you buddy,” the bodyguard whispered “You are so over tired as it is… it will do you some good…”

JC stirred lightly in his sleep mumble something he couldn’t understand but within seconds was sound asleep again.

The Bodyguard then turned his attention over to Justin who was now in yet another one of his nightmare plagued states. The bodyguard couldn’t help but wince at how Justin was violently tossing and turning in his sleep. He had known about his nightmares and from what he had heard they were anything but pleasant. He moved over to Justin’s bed and gently sat down on the edge and started rubbing Justin’s back whispering encouring words in his ear… after several minutes his efforts were rewarded when Justin seemed to come out of his dream, the only evidence that it ever occurred was the fading pained look on Justin’s face. He stood up from his placed not taking his eyes off Justin’s sleeping form… he couldn’t help but wonder what his nightmare was about this time…. With one more quick look over to JC then back to Justin the bodyguard silently left the room, closing the door carefully and quietly behind him… He stood out side their room for a moment and sighed, then headed back downstairs to where the other 3 men were.

As he was headed down the stairs he stopped momentarily to take in the sights before him… Lance had now moved from his computer and had joined Chris and Joey in their poker game… and apparently had just one his fifth game in a row… The other two weren’t too happy about that…

“You are Cheating Lance!” Both Chris and Joey persisted

“Hey I can’t help it if you 2 suck at poker!” Lance said as he revealed yet another winning hand and scooped up his winnings…

“Ok, let me see your sleeves…. Roll them up! You’ve got to be hiding cards somewhere!” Joey exclaimed as he tried to grab Lance’s arms….

“Hey I resent that implication! Besides we are out in the middle of nowhere and this is the only deck of cards in the house! Where am I going to get another deck of cards from?…”

Glances were exchanged among the men…

“Get Him!!” Chris yelled and before Lance had a chance to register what had been said Chris and Joey Lunged towards him pinning him to the ground

“Get off ME!” Lance screamed as Joey and Chris began their search for any evidence that Lance had been cheating (which of course he had not been…)

By now the 3 men were laughing their heads off… even Lance who was still pinned to the floor by Chris and Joey was laughing. The Bodyguard chuckled to himself at the scene below and continued down the stairs…. The laughter subsided as the boys heard footsteps coming from the stairs, fearful that they had just woken up JC or worse Justin…. But they breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that it was their bodyguard and not one of their band mates…

“Hey Man you were gone for a long time… we forgot you were even here…” Chris said with a smile… The words caused the bodyguard to quickly check his watch… it had been 45 minutes since he left the 3 boys to go check on the house.

“I just wanted to be sure everything is ok” he shrugged the statement off not wanting to mention Justin’s nightmare… it would only cause them unnecessary worry, besides it was over with and the kid was fine now… Chris went to say something but the bodyguard quickly cut him off hoping to avoid more questions…

“Are you sure you guys don’t need me to hang around?”

“Ya, don’t worry we will be fine… I don’t know about these two but I am going to be heading up to bed shortly…” Lance said

“Oh NO! You’re not going anywhere until you give a chance to win back our Candy! (Remember they were playing poker with candy)” Joey yelled follow by an evil smile…

“OK well give me a call if you need me during the night, otherwise I’ll be back around 10 am.”

The boys said goodbye to the bodyguard and Lance walked him out so he could close and lock the door behind him…

“Lock it right behind me Lance”

“I will” (exasperation)

“Right away”

“Ok, ok I get it, I will… don’t worry” Lance said with a smile… and with that the bodyguard left through the door put paused and turned around as if he was going to say something….

“Bye” Lance exclaimed then shut the door and locked it, waiting for the bodyguard to check it knowing that he didn’t trust him… he always did, and sure enough this time was no different from the rest…. Lance smile and turned back to join Chris and Joey who both now had evil smiles on their faces, and instantly he knew something was up… He sat down and looked at the two then at the deck of cards in Joey’s hand…

“I want to shuffle those” Lance said pointing to the deck of cards

“Lance they are fine Joey and I just shuffled them…”

“I’m sure you did that is why I want to shuffle them” Lance said as he grabbed the deck of cards from Joey’s hands, much to the disappointment of the other two… he quickly shuffled them and deal out the hands, taking careful note at his cards, which was yet another start to a good hand…

Just the there was another knock at the door…. After a few minutes of no one moving Lance sighed and put his cards face down and headed towards the door, while Chris and Joey quickly picked up Lance’s hand to see what he had…

“I know what you two are doing… put them down” Lance said smiling as he turned back towards his shocked friends…

“I’ll tell you guys what… I’ll bet you 5 pieces of Candy that this is him again…(referring to the bodyguard…) he probably forgot something or other and came back…”

“And if it is him, what do we owe you…?” Chris asked skeptically…

“Nothing, you just don’t get the candy” Lance said as he reached the door unlocking it and slowing starting to open it giving Chris and Joey one last time to take the bet…

“Deal!” the other 2 said as they eagerly turned to check out Lance’s pile of Candy jut in case they did win…

Lance smiled again and pulled the door open the rest of the way and turned to face who was standing on their front step…

“So what did you….” Lance started expecting to see their bodyguard…. But instead he found himself face to face with a large… mean looking group of masked individuals…

Chapter 3: Hostages

“Shit!” Lance yelped in surprise at the sight of the group of men on the doorstep, drawing Chris and Joey’s attention from surveying the pile of Candy Lance had going… They could only see Lance and not who was behind the door, so to say the least they were confusing as to what could have possible made their normally clam friend yell out such a word, that had never been heard coming from his lips before, at least not often…

“What’s do you think is going on Chris?” Joey said while turning to look at his also stunned friend.

“I’m not sure Joey… but I think Lance owes us some Candy…” with that their eyes quickly turned back to where Lance was… and they were only more surprised as to what would happen next.

Lance shook himself out of his momentary daze and immediately tried to slam the door shut in order to get it locked, but his attempts were easy spoiled as one of the men reached out blocking the door from closing and with ease threw it back open with such great force that Lance was thrown with it. He fell swiftly and harshly to the ground with a loud thud and before he had a chance to regain his senses enough so that he could even so much as think about running away the men that were now entering the house towered over him… One of them picked Lance up off the ground by his shirt and grabbed onto his right arm roughly causing Lance to whimper softly at the pain, doing all he could to hold back the tears that were starting to form. He was quickly pushed towards the middle of the room where his 2 other shocked and terrified friends stood as two other men stood close to them, it was at that point that Lance first notice something he hadn’t noticed when he had seen the men… their guns…. With the one man still holding tightly to Lance’s arm, he gulped as the man’s gun was slowly place to his head and pressed hard against is temple.

“Where are the other two?” the man barked out at Chris and Joey…. At least Lance hoped it had been directed to them… he was way to scared to talk…

The two men looked on terrified not wanting to tell him, just in case he really didn’t know there were five of them in the house… and after an agonizing silence the man yelled out another order…

“I’m getting tired of this bull-shit! Tell me where the other two are or I’ll kill blond boy here…. We know there are here so you mind as well save his life and tell us where…” the man said as he pressed to gun even harder against the side of Lance’s head.

Chris took in a shaky deep breath and began to speak…

“They are upstairs… sleeping…”

“Which room?” Again tightening his grip on Lance, causing him to involuntary whimper at the added pain… Chris looked into his friend’s terrified face and knew what he had to do…

“Upstairs… Last door on the right… they share a room together so they are both in there…” his voice trailed off realizing what he had just done… mad at himself for telling these Assholes where his sleeping and defenseless friends were, but he had to… or else this guy would probably have killed Lance right in front of his eyes…

Chris was shook out of his thoughts as the man let go of his grip and Lance and pushed him over to his two band mates…

“Good Boy” he said with an evil laugh… “You three sit down… shut up and behave yourselves.” He watched the three frightened young men reluctantly comply with his order and smile to himself and started talking to the three men who had been standing behind him taking in the scene in front of them…

6 kidnappers in total stood in the room, so they were outnumber not only literally but one look of the large men told them that they were easily outnumbered physically as well… The men were huge and muscular… and as Lance had found out moments before, very strong… The obvious leader of the group who had been the one holding Lance snapped them out of their thoughts by his orders to the three men…

“You three go upstairs and grab the other two, bring them down here, and for God sake do it quietly!”

Their hearts sank at the uttering of that command… as long as their friends were upstairs sleeping, there was a chance of getting help and they wouldn’t have to endure this nightmare. “Oh God” Lance thought to himself… “Nightmare… Justin is having enough nightmares on his own… he doesn’t need something to make it real. If he was dragged into this his nightmares would never end, and now the rest of the group would be having them too… an endless cycle that no one will break except maybe time…”

He desperately wanted to do something to stop them, but his voice failed him… he was still to scared to talk… and if he went with actions he was risking not only his life but the life of his other band mates… he just couldn’t risk it… there were already 3 men standing around with guns out and ready to shoot at any second… All they could do was helplessly watch the men climb up the stairs heading towards JC and Justin’s room…

(Upstairs….)

JC had woken up when he heard the loud noises that had come from downstairs and then within minutes it was all silent… he had heard voices but shrugged them off to either Lance, Chris and Joey and possibly all three had managed to get themselves drunk or something and broke something… He decided that it was best just to stay where he was… he would get angry with them tomorrow for waking him up and scold them for breaking something. He did a quick check over to were Justin had been sleeping and was thankful when he saw that Justin had seemed to still be sleeping undisturbed… He laid back down in his bed and turned so that his back was to the door and close his eyes and tried to go back to sleep, hoping that Justin’s dreams had finally come to an end… totally unaware of the three dark figures that were now just outside of his and Justin’s room…

He couldn’t help but jump slightly when he heard the door behind him open. He fought the urge to turn around and see which one of his friends was coming to see if they had woken either him or Justin up… instead he remained still and kept his eyes closed listening to the footsteps enter the room. It was at that point that it wasn’t just one set of footsteps… but what sounded like three… “Oh great…” he thought to himself “all three idiots got themselves drunk and are now in here…. They are going to wake up Justin for sure now…” When the footsteps stopped right in front of him that’s when he finally spoke…

“How much have you had to drink, what did you guys break and you better not wake Justin up or I’ll kill you…” he put emphasis on the last part as he rolled over onto his back without opening his eyes. Ordinarily he would have been angry but really no pressing damage was done, and they hadn’t woken up Justin so he was willing to let it go… for the night…

The three men who had just entered the room were momentarily surprised and stunned when JC spoke and all the could do was stand there for a few moments deciding on what the next course of action should be… They were hoping that both young men would still be sleeping so that all they would have to do was carefully pick them up and take them downstairs hopefully with them staying asleep… then they could deal with whatever struggle might occur after that, with the three other partners near bye just in case they were needed. Obviously now with one of them awake those plans had to change and quickly…

“That’s weird…. No answer…” JC thought to himself “Maybe I was just imagining it…” But before he got a chance to check out his theory by opening his eyes he was violently jerked up out of his bed. The next thing he knew he was standing up with some guy holding him tightly… one arm easily around his arms and waist and the other hand covering his mouth. It had all happened so suddenly he hadn’t even had the chance to put up a struggle let alone let out a scream to warn Justin or maybe even the other three members of the group.

JC’s eyes desperately darted around the room in search of something that would further tell him what was happening. He could see at least three men in the room unsure if there were any behind him except for the one holding him so tightly… two men stood in front of him grinning… JC’s mind raced with thoughts, “Oh god they are huge” he tried to scream put with the man’s hand over his mouth it was barely even audible… That’s when one of the men in front of him stepped towards him, fear obviously present on JC’s face, he watched the man slowly raise a finger up to his mouth mocking JC’s attempts to scream. His attention then turned towards the other man who had now made his way over to Justin’s bed, again he tried to scream to warm his brother, but couldn’t and immediately stopped as the man in front of him pulled out a gun and placed it to his head… shaking JC watched as the man in front of him nodded to the one near Justin giving him the go ahead…

The man carefully picked up Justin’s wrists, easily holding them tightly in one hand while the other was placed over Justin’s mouth, much like JC’s before… feeling the sudden movements Justin’s eyes started to flutter open, he blinked a couple times to try to bring thins into focus and when he finally succeeded he was staring into two dark eyes…

“Boo” the man said and laughed as Justin jumped slightly at the sound of his voice. He proceeded to yank Justin out of his bed readjusting his grip to match one like the man who was holding JC in. Justin thrashed and kicked about wildly trying to break free, searching the room at the same time, screams muffled by the hand over his mouth… Suddenly all of his movements stopped as he finally caught a glimpse of the other two men in the room and the gun being held to JC’s head… He went completely still knowing what the implied message of the scene before him was (Stop or we will kill your friend)

“That’s better” the one holding the gun said, and he finally lowered the gun causing both Justin and JC to let out a small sigh of relief… the man continued talking with a sarcastic tone to his voice… “You two have been missing out on all the fun down stairs, wouldn’t want you guys to miss anymore would we?” he smiled… “(To the other two men…) “Let’s go”

With that the hands surrounding their arms dropped but were quickly replaced around just the boys waists and they were lifted easily off the ground, as if they had weighed nothing at all and they were carried off towards downstairs…

When they arrived downstairs Justin and JC were carelessly dropped to the floor were their other friends were. Thus they landed hard on the ground. They scrambled to get into a sitting position, and exchanged worried and fearful glances amongst each other.

“Have any trouble with them?” the leader asked his men, eyeing JC and Justin

“They fought a little, but calmed down with a little… persuasion...” the man said holding up his gun for effect and to get the point across

“Good” the leader replied turning his glances from the group of young men to his group of men…

As he continued to discuss things with his men JC took that opportunity to try to get a handle on what exactly had happened…

What the Hell is going on?! When and how did they get in here?!” he said trying not scream and let his fear get the better part of him…

“They just were there… they rang the bell… I thought it was our bodyguard forgetting something… I didn’t even think…” Lance said as new tears started to form in his eyes “I tried to shut and lock the door but they were too strong and got it open…” guilt obviously present in his voice, JC sighed…

“Lance don’t worry it isn’t your fault, don’t work yourself up about it, we will figure this out and everything will be fine…”

That’s when they heard someone clearing their throat and looked up to see the leader towering over them…

“Well boys…” looking at JC and Justin “Welcome to our little party…”

Chapter 4: Silence is best…

(A/N: sorry one more thing, this chapter jumps ahead just slightly)

They were sitting silently huddled together on the living room floor; passing worried and concerned glances amongst each other. The men who had forced their way in about an hour ago and were holding them hostage stood off in on of the far corners of the room talking quietly amongst each other. From what little they could make out of their conversation it was what the men were going to do with them while waiting for their money… It was of course all for money. It was a well-known fact that they were worth a hell of a lot of money, so why should it be about anything else. They had heard their captors argue over just how much money they were going to ask for when it was finally settled that they would ask for 30 million… the figure shocked the boys, such a high figured seemed impossible to obtain, but that was these men, price for their lives.

They had been told that for now as long as they stayed still, didn’t try anything and shut up none of them would be hurt. But they could have sworn they heard a “badly” added to the end of that statement… but none of them wanted to push it and find out, nor did they really want to know, you know the old statement “ignorance is bliss.”

So now here they sat as silently as possible, considering it as their best and currently only defense against the men that held them. As long as they could all keep their cool and stay quite none of them would have to get hurt and it will be over soon. Too bad that plan wasn’t apparently in the cards…

There was a quite mumbling noise coming from amongst them, very soft almost un-noticeable at first, but with every passing second the volume of it increased. They boys glanced at each other in an effort to find out where the noise was coming from when their eyes settled on Justin…

He was curled up in a ball, and slowly rocking himself back and forth mumble in-coherent words to himself. Immediately fear struck the other four boys. Quickly glancing over at the men on the other side of the room to see if they were aware of the noises they were relieved to find out they hadn’t, that’s when they took action.

“We have to get him to stop …” Lance whispered

“Leave it to me, I’ll try to get him to clam down…” JC said glancing once more over to the men holding them hostage, he quickly turned to Justin and in hushed tones tried to get him to stop.

“Hey J, you gotta stop talking… ok… your okay… we won’t let anything happen to you…” JC carried on like this, but his efforts were seemingly going unheard… he couldn’t help but wonder what was going on in Justin’s mind…

Chapter 5: Just Another Dream Right?…

(A/N this is from Justin’s POV)

Oh God… it’s just a dream, it’s just a dream… you’ve had so many in the last little while they are going to your brain… this is not real… it is a dream… or a nightmare… same thing I guess… but then why does it feel so real this time…?

No! It has to be a bad dream, cause this could never really happen right? I’ve had one like this before too… it is a little different, but just look around you, you know this dream…

Lets see… bad guys… check… guns and weapons… unfortunately check… they have a lot more weapons this time and a lot more bad guys for that matter… as if one or two weren’t bad enough… come on focus! Um, what else?… the house… well this isn’t my house, it is the house we are vacationing in… that’s ok though, that has to be because it is on my mind right now right? Ya, dreams are suppose to involve the things that are on your mind… that and it is where we were when I went to sleep… I did go to sleep right?

The guys… this time they are all here, that is different in the past it has only been maybe one or two of them never all… man they look scared, but I am sure I look the same way… come to think of it, why are they all staring at me like that? Do I have something on my face? Wait a minute Josh’s lips are moving… how come there is no sound? Whatever he is saying he looks like he is whispering and very worried…

Ok… now he is turning around… what is he looking at?… oh them… Oh god, one of them just looked over here… he looks annoyed and angry… Oh Shit! Shit he is coming over here! He appears to be yelling something at JC… why can’t I hear him either?… I just noticed but JC has moved in front of me… why would he be doing that?

Damn it! That’s why that man is still heading over here… he sure is taking his time… and he still doesn’t look happy…

Ok gotta think fast… how can I wake myself up?… Of course pinch myself! That is suppose to work when you want to wake someone up! Ouch! Shit that isn’t suppose to hurt is it?… and great that guy is still coming…

Ok think… think… look away, the dream can’t continue if I look away! Can you even do that in your dreams?… you must be cause there is the floor… good now I can’t see it so it can’t happen…

Shit… feet…

Ok don’t panic… After all it is just another dream… right?

Chapter 6: Now they are in even more Trouble

“Justin? … J? … Come on man I need you to snap out of it and pull it together. Please Justin for me? …” JC was totally lost in his task to bring Justin out of his trance that he was completely unaware that his pleas and Justin’s mumbling had steadily increased in volume, drawing the attention of one of their captors… however the other 3 guys had not missed this fact…

“Jace…” Lance said urgently watching the man turn back and say something to his friends…. No answer so he tried again… a little louder and a little more urgent…

“What is it Lance?” JC said sounding a little annoyed, never turning away from Justin

“Look” JC followed to wear Lance was pointing and saw the men looking back at them and seemingly very angry. “Shit” he said as the man started towards them.

“I thought I told you guys to stay quite!” the man yelled, “You both shut up now or there will be big trouble to pay for!” the man kept advancing towards them…

JC took a deep breath, his thoughts were racing a mile a minute and the fact that the man was rather pissed off and coming towards them didn’t help the situation. He had promised to Justin that he would protect him, keep him safe and that nothing bad would happen to him and he wasn’t about to break that promise. He positioned himself in front of Justin so that in the event the man got there and tried to take a swing at Justin, he would have to go through JC first. Another deep breath and a quick glance at his other friends and the other men hold them hostage, JC rapidly began to talk in hope of reasoning with that man and calming him down.

“Look he is just scared, we all are, I was just talking to him to try and calm him down, if you would just let me talk to him for a bit longer I sure he will be fine and then we will be as quite as you want us to be...”

“Shut Up! I don’t want to hear your excuses!” the man said cutting JC off in the processes.

“You get him to shut up now, or I will do it myself!” the man said raising his gun a little…

It was then that JC picked the oddest time to stand up to this man, he was tried of being pushed around and yelled at, and he wasn’t about to sit around while his friends were threatened. Anger quickly replaced the fear he felt and JC suddenly rose to his feet getting in the man’s face. Much to the surprise of his friends and the men holding them. He started yelling at the top of his lungs…

“You asshole! He is scared! Can’t you see that?! Don’t you understand that!? You’re the one doing it to him! To all of us so you must grasp that concept somewhere in that small brain of yours! Well if you want him to be quite you are going to let me talk to him for a while longer in order to calm him down. But right now you are not helping by going around throwing out threats…” he was cut off as the man suddenly sung his hand out backhanding JC across the face causing him to fall down to the ground, then taking out his gun and holding it to JC’s head he began to talk…

“You shut the hell up! You are in no position to be talking to me that way and telling me what to do! I am the one with the gun! I am the one in charge! Now smarten up or else you might not live to see your next birthday kid!”

He was greeted by silence, as JC wiped away the blood from the corner of his mouth where the man had hit him…

“Good boy… you have 5 minutes to get him to shut the hell up or I will do it myself! Do I make myself clear?!”

JC just nodded and quickly turned around to a shaking Justin pulling him into his embrace

“Aww… how touching and heart warming… You two come with me… your management is insisting on talking to someone.” The man said point his gun to Chris and Lance. They slowly raised themselves to their feet and waited for further instructions…

“You three stay here and don’t try anything… we are watching you… particularly you two.” The man said eying JC and Justin.

“Let’s go…” They watched as Lance and Chris were pushed away from them then led into another room followed by 3 of the men…

All JC could think of was that now they were in even more trouble…

Chapter 7: A Phone Call

The man who had just been fighting with JC was first to enter the small room, closely followed by Chris, who was quickly directed over towards the two phones that had been set up. Seeing no point in arguing and upsetting the man even further Chris did what he has told with no resistance or hesitation. He took his place by the phone and silently waited as to what would happen next.

Next into the room was Lance who was followed in by two other men. Unknowing to Lance at the time he was unfortunately there just to use as a threat against Chris, in case he decided to try something. No sooner had he entered the room and the door had been closed behind him, did one of the men quickly grab hold of him tightly holding his arms at his sides, rendering him immobile.

Taken by surprise at the suddenness of the attack Lance couldn’t help let a small panicked yelp escape from his lips, drawing Chris out of his daze. Chris’s immediate instinct was to run to his friend’s side and help him out, but as soon as he had taken a step in that direction the man by him spoke.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you… that is if you know what is good for him, yourself and your other little friends out there…”

Chris glared at the man then shot a helpless pained look towards Lance’s situation before sighing heavily and stepping back into his original position, not wanting to risk his friends lives.

“That’s better… Ok here is the deal, your management is being a real ass about this and is refusing to do anything without talking to one of you”… the man paused then looked straight at Chris “I have elected you to be that individual, but listen carefully there are restrictions on this privilege…” another pause to make sure Chris was paying attention to his words. “ I will be listen to the conversation on this other phone here, if you so much as say one thing out of place they will hurt your friend. That means if you try anything, he will get hurt, if you say anything that we don’t want you to say, he will get hurt. If you are unsure whether or not you can answer the question look at me and I will nod my head either yes or no signaling what you should do. Get the picture?”

The mans words caused Lance’s eyes to practically bulge out of his head, as well as Chris who was now looking over at Lance again. He could see the fear and terror in his eyes. Focusing so intently on each other they failed to see the slight nod of the man’s head to the other man standing near Lance. The next thing they knew was the man’s fist slamming into Lance’s stomach causing him to cry out with pain and try to bend over to dull the pain and protect himself from any other possible punches. The arms holding him tightly however made that an all but impossible task.

“You will answer me when I ask you a question, or he will be hurt more, do I make myself clear?”

Chris wanted nothing more than to run to his friend’s side, but forced himself to stay still and simply nod his head yes to the man’s question.

“Ok. Are there any questions of what you’re expected of?” Chris silently shook his head no, never taking his eyes away from Lance’s.

“Fine. Lets make a phone call and get this over with. Oh an keep your answers simple.”

Five minutes later Chris was one the phone with Nsync’s management.

“Thank God, Chris! Are you guys ok?!”

“Yah, under the circumstances we are ok. Just a little shaken up I guess.”

“What is going on there?”

“Geez, I don’t know, we are having a party, getting drunk, you know the usual… oh did I mention… WE ARE BEING HELD HOSTAGE! What do you think is going on here?” The man shot Chris a warning look showing that future answers like that are not permitted… Meanwhile there was silence on the other end of the line…

“How many men are there Chris?” <looks at the man, who shakes his head no>

“I’m not allowed to tell you that.”

“Do they have weapons?” <shakes his head yes>

“Yes”

“What kind of weapons?” <shakes head yes>

“Gun mainly”

“What’s happening are you being threatened right now?” <an evil smile crosses the mans lips and then he nods his head yes>

“Yes”

“How?” <another yes>

“They are holding Lance across the room with a gun to his head and told me if I said anything they didn’t approve of that they would hurt him.” Chris was having a hard time holding back his tears, as he glanced over to Lance, who wasn’t even trying to hold back his.

Silence.

“Shit.”

There were some other questions ask, some of them Chris was allowed to answer most of them he wasn’t, when finally after 5 minutes the man spoke.

“Times up say goodbye and get off now.”

“I have to hang up now.”

“No! Chris wait…”

Chris hung up the phone then looked expectantly at the man.

“Good.” Turning to his colleges he said “Take them back to their friends, I have a phone call to make.”

Chapter 8: JOEY! ;)

He watched the clocked as it click over to 2:00 am. They had been held hostage and forced to sit in silence on the floor for 4? 5? Hours now… He didn’t even really know. He had to hold back a laugh at that concept. Of course he didn’t know, why would he? He was to busy being worried for his and his friends lives to worry what time it was… what was he suppose to do… again he had to swallow a sarcastic laugh as the image entered his mind. “Oh my God! Huge mean looking men with lots of weapons have just forced their way into our house and are planning on holding us hostage! Quick what’s the time?!…”

Joey looked over to the men and noticed that one of them was looking at him, and he seemed kind of angry… Almost as if he could tell what Joey was thinking. “Geez… I hope I didn’t say that out loud…” he thought to himself “Nah they would have said Shut up or hit me by now if I had.”

Joey had long given up trying to strain and hear what these men were saying. He had had minimal luck in hearing them anyway, and what little words or phrases he had heard he certainly didn’t like the way they sounded. He had however been able to hear names being used other than his or the other guys, unfortunately since the men had never technically introduced themselves as to what they could be called and the fact that they never seemed to be directing anything specifically to one person, Joey couldn’t really be sure which name belonged to which man. So he was forced to continue identifying the men by their features or personalities. First there was the obvious leader of the group. He did most of the talking to him and the guys; the other five just sort of ignored them. As for the rest, the was only one who was wearing glasses, another who had a tattoo visible on the lower half of his left arm, another had green eyes, much like that of Lance’s but Joey was almost certain they were contact lenses, another man for some reason seemed to be missing most of his front teeth, Joey might have found that slightly amusing if it were under any other circumstances but right now it just seemed to make the man that more scary, and finally was obviously smaller than the rest but just a built and strong.

Joey sighed to himself at the apparent hopelessness of the whole situation. Even if they were able to over power one or all of these men physically they could never go against the seemingly endless supply of guns and weapons these men had in their possession. “You think they were robbing Fort Knox or something.” Joey thought to himself.

He shifted himself so he was facing away from the men and was now turned towards his friends. The fact of the matter is that even though he was afraid, his butt was numb and he was getting rather bored. But then again sitting on the cold floor for 4 hours not allowed to talk could do that to anyone.

Joey looked up to his friends trying to assess their appearance. First he looked towards where Lance and Chris sat close to each other. They had been brought back after their phone call some time ago, and by the looks on their faces something had happened and it wasn’t good. Lance’s eyes had been wide open with fear being the very prominent emotion in them. His face had been drained of all colour, with the exception of the visible tearstains that had been running down his face. He had been shaking so hard that Joey could see it and he was clutching protectively at his stomach like it was hurting him. Now Lance had seemed to get some of the colour back in his face and the shaking had seemed to stop, but he was still clutching at his stomach and was obviously scared. Chris when he had come back had looked pretty much the same way Lance had. Now he was staring into space lost in his own little world of thoughts. Joey wished he knew what had happened so he could help them, but it was impossible without being caught talking and risking their lives. With another sigh Joey looked over towards where JC and Justin were sitting. JC had managed to get Justin to lie down an hour early, so he was now lying down with his head in JC’s lap. Justin had managed to curl himself into the smallest ball he could get his body to contort to. Joey looked a little closer at Justin’s face and could tell that the young man had fallen asleep. While Joey was happy that Justin had managed to get to sleep, part of him was just a little jealous he couldn’t do the same. They were all tired but Joey was worried of what might happen while he was sleeping and what he would wake up to… if he would wake up… Joey looked at JC, who was leaning against the front of the couch looking down at Justin’s sleeping form. He was running his hand across Justin’s forehead and through his hair as if to further comfort and reassure the sleeping man. But as if he felt Joey’s stare he lifted his head up and made eye contact. JC gave Joey a weak smile which Joey readily returned, even though neither had any real reason to smile… A soft whimpering noise was heard from Justin causing JC to quickly turn his attention back to him.

Joey looked back towards the clock… 2:30am… “Damn time is going by way to slowly…” in an attempt to keep himself awake he started searching around the room for anything that might help them out of this mess. He hadn’t looked around before, but he was unsure any of the other guys had, but in any event it wouldn’t hurt for him to do it anyway…

He started off looking around the far areas of the room, there was most likely no chance they could get to anything he might find, but it would be could to know just in case they did. However with the exception of maybe the baseball bat by the door, Joey couldn’t see anything. He started to look around at the things that were closer to them, and just when it appeared to look hopeless, he saw it… A cell phone!

It was just on the table a few feet away from him. He couldn’t help but wonder how the men hadn’t seen it… better yet how they didn’t think of it or see it… Since all the guys had similar phones he couldn’t tell whose phone it was until he got it in his hands and looked at the directory, but right now it didn’t matter. If only he could get to it and then get the opportunity to use it… It wasn’t that far away… he would only have to move a little bit to get to it, it was just a matter if he would get caught or not… but he had to try it.

He looked over where the men had been standing and saw that only three were in the room right now and they had their back to them. “Perfect” taking a deep breath Joey shifted so that he was on his knees and looked over to his friends finding three shocked and confused faces looking at him. He motioned towards the table, and watched as they looked over at it. All of the sudden the confusion in the faced turned to small smiles as they spotted what he was going after. They nodded their heads and look over at the men, as did Joey. Noticing nothing had changed he started to slowly and quietly move towards the cell phone reaching it in only a few movements. He carefully picked it up, but as soon as he did he heard noises from the other room, signifying that the other men were returning. Joey quickly slid the phone in his pocket and moved back to his original spot settling down just as the men entered the room eyeing their captives.

When they kept moving, Joey let out a sigh of relief that he didn’t get caught; now he had to get a chance to use it. Taking another deep breath he raised his hand like in kinder garden unsure of what else to do and waited till one of the men saw him, he didn’t have to wait long.

“What do you want?” one of the men growled at him

“Do you think I could go use the bathroom?”

Silence

“Alright, but if you’re not back in 10 minutes we will hurt one of your friends.”

Joey gulped in an attempt to clear the lump in his throat but quickly nodded and stood up heading towards the washroom winking at his friends. He was relieve that one of the men wouldn’t be following them… “They really aren’t very bright” Joey chuckled to himself.

Once he was in the bathroom with the door securely locked he pulled the phone out of his pocket searching through the directory for the number he wanted. “Lance.” Joy smiled to himself “I should have known. That boy just can’t be without his cell phone or computer. I’ll have to remember to thank him for that once we are out of this mess.” He found the number and quickly dialed it waiting for the person to pick up.

“Hello?”

“Johnny! Thank God!”

“Joey?”

“YA it’s me”

“Oh my god are you ok? How are you calling me?”

“I managed to get Lance’s cell phone and they let me go to the washroom. I only have like 8 minutes before I have to go back so we have to be quick.”

Joey proceeded to fill Johnny in on everything he knew and answer his questions, including the ones Chris couldn’t have answered earlier. Looking at his watch he saw he had only 2 minutes left to get back.”

“Johnny I have to go, hopefully we will be able to get in touch again.”

“Ok Joe. We are working on getting you guys out of there so you guys don’t try anything stupid.”

Turning off the phone Joey looked around the washroom for a place he could hide it. He quickly concealed in amongst the towels in the closet and quickly headed back to the living room.

“Cutting it a little close aren’t we?” the leader said looking at Joey “Check to make sure he didn’t go and grab anything he can use.” One of the men stepped forward to search Joey and was satisfied when he found nothing.

“He’s got nothing on him boss.”

“Ok, you sit back down with your friends.”

Joey did as he was told looking at the three faces that were again showing confusion as to what Joey did with the cell phone and if he got hold of anyone. He gave his friends a small thumbs up concealing it from the view of the men and then mouthed the words “towels” to tell them were the phone was in case any of them got the opportunity to use it. Settling back into silence, Joey couldn’t help but hope that this would now be all over very soon…

Chapter 9: A Nightmare

Noises coming from downstairs woke him from his slumber. Figuring it was just the guys fooling around he rolled over and closed his eyes again hoping to go right back to sleep. A few moments later he heard the strange noises again. Rolling onto his back and opening his eyes to look at the ceiling he started to whisper to himself.

“What the hell are they doing that could be making that noise? They know that other people are trying to sleep!” Sitting up so he could look over at the other bed to see if JC had heard the noises and woken up too, he was surprised to find the other bed empty. It had obviously been slept in or at the very least lied in… that’s when he heard the noises yet again. He looked towards the clock to check the time… maybe he had over slept?… “What on earth are they all doing up at 3am!?? Better yet what are they doing making noises and waking ME up at 3am!?” He sat for a few minutes contemplating all the various options of just exactly what his friends and brothers were doing so early in the morning, until he finally came to a conclusion…

“I probably don’t want to know…” He said to himself as he flopped back down onto his bed, pulling up his covers and closing his eyes again to go to sleep. Almost instantly after he was settled he heard the noises for the forth time that night… well morning actually… Groaning to himself he decided that the only way he was going to be able to go back to sleep, is if he went downstairs to do three things… 1) Find out what the hell is going on, 2) Make sure everything and everyone is okay, and 3) Tell them to shut the hell up, and that there are other people trying to sleep! But he would use the last one only in the event that everyone was ok. Mumbling to himself he rolled out of bed stopping to put socks on his bare feet, and then headed downstairs.

When he reached the downstairs floor he was surprise to find that all the lights were off leaving the house in the pitch dark, and obviously there were no signs of his friends. He was sure he had heard the noises coming from downstairs and there was the fact that JC wasn’t in his bed. If he wasn’t there where would he be?… His and JC’s room was the only room in the house that had two beds… He started moving along the wall trying to find the light switch. He knew was there somewhere he just had to remember exactly where it was… He moved slowly through the house, afraid of tripping over something, but at this moment he was more afraid of the fact that the house was pitch dark and something might jump out at him at any second…

“Guys?” nothing

“Guys?” still nothing “This isn’t funny you guys. I heard you down here… I know you are here somewhere, so you mind as well come on out from hiding. Let’s get this session of ‘Scare the Crap out of Justin’ over with…” still nothing

“JC?” pause

“Lance?” pause

“Chris?” pause

“Joey?” pause

He stopped dead in his tracks trying to hear any sort of noise that would tell him where his friends were hiding. He was rewarded a few moments later when he heard a very suddle almost unnoticeable mumbling like noise from somewhere in front of him. Even his own breathing was almost enough to block it out. “Guys is that you?” Again he heard the mumbling like noise, but this time it was louder… like more than one person was making it now… “Hold on, I think I am almost at the light.” As if one cue the light switch appeared under his hand, and he switched it on.

Being so accustom to the blackness when he turned on the light he was blinded momentarily by it. After blinking a few times things finally came into focus, he couldn’t help but gasped at the sight in front of him.

JC, Lance, Chris and Joey were sitting in the middle of the living room in front of him; on what appeared to be the dining room chairs… the only problem is that they also happened to be tied to them. Their arms were tied behind them at their wrist with what appeared to be rope. Their ankles were also tied together with rope and then also tied to the bar under the chair that runs from the leg on one side to the leg on the other. Finally they had a couple pieces of duct tape covering their mouths to stifle any attempt at speaking. Which would explain the mumbling he heard moments earlier.

At first Justin was just shocked and stood perfectly still taking in the sight before him, but after a few seconds he snapped out of his daze and sprung into action, quickly making his way over the his nearest friend, which happened to be Lance.

“Oh my God! What happened to you guys!?” He asked while pulling away the tape covering Lance’s mouth as gently as possible.

“Some guys broke into the house… Listen to me Justin they are still here, get out while you still can, go get help. Leave right now before they come back.” Lance said

“What?! No… I can’t leave you guys here. I’ll untie you guys then we will all go together…” he said reaching for the rope surrounding Lance’s wrists…

“No Justin… there isn’t time, they could be back any second. Go get help, we will be fine…”

“But…”

“No. Go. Just go Justin… now…”

Looking into Lance’s eyes Justin finally nodded his agreement. He took one last look at his friends and stood up to leave. Turning around however he came face to face with a few of the men.

“Uh… Hi… I was just leaving… so I will get out of your way…” he said inching slowly to the door… but all of the sudden he was surrounded by men. They appeared as if they came out of thin air.

“Um… bye!” with that he made a mad dash towards the front door only to be grabbed by the arms by a couple of the men. He was dragged back kicking and screaming by them while another one brought another one of the dining room chairs into the living room.

“Leave him alone! Let him go!” Lance managed to shout out before one of the men stepped forward producing another piece of duct tape, covering his mouth again.

Justin was shoved into the new chair with such force that both him and the chair fell over. But the men didn’t miss a beat and quickly grabbed him again and set the chair upright forcing him to sit on it and yanking his arms behind his back to tie them, while another man tied his ankles together. However for some odd reason they didn’t cover his mouth with duct tape like the others.

“What do you want!? Why are you doing this?!” Justin yelled angrily at the men, but they simply just smiled evilly at him. Four of them stepped forward and placed themselves next his friends, withdrawing their guns and placing them to the temples of JC, Lance, Chris, and Joey.

“No! You don’t need to do that! Just tell me what you want!” Justin yelled frantic at them, but was no use he watched them start to pull the triggers on their guns, as 4 shots rang out….

“NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Justin shot up cover in sweat and breathing harshly. He calmed momentarily after realizing it was just a nightmare... that is until he looked around. He was in the living room floor, with the rest of the guys looking very concerned, simply staring at him… He must have fallen asleep with his head on JC’s lap. But the calmness disappeared when he heard a deep and very angry voice from across the room yell at them. “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON OVER THERE!!!!! I TOLD YOU BOYS TO BE QUIET!!!” Justin looked over and saw six huge and very angry looking men looking at him and the other guys, as one of them started to approach them all he could do was stare in fear…

Chapter 10: Locked up with nowhere to go

It had been a couple hours since Joey had spotted Lance’s cell phone on the table a few feet from them and called Johnny to fill him in on what was happening as well as getting filled in on the efforts to rescue their butts from the people holding them hostage. Through a system of hand signs the boys had developed so they could talk to each other during boring press conference and interviews, as well as mouthed words and writing in the carpet on which they sat when needed, Joey had been able to fill in Lance, Chris and JC on what he had been told. Justin who had fallen asleep sometime ago with his head in JC’s lap was still sleeping sounded and therefore didn’t know the details or even the fact that they had managed to get a cell phone and call anybody without being caught.

Since then Chris had also managed to get to the washroom without supervision and use the cell phone hidden in they’re, getting the latest information from their manager and answer more questions. He had been told that the police had been discreetly called and the media was still not aware of the boy’s current position. He had also been told that there are a few undercover cops patrolling carefully outside the house, ready to make any emergency moves should they be needed.

An hour had elapsed since Chris’ call and the boys were waiting for at least another hour to pass, to make another phone call and possibly the last one they could make. It had been a unanimous decision amongst JC, Lance, Chris and Joey that Lance be the next to go, and seeing that JC had angered the men to many times already he would most likely not be able to get to the washroom without supervision. And since Justin didn’t even know about the phone he was also obviously out of the possibilities, and even if he wasn’t he too had managed to annoy their captors one to many times so that the odds on an unsupervised visit were slim to none. Which left only Lance, and they had to make the most of the phone call they had.

So they were sitting quietly on the floor waiting for that moment to come, each one lost in his own thoughts hoping to pass the time quickly.

Lance was thinking about the various Free Lance and Happy Place work he was doing right before this whole mess had started. He had just listened to a potential artist, when he gave up and started to play poker with Chris and Joey, so he was now trying to recall what she had sounded like, but the situation and the lack of sleep wasn’t helping his efforts.

Chris was thinking about FumanSkeeto and various new styles for the up coming fall line, wishing desperately that he had some paper and pencil crayons so he could be sketching some of the good designs out and get them sent off later.

Joey’s thoughts drifted towards his daughter and how they were having so much fun in the park in what seemed like just a few short days before, thanking God that he hadn’t brought her and Kelly up with them this weekend liked originally planned. Kelly’s parents had surprised her by showing up and wanting to spend time with their grandchild, so he promised her they would go away another time and left them behind.

JC was still rubbing his hand through Justin’s curls subconsciously and trying to remember where he had put his songs notebook, because after sitting quite and still for the last several hours he had at least a dozen song ideas that he would like to try out as soon as he got the chance. Hoping he wouldn’t forget them in the meantime.

The only sound that could be heard through the quite house was the hushed tones of the men standing off in one of the corners of the room… Well that was until loud scream shook the house and cut through the silence bringing everyone out of their conversations and thoughts. Heads whirled around to where the noise came from and landed on a very pale, sweaty and frightened looking Justin… again… Momentarily stunned everyone simply watched as Justin sat straight up and searched the room, then relax visibly as he spotted his friends safe and very much alive. His calmness disappeared quickly however…

“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON OVER THERE!!!!! I TOLD YOU BOYS TO BE QUIET!!!” Justin looked over and saw six huge and very angry looking men looking at him and the other guys, as one of them started to approach them all he could do was stare in fear… The others turned their concerned looks away from Justin to watch in horror as the man proceeded to them, stopping just short of where they sat to look at them, anger clearly written on his face.

The five of them sat there, none knowing if they are suppose to answer the man’s question or not, and none being able to meet the man’s angry stare. Sitting quietly under the man’s glare waiting for what would come next. When the man spoke again it was with an eerie sort of calmness that scared them more than it would if he had been yelling instead.

“I’m very tired of this now… I’ve given you boys more than enough chances to sit still and be quite on your own, obviously world famous pop stars can’t do that without help…”

Five sets of wide eyes watched as the man turned around to address the other men

“You go get the rope and tape we brought along with us, we’re gonna help these boys out, and you three (pointing to the 3 men who had gone up to get JC and Justin earlier) go upstairs and search their rooms, I’m tired of having to deal with them. Take out anything thing they can use to contact the outside or use to possibly escape, and rig the doors so they lock from the outside, we will separate them, maybe then they can follow orders…”

“But there is only 3 rooms upstairs boss, these 2 were sharing a room.” One of the men said pointing to JC and Justin.

“No matter they are going to be tied up anyway, even if they can get loose they won’t be able to get out.”

The guys were literally shocked into silence, hearing what was going to happen to them in the next few minutes, even JC would who had been the most outspoken and protective of the group couldn’t seem to find his voice to protest.

“Now boys you are going to make this easy aren’t you, it is for your own good, we really don’t want to have to hurt you. Lets start with this one here, with him done first the rest should be easy” The man said pointing to JC and the other man came back hold a bunch of rope and a roll of think duct tape. “I’ll say again it is really in your best interest to cooperate.”

JC still having not found his voice, couldn’t think of how being separated from Lance, Chris, and Joey, being tied up and most likely gagged, and locked in a room upstairs, where they had no way of telling Johnny how things had changed was really in his best interest. At least right now they had eye contact with each other, were all together and had some sort of way to contact the outside. But before he could voice anything, he was yanked up and thrown against a wall, where his hands were yanked behind his back roughly.

“Ow…” he mumbled quietly

“Shut up” was the reply that came from somewhere behind him.

He was jerked around and shoved back into the wall momentarily as the duct tape was pressed over his mouth. He could see his friends behind the man in front of him with worried faces. Pushed down onto the couch to wait he watched the man go for Justin next, who cowered, and was yanked up with a panicked yelp, and the procedure was repeated again, finishing with him being shoved down onto the couch next to him. Joey had been the next closest so the men grabbed him next. Sitting on the floor for so long caused him to stumble slightly, resulting in him being pushed into the wall harder than necessary. Chris was next who tried to yank his arms away when the man stooped to grab him, which resulted in a painful backhanded slap to the face, which managed to break his lip slightly. Lance was last and managed to get through the incident with little trouble… only a slight groan when standing up.

The men who had been sent upstairs returned as the man was placing Lance in a chair beside Chris, and informed the leader that everything was all set. The boys were lead upstairs to the various rooms and placed on the beds where their ankles were then also tied together with rope. Once the men were sure the guys wouldn’t be going anywhere they left the various rooms turning off the lights, and locking the doors, leaving the boys locked up with nowhere to go.

Chapter 11: Undercover

Moments earlier outside the house where the five guys are being held, two undercover police officers were carefully patrolling around the house looking for a living room window they could see the guys through without being seen and then back on their condition. It isn’t that the police didn’t believe the guys when they had had the opportunity to call them and tell them what was happening; it was just that the police wanted to see for themselves, in a better attempt to judge what would have to be done in order to get the popstars out of their current situation.

“Hey Paul, looks like there is another window over there, let see if we can see…” the officers sentence was cut off just then as the men heard a scream from inside the house.

“Damnit that didn’t sound like it was a good thing, lets get to that window…”

They quickly made their way over the new window and carefully lifted up so they could see through hoping that it was still dark enough that the wouldn’t be noticed, if one of the men happened to be close by. Which luckily for them they weren’t, the men weren’t even looking their way. Following their gaze the officers saw another man standing in front of the men from Nsync, talking rather calmly to them.

Noting that the boys although looking extremely tired, scared and nervous, Justin a little pale as if he had just woken up from a bad dream were all relatively in good shape, well as good as shape as you can be when being held hostage. All sitting quietly on the floor listening to whatever the man was saying to them.

“Well they look as though they haven’t really been harmed Tom”

“Looks that way, wonder what that scream was for then… what the hell is he doing now…?”

The two undercover officers watched as the man that had been standing in front of the guys yank JC up and slam him against the wall, while another man stepped forward handing him some rope, to which the man then proceeded to jerk JC’s hands behind his back and tie him up, taping his mouth shut and shoving him down on one of the couches and grabbing Justin next, then Joey, then Chris and lastly Lance, following the same routine for each guy.

“Now why the hell would they being doing that now? It has been hours since they took these boys hostage…”

“Guess they thought that five ‘boyband’ members would be easier to handle than they turned out to be… who knows… great now they are taking them upstairs… well I guess we just lost any visual contact that was possible, and any other contact for that matter, the boys were sneaking away to call their manager, they won’t be able to do that now…”

“We better get back and inform the chief. It might be time to make a move and get these boys out of there…”

< AN - couldn’t just give you that short of a chapter =) I’m once again moving all around the place and skipping ahead a bit. >

Somewhere in the house a clock chimed signaling the new hour. 9am. It had now been just over twelve hours, since the whole mess started. Twelve hours since Justin and JC had gone up to bed early. Twelve hours since Lance, Chris and Joey had been happily playing poker, and twelve hours since they had convinced their bodyguard that he should go home and spend some extra time with his wife and kids, that they were perfectly alright and would remain so until the next morning when he would return.

Yeah right… perfectly fine. In the past twelve hours they had managed to be invaded and taken hostage, threatened with their lives, in some cases been hit by the men holding them, and now tied up and left alone in a dark room. Their rooms to make it worse, because if they could move in the slightest they could maybe find something… anything to help them out of the mess they were in. A cell phone, something to cut the rope surrounding their wrists… anything. But of course they couldn’t move and there supposedly wasn’t anything because the men checked before they were put in the rooms, and that thought alone was extremely frustrating and discouraging to all of the guys. Even if they could get lose they were locked in, so for now they just had to wait.

Across town a very nervous and frantic manager sat in his office waiting with a handful of police for the next expected call from anyone of the guys. Which was now very over due…

“What the hell is going on, they were supposed to have called now! They had at least Lance that should have been able to call by now!” Johnny said to no one in particular after pounding on the desk in front of him in frustration then standing up to go look out his office window.

“And how come we haven’t heard from the men holding them again, isn’t it time for that?” While Johnny wasn’t really mad at the guys for being so careless when opening the door or the bodyguard for leaving them alone so early, because he himself knew all to well how those five can be when they have their mind up on something, but he needed to be angry about something, cause it is better than breaking down. JC, Justin, Lance, Chris and Joey are like his own sons. He has know them for years and has been there for them through almost every major point in their lives since, and he just couldn’t believe this was happening. Lost in his own thoughts the voice of an officer from somewhere in the room jolted him out of the daydream and into reality.

“We just got word from the undercover officers we sent to check up on the boys. They said that all five guys seemed to be in fairly good condition all things considered, but they have been moved upstairs and possibly separated…” The officer waited a minute for the manager to digest the information before proceeding, hoping the next part wouldn’t scare him… “They do however suggest that we make a move soon… that the men seem to be getting a bit antsy and tired of waiting… we want to wait till the next phone call, whether from the boys or from the men holding him before we move in, is that ok with you Mr. Wright?…”

Johnny could really do nothing more than sigh heavily and nod his head, blinking back the tears that were threatening to spill and the panicking that was rising in him. These men were after all the professionals and knew best, not like he could go over there himself and beat the crap out of these men… as good as that sounds…

Back at the house the 6 men holding the guys of Nsync hostage, are making plans for their next call, with in a matter of hours they will hopefully have their money and be leaving the state, with one of the guys as a hostage until they cross the boarder.

“You.” The leader said pointing to one of the other men. “Go upstairs and get the short one, the one we used before, it is time to make another call.”

Chapter 12: Poor Chris and Yay Lance! (*shrug* so sue me I couldn’t think of anything)

“Mr. Wright you need to try and calm down,” One of the many officers in the room to the rather anxious and nervous manager “We are doing are best to get the five men out of there, but we don’t really want to make a move till we hear from one of the young men or their captors, so you should really just try to stay calm…”

“Stay calm! You’re kidding me right?! Five young men that are like sons to me are being held hostage, and I have worried parents and family members calling ever other minute for updates, that should have come by now, and I’m trying to keep this whole damn thing out of the media you try to stay calm!” Johnny yelled back, and the officer sighed audibly.

“Look Mr. Wright we are going to wait an hour longer, if we don’t hear something by then, then we will move in and get the boys out of there…” the officer was interrupted by the loud sound of a phone ringing. “Okay Mr. Wright, remember stay calm and play along with whatever they want…”

* Over at the house where the guys of Nsync are *

A group of men assembled in the small room, watching as the leader of this operation whistled to himself, as he pushed the speakerphone button, consulted a piece of paper and dialed a phone number then giving a small smile at their captive, who was standing opposite to him hands tied behind his back, tape over his mouth and in between two men who were holding him in place just in case he decided to fight or try to run.

Chris’s eyes narrowed as he realized that this guy was whistling one of their songs… ‘Just Got Paid’ if he wasn’t mistaken…(AN- ya ya I know… corny) “how cute, is that suppose to be funny?… what kind of moron is this guy” he thought to himself diverting his eyes so he wouldn’t have to keep looking at the grinning man in front of him. Chris decidedly thought that he would like to punch the grin right off the man’s face, unfortunately with his hands tied and the fact that he didn’t want to risk them probably hurt one of the other guys, he can’t really do that so he settled for sighing and listening closely, as a familiar voice answered the phone.

“Yes?” Nsync’s manager answered the phone

“Well good morning to you too, how are you doing on this fine day?” The man asked with mock cheeriness in his voice.

“I’ll be better as soon as we get this whole mess over with.” Johnny replied with anger clearly present in his tone.

“Tisk, tisk, tisk, you shouldn’t use such a tone with the man that holds your friends lives in his hands… isn’t that right Christopher?…”

Unable to do anything else due to the tap covering his mouth Chris simply snorted in reply, but soon regretted it when he was backhanded across his face for the reply, the sound of the slap echoing off the walls of the room and clearly heard on the other end of the phone.

“What the hell did you just do to him?!” Johnny’s voice came yelling through the phone

“Well you see Mr. Wright, Christopher here much like you hasn’t yet learned how to the man who holds not only his life but the lives of his friends in his hands. Not very smart don’t you think? I tried to help by taking away his ability to speak but he still manages to upset me.” The man replied eyes squinting at Chris, who was trying to look like he wasn’t cause any pain by the backhand, the large bright red hand print mark on his left cheek betraying him.

“Let me talk to Chris.” Johnny demanded.

“Perhaps in a minute… first you and I have some business to attend to… do you have our money ready?”

“Yes, I have it, how do you want it delivered?”

“You get one of those nice police officers that I’m sure you have standing there with you…. Unarmed and in plain clothes, to come and drop it off on the doorstep, then leave. One and only one or else we will kill one of these boys. Once we are certain that the officer has left, we will pull the money inside with else to check I over and count it. If we are not satisfied we will kill one of these boys…. Or another as the case might be…” the man added with an evil laugh that cause Chris to cringe. “Once we are satisfied we will leave and are not to follow, now here is the fun part… we have assembled a bomb within this house if at any point we feel we are being followed we will not hesitated to blow it up, not until exactly 30 minutes after we leave are you allowed to enter this house, we will know if you do not obey this, and as a result we will blow the house up. I assure I do not want to kill any of these boys and after the thirty minutes have passed will disable the bomb by remote. Do not try to locate us after this is all through you won’t succeed anyway.”

At this point Chris’s eyes are pretty much bugging out of his head. His whole body feels numb at the information that there is a bomb somewhere in the house, little does he know it was only a bluff on the man’s part to buy themselves time to get away. Missing the rest of the instructions, he barely feels the tape covering his mouth being pulled away so he can talk to Johnny, but snaps somewhat out of his daze as his voice is called.

“Chris?” Johnny’s voice floods the haze in his mind

“Ya?” he answers all the sudden aware that he can actually talk.

“Are you ok Chris?”

“I’m alright I guess.” Chris replied still trying to snap out of it.

“How are the other guys?”

“I don’t really know, I haven’t seen them since we were taken upstairs and separated into our rooms…” not even realizing what he says until it is too late.

Chris’s eyes flash towards the leader and can see the clearly visible anger in the man’s eyes at his telling the police where in the house the guys were. He doesn’t even have time to duck or flinch as the man’s hand strikes out against his already sore cheek, and cries out in pain and falls to the floor. Unable to put his hands out to break his fall his vision blurs as his head connects with the ground.

“Wrong answer Christopher… you just made a big mistake.” The man says full of rage shouting over Johnny’s frantic calls to Chris. “Gag him again.” He says to one of his other men who bends down next to Chris breaking off a new piece of tape and placing it over Chris’s mouth, who is to dizzy to even fight.

* Back with Johnny and the police *

Hearing every word and sound over the phone Johnny and the police are frantically trying to get a response from someone, when finally the man’s voice is back addressing them…

“Mr. Wright you have exactly and hour to get that money hear or I’ll start killing these boys! Is that understood?”

“Yes, perfectly clear.”

“Good, I have to go now Christopher here needs to be taught a lesson…”

Just before the man hangs up the phone Johnny can here Chris’s muffled yelps and groans of pain, and then dial tone.

“DAMN IT! GET THEM OUT OF THERE NOW!!!” He yelled turning to the officer in charge

*Back at the house*

“That was very stupid Christopher, very stupid indeed.” The man said with one last kick to the side of the now unconscious Chris, getting no more than a barely audible groan from the man on the floor. He was more mumbling to himself than anything else. “Oh well, no matter I guess. I’ll have my money in an hour from now there really isn’t anything that can be done in that short amount of time…”

Turning around, he remembers that he is not the only one in the room aside from Chris and looks about at the faces of the men helping him. Some register shock, some are neutral, others hold on odd look of happiness at the show of anger they had just witnessed.

“Take him back upstairs and check on the others while you’re at it.” The man ordered to no one in particular, but a couple of the other men stepped forward grabbing Chris’s bound arms and hauling him up over the shoulder of one of them, receiving another small groan of pain from Chris, and then headed upstairs.

Once they reached the top of the stairs the man holding Chris deposited him back onto his bed and making sure he was secure, while the other proceeded to the end of the hall to check on their other detainees.

His first stop was the room holding both JC and Justin. Unlocking the door and moving in cautiously (just in case) the man could see the two figures on opposite beds. At some point the pair had managed to turn themselves on their bed so that they were now facing each other and had since fallen asleep… either that or were faking sleep at the sound of his presence. Since they were both still very much tied up whichever option it was really didn’t matter, so the man left the room taking careful note to re-lock the door. Inside Justin started thrashing in his sleep, in the midst of yet another nightmare…

The man’s second stop was Joey’s room, the room directly across the hall. Carefully unlocking the door the man made his way inside unlike the previous pair Joey was awake and watching the man with wide fearful eyes, but other than a slight position change he was much in the same position he had been left in. Without a word the man turned around and left Joey alone again, locking the door as he moved on, but he did catch the small sigh of relief Joey let out, just before the door closed.

He stepped to the final door just as his partner was coming out of Chris’s room. Stopping to watch him lock the door, the man motioned for his friend to go on down, and watched the retreating figure before unlocking and entering Lance’s room. Noting that Lance had managed to move himself onto his back but otherwise still bound and apparently sleeping the man simply left the room and re-locked the door without going in any further. If he had he would have been able to tell that Lance wasn’t in fact asleep, but wide -awake. He rolled back onto his side once he was certain the man had left and was not returning, revealing the Swiss Army Knife that he held. It was one that his father had given him what seemed like so many years ago. He had left it out on his bed earlier the previous day and somehow the morons holding him neglected to see it in their search of his room.

So when they brought him upstairs and pushed in on his bed, they pushed him right onto it. He had to stop himself from making a noise of surprise and joy. As soon as they left him and he could hear them making their way downstairs he began the process of turning and trying to grab it and use it to free himself. He had almost cut through the ropes around his wrists when he heard the man at the door. Thinking quickly he turned himself onto his back and tried to fake sleep hoping the man wouldn’t come to check the ropes holding him in place. He was rewarded when the man did little more than step into the room and briefly looked at him.

“Just a couple more strokes and it should do it” Lance thought to himself as he resumed his cutting. *Snap* “Yes!” He thought has he sat up and used his newly freed hands to rub the feeling back into his wrists and arms. “Gosh I hope I just didn’t make a really loud noise…”

Once he managed to get the feeling back into his hands he gently pulled the tape covering his mouth and set to work on the ropes tied around his feet. A few minutes later he was completely free and at his door listening for sounds that might signify there was someone up they’re with him and the rest of the guys guarding their doors.

“Ok, it doesn’t sound like there is anyone up here, now I’ve got to try to get out of this room and get to the other guys… God please help us…” Lance whispered to himself…

Chapter 13: Countdown

* 60 minutes left: Johnny and the Police *

“DAMN IT! GET THEM OUT OF THERE NOW!!!!” Nsync’s manager Johnny Wright yelled turning to the officer in charge. He had just been told by the man in charge of holding the boys’ captive that Chris needed to be punished. Whatever that meant exactly, he wasn’t sure but it obviously wasn’t going to be something he liked.

“Calm down Mr. Wright, we’ve just been through that let us do our job” The officer replied then turned to some of his men. “Get the officers that are near the house to surround it and get ready to charge. Get another officer in plain clothes ready to make like we are delivering their money. We’ll make our move and charge the house when the hour is up and they are distracted with getting the money. All officers are to use extreme care when making a move we do not want to have the boys injured in anyway.”

“Wait you can’t charge them! You heard that man they have the house wired to exploded! You’re going to wind up getting the boys killed!” Johnny interjected furiously.

“Mr. Wright, we have no way of knowing that these men won’t kill them anyway as soon as they get their money. We need to act while they are distracted in hopes that we can get you boys out of there unharmed. With any luck they will have left them upstairs or out of the way when we make our move….”

“But you don’t know that!”

“No we don’t, that is why we will proceed with extreme caution. We know the boys are alive right now, and we know that they will stay that way so long as these men don’t have the money they are looking for. This is the only way we can be certain they stay that way. You need to calm down and stay that way because they will probably need you once this is all over since none of their parents will be getting here until some time tonight. Are you with me Mr. Wright?”

“Yes. Alright I’m with you, but so help me god if anything happens to them that is your fault…”

“It won’t. I promise. Alright get everyone into position we move in 50 minutes!”

* 45 minutes left: Lance *

“Damn it!” Lance swore softly to himself, looking back at the clock “ I’ve been at this for almost 15 minutes now!”

Turning back to the lock in front of him Lance continued trying to pick the lock open with growing despair that he couldn’t do it. He wasn’t sure what was happening downstairs, but something told him that he needed to get to the others quickly… He was just about to give up when the lock on the door click softly and the door opened slightly.

“Yes! Now to get to the others” opening the door a little more to pick out and make sure no one was around to see him leave his room he took survey and ran softly to the room right across from him. Chris’s.

* 40 minutes left: Downstairs with the bad guys *

“Is everything alright upstairs?” the leader asked the two men that had gone to check everything 20 minutes prior. They had just come back along with the rest of the men from checking the house making sure it was secure. Now all six men were sitting in the living room of the house waiting for their money to be delivered.

“Yup, for the most part none of those boys had even moved positions from when we dropped them there.” One of them replied

“Yeah all except the tall brown haired one were asleep.” The other added

“Good.”

“Uh boss?” another one of the men spoke up “Why did you tell them we have the place wired with a bomb when we don’t?”

“Well aren’t you the smart one… I told them that to deter them and buys us time to get out of here.”

“Well what are we going to do with the kids upstairs? Are we going to kill them?”

“I will decide that as soon as we get our money. We will take two with us until we can be certain that no one is following us, as for the other three… well time will tell.”

* Also 40 minutes left: Back Upstairs with Lance *

Lance had made quick work of unlocking the door to Chris’s room and had entered and closed the door behind him but wasn’t prepared for the sight before him when he turned on one of the bedside lamps.

Chris was in a crumpled mess on his bed. He had a large red handprint mark on his left cheek that was quickly turning black and blue and in a little area on his side that was exposed he could see more dark bruises forming, and to top it all off Chris was very obviously unconscious, breathing in what sounding like short painful breaths. As a result had been staring at Chris for the last 5 minutes in a combination of shock and fear of touching his friend and hurting him more.

Once he came out of his daze Lance softly got up on the bed talking in hushed calming tones to Chris, while deciding where to start.

“Hey Chris, don’t worry it is only Lance. You know I don’t think I’ve every seen you so quiet for so long.” Lance chuckle uneasily hoping to get a response from Chris. When he didn’t, he sighed softly and resumed talking in hushed tones just in case Chris could hear him and wouldn’t get scared at someone touching him.

“I’m going to untie you Chris, I’ll try to be gentle but I can’t guarantee it won’t hurt, you look pretty banged up from what I can see.”

Deciding that he should start with Chris’s feet because it was the less likely place that would hurt Chris. Lance set to work on sawing the ropes around Chris’s feet with it Swiss Army Knife. About five minutes later the ropes gave way and Lance moved onto the ropes around Chris’s wrists. Jumping in surprise after receiving a small groan upon touching Chris’s hands in order to keep them still will he cuts through the room.

“Hey Chris, can you hear me? I need you to open you eyes and look at me Chris.” Lance urged and was shortly thereafter rewarded when Chris eyes fluttered open and somewhat focused on him. “Hey there.” Lance said smiling at Chris. “I’m going to untie you hold on, it might hurt a bit.” At Chris’s small nod he went back to trying to cut through the ropes around Chris’s wrists, biting his lip as Chris groan a bit with pain. Finally the ropes around Chris’s wrists fell loose and Lance reached up to peel away the tape from Chris’s lips.

“We have to be quite.”

“How did you get free?” Chris asked

“With this.” Lance said holding up his Swiss Army Knife “Those idiots some how missed it. Pretty good luck huh?” Lance said with a small smile.

“Extremely” Chris replied and winced in pain as he rolled onto his back.

“What happened to you?”

“I was a punching bag for a while, I guessed I passed out because I don’t remember being brought back up here.”

“You ok?”

“I will be. Oh God they said there was a bomb in the house somewhere! They gave Johnny and hour to get the money here, that had to be at least a little while ago.”

“What?! We didn’t see them come in with anything or set up anything that could be a bomb…”

“Who knows we’ve been up here for a while now, they could have done it during that time…”

“Maybe… well then we will have to work fast… I’m going to go get Joey, JC and Justin. I was going to suggest we both go but I think you should stay here… We’ll come back to you.”

“Don’t be stupid I’ll come with you.” As Chris attempted to sit up he had to bit his lip from crying out in pain.

“No you are staying here that’s final. Go back to sleep or something we’ll wake you back. Hopefully we can get out of here or get somewhere where they can’t get at us before the hour is up…” With that Lance left the room carefully making his way next door.

* 30 minutes left: Johnny and the police.*

“Ok let’s move out and get into position! We have 30 minutes left! Mr. Wright you stay here.” The officer in charge ordered.

“No way I’m coming with you!” The officer was going to protest but one look into the eyes of the Nsync managed and he knew it would be wasted.

“Alright but you will stay at least a couple blocks away. We will bring them to you or take you to them clear?”

“Yes.”

“Ok good.” Turning to another officer. “Arrange for at least one ambulance to be waiting nearby, no lights or sirens going or would could be given away. Don’t worry Mr. Wright it is just a precaution, just because we really don’t know the condition of any of the boys, plus we will want to have them checked out to make sure they are ok, the paramedics and do that. Nothing to worry about I’m sure they are fine.” Added noting the look of alarm on the boy’s manager’s face “Alright lets go.”

* 25 minutes left: Bad guys*

“It’s almost time. Two of you go upstairs and get the two that are together, so we can get out of here as soon as possible. I’ve decided we will just take off right after getting our money, with those two as insurance we can count it later.”

* 20 minutes left: Upstairs Lance and Joey*

Lance had managed to get Joey untied fairly easily due to the fact that Joey was awake and had seen him enter and wasn’t injured like Chris now the two sat quietly talking in Joey’s room while Lance filled the Italian in on what was going on.

“… And that’s about all we know for sure Joey.”

“Wow, God we got ourselves into a good mess this time haven’t we.”

“We sure have but we better hurry and free Justin and JC then get back to Chris and get out of here before that hour is up… we can’t have a lot of time left.”

“Alright with two of us we should be able to get them quickly…”

Just as they were about to pull open the door they heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

“Damn it, we are really screwed if they find us…” Joey whispered to Lance

They both held their breaths as the footsteps passed by their door and voices sounded from out in the Hall.

“Should we check on the other three while we are up here?”

“Nah, what does it matter, lets just grab these two and get back downstairs there is only about 15-20 minutes left anyway. I’m sure they haven’t even moved.”

“Oh God they are taking JC and Justin with them…” Joey whispered again.

* 15 minutes left to go: Justin’s and JC’s room*

He was standing in the living room downstairs, a gun to his head. He could see JC a little way from him in the same predicament but he couldn’t find the others anywhere…

“Oh god please don’t let them be dead… please help us…” he thought to himself.

The room was swarming with people all standing still pointing guns at each other, making it very difficult to determine which one is good and which one is bad. He was terrified not knowing what was going on… and then shots rang out….

Eyes shot open and a loud scream was muffled behind the piece of tape cover Justin’s mouth as he woke up with a jolt. The scream although muffled didn’t go unnoticed by the other occupant in the room who also opened his eyes with a start. Blue eyes met briefly but were soon torn when the door to the room jerked open. JC and Justin strained to look at the two men standing in the doorway to their room. Awkwardly trying to move their bodies for a better view.

“Strange sense of Déjà vu don’t you think boys?” One of the men said. “Your presence is required downstairs again. Lets go.”

With that the two men separated, each on going to a different boy. Untying their ankles, grabbing their arms and pulling them to their feet. JC and Justin were escorted; well more like dragged them out of their room and downstairs.

Behind them at the sound of the footsteps retreating the door to Joey’s room open and he and Lance slipped out and headed back to Chris’s room.

*10 minutes left: Lance, Chris and Joey*

Chris was awake as Joey and Lance enter his room.

“Where are Jace and Justin?”

“We were about to go get them when two guys came upstairs and beat us to it. They took them downstairs somewhere. And we only have about 10 minutes left in the hour.” Lance replied

“Damn it! What do we do now?” Chris asked

“Well we heard them talking and as of right now the three of us are safe up hear, they have no intention of checking in on us again. As for JC and Justin we are rather outnumbered I don’t think we can really help them, as much as we want to. If we try we could get ourselves killed.” Joey said.

“But shouldn’t we try something?” Lance asked, looking out the window, when movement caught his eye in a bush. “Wait what’s that?!” Lance said pointing…

“What?” Joey said getting up and heading the window. He looked just in time to catch the movement again. “They must have seen us! Look it’s the police!” pointing to the officer which now cautiously poked his head out of the bush and was trying to communicated with them.

“Quick Chris grab that piece of paper and tell them JC and Justin are downstairs and the 3 of us are together up here.” Lance said.

Writing quickly Chris ignored the pain in his body and got up and went to the window with the note. At the small nod of the officer and a signal to sat put all three breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe they all will be all right after all.

*5 minutes left: downstairs*

After being dragged downstairs JC and Justin were deposited roughly on the couch, and looked up at the sound of a voice.

“How nice of you two to join us again.” The leader said ignoring the glares of the two boys on the couch. “We will be leaving momentarily, and you two will be coming with us, as a precaution of course. Just hang tight and behave and we will be going soon.” This time ignoring the wide eyes of his two captives.

*0 minutes left: Everybody*

“It’s time.”

Chapter 14: It All Comes Down To

The rush of activity and conversation ceased as the clock beeped, signifying the hour had past. The six pairs of eyes belonging to the men holding Nsync hostage turned to look out of the front window, at the slowly approaching plain-clothed officer carrying the bag holding their ransom money. Completely oblivious to the numerous police officers who had now positioned themselves at the back of the house and were looking in through the various windows carefully, as to be certain not to be seen.

“Do you see them?” one of the officers asked another.

“Yup the two boys are sitting on the couch, but aren’t looking my way so I can’t get their attention. And the six suspects are all crowded around the front door. As soon as they get the money inside and close the door get the team into place.”

“Right.”

* Inside *

“Excellent, they are right on time. Guess someone really cares about you boys,” The leader said over his shoulder to JC and Justin who exchanged worried glances. “Won’t be more than few minutes now, you boys ready to take a trip?” The smirk on his face was clearly evident in his tone, but still he didn’t look back.

They watched as the man approached the house cautiously and carefully setting the black bag down on the front step. Then backing up from the door slowly and turning around to leave.

“Wait till he is completely out of sight then use that pole there to get the bag and bring it inside.” The leader instructed one of the other men. They waited five minutes until they were sure the man was gone, when one of the men carefully opened the door and dragged the bag of money inside.

“Let’s see it!” The leader said opening the bag to show the millions of dollars they had requested. “God, have you ever seen anything so beautiful as that.” He said, causing the six men to burst out into laugher. “Quick we’ll count it later when we are safe, you two transfer it over into those bags over there just in case the police tried anything funny.”

“Well it looks like it is just about time to go.” The man said turning and walking towards JC and Justin. Smirking when he noticed the scared looks on their faces. He reached down and grabbed a hold of JC’s bicep pulling him up into a standing position, holding onto him for a minute and JC wobbled and until he got his balance back. Then pushing him out of the way while reaching down and doing the same to Justin. Then grabbing the bound arms of both boys and pulling them towards the front door where the other men stood.

* Outside *

“Damn it!” The officer said. “It looks like they aren’t planning on following through with what they told us, I knew they wouldn’t keep their word! And to top it all off it looks like they are planning on taking those two boys with them. We’ve got to act now. Are the men in place?”

“Yes sir all set, and as far as we know they have not been spotted.”

“Ok, good. Have a couple officers stand ready at the door. As soon as they open it we move in. Get ready to break the glass in those sliding doors over there. We will enter from there. And above all be careful I do not want to see those two innocent boys get hurt!”

* Upstairs *

“What is taking them so long!?” Lance asked with frustration.

“I don’t know Lance I guess they have to make sure that the timing is right or something. Relax at least they have moved up to the house now.” Joey answered softly.

“Well I can’t take it anymore, JC and Justin are down there and God knows how they are or why they are, I’m going to see if I can see anything.”

“Lance, you can’t do that what if they spot you, you could get yourself killed!” Chris said grabbing Lance’s arm to hold him from leaving.

“I won’t. I’ll be careful and stay out of sight. I’m just going to look from the landing anyway I won’t go any further.” Lance replied forcefully.

“But what if they do Lance? You want to risk that? Want to risk your safety? JC and Justin’s safety?” Chris persisted, managing to stop Lance for a moment at the last words.

“I promise I won’t.” Lance said softly this time. Chris looked at Joey who nodded.

“Fine but we are coming with you.” Chris said seriously, with no room for argument.

“We are worried too you know.” Joey added with a small nervous smile.

To say the least they weren’t prepared to witness what they were about to see.

* Once again back downstairs *

“You boys like road trips? I love road trips. Specially the kind where you have just gotten a lot of money to spend and waste on them right boys? Guess you boys know the kind I mean huh? Aww…. What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue? You don’t agree with me?” The leader gleefully mocked JC and Justin as he pulled them roughly towards the door, once again causing JC to lose his balance slightly and ignoring the glare coming from Justin.

He was so occupied with taunting the two Nsyncers that he wasn’t paying attention to the fact that his men had just opened the door to reveal several armed police officers standing right outside. He wasn’t however so caught up to notice when the sound of glass breaking filled the air and more police started to enter the house through the two back sliding glass doors.

“What the hell!?…”

“Freeze and no one has to get hurt.” One of the officers yelled.

Acting quickly, the leader pushed JC away making him fall to the ground letting out a grunt of pain with no hands to break his fall, and positioned Justin directly in front of him holding his gun to the trembling boy’s head. JC’s stay on the ground was quickly ended as he too was pulled up against another body and held in the same position.

* Upstairs *

Upstairs on the landing Chris made a move to run downstairs but was quickly held back by Joey and Lance.

“You can’t just go running own there Chris, you’ll only end up the same way and that isn’t helping anything.” Joey hissed quietly in Chris’ ear.

“But…”

“No buts were you not the one just telling me not to go and do anything stupid?” Lance added

Chris painfully looked at his two brothers in trouble downstairs and then at the two who were beside him but made no further moves to head downstairs.

* Downstairs *

“I think it better be you and your men who freeze officer.” The leader stated, “That is unless you want to see something happen to these two nice boys here?”

At the look of uncertainty and hesitation in the police officer’s eyes the leader smiled.

“No? Don’t want to see them hurt? I didn’t think you would…. Now listen carefully you and your men are going to put down your weapons and clear out of the way, while me, my men and these two boys here get into that van out there and leave. No one and I mean no one should be following us. If I even suspect one of your men is behind us then I won’t hesitate to kill one of these two.” To make his point clear he pushed the gun harder into Justin’s temple making the boys whimper softly with pain and fear. “Once we get to our destination and count our money we will let these two go…. That is if your lucky enough that we don’t ask for more money due to your gross mistake in not listening to our orders. Is that clear?”

“Perfectly.” The officer replied, however one look into the terrified eyes of JC and Justin the officer continued. “But I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.”

The surprise that registered to the leader of the suspects was just enough to cause the man to loosen is grip on Justin and lower his gun slightly given the officer the chance he needed. Aiming quickly at the man’s newly exposed shoulder, he fired a shot.

Eyes went wide as time seemingly stood still. One little movement and the bullet wouldn’t hit the target but hit Justin instead, but it was a risk that had to be been taken. After what seemed like an eternity to all in the house the bullet hit it’s target and the force knocked the man holding Justin back taking both him and the curly head boy sprawling to ground. At the cry of pain escaping the man’s lips, all of the sudden everything came alive again.

Officers ran over to kick the man’s gun out of reach while others went over to the man holding JC and the bags of money.

“Let him go or the same will happen to you.” The officer said with a small jerk of his head to the scene behind him. After a tense moment the man let JC go and dropped the gun while moving to hold his hands in the air. With legs so week from fear that he was unable to support himself JC could do little else then drop to the floor in a heap, simply staring over to the spot where his friend was, so focuses on his long time friend that he was no longer aware of his surroundings.

Justin also couldn’t hear any of the noise going on around him, as he managed to sit himself up. Looking back at the man who had been holding him and his friends’ hostage all he could focus on was the gunshot wound in his shoulder. The blood in the spot where he had been held could have still been held. Turning his head and making eye contact with JC, seeing the fear so clear in his friend’s blue eyes, suddenly everything was just too much for him.

He never even felt his body hit the ground.

Chapter 15: Nightmares Never End

Justin wasn’t aware of all the commotion going on around him.

He wasn’t aware of the police running into the house and seizing all suspects.

He wasn’t aware of the fact that Lance, Chris and Joey had been standing out of the way at the top of the stairs watching as everything had happened.

He wasn’t even aware when Lance and Joey rushed to him to untie him while Chris made his way over to JC who was sitting in shock just a few feet away and untied him too.

He didn’t know when JC finally snapped out of his shock and made his way over to him and the others grabbing his hand, holding on tight whispering claming and assuring words to him along with the other guys who were holding his other hand or rubbing his ankles or legs just for the contact.

Or even when Joey easily picked up his slack form and took him out to the van waiting to take them to the safe house their manager Johnny was waiting for them at.

He was however aware of waking up, sitting straight up in his place with a scream caught in his throat and almost instantly being surrounded by four pairs a familiar arms, just hugging and holding him while they all cried with him.

And he can vaguely remember through his sobs looking at the tearstained faces of his band mates, friends and brothers asking almost hopefully “It wasn’t real was it? It was just another nightmare right?” then the collective intake of breath and JC shaking his head in response.

And then the arms were back and together they cried and thanked God that for the time being they were all safe once again.

*A Couple Months Later*

“In news today 38 year old Maxwell Silverman was found guilty today. Silverman was responsible for leading five other men to force themselves into the vacation home of the popular ‘pop’ group N*SYNC and holding the five guys for a large, yet undisclosed amount of ransom just over two months ago. JC Chasez, Justin Timberlake, Chris Kirkpatrick, Joey Fatone and Lance Bass, collectively known as N*SYNC were present throughout the trial to give testimony against Silverman and his crew and were present there today for the reading of the verdict. While visibly relieved by the verdict the five offered no comments on the verdict or the case. Official word from the N*SYNC camp is that the boys need a little more time before they will give any comment on what they had gone through during their ordeal. Representatives also say that the boys will be taking approximately one more month off to recover from injuries sustained and get themselves ready to start the tour that was scheduled to open on Sunday. Fan’s don’t have to worry, cancelled tour dates will be rescheduled at the end of the tour so hold onto your tickets and keep checking the N*SYNC official website for details. The crew here at MTV joins me in sending our best wishes and get wells to JC, Justin, Lance, Chris and Joey and we look forward to seeing you guys on tour again soon. In other news…”

Turning off the TV the five guys of N*SYNC sat around the living room of JC’s house in Orlando, still in the clothes they wore to court. Each reflecting on everything that they had been through during the last two months.

Physically Chris was the worse off after what happened. Thanks to the beating he received he had several bruised and cracked ribs. All the others had slight bruising and red marks from where they had been punched and hit.

Psychologically was another story. They all had gone into their own forms of shock after the incident that they were only now starting to come out of. But all were suffering from nightmares and periodic day dreams that had them reliving everything that happened as well as having their own minds add in the “what ifs.”

What if JC had pushed just that little bit too much?

What if Joey had been caught getting that phone and Lance with that knife?

What if Chris had been beaten into a coma and not just unconscious? Or worse to death?

What if that policeman missed and it was Justin that was hit and not the man holding him?…

All had a small stay in the hospital ranging from over night to a couple days to be treated for shock and the injuries sustained. But were released after promising the doctor they would be under supervision and would get lots of rest.

“Well I guess that is it…. It is finally finished.” Chris said breaking the silence first.

“Yup guess so… maybe we can finally get things back to normal.” Joey added on trying to make his voice sound cheerful and hopeful only half succeeding.

“You’re wrong it isn’t over.” Justin stated softly. During the last couple months Justin had only spoken when he had to, or to contradict someone. Even though he had been deemed the one with the least amount of physical injuries he was by far the worse off of the five.

“What do you mean J? They guy is in prison. We have a name, a face, and all the other information we could want on him and the other guys. None of them will be getting out for a long time to come…” Lance started but was quickly cut off…

“Bull! Don’t think I don’t know that you are all thinking the exact same thing as me! That we aren’t safe! That maybe just maybe it can all happen again!” Justin yelled back. “Don’t think that I don’t see you Lance look through the peep hole on a door before opening it and then leaving the chain on just to be sure. Don’t think I don’t see the way that Chris flinches every time someone goes to put a hand on his shoulder or touch him! Even one of us!….”

“Justin…” JC softly interjected…

“No! I’m not going to stop because you all obviously need to hear this! Don’t think I don’t see Joey calling Kelly to make sure her and Brianna are still safe and ok. And don’t think that I don’t see the kind of music you’re writing JC or the kind of paintings you’re working on. And above all don’t think I don’t see one of you fall asleep somewhere and five minutes later jerk awake again with a scared look on your face. Or hear the screams after one of you wake up from another nightmare that you think managed to go unheard! Because I do! I’ve seen them all! Heard them all! So I know you all are thinking the same thing as I am!” Justin finished, now on the verge of hyperventilating.

“Justin…” JC started again in a soft voice. “We never said that we don’t have nightmares, that we weren’t effected by what happened. Sure we were. All of us were and we are all scared to death that it could happen again. But we can’t keep thinking that. Security is outside and around us at all times, and if it isn’t enough for you ask Johnny and he won’t hesitate to put more on duty. We are safe J. We all want everything to do with it to end, and now it can, because those men are in jail now and we are safe and it is over.”

Getting up shaking his head Justin started to walk away from Lance, Chris, Joey and JC leaving them with rather shocked looks on their faces as he called over his shoulder.

“We might be safe, but I for one will never feel safe. You all are wrong it isn’t over and never will be because the Nightmares Never End.”

The End

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