Thirty minutes later, Brian is staring at his cell phone on the table in front of him. It’s wired up to a speaker and recording device so that everyone in the room can listen in when Jake calls back. The room has been silent for the past five minutes, everybody is just waiting. Truro has brought in his partner, a friendly-looking guy called Kent, also in the room is a liaison detective called Groves and a sound technician called Holt who is to monitor the call for any extra sounds that might give away the location of the caller. Marcus is the only person, apart from Brian, from Backstreet camp that was allowed to stay in the room. He is sat right by Brian and Brian is grateful for his presence, it gives him strength. The phone suddenly rings and he jumps. He dives for it.
“Not yet!” Truro commands, waiting for the sound guy to make a signal. He does and Truro nods. Brian presses the phone button and puts it to his ear, hands shaking.
“Hello?”
“This Brian Littrell, Backstreet Boy?” asks a man in a real New York accent, his voice seems to boom out of the speaker and echo around the quiet room.
“That’s me. Is Jade ok?! What have you done to her?!” Brian yells and the guy chuckles.
“Relax, she’s fine. I got her right here actually. Now, let’s go on to more interesting things – the money.”
“I wanna speak to Jade.”
“Sorry, that ain’t in the script.”
“I wanna know she’s ok,” Brian insists. “You’re not getting a single cent from me unless I hear her voice in the next ten seconds!”
“Hm,” there’s a long silence. “Ten seconds gone but I’m feelin’ kinda good today so I will let you talk to her. Just let me get her.”
After what seems like the longest silence of Brian’s life, Jade comes on the line.
“Hello?” she whispers.
“Jade, oh thank God you’re there baby! Are you ok? Has he done anything to you?”
“No, he’s just left me in this room,” her voice sounds teary.
“Don’t cry baby,” he begs. “I’m goin’ to get you out of there I promise. And then I swear I will never let you out of my sight.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too,” he says.
“You do?” says Flurry amusedly. “Well that is nice of you. Now you know Jade is just fine, can we get onto the money?”
“I swear if you hurt her…”
“Yeah, yeah, we’ve covered that already. You’re gettin’ boring Brian. I want $50,000 in cash. Let’s say…half $20 and half $50 dollar notes. All unmarked of course. And NO police involvement. If I even get a HINT that they’re involved, Jade is dead. And I’d hate to kill such a beautiful girl as Jade but I will do if it comes to it. The choice is really yours.”
“You’ll get the money.”
“Good. I was hopin’ you’d say that Brian,” he chuckles. “Well, you make sure you have the money ready for me by 10pm tonight. I’ll call you at 10pm with details of where to leave it,” he hangs up.
“Fuck,” Brian exclaims as he puts his phone down on the table. “I have never wanted to kill somebody so much in my entire life!”
“We’ll get him,” Truro says. “He’ll be staring at bars for the rest of his life, don’t worry about that.”
“Message from lover boy,” Jake says as he snaps my phone shut. “He loves you. Ain’t that sweet?”
I don’t respond, just squeeze my eyes shut to blink back my tears. I refuse to give this jerk the satisfaction of seeing me cry.
“Well, I’m gonna go get some lunch. Ya want a sub bringin’ back?”
“No.”
“Sure? C’mon Jade, can’t have you wastin’ away on me.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Well maybe you will be later,” he leaves the room and I hear the door lock behind him.
“Don’t count on it,” I mutter as I sit down on the bed and look around the small dark room. There’s no window and the light comes from a bare bulb hanging from the ceiling. The walls are off-white and peeling. The whole room looks damp and musty. I hate the smell. I hate the room full-stop. I try to hate it with every fibre of my being because that takes my mind away from being scared and upset. I close my eyes and imagine Brian is standing right in front of me. If I concentrate hard enough I can smell his warmth and feel his arms around me. I smile and lean into him but there’s nothing but a cold emptiness. I open my eyes and start to cry.
AJ watches the second hand on his watch slowly ticking by. He feels so damn frustrated. Jade has been kidnapped and there’s nothing he can do to help her. Not a single thing. Sarah had called him a few hours back but he hadn’t really talked to her. How could he when he knew he didn’t love her? He has always loved Jade, he just thought that maybe he was over her. That maybe he just loved her like a sister. He had managed to fool himself up until now. But the thought that he might never see her again is killing him. She couldn’t leave his life without knowing how much she means to him. He sighs and rubs his head wearily. He can’t ever tell her. It would hurt Brian too much. Fuck. Why does he have to be the one with such a fucked up life? It’s not fair. He really needs a drink. He stands up and heads towards the door. Sobriety is definitely overrated.
Brian and Nick walk through the almost empty shopping mall and try not to look too nervous. Flurry had called Brian an hour ago and ordered him and Nick to go to the Mall of the Americas. Nick was there because Flurry had said he was the most recognisable Boy due to his blonde hair. In Brian’s backpack is the money Flurry had requested. There are NYPD officers all around the mall and at all exits in plain clothes. The guys are to take the money to Saks and leave it outside the third exit in a blue trash can. Then they were to flag down a cab and leave without looking back. Flurry would call with details of Jade’s whereabouts after he had picked up the money.
“Saks is over there,” Nick points out and Brian nods grimly. They head towards the store. “How you feeling?”
“How do you think?” Brian snaps and then sighs. “Sorry bro, I’m just scared.”
“I know. Dumb question,” Nick puts a hand on Brian’s shoulder. “She will be ok.”
“I hope so. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to her.”
“Nothing will,” they walk through the store in silence. “Third exit.”
“I see it,” Brian mutters and they head outside. They find the blue trash can and Brian drops the bag into it. They flag down a cab and drive away. “Fuck, there’s too many police,” Brian says, looking back through the rear window. “He’s gonna spot them a mile off!”
“He won’t.”
“There’s two guys just hanging around the exit, one guy by the trash can and at least four round the car lot!” Brian yells. “He’d have to be fuckin’ BLIND not to spot ‘em!”
“Hey, calm down,” Nick mutters. “I’m not the guy who put them there.”
“No, I am and I’m seriously regretting this!” Brian turns back to the road ahead and sighs hard. “I should’ve listened to him and not called the police.”
“You didn’t. Marcus did.”
“And who told Marcus?!”
“Brian, it will be ok. They know what they’re doing,” Nick lays a hand on Brian’s shoulder to comfort him.