Chapter 17
When the video was finally finished, the five Backstreet Boys rode
back to their hotel, tired and hungry.
“I’ve got a craving for pizza,” Nick said in the limo. “How ‘bout y’all come to my room, and we order
a few pizzas?”
“Oh, pizza sounds good,” AJ replied, his mouth nearly watering at
just the thought of it.
“Yeah, it does,” the others agreed.
When they got back to the hotel, they dropped their stuff off in
their own suites and then went to Nick’s to order the pizza. While they waited, Nick hooked up his
Nintendo and challenged AJ to a game of Mortal Kombat.
Meanwhile, Brendan snickered to himself. This was his chance.
“Hey, AJ, do you have your Limp Bizkit CD with you?” he asked.
“Yeah,” AJ replied absently, his attention focused on the
game.
“Well, could I borrow it?” Brendan asked.
“Sure. It’s in my bag in my
room,” AJ said, still staring at the TV screen.
”Okay. Can you give me your room key
then?”
“Just a minute.” AJ paused
the game and dug into his pocket for his room key. He tossed it to Brendan and started playing
again.
“Thanks,” Brendan said and left the room. He stopped first at his own room, got
something out of his bag, and slipped it into his pocket. Then he jotted down a quick note and stuck
it to the outside of his door, where the guys would be sure to see it.
Then he went to AJ’s room.
***
“Hey, where did Brian go?” Nick asked, when the pizzas arrived.
“He went to get one of my CD’s,” AJ replied.
“Yeah, but that was like twenty minutes ago,” Howie pointed out,
glancing at his watch.
“That’s weird,” AJ said.
Kevin sighed and stood up.
“I’ll go see if he’s in his room.
He won’t want to miss out on the pizza.” With that, he left the room.
Minutes later, he was back, holding a little, yellow note in his
hand. “I found this stuck to his door,”
he replied, showing the others the note.
“He’s taking a nap.”
“What about his pizza?” Howie asked.
“Screw him. More for me,”
Nick said simply, practically drooling as he opened the box of extra-cheese
pizza.
Kevin laughed. “Good
point,” he said. And they all dug in.
***
An hour later, AJ returned to his room, exhausted. Brian had had the right idea in taking a
nap. AJ wanted nothing more than to
crawl under his covers and go to sleep.
But no more had he sat down on the bed, when his cell phone
rang. Groaning, AJ dug it out of his bag
to answer it and sat back down on the edge of the bed.
“Hello?”
“AJ?” came a shrill female voice.
“Yeah. Who’s this?” AJ
asked, frowning.
“It’s Leighanne,” she said, then hurriedly went on, “Listen, AJ,
we’ve got a big problem. It’s about
Brian. I… I found out some things today
that I think you need to know.”
AJ’s heart pounded rapidly.
He knew it. Something was really
going on with Brian. And he had a
feeling it was more than he ever expected.
“What is it?” he asked.
But he would never get to hear the answer. For at that moment, a strong arm wrapped
around his neck from behind.
AJ began to struggle in panic, when he felt a horrible
stabbing sensation in his back. First
it was a sharp pain, then pressure, and then it felt like fire was running up
and down his spine. He cried out in
agony and tried to struggle, but the pain just got worse. His body going weak, AJ crumpled over.
He felt another excruciating burst of pain as something was jerked
harshly out of his back. And then,
another, as he was stabbed again.
Suddenly, it was as if all of the air in the room was sucked out,
leaving AJ gasping for breath. His back
and chest burned with pain worse than anything he could have ever
imagined. He wasn’t even aware of the
thick, warm blood that gushed from the wounds in his back or the fact that
there was still something big and metal sticking out of him. The only thing he felt was the crushing
pain, and the inability to get any air.
And as he gasped and choked, desperately trying to breathe,
everything around him began to fade, until all was black. And it was not until he had slipped into
unconsciousness that AJ found relief from the unspeakable pain that had been
bestowed upon him.
***
