Chapter 33: Three Flashes Of Light

I awoke to a loud banging on the door. Nick shot out of bed and looked at the clock. It was only five in the morning. We weren't due up for another hour and our plane wasn't leaving for three more hours. The loud banging continued.
I looked at Nick frantically through the darkness.
"Stay there," he whispered. He walked slowly to the door just as the banging stopped. He looked outside.
"No one's there," he quietly said as he peered through the peephole. He opened the door slowly and looked down the corridor both ways. Not a soul to be found.
"That's strange," he said as he walked back to our bed. I looked around the dark room, startled a bit. I had this eerie feeling that I hadn't had in a long time.
He crawled back into bed and looked at me.
"What's wrong?" He asked gently.
"Uh, nothing. Will you just hold me please?"
He took me into his arms and wrapped them around me tightly. His bare skin pressing against my body, filling me with warmth and taking away the chill that lingered behind.

~ON THE PLANE~

I flipped through my magazine as the guys were being prepped for their appearance on a late night Canadian show this evening. It is filmed around four in the afternoon so they would have the rest of the night off.

~IN VANCOUVER~

I guess the fans had put two and two together because when we landed the boys were greeted by hundreds of fans when they exited the airport. The security guards clumped me and several of the other publicists together as Nick and the others rushed ahead. There were screams and yells that pierced my ears and people reaching out to touch me and everything I was holding.
Once we were thrown into two limos I ended up practically on Kevin's lap as they drove off, taking the back way to the hotel.
"Sorry Kevin," I smiled shyly as he helped me off his lap and onto Nick's. He smiled at me politely.
"I would have gotten in the other car, but I kinda got shoved in here," I mumbled as I pulled my bag from underneath me. Nick moved so I wouldn't hit him in the face.
"Well we're a cozy little family, it's okay," Kevin replied.
Brian sat on the other side of the limo, staring out the window. He hadn't said one word to me all day. His eyes were fixated on the passing trees that littered the city streets of Vancouver. His face was grim and he looked about a thousand miles away.
"Kate are you enjoying yourself?" Howie politely asked. I directed my attention from Brian to Howie who was sitting next to him.
"Uh yeah, I'm just not use to this whole tour thing," I chuckled a little.
"Obviously," Nick teased.
"Shut up Carter," I shot back, turning around to look at him. He gripped onto my waist and dug his fingers into my sides.
"Don't even think about messing with me, cause I'll tickle you until you pee your pants," he threatened.
"Nicky don't torture the beautiful woman," Howie said from across the way.
"Yeah I've got backup," I teased as I looked at Howie, A.J., and Kevin.
"She's right man," A.J. said before turning to look out the window.

~AT THE HOTEL~

A designer was on call to fit them for some decent outfits for their interview and performance that night. I walked around with a few of the others, chatting with them about some promotional stuff they were to do the next day before the concert.
While I was in the middle of a conversation my cell phone went off.
"Will you all excuse me for just a second, I'll be right back," I politely excused myself as I walked over to a quieter part of the buzzing room. I picked up my phone.
"Hello?"
"Kaitlyn," the deep voice breathed down the line. Fear shot up my spine.
"Who is this?" I asked, knowing in the back of my head who it was.
"I know where you're at. You look more beautiful than ever. I'm watching." He said before hanging up.
My face went pale as the dial tone echoed in my ear.
"Baby you okay?" Nick asked from behind me. Startled I jumped quickly. "Hey, you okay Kate?" He asked.
"Oh yeah, I'm fine," I lied.
"Who was on the phone?"
"Uh no one, wrong number." He looked at me curiously.
"So how do I look?" He asked, spinning around. He was wearing a pair of khaki slacks and a white dress shirt. The dress shirt was opened slightly at the top so you could see his tank top. His hair was gelled as soon as he was out of the shower, so his it had a spiked look. His glasses lay on his face, shaping it perfectly. My attention was now turned onto him as my body shook at how sexy he looked.
"Wow," was all I could manage.
"What?" He teased, wanting a compliment.
"You look hot," I smirked.
"Really?" He asked, wanting more.
"Yeah, you look really sexy."
"Do you want me?" He teased.
"Shut up, you know I want you."
"Yeah baby yeah," he said with a British accent. I slapped his butt as we walked away.
"Oh and Carter?" I yelled at him.
He spun around and winked at me.
"I'll show you later," I promised. His face lit up and he smiled.

~BACK IN NEW YORK~

"Amanda she's a writer for some of the best selling books, come on, I'm telling you she'd be excellent for our top tens on the weekend," Kaylee pleaded.
"Well, have her come into my office tomorrow at nine and I'll take a look at her resume," Amanda gave in.
Kaylee smirked. This was perfect. Kate and Felicia working side by side. Well at least for the time being because Kaylee's plan was to have Kate eventually fired from the Times, with no where to go. Not even Nicky by her side.

~THAT AFTERNOON~

The Boys were backstage being wired as I walked around, speaking to some of the people from the show. I looked up on the TV's they had and saw Jane, Bob and Aaron all sitting in the front row of the audience.
"Great," I muttered under my breath.
The TV show host went out to first warm up the audience, explaining to them that they have to laugh at his jokes and what to do and what not to do.
"Hey," I heard a soft voice behind me. It was Brian.
"Hey," was all I could say back.
"Well we needed distance, but since we'll be spending a lot of time together, I didn't want to ignore you or anything. Does that makes sense?"
"Yes Brian. I feel really bad about what happened last night."
"Don't worry about it Kate, it's over with, okay?" He tried to force a smile.
I nodded.
"Five minutes till show time boys, let's get you on stage." A voice called from behind us.
"I'll see you after the show. Break a leg," I said, hugging him gently.
He ran off with the others and took the stage.
"Okay, now, your mic's for the interview will be off during your performance and they won't be switched on until you sit down on the guest couch, so make sure you say your thank you's or whatever into the wireless ones, okay?" They were informed.
They all nodded.

I walked out behind the production crew and cameras so I could watch the performance.
When they were introduced the curtain rose as they all stood like angels on the stage and sang. During the middle of the performance I glanced over to the other side of the stage. (Mind you they're on a stage - on a stage, kinda like Jay Leno and David Letterman) I saw someone pass through the shadows. Thinking it was just a stagehand I continued to watch and smile at Nick. Suddenly there was a loud scream and people came running from backstage. The guys looked at each other and kept singing. From behind the crowd of screaming people came a person. They had a black mask on, black pants, shirt and shoes. The person was holding a gun and running out onto the stage. Before I knew it security had the guys onto the floor and was on top of them. One them threw me to the floor.
"Kate!" Nick yelled. I looked at him frantically. We were pretty far from one another.
"NOBODY MOVE!" The person, who now sounded like a man, yelled. He grabbed a lady from the audience, put his arm around her neck and pulled her into him, the gun to her head. She screamed out.
"If anyone moves, this lady is goin' down," he yelled, his voice deep. I was underneath a security guard, along with a co-worker of mine. I looked over at the guys who were practically buried by bodyguards. I started panicking.
The gunman walked over to our side of the stage and looked down at the people that were all around me. His eyes were a deep chocolate brown, burning with anger and fear. He tossed the lady quickly into the audience as she struggled to get up and into her husbands arms. I looked at Nick who put his finger to his mouth and told me to be quiet.
"Oh so the pretty boy likes that one?" The guy spit.
"Get off of her!" He yelled, holding the gun to the security guard's head. The guy on top of me reached for his gun when all of a sudden there were three more guys in masks scanning the floor.
"Don't even think of touching that," another said.
"Here you go, we've got all the guns out here and backstage and tied up the guards," they replied to the guy who stood right above me.
The guy on top of me stood up. I started panicking, what was he gonna do? Nick looked at me fearfully as Brian and A.J. turned around to see what was going on. They all looked at each other from the ground.
"Get up bitch!" He yelled at me. I was so in shock I didn't realize he was talking to me.
"I said get up BITCH!" He yelled. I felt his fingers dig into my hair and rip me up. Shooting pains flowed throughout my head as I let out a slight scream. Before I knew it was looking down the darkness of the barrel of the gun.
"Kate!" Nick yelled as he squirmed under his bodyguard to get up.
"Carter, stay!" The guard yelled at him.
Brian looked at Nick, his eyes revealing just how scared he was.
"So it looks like you like this pretty bitch!" The man yelled in my ear as he dragged me unwillingly over towards Nick.
Nick looked up at him with anger.
"IS THIS YOUR BITCH?!" The man spat, his breath reeked of alcohol, his grip was still strong. He was holding onto my head with as much power as he could. The gun was now under my chin. It was cold, fearless. Tears streamed down my cheeks as I looked down at Nick. The other henchman were running around, locking the doors, making sure no one was trying to leave. I didn't understand what were taking the police so long, I mean this was a huge building, there had to be more people in this building than in this studio. Everything was spinning, I didn't even realize what was really happening.
"LET HER GO!" Nick yelled, his eyes getting blood shot with anger.
"Nick calm down," Kevin said from behind him.
The girls in the studio behind me all cried out in fear.
"Nick, huh, is that your name? Well NICK, is this your woman?"
"Let her go," he mumbled.
"THAT'S NOT WHAT I ASKED YOU!" He yelled, taking the gun from my throat, and placing it against Nick's forehead.
"Nick," I whimpered.
"Why don't you tell me what your pretty ladies' name is," the man asked.
"Kate," he muttered.
"Well Kate, you're very beautiful," the man said, running the cold barrel down my neck slowly. It got to the button on my blouse as he looked down.
Nick squirmed as he tried to get up.
"Carter, you betta sit yer ass down," his guard said into his ear.
"This is a pretty little lad-ay you've got here," his teeth were yellow as he unbuttoned the first button on my blouse. Tears streamed faster down my cheeks now.
"Don't," I whispered.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY YOU LITTLE BITCH?!" He yelled in my face.
"I said please stop," I whispered yet again.
"AIN'T NO ONE TELLS ME TO STOP!" He yelled. "Do you hear me!?"
"Yes," I mumbled, my eyes closed.
"DO YOU HEAR ME!?!"
"YES!" I yelled back.
"Good, I like a tough woman. Now let's see what else we have here," he said as we walked away from Nick and over towards Brian and A.J.
"What do we have here?" The guy said as A.J. and Brian glared up at him.
"So do you gang bang this bitch or what?" The guy joked.
"Shut up," A.J. replied.
"EXCUSE ME? I KNOW YOUR SKINNY-ASS AIN'T TALKIN' TO ME?!" The guy yelled as he spit on A.J.
A.J. looked away.
"So do all five of you do her at once?" The guy chuckled at his brilliant idea.
A.J. began to pull himself out underneath the guard. The guard grabbed onto his shoulder tightly and pulled him back. "He's just tryin' to piss you off man, knock it off," he reassured A.J.
"Well it's fuckin' workin'," A.J. hissed.
"Are you talkin' to me you skinny-ass bitch?" The guy yelled at A.J. as he took the gun from my throat and placed it next to A.J.'s head.
"No," A.J. muttered. The man released my hair from his grip and instead wrapped his arm around my neck tightly. I struggled to get what air I could in.
He placed the gun back where it was as I choked on my tears.
He dragged me back over to where Nick was.
"Man why don't you tell your bitch to shut the fuck up!" He said, obviously annoyed by my choking.
Suddenly there was a loud bang that pierced my ears. It was a gun shot, but where did it come from? All the guys looked up, their eyes wide with fear. All I could see was flashes of light as my eyelids slammed shut.

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