Just My Luck Ch. 6
When JC had fully recovered his senses after hitting his head, he found that he was still wrapped tightly in the arms of his attacker and they were no longer on the porch. They were now standing in Lance’s semi-darkened living room. A flashlight was resting on the nearby coffee table and its beam cast eerie shadows on the ceiling overhead, giving off just enough light that JC was finally able to see that what he could see of Lance’s house was in a shambles…ransacked. Chairs were overturned, the bookcase was lying on the floor, books were tossed about, papers had been scattered everywhere…the list was endless. JC strained against the hand over his mouth in an effort to get a better look at the condition of the room but then he heard a hoarse voice.
“Don’t move…” a low voice rasped in JC’s ear as he felt a thin, cold knife blade resting against his throat. He swallowed and glanced wildly about to find Chris only to find that his friend was still motionless, lying in a heap on Lance’s living room floor with a tall, masked figure dressed in all black standing over him.
“Are you two alone?” the man standing over Chris asked in a low, gravely voice. JC carefully nodded his head at the man then winced when he felt the knife bite into his neck causing what felt like a thin trickle of blood to course its way down his neck and into his shirt collar.
The man standing over Chris grabbed a handful of his hair and lifted his head up off the ground then held a knife against his neck.
JC struggled against the arms about him and screamed into the large hand that was pressed over his mouth as he watched Chris’s situation grow even worse.
“Answer me…are you telling me the truth?” the man asked again as he pulled Chris’s upper body a little further up off the floor, causing the young man to emit a small, painful groan even in his unconscious state.
JC swallowed shakily and felt the knife once again move against his neck before weakly nodding his head and blinking back the tears of pain and fear that were threatening to spill from his eyes.
The man released Chris and his head hit the wood floor with a dull thud without another painful groan or moan coming from the young man.
Out of the corner of his eye, JC saw a third individual, Gary, walked into the room and surveyed the scene before him.
At one end of the room stood Sam, the largest of the three intruders holding a brunette haired young man in his death grip. At the other end of the room, Matt, the slightest of the group, was standing over an inert form lying on the floor. When he and the others had entered the home, they had not expected to be found. They had planned to enter the home, search for any connection between the home’s owner, a James Lance Bass, and Marshall Goines, whom their boss, Tony Picatti had murdered earlier in the day but, so far, they were coming up empty handed and the addition of the two young men would only further complicate matters.
“What’s going on, Matt?” the individual asked once he was standing in the middle of the living room.
“We found these two on the front porch getting ready to come into the house,” Matt answered. “Sam went around from the back and surprised them.”
“Is he out?” the individual asked.
“Yeah, Gary…Sam kicked him into the wall and he hit his head,” Matt answered.
Gary turned to Sam, who was holding JC.
“What are you two doing here?” he asked.
JC felt the hand over his mouth move, releasing him and he gulped in several breaths of air before quietly answering.
“We came here to pick up some things for our friend,” JC replied figuring that the men would be able to tell if he as lying to them. He would just have to answer their questions carefully in order to protect Lance.
“Has your friend mentioned a Tony Picatti?” Gary asked as he stepped closer to JC and grabbed his chin roughly with one hand while pulling out a knife of his own to hold it against JC’s throat.
“You better tell me the truth, boy,” Gary added. He watched as JC shook his head in answer to his question.
“No, sir.”
“You’re sure of that?”
“Yes, sir.” JC answered not letting his eyes wander from those of the man standing before him.
Gary seemed to mull over JC’s words before nodding his head and walking over to the antique gossip bench set against one of the living room walls.
Plan B, boys,” Gary said as he moved to a nearby phone and yanked the cord from the wall and the phone itself then moved over to a pair of lamps, first yanking their cords from the wall then from the base of the lamps.
At the same time, JC’s attacker forced him to lay face down on the floor.
“If you move, your friend will get hurt,” he sneered. “Understand?” he asked, grabbing a handful of JC’s hair.
“Yes,” JC answered in a small voice then breathed a small sigh of relief when his hair was released.
Unanswered questions of his own flew frantically about in JC’s mind as he lay still. ‘Who were these men? What did they want? Why were they ransacking Lance’s house? Could there be a connection between today’s earlier attack and what was happening nor or was this just a random thing? How was Chris doing? Was Chris okay or was he hurt badly? Would they make it out of this alive or would someone find their bodies the next day? Will someone miss them and come looking for them?’
The questions continued to fly about in JC’s mind and he found himself unable to fully describe the terror that he was feeling at that very moment as he watched the two men move about the room. He desperately wanted to know how Chris was doing, but he and the man standing over him were behind JC and he couldn’t chance a glimpse in that direction…not knowing if that move would get Chris hurt or even worse.
The men continued to move about the room, yanking cords from the walls and from whatever they were attached to before moving to the couch where they tipped over a basket of folded laundry. They then pulled out several washcloths and put them into a pile then grabbed several bath towels and began to tear those into long strips.
It was at that moment that realization of what was going to happen hit JC causing fear to course even further through him.
‘Oh no…this is how Lance felt…when he knew what that guy was going to do to him and he couldn’t stop it,’ JC thought to himself as he closed his eyes and tried to regain control of his ragged breathing and pounding heart.
It took several deep breaths before JC finally thought he had regained some sort of control over himself, then he felt one of the men kneel down beside him and begin to roughly pull his arms behind his back. JC immediately began grasping at straws to come up with some idea that would prevent his being tied up.
“You don’t have to do this,” JC said quietly in a calm voice, which surprised him since he still felt as if his heart was going to thump its way out of his chest. If he were tied up, how would he take care of Chris…how would he call the police or Lonnie or Mike for help? How would he get help? The questions flew about in his mind but he was at a total loss for any answers.
“Shut up if you want to stay alive,” the man snarled as he began to wrap the phone cord tightly around JC’s wrists. At the same time, another one of the intruders knelt down at JC’s head and ordered him to raise his head from the floor. JC saw that the man held several long strips of material and his fear became even stronger.
“I won’t yell or anything…I promise,” JC quietly pleaded. “You don’t have to gag me...please.”
“You’re right…you won’t yell once I get finished…now…open your mouth,” the man ordered, his voice edgy. “If you don’t want me to hurt your friend over there, you’ll open your mouth,” he added, knowing that the young man would not want that to happen.
Realizing that talking to the man could only make things worse for himself and Chris, JC reluctantly parted his lips and immediately a washcloth was stuffed into his mouth before the man pulled one of the long strips of cloth roughly over his mouth and tightly bound the ends of the cloth at the back of his head.
JC had to concentrate on controlling his breathing…with the washcloth filling his mouth and the strip of thick material over his mouth, he didn’t want to become so upset or excited that he could possibly begin to suffocate.
With eyes wide with fright, JC watched as the dark clothed men grabbed one more strip of cloth and wrapped it over his eyes as a blindfold, effectively blocking off his vision. He then felt hands roughly grasping his ankles before having a cord wrapped tightly about them then another cord was pulled through the bindings around his wrists and ankles, pulling him into an excruciatingly uncomfortable hogtie.
JC mutely groaned at the cramped position that his body was being forced into and he could hear coarse laughter in the background then a voice whispering in his ear.
“Awww…pretty boy don’t like how we got him tied up.”
JC jumped at the sound of the harsh voice then cringed when he felt hands roughly turning him to his side before proceeding to rifle through his pant pockets, pulling out his car keys and wallet.
Suddenly, a hand roughly grabbed a handful of JC’s hair and yanked his head up from the floor. The thick gag in his mouth effectively muffled his weak yelp of pain and he had to force himself not to pull away from the hand holding his hair.
“Is your car outside?” a disembodied voice roughly asked, pulling JC’s hair as emphasis of each word spoken.
JC feebly nodded his head in response to the question, wincing as the movement caused his hair to be pulled painfully at his scalp. Then, without warning, the hand that was holding his hair forcefully shoved JC’s head down against the wood floor on which he and Chris were lying. Instantly, JC’s vision burst with flaming colors behind his blindfold while his limbs became numb and heavy as he felt himself passing out from the intensity of the blow to his head. As darkness completely took over JC’s senses the last sound that he heard was that of wild laughter, then nothing.
Okay…I guess I need to go now,” Johnny said quietly to the Bass’s. “Lonnie and Mike are on their way to Joey’s then they’ll stop by your place and you know what?” he asked Lance.
Lance shook his head no in response.
“They’ll probably find those two enjoying a pizza with plans to bring you a shake later on,” Johnny answered with a reassuring smile.
Lance leaned his head back into his pillow and returned the smile with a small one of his own.
“I’m going to check on Joey real quick, then I’m going to go on home…need to get that extra sleep before I fly out to LA tomorrow.”
Lance nodded his head then turned to look at the bed beside his where Joey was lying motionless. He still pretty much under the influence of the anesthesia from his surgery, his blood loss and pain medication and antibiotics, which was being administered through his IV. Lance watched as Johnny stood, leaning with his arms on the bedrails, quietly talking to the young man in whispered tones and he felt his eyelids growing heavy signaling that he would soon be drifting off to sleep.
A few minutes later, Johnny finished his one sided conversation with Joey and ran his hand gently over the young man’s head without the young man even stirring. Dr. Shannon had said that it might be in the morning before Joey would be completely awake, but that the added rest was good and would help in the long run.
Johnny stood up from his stooped position and turned to Jim and shook his hand then gave Diane one more hug before leaning over Lance to give him a small hug.
“You and Joey need to get plenty of rest…and fuss at JC and Chris for taking so long, too,” Johnny said with a small chuckle as he stood back up and looked down at the pale young man before him.
Lance nodded his head and smiled half-heartedly. He had an uneasy feeling that would not go away, no matter how encouraging the comments being made were.
“I’ll be checking on the two of you when I get to LA tomorrow evening…take care and I love you, Mississippi.”
“You too,” Lance mouthed, meaning what he was saying.
Johnny gave a small wave when he opened the door then left the room.
“Are you tired, honey?” Diane asked her son, who once again leaned back into his pillows.
Lance nodded his head and yawned then picked up his pen and pad of paper and quickly wrote a note.
“Why don’t you and dad go get some coffee or something?”
“One of us needs to stay here with you just in case the phone rings and in case Justin or Joey wake up,” Jim answered.
“I’ll go get us something in a few minutes,” Diane added noting the look on her son’s face. She could tell that he was beginning to feel like he was becoming a burden and she quickly thought of something that would hopefully interrupt that train of thought. “Tell you what, honey…if JC and Chris don’t show up soon, your dad or I will go to the McDonald’s around the corner to get our supper and get you that shake. How does that sound?”
“Good,” Lance mouthed before once again yawning.
“If you can stay awake long enough for that to happen,” Diane said with a gentle laugh as she watched Lance grin shyly at her teasing remark.
“Why don’t you go ahead and get some sleep, son,” Jim said quietly as he ran a hand over Lance’s head. Lance wearily nodded his head and pushed his body further down under his covers then turned his head toward Joey. He quietly watched Joey’s chest rise and fall with each breath that he took and soon, Lance found that his own breathing was slowly falling into the same pattern. As he slowly began to fall asleep, Diane made her way over to Justin’s side to check on him and readjust his covers before going to Joey’s bedside to sit down and hold one of his cool, limp hands. She glanced at her watch and saw that Joey’s sister, Janine would be arriving within the hour. Joey’s parents were currently out of town and would be coming home within a day or two and Steve, his older brother would be leaving from New York the next afternoon. With those thoughts in mind, she silently prayed for Janine to have a safe journey as well as Joey’s parents and brother, then she looked over to her son’s bed, and much to her relief, Lance was asleep with one of his hands nestled safely in his father’s hand.
Jim looked up and met his wife’s gaze.
“I love you, Jim,” Diane whispered. “Very much.”
“I love you too, Diane…more than you’ll ever know,” Jim replied.
With those quiet words having been said, Jim and Diane once again allowed silence to reign in the hospital suite as they watched over the three, sleeping, young men.
“Well…they’ve been here,” Mike said as he descended the staircase at Joey’s house. “There are a few hangers laying on Joey’s bed and the bathroom and closet lights were still on,” he added as he pointed over his shoulder in the general direction of Joey’s bedroom upstairs.
“I guess that means we need to head on over to Lance’s place then,” Lonnie replied as he followed Mike to the front door then watched him as he punched in a series of numbers to rearm Joey’s house alarm before they both stepped out the front door.
“I still can’t believe that this is happening,” Lonnie said quietly as he pulled open the passenger door of Mike’s Ford Expedition. “You can’t blame yourself on this one, Lon,” Mike said in a voice full of understanding. “You know as well as I do that there is no way that you or I or anyone else, for that matter, could have predicted this. There’s just no way.”
”But he phoned me, Mike and I thought it was a wrong number,” Lonnie said, his voice full of anguish at the thought that he had been called by a frightened, desperate Lance, and he had just blown the whole thing off as a wrong number.
“You said yourself, man that the only sound that you heard when you answered the phone was a lot of static…interference,” Mike reminded Lonnie. “I would have thought the same thing and then gone on about my own business. How were you to know what was happening and how could you have possibly been able to figure out that Lance was in trouble by that phone call?”
Lonnie sat quietly as he contemplated Mike’s words. Other members of the security team, the police, Johnny even Lance himself, had told him repeatedly for the last 6 to 8 hours the same thing, but he couldn’t let go of the fact that he could have possibly saved Lance from injury…from the horror of the vicious attack that he had undergone.
The car engine starting interrupted Lonnie’s thoughts.
“Listen, let’s go over to Lance’s then we’ll head back to the hospital and give the Bass’s a chance to get something to eat,” Mike said as he backed out of Joey’s driveway. Besides that, I want to check on Curly,” Mike said. “He’s had a pretty tough time dealing with this whole thing too.”
”Okay,” Lonnie replied as Mike put the car into gear and sped through Joey’s gated, private residential neighborhood.
JC and Chris never heard the three intruders finish their search in the house for any connections between Lance and the Nsync crewmember, Marshall Goines, whom their boss, Tony Picatti had murdered earlier in the day.
“What do we do with them?” Sam asked as he pushed JC’s limp body with the toe of his boot.
“Leave them,” Gary answered. “Mr. Picatti knows where they live from the information he found on that computer that Goines had stolen. If the boss needs anything else from them, we’ll know where to find them.”
“Yeah…the guy who owned the computer had addresses, phone numbers…you name it on file in his computer,” Matt added with a gravely laugh. “They won’t be able to run very far from us.”
They laughed rowdily as they stepped over Chris and JC’s inert, bound forms and crept silently out the backdoor then made their way into the dark shadows of the night.
About 25 minutes later, Mike and Lonnie pulled up to the curb in front of Lance’s house and were alarmed to see two police cars sitting in the driveway.
“Man…this can’t be happening,” Mike said as he and Lonnie jumped out of the car and walked toward an officer who was coming toward them.
“Officer,” Mike said as he and Lonnie stopped on the lawn. “My name if Mike Headnot and this is Lonnie Shepherd. We’re members of the security team that travels with the music group that the owner of this house is a member of.”
Not wanting to take any chances the officer put his hand on his gun handle then spoke.
“Can I see some form of identification, please…move slowly, gentlemen.
Lonnie and Mike slowly reached behind them then pulled out their wallets and produced their official Nsync security cards with photo ids along with their driver’s licenses. The officer shone his flashlight on Mike and Lonnie’s faces then on their photo ids.
“Sorry, sirs, but I have to take certain precautions,” the policeman apologized as Mike and Lonnie put the ids away. “By the way, my name if Jeff Mitchell.”
“That’s no problem, officer Mitchell,” Lonnie said as he looked around him.
“You know the owner of the home?” Jeff asked.
“Yes,” Mike answered. “He and another member of the group are currently in the hospital recovering from an attack earlier in the day.”
”Yes…I heard about that, but why are you here?”
Two other members of the group were supposed to have come by here more than an hour ago to pick up some items then return to the hospital. We haven’t heard from them and we became worried that they may have run into some sort of trouble,” Lonnie answered.
“With the attack and all, we just can’t be too careful,” Mike added.
“What are their names?” Jeff asked as he pulled out a small pad of paper and pen and quickly wrote Lonnie and Mike’s names down.
“Joshua Chasez…C…h…a…s…e…z…and Christopher Kirkpatrick,” Mike answered as he watched the officer record what he was saying.
“So…why are you here?” Lonnie asked.
“We got a report of some suspicious activity going on here from a neighbor,” Jeff replied, looking up from his writing. “We were just about to go in and take a look around.” He flipped the pad of paper closed and pushed it and the pen back into his shirt pocket.
“Would you mind if we went in with you?” Mike asked in a voice that was giving away just how concerned he was becoming for JC and Chris.
“Sure, but allow us to go in first then we’ll call for you when the coast is clear.”
The officer was just about to head toward the house when another officer, William Haskins ran up to them.
“There’s been a break in and from what we can see from the door, it’s a real mess in there.”
Immediately, Lonnie and Mike took a couple of steps toward the house but the officers stopped them.
“Let us check things out…okay?” Jeff said quickly, holding his hands out at the two men. “I know that you’re concerned about the two members of the group, but running in there before we’ve had a chance to look around won’t help us out. ”
With that said, the two officers quickly made their way to the front porch and prepared to enter the house while Lonnie and Mike stayed on the lawn, a safe distance away, anxiously watching and worrying about JC and Chris.
“Okay…you check around the front then move to the back…you move to the stairs and check up there,” Jeff said, pointing at officers Larry Matlin and Rob Harrison. William and I will move to the back of the house.”
After the instructions were handed out, the men separated and moved into their positions. Seconds later, Jeff stuck his head out the front door and motioned for Lonnie and Mike to enter the house.
“We may have found your boys,” he called out before going back into the house with Lonnie and Mike right at his heels.
Mike and Lonnie quickly followed Officer Mitchell through the ransacked house, listening to what he had found.
“Apparently, your two walked in on the intruders. We found them both tied up and unconscious in the living room.”
Mike felt his blood run cold at the officer’s words, while Lonnie felt his stomach plummet to the floor.
‘This is not happening…this is not happening,’ Mike kept telling himself, but the sight of JC and Chris lying bound and still in the middle of Lance’ ransacked living room was one that he and Lonnie would remember as a living nightmare.
Both their still bodies were pulled into a painfully awkward position…their hands bound behind their backs and attached to their feet, pulling them into what could be described as human pretzels.
Mike rushed to JC’s side while Lonnie ran to Chris’s.
“Here,” one of the officers said, handing Mike his pocketknife. “Take care of his gag and blindfold.”
Mike too the knife and quickly cut through the material covering JC’s mouth and eyes. As he pulled away the outer gag he was a small piece of material protruding from JC’s mouth. He gently pried open JC’s slack jaws then gently pulled out the soggy wad of cloth. At the same time, across the room, Lonnie and Officer Haskins worked as swiftly to free Chris from his bonds.
“Check his mouth, Lon,” Mike’s shakily called out. “They packed JC’s.”
“Chris’s too,” Lonnie called out as he finished freeing Chris of his gags. He carefully ran his hand over Chris’s lax features, disbelieving that anyone could possibly treat the two young men in such a cruel, heartless manner, but Lonnie shook himself out of his thoughts. He and Mike needed to remain professional through this in order to help JC and Chris. They could fall apart later…and he knew they would.
“The ambulance is here,” a voice called out as sirens were heard approaching in the background. Minutes later, two sets of paramedics entered the living room and their movements and those of the police could only be described as organized chaos.
“Does anyone know either of these individuals?” one paramedic called out as he leaned over JC to check his pupil’s reaction to light by flashing a penlight into his eyes as he gently pried each open.
“Yes,” Mike answered. “You’re with Joshua Chasez and the other young man is Christopher Kirkpatrick.”
One of the paramedics looked up at Mike, his face showing sudden recognition as to who was lying unconscious before him.
“You’re kidding me, right?” he said, looking up at Lonnie who sadly shook his head in answer to the statement.
With a shake of his own head the paramedic quickly bent over Chris and began his work.
“What condition were they in when you found them?” another paramedic asked as he surveyed the cut ropes and cloths scattered about the floor.
“They were tied into hogties…their mouths were packed and gagged and they were also blindfolded,” Officer Mitchell answered.
“Okay, guys,” one of the paramedics said, standing up. “Let’s immobilize them for possible spinal injuries…oxygen, 6 liters…IV’s D5W.”
“Any known allergies or known conditions?” another paramedic called out as two of the paramedics left the room to go get more equipment from their units.
“No allergies, but Chris is hypoglycemic and their physician is Dr. Kenneth Shannon at Mercy General,” Lonnie quietly answered as his eyes darted back and forth from JC to Chris in the hopes that one of them would soon awaken, but there weren’t any signs of that happening any time soon.
Mike and Lonnie watched the four men began to work almost in unison. Finally, Lonnie had to look away while Mike could not stop himself from watching. He knew that eventually, one of the boys would want to know what happened to them while in the house and he knew that at least one of them had to be able to give them that information if it were ever asked. So, Mike stood quietly, trying to detach himself from what was going on around him while at the same time soaking up as many details as possible…he had to…he had to be able to do at least that much for the two young men lying before him.
About 10 minutes later, both JC and Chris were lying firmly strapped down onto stiff backboards, oxygen masks obscuring their features with various tubes protruding from their hands and arms. They were loaded onto gurneys and immediately rolled out of the house through the backdoor and around the side of the house to the ambulances with Lonnie and Mike right behind them while the police remained behind, calling other more specialized units to the scene so that their investigation could begin to take place. It was going to be a long night.