Touch of Vision

Chapter One

The young girl cowering in the corner while a man stands over her. He’s holding the belt in the same hand, slapping it across his other hand, yelling. The man moves toward the girl. The belt snaps in the air, then comes down and across the girls legs, arms, everywhere. The man continues to yell, telling the girl she’s a whore, that she’s worthless, useless and more trouble than she’s worth.

JC sits up quickly, striking his head on the bunk above him. He winces then looks at his legs, there are no marks on his legs or arms, however, he can still feel the pain of the belt. He slowly makes his way to the tiny kitchen on the bus, pours himself a glass of orange juice and heads to the back of the bus.

The boys are all sitting in the Green Room at the MTV studios when Carson walks in and sits on the arm of the couch next to JC. JC tries to move his hand before contact is made but wasn’t quite quick enough:

“Jennifer, baby, please. I don’t understand. Why?” Carson is standing in a room that looks a great deal like a kitchen talking into the phone. “I just don’t get it. What did I do?”

A sharp elbow to the rib pulls JC back to the present. He looks at Carson for a few seconds then turns his attention to Joey. “What man?”

“Dude, you were spacing again. What’s going on with you?” Joey asks, voice low.

“Nothing.” JC smiles and rubs a hand across the back of his neck.

“Yeah, and we believe that man.” Chris states as he walks over. “Come on, we’re up next. You think you’ll be able to stay with us for this interview?”

JC cocks his head slightly, gives Chris a puzzled look and states, “I hope so.”

They make their way into the studio, JC somehow managing to make it to his seat, which is conveniently as far away from the audience as the others could manage to get him. They answer the usual questions, talk about the upcoming album, the standard TRL issues, and introduce a video.

As the video is playing, Justin asks, “Hey man, how’s Jennifer doing? Aren’t you two supposed to be engaged or something?” This immediately catches JC’s attention, which had been drawn to the massive crowd below.

Carson scowls and replies, “Yeah. That’s what I thought til this morning.”

Nothing more is said but JC wants to find out more. He bides his time during the interview, then, during the next video he walks over and quietly asks, “She didn’t break up with you over the phone, did she?” When Carson glared at him he had his answer and backed away, “Man, that’s gotta suck.”

“Yeah, but what am I gonna do? She’s out there and I’m stuck here, it probably wouldn’t have lasted anyway.”

The stagehand starts the countdown to them going back on live and JC quickly takes his seat again, remaining quiet the rest of the interview.

Once they’re back on the bus and heading for the next town Chris drops on the couch next to JC. JC pulls away, trying not to come in contact with him. Chris, having noticed JC’s reluctance to touch anyone lately, leans in placing a hand on JC’s arm, “What gives man? Not like I’ve got leprosy or something.”

JC remained quiet, with his eyes closed while a vision of Chris as a small child runs vividly through his mind.

“Christopher,” a thin woman states. “Watch your sisters for me. I’ve got to go to work hun. Make sure the door is locked and don’t answer it, no matter who they say they are. You understand son?”

“Yes ma, I hear ya. No one in, no one out. Dinner’s in the fridge. I got it already.”

JC opens his eyes, looks at Chris and states, “It must’ve been hard. Being so young and having to look after them all the time.”

Chris pulls back, gives JC a weird look, “Huh?”

“When you were little. Your mom, she used to leave you alone with your sisters.”

Chris gets up and walks off, not sure what to make of JC’s rambling.

JC’s laying on the couch staring up at the roof of the bus, just having woken up, again, from one of his weird dreams about the little girl getting beaten. Justin walks in, takes one look at him and turns around, “I’m not going in there. Jayce is in there and he looks like death warmed over.”

“Christ, you guys all act like he’s got the plague or something.” Lance states as he pushes past Justin into the small area. “Hey Jayce. What’s up?”

“Not much. What’s J bitching about?” JC sits up, making room on the small couch.

Lance sits, taking care not to come too close. It hadn’t escaped his notice that JC was trying to keep contact with any of them to a minimum. He looks JC over, “What’s going on with you Jayce? You haven’t gotten much, if any sleep since…what?” He looks back to the others, “Since…damn man…I don’t even remember the last time you looked like you got any rest.”

“Nothing’s going on man. Just…” He looks skeptically at Lance, then at the others. “You guys might as well come on in too.” He waits til they’re all piled around each other one of Joey’s hands bushes his leg and he becomes still with his eyes closed.

“Look Kelli. It’s over. I’m sorry but…I just don’t…it’s not fair to you to make you have to wait for me. I can’t ask that of you. You should be free to find someone who’ll be around, not traipsing across the country 11 months out of the year.”

“But…Joe, you can’t leave me. I’m…I’m pregnant.”

“Dude.” Justin shouts, “You’re doing it again. What the fuck?”

JC looks at Joey, realizing the Joey he’d seen wasn’t the one sitting in front of him. The one in his vision was at least a couple years older, no dye in his hair and was much larger than the one sitting on the floor by his feet. “Sorry. It’s just…Shit. I can’t even explain it.”

Lance leans over, about to place his hand on JC’s shoulder.

JC jumps up, shouting, “Don’t…please…I can’t.” He takes off down the narrow passage, jumping into his bunk, and pulling the curtain closed.

Later Justin walks by and hears what sounds to him like whimpers, he causitiously pulls the curtain back a little and looks in. What meets his gaze is somewhat unsettling but he can’t help but watch as JC’s hands move as if he is trying to protect himself from being hit by something.

Suddenly JC sits up, hitting his head once again, “Shit, that hurts.” He pushes the light blanket down looking at his legs then lifts his shirt. Noticing Justin for the first time, he glares down at the younger man, “What?”

“You were. Nothing man.” Justin sighs and walks away.

JC lays back down on the bunk, “Fuck…why is this happening to me?”

Lance manages to get all the guys, minus JC, into one room, deciding it is time for some kind of action with this problem.

Chris is the last one to arrive, striding into the room and loudly asking, “Ok. I’m here, what the hell is so important I have to skip clubbing?”

“JC.” Lance states, “We need to try and figure out what is going on with him. Justin said he’s overheard him a couple times whimpering in his bunk.”

Joey and Chris both turn to the youngest member, “That’s what it sounded like. He usually wakes up right after too.”

“Well what can we do?” Joey asks, “I’m not sure we ‘can’ do anything.”

“I’m not either but maybe if we can figure out when it started, then we might have a better idea of what’s at least causing his…whatever it is.” Lance states.

“Ooooh, good idea man.” Chris states. “I don’t know about you guys, but I noticed he was acting strange about the time we did ‘Music of My Heart’. You know, when we recorded our part.”

Joey nods, “Yeah, now that I think about it. That is about when all this started, although it didn’t seem to happen as much back then.”

“Yeah, he was really quiet and stand-offish. Didn’t really want to be around anybody,” Justin exclaims. “Remember Lance? We were all in that room and I came up behind him. He just froze for like…man…must have been a good two minutes or so.”

“Right. Now we know when it started, but since none of us were around him then, how are we gonna figure out what happened?” Chris puzzles.

JC, Chris and Joey are out partying at club that’s nearby their hotel. As they walk in, Joey immediately disappears into the crowd, Chris heads for the back of the club to find a seat and JC heads to the bar.

On his way a young woman with blonde hair bumps into him, he freezes, closing his eyes:

A blonde woman is walking down a dark street, suddenly a man appears in front of her. As she turns to run another man steps up behind her, placing a knife at her throat.

“Scream and you die bitch.” The man behind her states as he drags her into an alley.

The other man joins them and smiles, “Good choice Larry. She is damn fine. Too bad she’s a fucking whore.”

The man with the knife snickers, “Yeah, she outta be a nice fuck Rob.”

The two men laugh as the woman tries to scream. She is quickly silenced as the man behind her slits her throat.

Rob laughs some more as he strips her of her clothes and then brutally rapes the lifeless body. He then stands guard as his friend does the same.

“Yo Jayce man.” Joey yells over the music as he makes his way through the throng of arms, “Chris says he’s dieing of thirst. Where’s our….” He trails off as he catches sight of JC’s face. “Jayce?” He doesn’t want to reach out and touch his friend but can’t really think of any other way to get his attention, then he spots a glass near the end of the bar, grabs it and lightly taps JC’s shoulder.

JC looks at him, realizes where he is and shakes his head to try and rid himself of the horrible vision, unfortunately the vision remains with him well into the evening. After a few hours of sitting and watching his friends having a good time, he informs them that he’s gonna head back to the hotel and crash. Both men join him, Joey having told Chris of the state their friend had been in when he’d found him earlier.

Several days later Lance is reading the paper when JC walks in and sees the cover page headline with a picture of the girl he’d seen in his vision. He walks over, snatches the paper from Lance, sits on the end of the bed and reads the article. Once he’s done he lowers the paper, shock clearly written over his face. He looks up at Lance, “Call Johnny. We need to go back to Pheonix.” When no one moves, just looks at him weird he stands up, slams the paper on the table and states clearly, “I saw it. The whole fucking thing. Now call Johnny.”

The five young men are once again sitting around a hotel room, four of them watching the fifth pace the room while they wait for the police to arrive. It had taken some serious fast talking to get the police to even consider talking to them but after a couple of phone calls to some people in some pretty high places everything had been arranged.

None of the boys expected anything to come of the meeting but if it would help JC, who hadn’t slept since he saw the headline, get at least 5 minutes of peace, well then, they were willing to do what ever it took.

Justin jumped to open the door at the first knock, he was met with two female officers, a man in a suit and noticed a couple other officers standing in the hallway. He smiled at the 3 that entered, “Ya’ll always bring this many officers when you talk to someone?”

The man in the suit turned on him, “Only when we’re dealing with a serial killer and get a call from a manager of some priveledged sniveling popstars that say they may have information on one of the murders.” He then turns and looks around the room, spotting a very distraught JC staring at him.

The man steps towards JC, extending a hand. JC backs away holding his hands up, “Don’t…no touching.”

The man eyes him then nods, “Ok. I’m Agent Sanchez, Rodrigo Sanchez. This is Officer Cortez and Stewart.”

“Great.” Chris blurts, “I’m Chris, this is Lance, (he points to each boy) Justin, Joey and the one over there trying to wear a path in the carpet is JC.”

“So which one of you is the one that has information for us.” Officer Cortez asks, looking towards the group of boys around the table. When all four look at JC she smiles, “That’s what I figured.”

Sanchez moves a bit closer to JC, “Ok, we’re here. Would you care to tell us why?”

JC looks up and meets Sanchez’s gaze, “Um…” He walks over to the table, picks up a glass of water and drinks the entire contents. He then walks back across the room, sits on the bed Indian-style, facing Sanchez and begins describing, in detail, what he’d seen.

When he was done the two officers stood in shocked silence, Sanchez looked up from his notebook, “And how do you know all of this? None of this information has been released to the public.”

JC sighs, “I knew you wouldn’t believe me. At least I tried.”

He walks towards the door of the adjoining room when Sanchez speaks up, “Wait.” He gets up and walks towards the door. Opening the door, he leans out, has a short conversation with one of the other officers and turns back around with a knife inside a Ziploc bag.

JC recognized the knife immediately, “What…what are you gonna do with that?” Fear clearly evident in his voice.

“Obviously you know what this is. (JC nods) This,” he looks at the other boys, who are totally confused. “Is the murder weapon, we think.”

“It is,” JC whispers, clutching his throat. “I could feel it digging into my neck when he cut her…felt like I was the one getting cut.”

“Would you mind if…if we got your finger prints?” Sanchez holds his hands up as Lance opens his mouth to speak. “We don’t know who the killer is. He could be anybody. Your friend here, he has more information than we do. That makes him a suspect. We get prints, they don’t match, he’s free and clear.”

“It’s fine,” JC states. “Just no touching, ok?”

“You got it.” Sanchez walks to the door again and the other two officers come into the room. “You mind if we use the table for a few minutes gentlemen.”

Justin walks over to JC, “You sure about this Jayce? You don’t have…”

“Yes I do J. I have to prove to them that I’m not the one that did this. If I do that, then maybe I’ll be able to help, or in the very least, maybe they’ll believe me.”

Sanchez looks up, “You ready?”

JC walks over, follows their instructions and then steps away from everyone and into the bathroom to wash the ink from his hands.

Officer Cortez whispers something to Sanchez and then the two of them look towards JC. Sanchez reaches into the bag, pulling the knife out and extending it towards JC. JC gives them a puzzled look, “We’ve already lifted the prints off of it. If yours match, then what difference will it make if you touch it again? If not, and you get your ‘visions’ from touching things…well…maybe…”

As Sanchez finishes his explanation JC reaches out and takes the knife, closing his eyes:

“You find one man?”

“Yeah, hold your pants on Rob. She…there…there she is.”

The two men follow a tall woman with red hair down a darkened street. One of them heads off down a side street, the other following at a distance until he sees Rob up ahead. Larry then quickly reduces the distance between him and the woman. The two men time it just perfectly, approaching the woman as she comes up on an alley with very little lighting.

Larry puts a knife to the woman’s throat just as Rob steps into her path, “Scream and you’ll die bitch.”

They drag her down the alley, Rob raping her first, then holding her down for Larry. Once they’re finished with her Rob slides the knife across her throat. The two men stand there watching as the life runs out of her.

JC drops the knife and drops to the bed. “I…That…you said you think this is a serial killer? Have there been others?” He looks up and meets Sanchez’s unyielding gaze, “A tall redhead?”

“No,” He looks at the other officers in the room. “There have been no redheads. Why?”

JC looks him directly in the eyes, “There will be.” He then closes his eyes and does something he’s never done with any of the other visions.

They drag her down the alley, Rob raping her first, then holding her down for Larry. Once they’re finished with her Rob slides the knife across her throat. The two men stand there watching as the life runs out of her.

He concentrates on the buildings, looking for something to use as a reference. When he opens his eyes and looks around the room, “I can’t get the street but…the buildings…they’re all old, none are more than a couple stories, with dark, maybe brown or brick exteriors.” He closes his eyes again, “There are several small shops, one looks…looks like it might be a bakery.” He sighs and opens his eyes, “I’m sorry, that’s all I got.”

Sanchez looked up from his notebook, for the first time noticed just how exhausted the young man in front of him was, stood and ushered all the officers from the room, “You’ll be here for a couple days?”

“Yes, we’ll be here til the end of the week at least.” JC states, closing the door behind them. When he turns around he’s met with four very stunned best friends. He runs a hand down his face, takes a deep breath and states, “Can we do this in the morning? I’m exhausted.”

Justin stands and makes his way towards JC, “Um…Jayce…it…well…it is morning.”

“Whatever…I need sleep. Wake me up in a couple hours and I’ll do my best to explain. Ok?” He didn’t even wait for response, just disappeared into the adjoining room.

Justin looks at the others, “I’m gonna…He shouldn’t be alone.”

Lance waved him off as the other two departed for their rooms, “I’m gonna crash in here, that cool?” He was woke up a few hours later by a loud pounding on the door. “Hang on, I’m coming.”

He opens the door to find Sanchez and the officers again, “Is Mr. Chasez here? We have a few more questions for him?”

“Um…yeah. Come on in.” He leaves the door open and walks through to the other room.

“Has he been here all night?” Sanchez asks, as Lance comes back in, closing the door slightly.

JC and Justin come in, one rubbing his eyes, the other scratching his head. JC grumbles, “This better be import….Oh, Agent Sanchez.” He’s a bit surprised at first then he realizes why they’re all back, “No…please tell me it didn’t?”

Lance and Justin watch as JC goes from surprised to shocked. Justin moves a bit closer, pulling a chair towards him, “Jayce, sit.”

JC does, placing an elbow on the table and leaning his head on it. “When did it happen?”

“Time of death hasn’t been established yet. We’re expecting a call any minute. We got the results of back on your prints too, you’ve been cleared, for now.” Sanchez walks over and places an object on the table. “We found that next to the body.”

JC looks at the object then up at Sanchez.

“The prints on that one match the other one. It’s the same guy. Cortez talked me into coming back here. Maybe…well if you get something, maybe this time…” He rubs the back of his neck, “Look I’m not much into this shit but…you described everything so clearly…”

JC picks the knife up, effectively stopping Sanchez’s babbling and closes his eyes:

Larry comes out of a club, walks around to the side where Rob is waiting.

“Well?”

“Yeah…we got one. She’s a beut man. Think you’re gonna like this one. She might even put up a bit of a fight.”

“Really?”

“Mmmm, there…there she goes.”

“I’ll meet you up there. There’s an alley not too far down from here, we’ll nab her there. Go, don’t lose her.”

Once again Rob comes at the woman from the front, startling her. Larry comes up from behind with a new knife which glints in the neon lights as they drag the woman into the alley. She did end up putting up a bit of a fight, managing to scratch Rob across the face before Larry cuts her throat.

Once the two men are done with her, Rob smiles at Larry, “You were right man. She was the best one so far. It’s much more exciting when they put up a fight.”

Before he even opens his eyes, he attempts to get as much information by ‘rewinding’ the images in his head and paying more attention to the surroundings. He smiles as he opens his eyes and meets Sanchez’s worried gaze. “I think I may have something. J…Lance…we got a phone book in here somewhere?”

Lance scurries towards the bed and produces a rather warn phone book and places it on the table in front of JC.

JC looks up at him, “Could you…please…I don’t wanna.”

“Right, sure.” Lance starts flipping, “What exactly am I looking for?”

“It’s gotta be a pawn shop. I’ll know it when I see it.”

Lance flips through the book til he gets to the section containing pawnshops, sliding the book closer to JC. He watches JC’s face closely, looking for some kind of sign of recognition. When they reach the end of the section with none jumping out at him, Lance flips through some more stopping when he comes to resale shops, slowing down again.

When that fails JC closes his eyes again, “Nothing…”

Larry comes up from behind with a new knife which glints in the neon lights as they drag the woman into the alley.

“Wait,” JC whispers. “Is there, can you take me somewhere?” He opens his eyes and looks at Sanchez. “If I see it, I’ll know it. I can see it through the blade but…well…it’s backwards. From what I can tell, it shouldn’t be too far from where the others have been…”

“Yeah, we can take you.” Sanchez replies.

JC grabs a jacket and looks back at the two younger men in the room, “Can they…Would it be….”

Sanchez follows JC’s line of vision, looking over the two confused young men and smiling. “Yeah, I’ve got room for them.”

Lance and Justin jump up from their places and quickly follow the others from the room. They may not of understood what was going on, or what JC was going through but, they weren’t about to let him go through ‘whatever’ it was on his own.

JC smiles at Sanchez, “Thanks.”

“No problem son. At this point, if it helps you, well, then it helps us.” They make their way out of the hotel and into Sanchez’s car. “So where to?”

“How many areas do you have that have a pawnshop on one corner, a club a couple blocks away, with a bakery not too far away?”

“Um…two that I can think of, but only one is close to the area where we found the other girls.” Sanchez pulls the car out of its parking place.

“Jayce, you ok with all this?” Lance asks from the backseat.

JC turns and for the first time in several days smiles at the younger man, “I’m ok, this…(he waves his hands) is something I have to do. You understand that, right?”

Lance looks at Justin then smiles at his friend, “Yeah, I understand. I’m just worried about you, that’s all.”

“We all are Jayce.”

“Speaking of…you might want to call Chris and Joe, let them know what we’re doing so they don’t freak out when they find us all missing.” JC states, then turns to watch out the front window. As they pull into a dingier part of town he looks closely at the buildings, “Wait. Stop here.” He states and then climbs out of the car. He walks into an alley that looks vaguely familiar, places his hand on the wall of a nearby building and closes his eyes:

“I’ll meet you up there. There’s an alley not too far down from here, we’ll nab her there. Go, don’t lose her.”

He spins around, looking from one curious face to the other, “Any of you have a mirror or anything that will reflect?”

Puzzled the three men all shake their heads no. Justin stepping forward, “Why Jayce? What is it?”

JC shakes his head then notices Justin has on a silver belt buckle. He reaches out, quickly undoing the belt. At Justin’s slight gasp he looks up and smiles slightly, “Relax, I just need to use your buckle for a minute. Could you…” JC turns, moving the buckle as he moves back and forth. “Ha, there. There it is.” He spins and looks at the building directly behind him. “I knew it.” His excitement dies quickly as something behind the trashcan catches his eye. He slowly makes his way over, calling for Sanchez to follow him.

The sight that greets them makes them both wish JC hadn’t been right.

“Damn it, it felt so right. Like it hadn’t happened yet.” JC sighs. He looks at Sanchez, “You mind if I…”

“Go ahead, just make sure you put it back when you’re done.” Sanchez goes back to the car to report the body. When he returns he finds a very pale JC leaning over the woman’s body.

“There’ll be another one. Soon. She should have some of Rob’s skin under her nails on her right hand. She managed to put a pretty good gash on his cheek.”

Sanchez puts on some rubber gloves, reaches down and lifts up the woman’s right hand. Sure enough there’s some skin and blood there. “Well, the good thing is, once we find these guys, we’ll be able to nail them to the wall. They weren’t very careful to begin with and now, well it seems they’re just getting careless.”

“Yeah, almost like they’ve gotten away with it this long, they’ll just keep getting away with…” JC stops speaking and stares down the alley.

“What’s the matter?” Sanchez stands, looks down the alley but sees nothing. “What is it?”

“Not sure, just felt like I was being watched.” JC shakes his head, looks down the alley one more time then walks back over to the car. He looks at Justin and Lance, sadness clear on his face as he says, “The next one’s gonna be the worst yet.” He gets in the car, lays his head back and closes his eyes.

The two men walk into the club, Rob looking around, tapping Larry as a voluptuous brunette walks towards them. “Hi there. You wanna dance?”

Rob smiles in response and makes his way out to the dance floor with the woman. The two dance for a while then Rob makes his way back over to the bar where Larry is waiting.

Larry watches the woman as she joins a couple of friends at a booth, “Damn, she’s here with friends man. Better find…Well hello there. Check that one out. And she seems to be alone too.”

Rob turns, following his companion’s line of vision to find another blonde, a bit on the thin side but curves all in the right places. She’s got a slinky red dress that’s almost too short, showing off her shapely legs. As his gaze moves up her thin, muscled body he meets well toned arms, bright blue eyes, and full pouty lips. “Yeah, that one looks perfect man. Keep an eye on her, make sure she’s alone.”

“Jayce? You ok?” Justin asks from the back seat.

When JC looks back he is met with the same bright blue eyes he’d seen in his vision. “Man, I must really need to get some sleep.”

Back at the hotel the boys are all sitting around not quite sure what to do. JC looks around at his friends and sighs, “Ok, out with it. I know ya’ll are dying to ask.”

Justin looks at JC, “Yeah, but I can’t figure out what question to ask first.”

“Kid’s got a point. I wanna know when all this started, but at the same time I wanna know how it works. What triggers them? Why you?” Joey states. “I’ve got no clue where to even start.”

“Well, they started right about the time of the lawsuit. I’m not quite sure why but…that’s when. The trigger? That’s the easiest question to answer, they’re triggered by me touching…someone, something, it varies. I’ve no clue why I get them. What else?”

The questioning was delayed once again by a knock on the door. Joey opens the door, “Oh, wow, what a surprise. Jayce your new fan club’s back.” He steps out of the way allowing Agent Sanchez to enter along with Officer Cortez.

“Mr. Chasez. We have a favor to ask of you,” Cortez starts.

JC stands, “What’s that? Please tell me you haven’t found anymore bodies?”

She smiles, placing a calming hand on his shoulder, “No…”

JC stops moving, eyes closed:

“Why baby? Why does it have to be you? Why can’t one of the other female officers do it?” A tall man asks, rising from a table.

“Because, this is my case and I’m the only one that comes even close to fitting these guy’s MO.” She wraps her arms around the taller man, “Sides, it’s not like they’re gonna be able to do anything. Sanchez’s gonna have half the police force surrounding the building. I’ll be fine baby.”

JC steps back from her, “You can’t…You’re baby…” He looks towards Sanchez, “You can’t let her go in there. It’s too dangerous and in her condition…I’d rather go in myself.”

“Um…hate to point out the obvious here but…you’re a man, and they’re looking for a woman. Don’t think you quite fit the profile.” Cortez states, “What do you mean ‘in my condition’?”

“You don’t know?” JC looks at her for a minute then smiles, “You’re pregnant.” He then turns to Sanchez, “That’s why she can’t do this. I can’t let this happen.” He looks at Justin and his vision from earlier starts to make sense.

Justin notices the strange look he is receiving from JC and stands up, “What ya thinking Jayce?”

JC smiles, “Agent Sanchez? I think we need to go shopping.” He looks Justin up and down. “Perfect.” He spins around and walks out of the hotel, leaving a room full of confused people.

Lance stands and follows him, “Well, we can’t just let him wander off.” He grabs Justin by the arm, “And since you seem to be part of this.”

They all make their way down to the street, following a very determined JC down the sidewalk til he sees the dress he’d seen in his vision. He stops long enough for Justin and Lance to catch up, then grabs Justin and drags him into the shop. “This is gonna take a while Ju. Please don’t hate me.”

Justin goes along with everything until JC puts a dress up to him and smiles. “This is it. Go try it on Just…” JC looks up with bright eyes, smiles, “Pleeeeeeeese J?”

Justin groans but walks into the fitting room with the dress in hand. “This had better be for a good reason Jayce.”

“It is Just, trust me.” JC stands patiently outside the small room, “How’s it fit?”

“Unfortunately, very well.” He steps out, looking to make sure no one can see him. “Mind explaining to me why I’m doing this?”

“I saw you J., you were in my last vision. Only thing is…this time…they got a bit more than they were expecting.” JC smiles. “You look great in that.” He runs a hand down Justin’s arm.

Justin walks into the club, looks around a bit trying to hide his nervousness. When his eyes land on his friends he can’t help but smile at Joey and Chris in dresses. When his eyes land on Lance the smile reaches his eyes. He scans the room, looking for Sanchez and JC, as his hands land on JC he can’t help but laugh a bit.

He makes his way over to the bar to get a drink when a man taps him on the shoulder, “Hey there gorgeous, care to dance?”

Justin turns, flashes a smile and nods, quietly following the man to the dance floor. His eyes glance towards JC who, if possible, has become even more pale than before.

JC coughs to get Sanchez’s attention and whispers, “That’s one of them, Larry. He’s got their attention. Just like in…”

“Great, do you see the other one anywhere?” Sanchez sits back in his chair, calmly placing his other hand on the back of JC’s chair, casually glancing around the room.

“Not yet, there’re too many people.” JC stands and makes his way across to the bar.

“Hey sexy, you wanna dance?”

JC recognizes the voice immediately and a chill runs through his body, “Sorry, I’m here with someone. Thanks.” He quickly makes his way back over to the table, wrapping his arms around Sanchez, smiling over to the man still watching him, “Smile at the wonderful man at the bar,” he whispers into Sanchez’s ear. “That’s the other one there.”

“So we have both of them here,” Sanchez places a hand on JC’s arm, rubbing it up and down. “You wanna dance dear?”

The two make their way to the dance floor, passing the table Joey, Lance and Chris are sitting at with a couple of other male officers, “Keep your eyes on Justin, the one he’s dancing with and the guy at the end of the bar and the ones we’re after.” Sanchez escorts JC to the dance floor, “You know, you make a pretty good woman. Although you’re a bit skinny for my taste.”

JC looks down at the leather skirt and dark red shirt he’s got on then lets his eyes roam over Justin again, “He looks better. Too bad I didn’t think of this before.”

After a long night of dancing in high heels Justin’s ready to go back to the hotel, if nothing more than to get the tight shoes off his feet. “I’m sorry boys,” he smiles at the two men he’d spent most of his time with during the evening. “I’ve got to go. It’s getting a bit late.”

“You gotta leave so soon sugar?” Larry asks, lightly running his hand over the knife he’s got concealed in the back of his jeans.

“Yeah, sorry. Thanks for a great time.” Justin starts to make his way out of the club when he feels a hand at his back.

“Let me walk you home then?” Larry smiles, “It’s the least I could do for a lovely lady like yourself.”

Justin looks around, sees JC and Sanchez nearby and smiles meekly, “I suppose.”

“Great, let me just tell my friend, ok?”

“Sure, I’ll meet you by the door.”

While Larry is talking with Rob, the officers that had been sitting with Joey, Lance and Chris quickly exited the club, went across the street, and ducked behind cars. JC and Sanchez made their way out of the club and out to Sanchez’s car, which was convienently pointed in the direction JC’s vision had shown Justin taking.

Justin and Larry exit the club and walk down the sidewalk making idle conversation as they walk. As they pass a darkened alley Larry grabs Justin’s arm and drags him into it. Justin gasps as he feels the cold medal against his neck but stays quiet. When Rob joins them in the alley a few minutes later Justin stands quietly while the two men argue over who’s gonna be first. Justin steps back on Larry’s foot causing him to yell out and drop the knife away from Justin’s throat a bit.

Rob smiles, “Ooooh, we got another fighter Larry.”

Justin raises an eyebrow, “You’ve no idea.” He brings his hands up in a fighting stance, “Bring it on buddy.”

As Justin makes his move the other officers make their way into position, waiting for Sanchez before moving in on the two men.

“Oh, yeah…this is gonna be so good.” Larry smiles, twisting the knife so what little light glows into the alley glints off it. “So pretty.”

“Yeah, pretty’s gonna kick your sorry ass.” Justin growls, kicking out, knocking the knife out of Larry’s hands. “Let’s see how big you are without that.”

Larry laughs for a few minutes til Justin’s foot connects with his stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

Justin turns his attention to Rob, just in time to take a fist to the cheek, “Bitch. Who you think you’re messing with?”

“A couple of prisoners.” Justin smiles, stepping back as the officers and Sanchez make their way down the alley, “Bout time.”

As the officers pin both men on the ground and start reading them their rights Justin pulls his wig off and drops it in front of Larry, “Next time you might want to make sure you can handle it when you pick a fight.” He walks off and climbs into the car next to JC.

“Way to kick some ass J.” JC smiles, pulling Justin into a hug.

“Yeah, well next time you can be the bait. I was starting to think they weren’t gonna show up in time. And that knife…I never wanna feel that again.” He brings his hands up to his throat. “You said you felt it when they cut that one woman. Did you feel it every time?”

JC closes his eyes, “Yes. Felt like it was my throat. I could feel those women’s pain, they were so scared and had no one to even care that they were gone.”

Justin pulls JC into a hug, “Some one cared Jayce.” When JC looks up at him in confusion he smiles, “You cared. You cared enough to help stop it Jayce. You could have stayed quiet and no one would have known any different.”

“No I couldn’t. You don’t know what it was like J. It was…there is no way I could have gone through that and not said something.”

Several days later JC’s in his bunk:

The young girl cowering in the corner while a man stands over her. He’s holding the belt in the same hand, slapping it across his other hand, yelling. The man moves toward the girl. The belt snaps in the air, then comes down and across the girls legs, arms, everywhere. The man continues to yell, telling the girl she’s a whore, that she’s worthless, useless and more trouble than she’s worth.

Justin strolls by and hears him whimper he pulls back the curtain and sees JC desperately trying to defend himself. He reaches in using a stuffed animal to tap JC gently. “Jayce, wake up.”

JC sits up, once again hitting his head. He looks over at Justin and sighs, “Was hoping they’d stop when they caught them. Guess I was wrong.” He rubs his face with his hands and slides out of the bunk.

“Maybe it’d help if you talk about it.” Justin follows as JC makes his way into the backroom.

“Maybe, but I don’t think I’m up for it right now J.”

Justin sits next to JC on the couch, “Well, I’ll be here when you are.”