Italics denote phone conversation.

72 Hours, Ch. 7

Loud voices in the next room brought Chris out of his deep slumber. Glancing about Justin’s large bedroom in confusion he lifted his left arm and squinted at his watch…”geez…2:00. Man…I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

Carefully, he turned from his back to his right side and found that Justin was still deeply asleep under the bed’s covers. A few hours ago the hotel physician had left their suite after stating that the young man needed to continue taking the medications that had been prescribed to him the day before as a result of his fainting episode. After much protesting, Justin finally gave in after Chris promised that he would do his very best to awaken him if there was word from the kidnappers. Both knew that the tiny blue pill was going to put him completely out and he would be difficult to awaken, but just knowing that Chris would make that effort seemed to give Justin some form of comfort and he grudgingly took the pill and offered glass of water. Although Justin had seemingly given in, Chris could still read the uncertainty that was radiating from his friend so in an effort to further help the situation, he even offered to lie down on the other side of Justin’s bed with the intent of just staying there long enough to watch the younger man fall asleep, but apparently he was still feeling the effects of having taken some medication himself last night and within minutes he was also asleep.

The loud voices coming from the other side of the door caused Chris to blink his eyes blearily in further confusion.

“What is going on out there?” he whispered to himself, pushing away the light blanket that he didn’t remember being there before, knowing that either Lonnie or Mike must have come in and checked on them at one point during his long nap.

He turned once more to Justin and gently reached over and further pulled the covers spread over his still form before slowly scooting off of the bed. He took the few steps to the door slowly, his mind still sleep-fogged and opened it to see Lonnie and Mike along with Johnny and the many investigators that had been camped out in their suite for the last 24 hours standing around the small kitchenette table.

As soon as Lonnie saw Chris standing in the bedroom doorway, he immediately called out his name, alerting the others of the young man’s presence.

“Why don’t you sit down, Christopher,” the bodyguard said as he watched the figure move slowly across the room. “You look pretty tired.”

“No…I don’t want to, Lon…not right now,” Chris replied uneasily, passing the bodyguard as he walked over to the small group to listen to their conversation.

“Mr. Kirkpatrick…” one of the investigators said, acknowledging his presence and effectively putting an end to what they had been talking about.

“Don’t stop on account of me, gentlemen,” Chris said as he stood before them, glancing at the group warily. His stiff posture became still as he crossed his arms over his chest and cocked his head to the side and intently gazed at the faces before him. He had the distinct suspicion that something was being kept from him and he didn’t like that…not one bit.

“Chris…we’re not…” Johnny began but immediately stopped when he realized that the young man could read him like a book and would know if he wasn’t being straight with him.

“Johnny…don’t even go there,” Chris replied, his tone even, but slightly dangerous as he raised one hand in the manager’s direction…giving the older man an unspoken warning before he continued speaking. “Why don’t you tell me what you were discussing before I walked in the room?”

Chris watched, his mouth becoming a thin, tense line as Johnny glanced at the investigators and there was uncomfortable silence for several seconds before the manager got a non-verbal go ahead from one of the others standing nearby.

“Why don’t you sit down, Chris,” Johnny said as he took a step in his direction, reaching out to gently grasp Chris’s shoulder with one hand while pulling out one of the table’s chairs with the other.

“What’s going on, Johnny?” Chris asked, narrowing his eyes at the manager as he slowly sat down in the offered seat. He could tell that something had happened, but he was slow in coming up with any ideas…that is, until he saw a look of sadness cross the older man’s face.

“What…no…wait a minute, Johnny…did you hear something? Did they call? Did they?”

Johnny remained silent and still for several seconds while Chris looked as if he was ready to spring from his chair…his face a mixed mask of confusion, anger and fear. Lonnie placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze letting his young charge know that he needed to stay seated.

Chris remained in his seat, tense for the several seconds that it took for Johnny to finally give his answer to the frantic questions. Then finally, instead of speaking, he simply nodded his head then he cleared his throat. After a taking a deep, shuddered breath he began talking.

“About an hour ago…we got a call…the demands,” the manager said quietly without looking in Chris’s direction. He looked down at his hands as he continued to since he could not look at the blank expression on Chris’s face. The phone call was bad enough but he knew that the next few minutes would more than likely be even worse. Shakily, Johnny reached over and pushed a button on a tape player and a stranger’s harsh voice filled the room.

Chris’s mind was blank as he caught snippets of what was being said…his mind, for some reason was not allowing him to fully comprehend the words floating about the room…not until he heard a familiar voice.

“Jjj…Johnny? Ppp...please…please…listen to the ddd…demands.” Lance’s voice was uncharacteristically high, thin and thready. His southern accent was coming out heavily as fear laced his voice.

“Lance?” Chris gasped, his gaze passing swiftly from the tape player to Johnny, who simply closed his eyes and nodded.

“Are you okay, Lance? Are JC and Joey okay?” Johnny’s voice cut in, interrupting Lance’s shaky speech. Chris quickly stared at the tape player. ‘That’s Lance…that’s Lance,’ his mind screamed at him as he listened to what had been recorded.

“Yes…yes…we’re doing okay. Umm…we’re not too bad off…we’ll be okay. Ow!”

Scuffling could be heard in the background…scuffling and shouts along with moaning.

“Please…please don’t. Don’t hurt them…please! I’ll do anything…just don’t!”

Lance’s pleading voice in the background along with muttering threats that were hard to understand were the only sounds heard for several seconds. Silent tears slowly tracked their way down Chris’s blank features. He had no idea that he was crying…for the moment his whole world was caught up in the sounds that were emanating from the tape player on the table. What seemed like an eternity, but was actually only a few seconds, those listening to the tape could tell that Lance was once again back on the phone due to his deep, unsteady breaths.

“Read what I gave you…read it!” a voice shouted.

“Okay…okay. Umm…Johnny…you have 72 hours from now before you must wire exactly 3 million dollars to each of these accounts.”

Chris could tell that Lance was reading from something…his voice was flat and nervous. He listened numbly as Lance slowly named off numbers realizing that they were to accounts.

One of the investigators shook his head. “You could tell that Mr. Bass was trying to stall for time…he must have known that we would try to track their location, but we couldn’t. He was on his cell.”

Chris stared dumbly at the investigator as Lance’s voice droned on.

“The remaining 3 million will be delivered to a location that will be given later.”

There was a sudden change in Lance’s tone, as if he was realizing what he would be reading next and the sound of him taking a hard swallow alerted Chris to the fact that he wasn’t going to like what was coming next.

“Johnny? They want…no…no…I can’t read this…it’s…no…not...”

“Read it…now!”

“Ow…no…ow! But…no…not them too,” Lance’s voice cried out…the pain that he had to have been experiencing was evident.

“Do it, Zach.” Heavy steps could be heard and the sound of possibly something heavy being dragged across a surface…along with frantic, muted moans that Chris thought to sound like they were coming from JC or Joey.

“No…no…I’ll read it…I swear!” Lance’s frantic pleadings caused Chris to take in a sharp breath and he leaned closer to the table in a futile effort to put to an end what was happening to his friends. In the background Johnny’s harsh breathing could be heard…breaths that were turning into quiet sobs. Chris turned his gaze to Johnny and saw that the older man was hunched over, his head in his hands with shoulders shaking.

“Please…no…Joey! Joey! No! No! Mmmph! Mmmph!”

Chris glanced questioningly at one of the investigators.

“Mr. Bass’s mouth was covered,” the older man said quietly as he watched Chris’s pain filled gaze drift slowly back to the tape player.

Lance’s now muted screams of fright were not loud enough to override the sudden screams of pain in the background…screams that sounded distinctly like Joey. As those screams took over, Chris’s tears began to cascade in earnest down his still blank face all the while listening to the tape.

“What’s going on, Lance?” Johnny’s voice sounded frantic. “Lance! Lance!”

Harsh breathing, sobs and the sounds of struggling continued to fill the room, as did Johnny’s frantic voice. Chris sat stiffly in his chair, unable to comprehend what could be possibly be causing his younger brothers to scream so loudly…not wanting to comprehend. Suddenly, Lance’s scared, unsteady voice could be heard clearly again.

“Ppp…please, mister…please…okay…okay,” Lance cried out. “Just don’t hurt him anymore…not Joe…I’ll read it, mister…please.”

“Lance…Lance?” Johnny’s voice cried out again but his pleas went seemingly unheard.

“Read it now!”

“Jjj…Johnny…they want Chr…Chris…they want Chris and Jus…Justin to bring the rest…they want them to bring the rest of the money to a location that…that will be given later.”

“Lance…are you okay? Joey…Jace…are they?”

“You’ll be hearing from us in 24 hours,” a different voice said before the sound of the dial tone filled the room.

During the entire time that he listened to the last of Lance’s terror filled voice and Johnny’s unanswered pleas, Chris felt as if he couldn’t breathe for fear that if he did, all of this would be real…too real. Just as he realized that Lance’s voice had been replaced by the dial tone, Chris instantly felt as if his chair had simply slipped out from under him. He paled as he gripped the edge of the table before him in an effort to bring himself under control…so many emotions were swirling about him. He felt as if he was in a tidal pool being pulled down into its depth. The room became fuzzy…the faces closing in on him vague and their voices garbled…the air too thick and heavy to breathe in…and slowly Chris’s vision began to gray at the edges.

“Chris…Chris…come on…Chris,” Mike said as he knelt down before him. Although his awareness was rapidly dwindling, Chris was able to distinguish his form and voice from all others and for a millisecond was able to bring his senses into focus before the floor suddenly tilted.

“Whoa…grab him,” a voice called out as the gray at the periphery of his vision slowly turned to black. He dimly felt hands grasping him by the shoulders, easing him back in his chair then he felt nothing.

One of the investigators immediately rushed over to the kitchen sink and grabbed a towel while at the same time turning on the faucet. He thrust the towel under the cold stream of water then turned off the water and wrung out the towel.

“Lonnie…can you?” Johnny whispered as he fought to keep Chris’s limp form upright in his chair as the investigator approached with the wet cloth.

“I’ll get the hotel physician up here,” Mike said as he briskly walked over to one of the phones in the room and dialed downstairs.

At the same time, with a short nod, Lonnie walked over to the other side of Chris’s chair then stooped over the still, slumped form.

“Come on, Crazy…let’s get you somewhere more comfortable,” Lonnie said quietly as he gently lifted Chris up from the chair, being mindful to cradle his head against his shoulder, then walked over to the nearest couch. He carefully laid the limp form on the couch then turned him over so that he was face down before propping his bare feet up with several pillows that Dre placed at the end of the couch. The investigator with the damp cloth handed it over and Lonnie proceeded to kneel down on the floor before Chris then gently began to wipe his pale face while speaking in quiet tones to the still figure.

A knock on the door alerted the group of the hotel doctor’s arrival and, thankful it was not the same physician who had scene Justin the day before.

The group thinned out…the investigators moved outside into the hallway while Johnny and the bodyguards continued to hover around the couch.

“Johnny…” Mike said drawing the manager away from Chris, hopefully preventing any possibility that the hotel’s doctor could hear his words.

“I want to make a suggestion.”

Johnny nodded his head and briefly turned his attention to the bodyguard. “Okay…I’m listening.”

“I think you need to consider getting their physician up here. We’re taking too many chances of this leaking out every time someone new comes up here.”

“Dr. Shannon? Do you think he’d come up here?” Johnny asked incredulously. He had no idea if the physician would be able to drop everything to fly to New York, but there was only one way to find out.

“Get me a phone, Mike.”

The bodyguard nodded his head and pulled his own phone out of his pocket then handed it over.

“He’s number 10 on the menu,” he said before walking back over to the couch while Johnny walked to a far corner of the room to make the phone call.

* * * * * * * * * *

Lance lay shivering on his mattress, staring uncomprehendingly at his friends who were lying on their own mattresses. The memory of Joey’s screams, JC’s fearful moans filled him with anguish and Johnny’s uncertain cries over the phone were still so fresh in his shattered mind that Lance’s shivering became even more pronounced.

Screams of terror and pain echoed in his mind and Lance rolled into an awkward position, somewhat hindered by the ropes holding his arms behind him and the rope wound about his ankles and tied to one of the many support poles scattered throughout the basement. With a small sigh he closed his eyes in an effort to fall asleep…to escape in the only way possible.

Joey’s mind was still hazy from what had happened sometime ago and he found a small amount of comfort in that fact. His body still hummed with a dull pain from the fists that had pummeled him and he shifted slightly in an effort to find a more comfortable position to lie in but he found it impossible…there were too many aches and pains…new cuts and bruises that simply would not allow that. A small movement from above caused Joey to glance fearfully at the ceiling.

‘Please…please…not again,’ he pleaded in his mind before hearing sniffling from a few feet away…Lance…JC. Joey shifted on his mattresses, turning from his left side to his chest with a small groan. He closed his eyes and took several seconds to bring his breathing back into control before looking over at JC to see that he was asleep.

‘Good,’ he thought and briefly he shut his eyes as weariness descended upon him and he turned so that he was facing Lance’s mattress. When he next opened his eyes, Joey frowned behind his thick gag at Lance’s quivering, cowering form and he wanted desperately to get to his friend, but that wasn’t going to be possible. In frustration, Joey looked down at his bound ankles and pulled futilely at the rope looped around the pole behind him, keeping him confined to his mattress then he looked back at Lance.

“Mmmph! Mmmph!”

Slowly Lance’s eyes opened and he brought his gaze over to Joey who continued to make noises in order to get his attention.

“Mmm,” Lance moaned as he nodded his head at Joey, letting him know that he had his attention.

Intently, Joey stared at Lance in an effort to let him know that he was okay and that everything would be okay. He watched Lance bow his head then, a few moments later, lift his head and stare back at him. It was then that Joey knew that Lance was with him…that he was just as determined as he to make it.

* * * * * * * *

“Hello. This is Dr. Shannon’s office…Liz speaking,” a cheerful voice said, filling Johnny’s ear.

“Hi, Liz. I’d like to speak with Dr. Shannon. My name is John Wright.”

“Yes, Mr. Wright. If you will give me a moment, I’ll see if Dr. Shannon is with a patient.”

“Thank you. I’d appreciate that.”

“Just let me put you on hold.”

Johnny sat down on a nearby chair and watched the activity going on across the room. The hotel’s physician was seated at Chris’s side on the couch and Johnny felt relief flood through him at the sight of Chris’s legs slightly moving.

“Mr. Wright?”

“Oh…sorry. Dr. Shannon…it’s good to be speaking to you.” Johnny winced at how badly his voice shook.

Dr. Shannon picked up on it immediately.

“I can tell by the sound of your voice that this isn’t a pleasure call,” Dr. Shannon said as he sat down in his chair at his desk and quickly grabbed a pen and pad of paper.

“Well…we’ve had some things happen here that…that are very difficult to explain over the phone.” Johnny ran his hand over his head and shifted in his chair.

“Where are you, Mr. Wright and when do you need me there?” the doctor asked, tapping his pen on his desk. By the tone of the manager’s voice he knew that something had happened to one of the boys.

“We’re in New York…can you be here by this evening?” Johnny said in a voice full of relief.

“Yes…I’ll be there. Do I need to rent a car?”

“No…just let me know your flight arrangements and I’ll send Mike out to get you.”

“How are they?” Dr. Shannon asked. When Johnny hesitated he cut in once again. “I need to know so I can plan on what to bring with me.”

Johnny stood up and made his way to the suite’s door.

“Let me go out into the hallway.” Johnny opened the door and quickly walked out into the hall. “What I’m going to tell you needs to stay between the two of us, doctor.”

“I understand.” Dr. Shannon sat up in his chair when one of his secretaries passed by his office door and he quickly snapped his fingers, gaining her attention.

“Yes, sir?” she whispered as she watched the doctor quickly write down some information on a slip of paper before handing it to her while at the same time mouthing that it was urgent.

The secretary nodded her head then turned and left the room as she read that the doctor needed the first available flight to LaGuardia while the doctor once again focused on the voice on the other end of the line.

“Yesterday…Joey, JC…and Lance…they were…kidnapped,” Johnny said in as steady a voice as he could manage.

Dr. Shannon felt as if someone had kicked the air completely out of his lungs and for several seconds he simply listened to Johnny give him all the details that he had up to that point.

Finally, the doctor felt as if he could draw in a deep breath and after doing so he asked Johnny several questions in order to gain a better grasp as to why he was needed.

“Okay…this is what I need you to do for me, Mr. Wright. Have the hotel physicians fax me immediately with Justin’s records. I also need to speak with whomever is with Chris just as soon as they are available.”

“Yes…I’ll get right to it with Justin’s records and I’ll give the phone to the hotel doctor if he can come to the phone.” Johnny briskly walked back down the hallway and went through the door as Dre opened it for him. At the same time the hotel doctor was speaking with Mike and Lonnie while Simon sat at Chris’s side on the couch.

“Ah…Mr. Wright…I was just telling these two gentlemen that Mr. Kirkpatrick is suffering from shock. I’ve given him something to help him rest and he should be much better after he’s awakened.”

Johnny visibly relaxed before speaking into the phone.

“Did you hear that Dr. Shannon?”

“Yes…yes I did.”

Johnny quickly explained to the hotel physician who was on the phone before handing it over. Once the two doctors began speaking, he made his way over to the couch and stooped over Chris’s slumbering form.

“He’s pretty much out of it, Johnny,” Simon commented as he picked up the damp cloth that was lying on Chris’s forehead. He shook it out and refolded it before placing it back on the young man’s forehead.

“He just needs to rest…that and get the others back…safe and sound.”

Simon nodded his head in agreement then stood up. “I’m going to check on Justin…just in case the doc needs to see him too.”

“Good…do that,” Johnny said as he watched the bodyguard leave the room. He didn’t notice Mike returning with the phone until it was placed in his view.

“Doc wants to speak with you again,” Mike said, handing the phone over to Johnny.

Johnny took the phone and spoke.

“Yes?”

“I’ll be arriving at United, gate 398 at 8:00 this evening. Dr. McWilliams let me know Chris’s condition and I’ve asked him to look in on Justin also. He’s having his office fax me Justin’s records and I should have them within the hour.”

“That’s good. I’ll have Mike meet you then.”

The pair said their goodbyes and Johnny handed the phone over to Mike.

“You’ll be meeting Dr. Shannon at LaGuardia…United, gate 398 at 8:00, Mike.”

“No problem, Johnny. I’ll call downstairs and get a room for Dr. Shannon.”

“Make it a suite…he wants Chris and Justin in there with him…so that he can keep better tabs on them,” Johnny said quietly as he brought his gaze back to Chris, who had not moved in the entire time that he had sat down beside him. Mike turned and walked away while Johnny reached down to pull the light blanket further up the young man’s body.

“You’re going to be okay, Chris…you and Justin, both. Dr. Shannon will be here tonight…he’ll take good care of the two of you…”

* * * * * * * *

Footsteps coming down the wooden stairs caused JC to jerk awake and he blearily glanced about the room. He blinked heavily several times before his vision cleared well enough that he could see Joey and Lance lying on their mattresses just a few feet away.

Joey’s eyes widening caused JC to struggle to turn over so that he could see who was approaching but his awkward position prevented him from doing that and he kept his eyes locked with Lance’s. The footsteps multiplied and grew louder as did the beating of JC’s heart. He was certain that his heart would beat its way out of his chest long before the figures would reach him. Moments later, four masked men were standing within the confines formed by their mattresses.

“Gentlemen…I’m sure you know the drill. If you speak without being spoken to, one of you will be killed…don’t know which one of you, but…hey…why take any chances?”

With Lance’s view of Joey being blocked by one of the four kidnappers, he slowly looked up at the man standing over him. Suddenly, he felt his stomach drop…in the man’s hands was a pistol that was pointed directly at him.