Triscia and Chris hid behind JC's muddy car and looked over the top. Chris ducked whenever a car would come by. Triscia checked her watch and looked behind her shoulder at the Transcon building.
"This is taking forever." Triscia whined. "Being the lookouts is really boring."
"Yeah," Chris ducked slightly and then bounced right back up. "I'm more important than this."
"I say we go join the action." Triscia said. "Why haven't they hit the lights yet?"
"I have no idea." Chris said. "It's showtime, dude."
"It's been showtime." Triscia checked her watch. "Hope they're okay."
"We should check on them." Chris suggested.
"We really should." Triscia agreed. Neither of them moved.
* * *
Lance moved against the wall, JC groping behind him in the pitch pitch black of a night with no stars and dim streetlights. Lance felt for the fuse box and found it almost immediately.
"We're a little off schedule." JC told him.
"Hold on." Lance said, fitting the little black box in the fuse box.
"What is that exactly?" JC asked.
"Step away." Lance said. JC did just that. Lance started to countdown.
"30...29..."
* * *
"Swipe the card... swipe the card...." Joey mocked. Justin was on the ground, back against the wall, tears streaming from laughter.
"I mean, was that guy dropped on the head as a baby?"
"Dude, stooooop!" Justin pleaded through his laughter.
"How do these things work?" Joey asked, pulling Justin up. He pointed to his walkie talkie.
Justin wiped at his eyes. "Um, I don't know." They both stared at the back door which you got buzzed into or you swiped your card to get in. All the employees came through that door.
"Well," Justin finally said, fiddling with his headphone walkie talkie. "We've been waiting here forever."
"Why don't we ask Lance what's going on?" Joey suggested. Justin shrugged in agreement. They started to walk over to the guys when they both heard over their walkie talkies, "30...29....28....27...."
"Oh shit!" Justin cried. They both scrambled to the door.
"What is this?" Joey asked.
"The power is going to off in 20 seconds! We have five minutes to get our CD."
"You'd better know where it is." Joey said, pulling out his flashlight.
* * *
Triscia slipped off the hood of JC's jeep when something crackled over her walkie talkie.
"Hey, hey, they're starting." She said to Chris, who was in the car, listening to some tunes.
"Cool." Chris said. "All clear from here."
"I hope you guys know what you're doing!"
* * *
"5... 4... 3..." Lance counted steadily with the blinking blood red numbers on the black box he had placed on the fuse box. He sounded clear, he sounded calm, he sounded like Lance. But in reality his heart was pounding against his chest, his mind was spinning, he felt dizzy and out of control.
It wasn't up to him. It was up to Justin and Joey. It was up to fate. It was insanity. What were they thinking? What were they doing? They didn't even know what they were doing! Lance snuck a look at JC. He leaned against the wall, eyes closed, ready for hurried whispered instruction to the two thieves who were stealing from their "family" of four years.
"2...1..." The fuse box blew, accompanied by a muffled booming sound.
Smoke fizzled from the inside.
"Lights out." Lance said.
* * *
Justin opened the door. The place was very dark, it made Justin's eyes hurt to just look into it. Joey followed, flashlight in hand and working.
It cut the darkness just enough so the wouldn't run into too many walls. The familiar studio had taken a scary turn. Everything that had been safe and nice was now dangerous and menacing. Every turn a chance for downfall. Every step a chance for failure. It all rested on them. If they got caught it all went down. Justin swallowed hard to wet his dry mouth. Joey cringed with every creak. Justin suddenly exhaled loudly. He had been holding his breath and he didn't even know it.
"Down here." Joey's voice was barely a whisper. Anyone could be watching and they knew it. The hallway to Johnny's office was littered with pictures. Pictures of them, in earlier success, pictures of the Backstreet boys in the height of their fame. Pictures of the fledging group C-note, who had yet to make it big. A million thoughts ran through Justin's head.
Why did BSB really leave? Did they know about all the things that Justin did? Why didn't they ever say anything? Why did he feel like he didn't want to know the answer? The nagging thought he always came back to was, what if we're the experiment? He didn't even want to think about that.
"Three minutes." Lance said. Justin jumped. He had forgotten he had the walkie talkie on.
"Whoa!" Joey exclaimed. "Okay, we're here. Hurry Justin." Justin reached in his pocket with trembling hands and used the keys to unlock Johnny's door. The doorknob turned and they walked into the empty room. It wasn't so dark. A light was just outside of the office's curtainless window, cast spooky shadows all around.
"Start looking." Justin yanked open the drawers on Johnny's desk. Joey looked on the floor.
"Um," Joey finally said. "You don't know where it is?"
"Not I don't!" Justin hissed.
"1 minute and 30 seconds." Lance told them.
"We're screwed."
"Look!" Justin screeched. He threw the contents of the drawers on the ground. Joey dumped cabinets.
"I know it's in here, I know it's in here." Justin said, frantically, sweeping the papers off the top of the desk with a big flourish.
"1 minute." Lance said.
"They don't know... they don't have any idea." Joey said.
"Find it, find it, find it!"
"Guys where are you? 40 seconds."
Justin scrambled under the desk. Joey yanked open the closet.
"Get out now. 25 seconds."
"I can't find it!" Joey screamed.
"Oh my God!" Justin yelled, in pure frustration.
"Justin, Joey, can you hear me?" Lance tapped his headphones. "15 seconds!"
"We're going to go to jail." Justin wailed.
"This was so not a good idea!" Joey cried.
"Justin! Joey! Get out! Come on! 8 seconds."
"Justin, you said it was in here." Joey sounded distressed.
"This is freakin' not my fault!" Justin screamed, backing against the bookcase. The whole thing wobbled and whatever was on the top came crashing down. It all fell on Justin's head.
"Ow!" Justin screeched. He stepped away from the pile of books then grinned when he looked in it.
"Here we go." Justin said, happily, grabbing their CD from the floor. "Who'd think to look for a CD on a bookshelf?"
"Good job, Justin!" Joey whooped, slapping Justin on the back. "Let's book." Suddenly Joey could see exactly what Justin was wearing.
Transcontinental Studios was engulfed in light.
* * *
"1..." Lance whispered to himself. JC and Lance heard the humming as the emergency lights switched on. They heard the slight buzzing that came from the open back door. Only experienced ears, who had accidentally tripped it many times, would know that it was the silent alarm.
"You guys... you gotta get out of there." JC said into his walkie talkie. Everything was going wrong. This was all his fault! "The cops will be coming, you set off the alarm."
"Don't worry about us." He heard Justin say back. "We've got under control. You guys leave."
"Not without you." Lance said. Triscia and Chris came running over.
"We heard over the police radio..." Triscia panted as if she had run a mile.
"The police are coming!" Chris finished.
"Where's Joey and Justin?" Triscia asked.
"Still inside."
"That's not good." Chris was good at stating the obvious.
"Nope." JC said, casually.
He was scared out of his mind
"Good thing it's a... silent alarm." Justin's sentence was broken, like he could catch his breath.
"We have to be gone right now." Joey said. He stood on a chair and tugged at the window.
"Got it there, Joe?" Justin could hardly breathe. What was going to happen to them if Transcon caught them?
Joey pulled and grunted. "It's stuck."
"Opening it, Joey?"
"I... can't...get it!"
"Open the damn window!" Justin screamed.
"IT WON'T OPEN!" Joey screamed back.
"This is all your fault!" Justin accused.
"Me!" Joey screeched. "You! You're the one! Mr. I-know-where-the-CD-is!"
"Well, if your fat ass hadn't been so friggen slow we would have been out by now and if you weren't so out of shape the window would be open!"
Joey jumped off the chair.
"Open it, Timberlake. Open it, know-it-all!"
"I can't!" Justin sounded more anguished now, like he was going to burst into tears.
Joey grabbed his arm, argument forgotten. "Come on, I know another way out."
* * *
They heard the sirens long before they could see the police cars. The four of them watched the road in tense apprehension.
"Justin... Joey..." Triscia called into the walkie talkie. "Justin... Joey..." No one answered.
"We can't leave." The flashing lights began to show in the distance, Lance shook his head and repeated himself.
"We can't leave."
They heard the tires squealing, the steady 'vrrrooom' of a motor. Sirens... sirens... sirens.
"They'll be out soon." Lance told everyone, still calm. All they could hear were the sirens, cutting down the streets, loud speakers squealing 'halt, police!' to every car they passed.
"They'll be out." Lance said, but was yanked out of his monotony by JC’s hand pulling him forward.
"We have no choice." JC said, firmly. The four of them ran to the respective cars.
The four of them left.
* * *
Joey led Justin down a flight of stairs he had never seen before.
"If we leave back front, we run into the cops. If we leave out the back, we run into the cops. I've heard about this exit. We might stand a chance." Joey explained and they bounced down the steps. Justin nodded.
They ran down a damp corridor to a lonely dirty white door at the end of it.
Joey opened it.
He had to bite his lip to keep from screaming.
"Oh my God..." Justin whispered dryly. Joey braced him, Justin swayed as if were going to faint.
They were in the land of the dead.
Number of reviews: 1
Print:
Chapter or Story