By heidi
It was 5:23 when he got the call. He, Nick and Brian had spent several hours at an interview and photo shoot, while Howie and AJ were on the job. They had reached the last shots of the day when he felt the vibration coming from his back pocket. Knowing it was the specially secured phone the Agency had given him, he had to wait until they returned to the privacy of their suite to find out what was up.
The message he retrieved was from Johnny Wright, their former manager. "Kevin, call me as soon as you can. I think we have a problem." Kevin tried to reach the older man, only to be forced to leave a message of his own.
The three men waited in the suite for the return of Howie and AJ, who had gone to copy a disk from an office in a high-rise downtown. They should have been the first to return. That, coupled with the call, was causing Kevin to worry.
Taking a chance, he picked up the phone and pressed the number three on the memory dial. After six rings, a voice answered.
"Hello?"
"Lance? This is Kevin."
"Hey Kevin. Did Johnny get a hold of you?"
"Yes and no. He called when I couldn't answer. Now I get the machine. Do you know what's up?"
Lance hesitated. Kevin could hear the other man breathing along with a few voices in the background. Finally Lance sighed and started to talk.
"Something has gone wrong with out last two missions. Johnny's got a theory, but he hasn't shared it with us. We just know he was worried about you guys too."
Kevin looked at Nick and Brian, both of whom were slumped on the sofa, but watching him carefully.
"How worried is he?"
"He's forbidden us to take any more missions until he gives us the all's clear sign."
"Shit. Howie and AJ went on one tonight. They should have been back by now."
Lance was silent again for a moment. "Listen Kevin, our first situation, Justin and Joey were almost caught by the cops. The second, Chris and I were surprised by extra security. We escaped both situations in pretty good shape, except for Chris being banged up some, but they were both close. You guys be careful, you hear."
"Thanks for the information, Lance."
"Anytime. And Kevin? Let me know when Howie and AJ get back. Now I'm beginning to worry about them."
Kevin smiled despite his concerns. "No problem. I'm just glad you guys are okay."
He hung up the phone and looked towards the sofa.
"Well?"
"I think we need to worry. If they aren't back within 30 minutes, I'm calling the Agency."
"Shit. What's the story, Kev?" Nick had started to chew on his thumb nail.
"Seems someone is working against us. The other team had problems with their last two missions, and Johnny was afraid we may be in danger, too."
Nick stood up and began to pace about the common room, his eyes constantly shifting to the door. Brian laid his head back, his mouth moving as he said silent prayers. Kevin walked to the kitchen, pouring himself a coke.
The door to the suite opened and in walked AJ and Howie. As soon as the door closed, though, Howie collapsed into AJ's arms.
Kevin rushed over as Nick moved in and gently gathered Howie to him, carrying the other man to their bedroom.
"What happened?"
AJ turned angry eyes onto Kevin. "You said there would only be one set of guards, and that they only passed through the office once every hour."
Kevin nodded, feeling the knot building in his stomach. "That's the information we were given."
"Well, someone royally fucked up then, because we practically got ambushed."
Nick settled Howie down onto their bed, carefully working himself so that his lover's head would rest in his lap, flinching when Howie groaned as one of his shoulders was jostled.
Brian walked into the room carrying the medical kit supplied to him by the Agency, unloading it onto the bed. "AJ, tell us what happened so I can fix Howie up."
AJ took a deep breath, trying to release the anger he'd been carrying for the last hour. "The plan was working perfectly. Howie overrode their video system, and we got ourselves up to the offices where the computer was. We waited for security to make their rounds, then went to work. I got the information off the computer, and was in the process of shutting down when security returned. And it wasn't just the two guards that came through before. It was a whole jackin army. We ran to the stairwell, I got through the door, but as Howie came through, one of the guards tackled him, he lost his balance, and went over the railing. How the fuck he ever managed to grab hold and not go all the way down, I don't know, but he did. I clobbered the guard, shoved him back through, got the door closed and jammed. We managed to get out of the building, probably because the whole fricken security force was up on that floor and none left down below. Whatever the case, we got out." Looking over towards Howie, AJ added, "Something is seriously wrong with his shoulder, Bri. When we made our change, he screamed like a banshee. I tried to convince him to just leave the shirt on, but he was determined. Said we'd have to walk through the lobby and sign autographs and stuff. And the bastard did, too."
Kevin watched the two men on the bed. Nick was petting Howie's hair, the light reflecting in the trail the tears left on the younger man's face.
Brian nodded. "Sounds like he dislocated his shoulder. No wonder he hurts." Brian ran his hands over Howie's left shoulder, gently working his fingers into the muscles, seeing how the other man was positioned. "Nick," giving the younger man a concentrated look, "this is going to hurt him a lot. I want you to move over just a little this way, and hold him like this." Brian maneuvered Nick around the way he wanted, and placed the younger man's knee and hands in various places. "You got a hold of him?" Seeing Nick nod, "Good, because," placing his own hands in other positions, "I don't want to put him through," he jerked the shoulder, shifting it back into place, "this again."
Howie screamed out in pain, before passing out once again.
"Let me get his arm braced the way I want, and get him bandaged up, and I think he'll be okay."
Kevin nodded before heading back into the main room, followed by AJ.
"So tell me, oh great leader, what the hell happened tonight?"
Sitting down, Kevin looked up at his angry friend. "Well, apparently we've got some problems."
Before AJ could respond, Brian walked out of the bedroom. "I left some pills with Nick to give to Howie when he comes to. I think he'll be fine." Settling down at the table across from his cousin, he asked, "You think this is what Lance was talking about?"
"Lance? What does Lance have to do with this?" AJ questioned. Kevin gestured to another chair. "We got a call at the shoot earlier today. It was Johnny. I wasn't able to reach him, so I called Lance. Seems the other team has had a couple of close calls all of a sudden."
"How close?"
"Johnny ordered them not to take any more jobs."
"Shit. Why didn't anyone tell us?"
"Well, that's what they were trying to do. They didn't realize we'd been given another job."
"Well fuck."
"Yup. That pretty well sums it up."
"You promised to call Lance when the boys got back," Brian pointed out.
Kevin nodded, picking up the phone and pressing the speed dial number again.
"Kevin?"
"Yeah, it's me. I think we have a problem."