"No questions." The man with AJ said. "No one will be hurt if our demands are met. If you value your lives and the lives of your friends, you will follow us quickly and quietly."

None of the guys could move. A kidnapping? This had to be some sort of joke, this kind of thing only happens in the movies anymore, doesn't it? Kevin will pop out any minute and tell them it was about time he got them and good. Right?

The other three men marched up to Nick, Brian and Howie and grabbed their arms. The first man ordered, "Okay, let's move now!"

They were herded into a van parked and running right outside the door. Two of the gunmen climbed into the back and the other two went to the front. There were no windows in the back of the van and no way out with the men sitting near the hatch.

"Wh-what's gonna happen to us?" Nick whispered.

Howie was seated next to him and could hear the barely disguised terror in Nicks voice. The back of the van was pitch black and Nick was frightened of the dark, the rest of their situation probably wasn't helping him cope either.

"Nick, it's okay." Howie whispered back "You know, they just want money, they'll get it and let us go. Nothing to worry about." He tried to sound positive about their bleak situation, but he wondered if he was being too optimistic. They had all seen the mens faces and would be able to identify them. Would they go to all these lengths and then let them go?

When the van stopped a couple of hours later, it was in front of a run down two storey house. The windows were all boarded up in front. A For Sale sign on the front lawn tilted towards the sky. The chimney looked like it would topple any minute. A couple of boards were missing from the stairs.

"Nice digs." whispered Brian to AJ, looking around. All the houses in the neighbourhood seemed to be in the same condition.

"Doesn't look like the kind of neighbourhood where a kidnapping would be out of place, does it?" answered AJ.

They were ushered into the front room of the ramshackle house. Kevin was tied to a chair in one corner and Aileen was sitting right next to him, also tied to a chair. The guys were too afraid to say anything, but they could see the relief in Kevins eyes. They also knew exactly what he was thinking. The men were outnumbered now, maybe they could come up with some sort of plan to get out of this. Each of them was tied to a chair before you could count to three. Whoever these guys were, they knew they had to attend to all of them at once or there could be trouble. They were professional, no doubt had done this before and they obviously meant business. After the boys were completely tied to the chairs, the men started to leave the room.

"Someone will be with you shortly." one of them said and closed the door.