He pulled a track out and eyed the markings on it, distingushing that it was one of their newer tracks. He looked around making sure no one was in the hallway and smashed the track against the wall and then disposed of all of it's tiny parts, hiding it under a batch of papers in the waste basket.
Kevin snuck out of the room and walked down the hall to the offices, pulled a couple of small pins out of his pocket and carefully picked the lock on one of the doors. He walked into the office and shut the door then plopped down at the desk turning on the computer. He pulled up the word processing program and proceeded to type up a memo to Johnny, adding the CEO of Jive's name to the sender box:
Mr. Wright:
This memo is to inquire about the production status of *NSYNC's album. I need a rough copy of some of the
new songs ASAP. Any tracks that you have available for me to sample would be sufficient for now.
Kevin smirked at the screen, proud of his work. He quickly printed it out on a Jive letter head then shut the computer off and left the room. He walked down the hall and placed the memo into Johnny's mailbox on his door, then ducked off into another room to wait for him to get it.
A few minutes later, Johnny emereged from his office and grabbed his mail from his box. He quickly looked over everything, then stopped to read the memo. He threw the rest of his mail into his office, then walked down to the recording studio, looking for their new track. When he couldn't find it, he pulled out his cell phone and called JC.
JC sighed and groggily reached over answering the phone, still half asleep. "Yeah?"
"JC? It's Johnny. Listen, where is that new track that ya'll were working on?" "Huh? It should be in the studio." JC yawned, clearing his throat quietly. Johnny shook his head and looked around again. "Well man, it ain't here! Do you still have the master copy that hasn't been edited yet?"
JC sat up and cocked an eyebrow at the phone. "Yeah I do. Why do you need it so bad?" "Well I got a memo from the CEO, and he needs to have some of your new stuff so he can go over it to see how it sounds. He needs it ASAP and I have NOTHING here from you guys! You're gonna have to come in right now and mix up a new track so I can get that to him," Johnny said, walking back out into the hall.
JC sighed and looked down at Melissa, who was still asleep. "Johnny, I can't right now!" "JC, I don't CARE if you can or can't, you're gonna get down to this studio RIGHT now and mix this track up!" Johnny retorted, hanging up his phone, then walked back into his office.
Kevin smirked to himself and pulled out his cell phone. He called Brian, telling him that Johnny bought the memo and that he ordered JC to go to the studio right away. Brian slammed the phone down, then grabbed up all of his stuff, quickly sprinting out to his car.
JC sighed and hung up the phone, rubbing his head. 'She'll be safe here. No one knows where we are, and I can be back in two hours at the latest. She'll probably even still be asleep when I get back, and won't even notice that I'm gone,' JC thought to himself, as he slowly rolled off the bed. He leaned over and gently kissed Melissa's head, then grabbed his keys and walked out to his car.
* * * * *
Kevin snuck out of his hiding spot and walked outside quickly, pulling his hat down lower over his eyes, so that he wouldn't be recognized. He got into his car and slumped down in the seat, waiting for JC to pull up.
When he did, Kevin turned his head to the side and looked out the window so that JC couldn't see his face. He slowly looked back over to see JC sprinting into the studio. Kevin got out of his car, and once again looked around to make sure no one was watching. He pulled a jagged knife out of his coat and crouched down by his car, slashing each one of his tires throughly. He stood up and admired his work, smirking to himself. Once he was satisfied with his job, he got into his car and took off without anyone noticing he was even there.
JC ran into the studio quickly and looked around for Johnny, finding him in the studio, still looking around. "Johnny, dude I SWEAR I left the track right there!" JC said, pointing to the shelf above the soundboard. Johnny shrugged and crossed his arms looking up at the shelf. "Well, do you see it there NOW?" He questioned, cocking an eyebrow.
JC started to protest, when he noticed some tape hanging out of the waste basket. He walked over and quickly jerked the papers out of the trash can, exposing the smashed up track. "Oh my God," JC said, picking up some of the pieces of the track. "What in the hell?" Johnny questioned, with a confused look.
JC froze, then dropped the track to the ground, sprinting outside to his car. He yanked his keys out of his pockets, them dropped them to the asphalt when he noticed that his tires were mercilessly slashed. "Oh my God, no...." JC gasped.
* * * * *
Melissa sighed deeply and rolled over, still half asleep. She slowly reached her arm out across the bed, and realized that she didn't feel JC there anymore. She sighed and kept her eyes closed, nuzzling her head against his pillow, breathing deep, inhaling the smell of his colonge that lingered on his pillow.
Suddenly a pair of hands latched onto her shoulders rolling her onto her back. Melissa's eyes shot open and she gasped at what she saw before her.
"Well HELLO there Melissa," Brian smirked, holding a gun to her head.
Twelve