Staying Human

Chapter 27: You're Late

Chapter 27: You're Late

Joey stared at Kevin in shock thinking he must have heard the guy wrong. "Wait...what did you say?" He finally asked but was silenced but the man squeezing his arms tighter.

"Answer me this, how exactly do you know Scott Hoying?" Kevin asked avoiding his question. Joey thought a moment wondering how he was going to explain to this guy how they met, as it was kind of a complicated story. But he seemed to know who Scott was so maybe he knew about the whole situation with Mitch's dad? He was pretty sure everyone knew about that.

"I'm sure you've heard of Mr. Grassi..." Joey started and Kevin scoffed.

"Of course, everyone knows who he is." He replied, just as Joey thought.

"Well I'm the one who got him arrested." He studied Kevin's facial expression waiting to continue.

"Continue..." Kevin said sounding more interested.

"Scott and Mitch came into my motel and kind of pulled me into the whole situation." He continued. Kevin laughed and shook his head.

"That's another cooincidence, they pulled me into it also." Kevin crossed his arms and nodded to the man holding Joey who hesitated a moment but then let him go. Joey moved his sore arms around a minute and clutched the wound on his stomach before continuing.

"Anyway, that's how I met them. Mitch gave me the evidence against his father and I got it to the FBI. As for why I'm here...I was visiting them when this Brett guy showed up and...long story sort now they're in there and they need help. So here I am." Joey finished. Kevin looked like he was thinking for a moment and was just staring at Joey, kind of making the boy uncomfortable.

"Alright, I believe you." Kevin finally answered and Joey breathed out in relief, maybe he wouldn't die toady. Kevin remained silent for a moment just staring off into the distance making Joey really want to know what he meant when he said they were here for the same reason.

"So you're here why again?" Joey asked deciding to press his luck a little, since Kevin didn't seem as threatening anymore. Kevin smiled and glanced around at the half dozen men around them.

"Business deal. Scott called and offered me quite a bit of money to come help, and once he mentioned it was taking out my old business parnter of course I was game. The guy's insane." He exaplined and Joey nodded.

"Yeah I got that when he stabbed me..." Joey mumbled looking down at his hand. Kevin glanced at his hand that was still clutching his stomach and made a face.

"Yikes...that's rough." Kevin remarked. "Well anyway, Scott was supposed to give me the go to run in and kill Brett but I haven't heard from him. Guess he got himself captured." Kevin laughed.

"So go in there and help them!" Joey yelled throwing his hands up in frustration. He didn't see what was funny about this situation at all. Kevin narrowed his eyebrows making Joey suddenly nervous.

"We were about to when we stumbled onto you. Now that we know you're not a threat we can carry on with the plan. We'll let you know how it goes." He said patting Joey on the shoulder. Joey shook his head and crossed his arms in defiance.

"I'm going with you." He stated and Kevin laughed.

"You're going to get yourself killed kid. You're already hurt as it is...."

"I'm going!" Joey growled and Kevin sighed.

"Fine, but if you get hurt it aint' my problem." Kevin finally agreed and walked passsed Joey towards the front of the building. Joey ganced around at the other men who were smirking at him and rolled his eyes. He bent down and picked up his gun, cocked it and strutted passed the men with confidence. His only focus was saving Scott and Mitch.

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"If you hurt him I'll KILL you all!" Scott yelled which only made the two men laugh. He focussed on Mitch who was staring at him with sad, pleading eyes. "Mitch I'm so sorry..." He whispered; tears forming in his eyes.

"Enough of this shit, see you in hell Slade." Blake sneered and Scott turned back to him. He braced himself as he watched Blake put his finger on the trigger...gunfire rang out in the distance and Blake and Cliff glanced at eachother giving Scott his chance. He slammed his forehead into Blake's nose and went after Cliff who was doubling over due to Mitch elbowing him in the stomach. Scott pulled Mitch out of the way and slammed Cliff into the wall; pushing his hand that contained the gun up just as it went off.

"Scott look out!" Mitch yelled but it was too late. Blake was up and grabbed the chain that used to be attached to Scott's handcuffs and wrapped it around Scott's neck, violently yanking him back. "Let go of him you bastard!" Mitch yelled and kicked Blake in the shin but it hardly phased him. Once again he felt Cliff grab him and pull him away from Scott, who was coughing and choking. Scott frantically tried to shake Blake off, slamming him into each wall but he was failing miserably. Things were starting to get fuzzy and he knew in a matter of seconds he'd be gone.

"We could've killed you quickly, but now I'm going to do it nice and slow." Blake sneered.

"Scott!" Mitch screamed but Scott could barely see his face. There was pounding at the door and Mitch struggled against Cliff's strong arms. "HELP! IN HERE!" He screamed frantically and a moment later the door was kicked open and he felt Cliff's grip loosen. He dropped just as a gun went off and he covered his head as best he could with his arms. When he finally looked around, he was shocked to see Blake and Cliff sprawled on the floor in a heap of blood.

"Mitch!" Mitch recognized that voice as being Joey's and he looked up to see his friend offerring his hand out. Mitch, too shocked to speak jumped up and into Joey's arms sobbing uncontrollably.

"Oh m-my god J-Joey!!!!!" Mitch managed to finally get out.

"Shhh It's ok Mitch." Joey whispered and rubbed Mitch's back. Mitch looked over at Scott who was currently being helped up by Kevin.

"You're late." Scott choked out and Kevin laughed.

"Sorry man but you told us to wait for you to give the word....you never gave the word soo...." Scott rolled his eyes and looked over at Joey with a scowl.

"What?" Joey asked defensively.

"I fucking told you to stay put!" Scott yelled and Joey simply shrugged.

"You're welcome....jerk..." He mumbled.

"Uhh hate to break it to you guys but we gotta go. Brett has a lot of guys out there and my men are all pinned down...which by the way you totally told me there were only a few guys to take out." Kevin complained and Scott rolled his eyes.

"Well I had misinformation....what the hell does it matter let's just go!" Scott yelled and grabbed Mitch's hand. "Are you ok baby?" He asked and Mitch nodded. He was scared to death and just wanted to go home. Kevin got to work getting the handcuff's off as they continued to hear gunfire radiate throughout the building. "Could you maybe hurry up there sport..." Scott mumbled. Kevin glared at him and yanked the hanndcuff's making Scott grunt in pain. Finally he had them off and handed the lock pick to Scott.

"Get your boy free, I'll deal with the psycho." Kevin said and turned to walk out of the room. "Oh and you'll probably need this." He mumbled tossing Scott a gun. Scott caught it, nodding to him as he rushed out of the room. He put the gun in his belt and walked over to Mitch. As he worked on getting the cuff's off the only thing he could think about was getting his hands on Brett and killing him for what he did to he and Mitch.