Nowhere To Go

Chapter Fifteen

"The search continues for the five missing members of the popular singing group, The Backstreet Boys... who went missing a couple of days ago. The remains of their bus were discovered last night, destroyed in an apparent explosion in the wee hours of Thursday morning. No bodies have been recovered, but their bus driver Hank Mahoney was found at a gas station down the road from the crash site. The two incidents are being investigated by the police and any information related to this incident should be relayed immediately."

Jason Sawyer watched the news bulletin with interest as he sipped on his coffee that morning in the diner he stopped to eat breakfast at. He'd been in the search for his brother Russell and had to take a break at his father's insistence.

"Can't search on an empty stomach." he muttered with a chuckle. He thought of his father who was the chief of police....and of his troublemaking little brother. Their family had been having tension since Russell had gone to jail. Mrs. Sawyer, his mother disagreed with their treatment of their youngest son. The older Sawyer men pressured Russell often to straighten his act but he'd kept rebelling. He went back to his coffee, tearing his eyes away from the news to enjoy the rest of his breakfast when his phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey Jason, it's Manny."

"What's new? I haven't heard from you in ages." Jason said. He took a bite of his waffle and licked his lips.

"Look, I didn't want to bother you because I didn't really want to get involved but Russ has been working with me and I felt you should know." Manny said. He was their cousin, from their mother's side. Manny worked as a roadie for the Backstreet Boys and often didn't come out to family functions due to working months at a time, but he was still in touch. Jason was surprised to hear this information.

"Did I hear this correctly? Manny, why didn't you say anything sooner...did you know he escaped from prison?" Jason whispered so the diner patrons didn't hear. He paid for his food and went outside so he could continue the conversation.

"Dude, I had no idea. He just asked me if I could get him a job with me to get back on his feet. I thought he was let out. He's been on the road with us for a while now..."

Jason ran to his car, his heart pounding. Remembering the news bulletin he just watched, his brain started putting two and two together. Russell had caused the bus crash. He was after one of them. Chloe had dated one for them but he didn't remember which one it was.

"Manny, I'm going to be in touch. Don't tell anyone else what you just told me about Russ."

He couldn't wait to get to tell his father the news that could possibly solve the case.

**********************

The boys were getting tired as they'd spent a good portion of the day running.

"Come on, Kevin. You have to get up....we have to move." Howie pleaded. They were still near the river and it was starting to get dark once more. All of them were so tired and all Howie wanted at this point was to get everyone to safety. His own head still hurt, possibly from a concussion but he shook it off and tried helping Kevin up anyway. He knew they couldn't waste any more time, Russell would be back.

Back when the group first began, Howie felt closest to AJ...but he and Kevin bonded because they were close in age. They tended to do more together, and when things had gotten bad he found himself really connecting with him. Howie felt like he owed it to him to look out for him like he always did.

"I don't think I can, Howie." Kevin said in a defeated tone. He had strained his leg enough trying to protect Nick and now the pain was shooting through him again.