Chapter 3

Carlos trotted along the snowy sidewalks, just looking around. He watched the houses of some of his old classmates slowly pass by and previous hangout places that he used to go to with his friends and by friends he means Kendall, James, and Logan. He finds it funny that his whole world, his whole life, revolves around those three. No matter where they were, no matter how bad their lives were treating them, they would always stick together - so what happened? Why was he alone, excluding Katie, on his vacation? Oh yeah! It's because he was shot down to be replaced by girls and work. He sighed.

"These are going to be a long~ three weeks," he said outloud. He folded his arms behind his head as he continued the walk. Subconsciously, Carlos managed to walk to the old ice rink he used to go to. Luckily, it was open for twenty four hours so he decided to clear his mind by playing some hockey...by himself… in an empty rink… yeah. He entered the building and smiled by the old interior that stayed the same, even after couple years. Even though Minnesota still provided snow and ice, Carlos still liked the ice rink. He went up to the counter to rent some ice skates, but he was met with a familiar face. "Mr. Preps! Is that really you?!"

"Well if it isn't Carlos Garcia. How long has it been?" Mr. Preps asked, he was the owner and coach of the ice rink and it's teams.

"Was it it? Three years?!" He laughed.

"I guess it is. So what brings you here back in my ice rink?"

"Just want to play some early morning hockey. You know what I need." The old man nodded. He pulled out his old ice skates, hockey stick, puck, and other hockey gear. But that's until he paused, the teen looked at him curiously. "How about we have a couple games? You against me."

"Really? I don't want to stress you out or anything-"

"No no. Not like there's much business during this hour anyway. Nonetheless, I still have my mojo in me, remember I was the one who taught you hockey in the first place," the man smirked.

"Okay, fine. If it's a game you want then it's a game you'll get," he smiled. They both got into their gear and set out the equipment. After they were ready, the got into their stances on either side of the ice and shot out towards eachother. This continued for a couple hours, trying to out win eachother but eventually Mr. Preps won the entire thing.

"Wow, never knew you had it in ya still," Carlos remarked, clearly impressed.

"You can't beat the master at his own game," the old man chuckled. They both removed the skates and replaced them to their old shoes, then moved to the bleachers. They sat in silence for a few seconds, just watching the ice. "I remember that Kendall always came out to the ice for a problem. He was always in love with the game and yet he thought it was an answer too."

Carlos looked at him as the man continued.

"Logan. I've always seen him either on the ice, trying to calculate the right move, or just sitting out and reading a book. His scrawny size, though, always caught on to more speed."

The teen nodded.

"James was always trying to impress the girls before, after, even during the game. I've never understood how that kid worked his magic but it works all right," he chuckled. Carlos smiled at the memory. The man then turned to look at him.

"And Carlos. The one that wanted to take on any challenge there is in hockey, not caring if he won or lost, as long as he had fun. He always had trouble of fitting in though, not knowing where he belongs. Yet that kid never had a frown on his face. I remember him. I don't recognize this imposter of that once carefree kid," he finalized with a serious expression, causing the teen to frown. "What's wrong Carlos?"

"It's nothing. I just have a lot on my mind that I might be overreacting," he shook his head.

"Nothing is always something. And what some may call overreacting, others call it cautious. Even if you have a lot on your mind, it is best if you share it with someone close. If you wait too long, you might lose control and it could spiral out of your reach, might resulting in the ones you love - hurt," he advised.

"Does old age come with wisdom?" Carlos chuckled.

"I suppose so," he laughed as well. After a few seconds of the cheerful vibe, it made a sharp U-turn. Carlos, who was laughing, noticed that his old coach got quiet, so he stopped laughing. What he saw caused him to freeze, the ice seemed similar to him. The reason why Mr. Preps stopped laughing was because he fell over to the teen, exposing his back to have a whole in it and red liquid pouring out from it. Carlos started shaking, now realizing what happened, and hopped up away from the man. With wide eyes, he quickly started shaking the man.

"M-Mr. Preps?! Mr. Preps! Wake up!" The man didn't respond. Carlos knew that, right in front of his eyes, Mr. Preps was murdered. But the action was far from over as more louder shots rang through the building. One of the bullets grazed the teen's shoulder, causing him to yelp in pain and clutch it. Seeking cover, Carlos ducked behind the bleachers, searching for the shooters. He knew that they came from the front entrance because the bullets were in his direction. Watching silently, he saw two shadowy figures moving around the shadows, the silhouette of their guns prominent. 'WhatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatdoIdo' the teen thought frantically. He couldn't exactly call the police because he left his phone at home. So, deciding that it was a definite risky move, once the two shooters moved enough from the entrance and away from him, he stealthily moved to the entrance (he took off his hockey gear first because he still had it on) and when he was in the clear, he booked it back home. The teen heard several gun shots behind him but stopped abruptly. He didn't care though. He did a bunch of twists and turns for whoever might be possibly following him can't go direct to his home, or more specifically where Katie was. Until the sun rose and when he knew he was 100% not followed, he returned back home. It was around seven o' clock when he arrived, his wound still bleeding. The Latino decided he needed to treat it so, instead of having everyone knowing what happened, he decided to look it up on the internet. Moving quickly and quietly, he fetched his phone and headed to the bathroom, knowing that there was a first aid kit in there. After he did his 'research', he removed his bloody shirt. He scrunched his nose when he saw the open wound. It was still bleeding, but the wound was long and slightly wide. He knew that if that shot was any closer, it could have completely hit his shoulder then he WOULD have gone to the hospital. After cleaning it, adding butterfly bandages/clips (the one that holds everything together), and wrapping it up, he cleaned the bathroom from any evidence that he was hurt that took about an hour in total. Soon, he exited the bathroom, went up to his room to change clothes, and relaxed on the couch, then turned on the TV. Unfortunately, it was a news report about what happened a few hours prior.

"There has been a murder in Preps Ice Rink in Minnesota. The man killed was the owner of the rink, Christopher Preps. Neighboring houses had heard gun shots coming from the building. Police are now investigating the crime scene, they suspected that Preps was not alone during the murder. Another thing was that whoever committed the crime didn't commit any robbery. If you have any information that might help this case, please call the homicide hotline from the police. Thank you and stay safe," the reporter ended. Carlos sighed and turned off the TV, then bent over to lay his head on his hands. He needed to go to the police, he knew that, he just couldn't wrap his head around what happened. His head hurt the more he thought about it. One minute the two were playing hockey and sharing advice, the next minute he was standing over his old friend and coach's corpse. After finally processing, Carlos broke down. He sobbed into his hands, not wanting to admit that Mr. Preps was really dead. But what's worse is that he was killed in front of him and whoever did that was still out there. He rethought about what the news reporter said, whoever did the shooting didn't steal anything, so that meant that the shooters were after something… or someone. Carlos paused his sobbing as he thought about it more. After Mr. Preps was killed, he saw that the two shooters were still investigating and when he escaped, they were shooting at him… but then they stopped. If they really wanted him dead, then they would have shot him right then and there, but they let him run.

The shooters were after him.

He started crying again. He didn't know what to do. Running on little sleep, his mind was going too fast for even him to handle. First it was the guys rejecting him, next it was the nightmares, then it was the murder of his coach, now he was being hunted.

"Carlos?" He looked up. It was Kaite. "What's wrong?"

"..." He didn't answer, only stared at the preteen. If he was being hunted alive, he needed to protect the girl. It didn't matter if he wasn't her brother by blood, they still acted like siblings. He needed to protect her now. His eyes hardened by the new mission. He had to put the 'Katie Cage' to them max, but make it look inconspicuous at the same time.

"Carlos? You're kinda freaking me out," she said after a few creepy seconds. The boy shook his head, brushed his tears away, then smiled a forced smile.

"I'm fine Katie. Nothing to worry about," his voice croaked. She sat down on the couch beside him and crossed her arms, a silent 'I'm not leaving until I know what's wrong'. Carlos sighed and dropped the act. "Do you remember Mr. Preps, our old hockey couch?"

"Yeah," she drew out with a slow nod.

"He…he died a couple hours ago."

"...Oh." She spoke after a moment of silence. "I'm sorry to hear that. Do you know how he died?"

"Murder," he mumbled. He stood up from the couch and walked over to the kitchen, grabbing some cereal from the cupboard and milk from the fridge. He poured himself a bowl and gave it to the preteen, not being hungry himself. After finishing breakfast, Katie was asked to get changed and sooner or later she did.

"So where are we going?" She asked as they left the front door.

"Um, we are going to the police station," he finally admitted.

"What? Why?"

"You'll figure it out when we get there."

"What's wrong Carlos? You've been really secretive lately and I know that you can't lie," Katie interrogated, getting the older teen nervous.

"W-What do you mean? Nothing's wrong!" He laughed nervously.

"Come on, you and I both know you're a horrible liar," she reminded as she crossed her arms. "I also know it has something to do with that nightmare you had on the plane."

"Katie, it's nothing to worry about," he reassured. The girl was definitely not going to let up but unfortunately she had to because they arrived at the police station. They walked casually inside and up to the front desk where a receptionist sat, typing away at her computer

"Excuse me but I have some information involving the murder that happened a couple hours ago," Carlos spoke first, causing Katie's eyes to go wide. The lady at the desk looked up at him.

"Okay, please wait and I'll send a detective here to speak to you," she said while motioning to the seats behind them. With a final 'thank you', they sat down.

"What do you mean you have information?" Katie whispered.

"I…saw what happened to Mr. Preps," he whispered back.

"Really? Where were you?"

"I was sitting beside him when he was…," he carried off. Katie, eyes the size of beach balls, nodded. Knowing that the detective was going to ask him stuff, she'd rather wait until the questions came. A few moments later, a man with a suit came up to them.

"I'm Detective Brian, I'm working the case of Christopher Preps. You said that you had some information for us?" He asked, extending his hand. The teens shook his hand and got up from the chairs.

"Uh yeah I do," Carlos confirmed. The man nodded and motioned with hand to follow him. After a few quiet seconds, they reached a room where they were placed in. Inside was a table, two chairs on either side and that's it.

"Would you like any coffee?" He asked the older teen, figuring that the other is too young to drink it herself.

"No thanks. Makes me hyper if I do."

"Are you sure because it looks like you haven't slept for days," the detective chuckled as he sat down across from them. What he said was true. Carlos' eyes carry heavy bags under them and if he were pale he would have looked sick.

"I'm sure," he reassured.

"Please state your name."

"Carlos Garcia."

"So why did you come in?" The detective started, professionalism seeping through.

"I know what happened when Mr. Preps was murdered," Carlos answered.

"And where were you?"

"I was sitting right next to him when he was… you know."

"Did you see who the shooters were?"

"I couldn't see their faces, because it was dark from where they were standing, but I just know it was two of them."

"Okay." He wrote stuff down and looked up. "Now why were you with Mr. Preps at nearly four in the morning?"

"I couldn't sleep so I was walking around town. I eventually found my way to the ice hockey rink, the one I used to go to with my friends when I used to live here. Anyways, a way to clear my mind I thought I would play some hockey. I went to check out my gear when I recognized Mr. Preps. He was the coach of my hockey team when I was younger. We decided to play against eachother but he won in the end. After playing, we decided to sit down on the bleachers and talk. But after a while… that's where it went bad," he retold with a pause. The man noticed his hesitation.

"I know it is hard for you, having to see a murder, but you have to tell me what you saw for we could catch these two." Carlos nodded and took a deep breath then let it out.

"We were talking and laughing, having a good time when I heard him stop laughing. Then he fell over on me and I saw his back wound, it was a bullet whole. I couldn't move, I tried to shake him awake but it didn't work. More bullets came flying in and only one grazed my shoulder," he said. Katie silently gasped at the new found info, but the boy continued. "I ducked for cover, behind the bleachers, and noticed that there were two figures coming from the entrance. After I saw them get away, I ran out of there making twists and turns in case they were following me. It was until sunrise that I finally made it back home and patched myself there," he ended. The man wrote down everything he said then looked up.

"Can you show me the wound?" He asked. Carlos nodded and took off his shirt, exposing the bandage. The hurt shoulder was in Katie's direction so she saw it clearly. The man nodded, not really wanting to disturb the bandage, allowing Carlos to put his shirt back on.

"You are very lucky that it was just a graze. Why didn't you call the police when the shooting happened?"

"Oh I don't know, I was kind of busy running for my life," he answered sarcastically.

"But when you got home?"

"I had to treat my wound and wrap my head around what happened but I'm here now."

"Do you know if Preps had any enemies? People who might want to do this to him?"

"No. Like I said, I don't live here anymore so I don't know. I do know that he was very kind to everyone. "

"Where do you live?"

"Los Angeles. I'm on a vacation from my job before you ask." The man nodded.

"And one more thing, did you see anything else that happened before you left the rink?"

"...No. I didn't." Katie shot a quick glance at him, knowing that he knew something. The detective nodded again and got up from the table. He said that he would be back to let them go, then he left. Silence suffocated them, unsure of how to move freely. That's until one of them spoke.

"Don't tell Kendall, James, or Logan." Katie looked up at the serious Latino looking back at her, making her slight unnerved. She didn't ever seen Carlos serious before because he was an endless ball of energy, but when he was it's pretty scary. Who knew a guy with a button nose was so intimidating?

"I have to, they're going to find out eventually. A news report is going to go around the whole country about the murder and you know you are a horrible liar so if they call then you're done for."

"And what do you expect them to do if they do hear it?" He snapped, causing her to flinch. "They'll probably come over here themselves and I can't let that happen." Before she could respond, the detective came back in.

"Come on you two, let's go," he motioned. The two followed him out to the outside and bid their farewells.

"Listen, Katie, you know I wouldn't ever get mad at you unless it was for a good reason. And this, it's too big and I can't let them get hurt. It's already bad that you're here," he said after a few mintues.

"What do you mean?"

"When I came out from the ice rink, I heard gun shots firing back at me but then they stopped. That's why I made those turns away from the house in case they followed but instead they didn't," he explained.

"It was like they let you go on prupose," Katie put together. "And if the guys come over, then you'll be a bigger target and able to hold someone against you. But isn't that a little farfetched?"

"I've seen those guys shoot. If they wanted me dead there, they would have. The graze was just a warning," he said.

"Wow. You know a lot about this," she remarked, making him shrug.

"I watch a lot of shows and my papi is a cop remember?" She nodded. Not even a few seconds later, Carlos' phone started ringing. He reached for it and saw it was James calling him. He took a deep breath and let it out, to control his fears, then picked it up. "Hey guys."

"Carlos!" Multiple voices came through, so he assumed it was the other band mates.

"What's up?" His voice squeaked. Katie looked over at him and saw him sweating.

"Dude, we saw what happened to Mr. Preps in the news report!" James began.

"We couldn't believe it and knew that the killer is still out there," Logan followed.

"So we wanted to make sure you were okay," Kendall ended. Carlos instinctively touched his shoulder, causing him to wince.

"Uh yeah I'm fine. It really is a bummer of what happened," Carlos answered nervously.

"...Are you okay Carlos? You haven't talked to us since you left. You're not still mad at us right?" Kendall asked, guilt in his voice.

"I-I'm fine. Listen guys but I have to go. Gotta hang out with Katie and stuff. Wellanywaybye!" He rushed then hung up. The teen sighed as he puts his phone away.

"I don't think they're suspicious at all," Katie remarks sarcastically. Carlos glared at her.

"Well not like I have a choice. I can only protect one person at a time," he said as he patted the girl's head.

"You don't have to protect me. I can defend myself."

"You've never delt with someone with guns before."

"Neither have you."

"My papi is a cop, I know how to defend myself enough. I could use those things to defend ourselves. But that means we have to keep an eye on things too. I can't let you go anywhere by yourself now," he instructed.

"Yeah whatever. Hey, um, does that thing hurt?" She asked, pointing to his shoulder.

"Um, yeah it does but it's just a scratch. Since I don't have stitches, it's going to be an open scar when it heals but it's okay," he shrugged. "I don't want to go to the hospital though. I can't have people knowing that one of the members of Big Time Rush in the hospital, that'll blow up all over the media. Especially Pop Tiger Magazine."

"In a life threatening situation, you sure are pretty aware of what's going on and the dangers of it," she commented. During their conversation, they had finally walked back home.

"I just hope that they keep the helping tip anonymous, I know how news reporters are by trying to get information out of cops," Carlos hoped. They both sat on the couch and turned on the TV, wanting to clear their minds with cartoons. During commercials, Katie got a phone call by none other than her brother. She excused herself and went to her room, locking the door as she did, then picked it up. "I'm assuming you are still suspicious about Carlos?"

"Yup," Kendall, James, and Logan all replied. Katie sighed.

"Guys, I don't know what is up with those nightmares but it is affecting him."

"You said nightmares, as in plural - more than one," Logan pointed out.

"Yeah, at least I think so. It looks like he hasn't slept well in days.

"Hm…"

"Well we finally talked to him at least," James said.

"Yeah… for thirty seconds!" Kendall exclaimed.

"Well when I saw you talking to him, he looked really nervous and even started sweating," Katie admitted. "I'll see what more I can dig up."

"Thanks baby sis."

"What were you doing today anyway?" James asked casually.

"U-Uh, nothing out of the ordinary. Oh look at the time! Better be going now. Wellanywaybye!" She rushed then hung up. Katie groaned, she literally did the EXACT thing as Carlos did. She put her phone away and walked back to the living room.

"Okay something is DEFINITELY wrong," Kendall remarked. He and the guys just a second ago got rudely hung up by the preteen girl.

"Well what are we supposed to do, they're in Minnesota!" James exasperated.

"Well we could go see for ourselves," Kendall suggested slowly, a smirk creeping on his face. "Of course it could work since we have a vacation."

"But this would be barging into their vacation. What if we're just overreacting?" Logan questioned.

"You know how Carlos and Katie are when they lie. But this isn't just any ordinary problem, something is wrong with Carlos and he's not talking."

"Ugh fine! But this is only to prove YOU wrong that there's nothing wrong!" He groaned.

"I'll book the plane tickets!" Kendall exclaimed, raising his finger.

"I'll pack the dufflebags," Logan called, also raising his finger.

"And I'll tell everyone we're leaving especially that new girl that moved in," James said coolly as he whipped out his mirror and raced out of the room before the other two had anything to say.

"...What are we going to ask him when we get there?" Logan asked after a moment.

"Anything about why he hasn't gotten any sleep. He's our little Carlitos. It's worrying to know that one of our own is not feeling like himself," Kendall answered easily, then walked off to the lobby.

"He's not going to like it though," the genius mumbled to himself then proceeded to their rooms.

To be continued...