Author's note: I know I haven't worked on this story for almost a year, I sort of forgot about it, plus it's not my best work, and I don't really like the job I did on it. However I've decided to pick it back up again, so there will be three more chapters, this one, another, and then the epilogue.
Trigger warnings: possible sexual abuse, possible self harm, violence, possible homophobic slurs, sexual behaviour between an adult and a minor.
Ch.16 LA Lady (reprise)
James
I was in my car, driving, we were supposed to have a rehearsal today with Gustavo at the recording studio downtown. Then I was going to pick up Tony and take him out to dinner with the band. I was kind of lost in thought, things were going to get better from here, it'd been a few weeks since I last cut. Tony helped me throw away my blades and other cutting implements once and for all. Kendall was on his way to recovery too, he'd finally agreed to see a therapist and attend Narcotics Anonymous meetings. I'd been only a few blocks from the house when a police car flashed its' lights behind me.
I checked that I wasn't speeding, and that my turn signal had been on when I'd turned the corner. I quickly switched it off and pulled over. The car pulled over behind me, and a female police officer came up to the window, I'd rolled it down and pulled out my license, registration, and proof of insurance.
"Excuse me son, are you Mr. Diamond" the woman asked.
I looked up at her " I'm James Diamond, is there a problem Ma'am?" I replied.
She looked at my hand holding the paperwork and my license
"I'm going to need you to put those away" she said "there's been an emergency, we need to check your vehicle and then you're going to have to come with us"
I stepped out of the car, as she frisked me and checked the car, two other cars were behind her.
Another officer wiped my hands with a tissue and put it in an evidence bag. I didn't know what to say.
"have you fired a gun recently?" the policewoman asked.
I was confused and worried now.
"No, Ma'am we don't have guns in our house" I replied "excuse me, what is this about?" my heart was in my throat, my hands were shaking.
"Mr. Diamond. James. There was a situation in your apartment building about thirty minutes ago, you are under the care of Mrs. Jennifer Knight? am I correct?" she responded, her face was hard and composed. "Mrs. Knight was attacked her apartment by someone with a gun"
The woman exhaled and took a deep breath, I collapsed against the police car. "I-Is she okay" I was starting to shake more now, scared at what might be happening.
"Listen, Son. She's fine her injuries are minor she's at the hospital now. We need to take you with us down to the station, for your protection if else, you can drive your own car, but we you'll be escorted" she motioned to the two cars behind us, and then led me over to my car.
We drove to the station, my hands shaking at the wheel, and I felt numb, like I didn't know what to say, feel, think or do. After I'd parked and locked up the car, she went inside, and out came a muscular slightly older male, with short greying hair and tattoos of dragons and koi fish up his left arm. He wasn't dressed as a police officer, he was in a lilac shirt and grey jeans with shiny brown shoes and a skinny grey tie. He opened the trunk of a nearby black Mercedes.
"Son, I'm Agent Lacey you're going to need to get in my car and come with me" and then a large blue FBI vest was shoved into my arms "put that on, and don't you dare take it off unless I tell you to" I nodded and strapped it on over my black tank and leather jacket.
"What's going on now?" I asked, he motioned for me to be quiet and opened the door to the passenger side of the car. "in" was all he said.
Agent Lacey strapped on his own vest and joined me in the car, beginning to drive.
"So looking at the information we've gotten, your friends Logan Mitchell and Carlos Garcia, are already at your music studio downtown, Mr. Rocque has agreed to keep them there and out of harm's way but you, need to come with me" He said as soon as we'd pulled onto the freeway.
I opened my mouth to speak, but he put his hand up.
"Your friends tell me you've been dating a boy named Tony, and there's something going on with Kendall Knight, no one can tell me what it is. But you see we have a hostage situation" he said.
My eyes widened and my heart stopped for a second
"WHAT?"I screamed, "TELL ME NOW, WHAT'S GOING ON?" I slammed my fist into the dashboard.
"well to put it lightly.." he began.
"NO, STOP PUTTING IT LIGHTLY, JUST FUCKING TELL ME" I shouted, and then collapsed back into the seat, tears running hot down my cheeks.
"James, Kendall Knight and your boyfriend, seem to have been at the house when Mrs. Knight was attacked, and it appears Kendall's father has taken them both hostage, from the little Mrs. Knight has told us they both tried to protect her, but it's likely Mr. Knight came for his son and Jennifer and Tony just got in the way. And we know Kendall's pretty badly injured he needs immediate medical attention or he'll bleed out, and when we checked up on Mr. Knight we found a laundry list of rape,domestic violence, and child abuse charges. We haven't gotten a clear line of shot yet, he seems to know what he's doing, but " Agent Lacey told the story as we pulled in at a rundown apartment building, actually one we've passed everyday to get to and from school there were about five police cars in the parking lot, guns drawn and pointing at the outside stairs of the apartment building. The people must have been evacuated as the restaurant across the street had a crowd standing on the lawn, women, children, men, probably the people who lived in the building. On the third floor curtains were moving and there was a shadow pacing around the room.
"Alright James I need you to go over to those two vans over there, and give us any information you can" Agent Lacey pointed two the two black vans in the center all the side doors open.
"it's going to be okay kiddo" he said patting my arm lightly, "we're doing all we can" I nodded
"And don't even think about taking that vest off!" he called as I walked away.
There were two women by the van along with a tall, lanky nerdy type guy in the van.
They were dressed like business people, except for the gun holsters around their waist and blue FBI vests. One of the women approached me first and had me sit down in one of the folding chairs they'd put in a sheltered area between the vans, I kept looking up at the window.
"Agent Rosaline Jesse, you must be James Diamond" said the woman in red heels and a black pencil skirt, she wore a red satin blouse and a black pea coat, cinched in at the waist.
The other woman was a little older, with short boyish dark hair wearing a grey Timberland coat, blue mens button down, fitted tan pants, and black leather ankle boots.
"Agent Catherine Ross, we're here to help your friends." she introduced herself.
"and the guy in the van is Agent Tyler Brandt, he's our technical guy he's trying to get us some eyes inside the room, it's going to sound really disturbing but this guy is streaming whatever's going on up in that apartment to a private internet chatroom, it's password protected so we're doing our best to hack it." Ross said smiling a small half smile.
"We've tried to use the phone to call into the room, but Mr. Knight seems to have disconnected the line, and the boys' cell phones are just ringing, so he probably has them on silent" Ross explained. My heart was pounding in my chest and I bit my lip to keep back tears.
"James, why don't you sit down" she pointed to the floor of the van in the open doorway, the chair had been removed in that spot and the back seat had been folded down flat, all of Agent Brandt's laptops and electronics were placed on top of it and he was sitting in the remaining middle seat with another laptop and headset.
"James, if you can be calm, and you can be brave, we'll get through this" Jesse was sitting next to me, her hand on my arm gently.
"do you need a hug?" Agent Ross asked with a wide smile.
I shook my head, and then suddenly Agent Tyler took off his headset.
"we've got eyes!" he exclaimed placing the laptop down on the floor next to me. I moved over and turned to look at the screen. They'd draped one of the blankets over the window.
"he wants to keep us from getting a shot, he knows if we can only see vague shadows we can't risk hurting one of the boys" Ross explained.
I looked at the screen, full sized video of the small apartment, more like a hotel room really, one small main area, with a double bed, a little kitchenette on one wall, and a bathroom. Kendall was laying on the grimy bedspread his left leg was bloody and his blue skinny jeans torn, his leg looked broken. I put my hand over my mouth.
Ross put her hand on my shoulder.
"we'll have audio in a moment" Tyler said, pushing a few buttons on one of his machines in the back and then reaching down to turn up the laptop volume.
Tony was sitting on the edge of the bed, his face pale with fear, and a little shaky. He'd done his makeup beautifully today, probably the first time Kendall's felt comfortable with it, or maybe the attack happened before he could remove it. He had a nude eyeshadow with black vintage style liner and long wispy lashes, completed the look with pale pink lips. A string of faux pearls lay against his pale chest in the opening of a feminine black satin shirt. He looked regal, like the wife of a President. His eyes were open and fearless, his gaze was mostly straight ahead, but his eyes would turn to coldly stare down Mr. Knight sitting in a chair near the bed. his back was straight. His hand was on Kendall's, Kendall was squeezing it tightly, gritting his teeth against the pain.
Tony stood up suddenly and approached Mr. Knight his head held up at a forty-five degree angle, his lithe thin body moving gracefully as he walked.
"you know they're just waiting" he said
"Mr. Knight, they've got this place surrounded, and you know there will be a way they can see in, and once they can, the snipers will take you out" Tony spoke coldly, confidently.
"there's not going to be any escape for you unless you talk to the negotiators" Tony continued,
two phones lay on the dresser with the TV, the webcam was set up over the computer on a table near the window.
I looked up at Ross, who looked at me, her hand not leaving his shoulder.
"that's your boyfriend?" she asked. "he's cute, but he's trying to play hero, he needs to sit back down or he might get himself hurt"
I sighed "that's just how he is, he wants to take care of everyone, he's motherly, and he's probably really pissed that Kendall's injured" I replied.
We missed a few seconds of dialogue
Tony was standing over Mr. Knight. "can I at least help Kendall? clean him up a little bit?" Tony wasn't begging, but his voice was softer and a little sweet, He just wanted to help Kendall.
Mr Knight withdrew his hand. and slapped Tony, hard across the face. Tony went staggering backwards losing his grace for a moment, his shoulder length brown hair had been messed up by the force, and his hand reached up to touch his face.
"you only speak when spoken to from this point on" Knight ordered,his voice was gruff, but not the way you would expect a convict to sound, in fact Mr. Knight looked like any ordinary father, clean shaven with a little stubble around the chin, dark neatly groomed hair with a touch of grey.
His jawline was similar to Kendall's, though Kendall's nose and eyes, and pouty lips were distinctly from his mother. Mr. Knight was taller than Kendall, and more built, he was wearing a neat white button down, black pants, and shiny shoes as if he had just got back from a law firm and expected a dinner and a glass of scotch on the rocks sometime soon.
Tony didn't obey, he moved his hand from his red cheek and looked Mr. Knight in the eye. "you don't know me that well, I don't follow orders very well, but if you ask nicely maybe we can try again" Tony said continuing in the softer voice.
"now if you let me help Kendall with his leg, it'll buy us more time, the longer he goes without care, the more he bleeds, the closer we get to a whole SWAT team bashing down the door" Tony directed.
"Besides he's your kid, do you want to watch him die here" Tony added standing up.
"You clever bitch" I whispered smiling because I was proud of my lover's noble actions in the face of this danger.
Mr. Knight finally agreed "you can help him, but your hands WILL stay where I can see them"
Tony nodded and Mr. Knight brought over some clean white towels from the kitchen that looked like they'd never been used.
"I need hot water" Tony said holding a towel in one hand and walking towards the kitchen.
He got a bowl and filled it with water, heating it in the microwave all the while being watched carefully, his hands going nowhere near the drawers. He brought the hot water over and set it on the table next to the bed. He pulled his hair back in a little bun with a brown hair tie he had on his wrist, a few wisps falling in his face. He sat on the bed and dipped the cloth in the water.
"Kendall it's going to hurt, but I'm trying my best to keep you alive" he said it softly, with a waver in his voice, as he pulled the jeans open at the hole, tearing the leg off at about the knee. Tony worked skillfully to dab the wound with the cloth and clean up all the dried blood. Kendall squeezed his hand on the bed "That feels a lot better" Kendall said through half lidded eyes.
The sky was starting to grow dark, and stars were beginning to emerge.
"what are they doing to get them out of there" I looked up at Agent Tyler.
Ross and Jesse were over with some of the officers huddled up, they were going to try to make one last call.
I watched as Tony finished tending to Kendall's wounds. Mr. Knight stepped from the room to use the Bathroom and I watched as Tony lay next to Kendall for a minute who was sitting up on some pillows, they were whispering, the microphone wouldn't pick it up, He kissed Kendall's forehead and I saw him wipe tears from his own eyes. I looked up at Tyler.
"he's taken two bathroom breaks, why couldn't we go in then?" I whined.
Tyler patted my shoulder, "because he could have heard us coming up the stairs or break down the door, and then done something to them, you don't want to see your friends in any more danger than they're already in, you have to understand"