Hostage (Big Time Rush fanfic thriller)

Part 5: The Conclusion

[Have you read parts 1, 2, 3, and 4? If not, find them here on Wattpad! It's been a few days, but here's the final chapter in the story...]

His chest was tight. Everything was so dark around him.

                Breathing took all the effort that the fake security guard could spare as he dragged himself up the emergency exit staircase. Gun in one bloody hand, one step in the other hand, he kept breathing. Pulling. Breathing.

                It was silent and gunfire had ceased, but there was no telling what he would find outside the clinic. Police, lurking in wait, would apprehend him on sight – if they weren’t already following orders to ‘shoot to kill’.

                He squeezed his eyes shut, fighting nausea at the overwhelming stench of body odor mixed with the metallic smell of blood. A police officer’s blood splattered on his sleeve. The blood of the poor little girl in the clinic, helpless as her maniac father signed her death warrant in that room. The fake security guard’s own blood staining ... a never ending stain ...

                And he was so dizzy, so tired ... but he had to keep moving. Death wasn’t an option.

                Not when he was so close.

.....

Carlos’ plan was genius ... until the three got to the hallway.

                “Great!” Kendall’s bright eyes had been wide with hope when they retraced their steps back to Hailey’s room and found, just like Carlos described, a patch of almost-black blood that narrowed in a long line toward the door – a line as wide as James. The blood trail led into the hallway and swirled around the bodies of the policemen who had braved the initial standoff with the crazed man from the concert. It puddled near the body of an unfortunate young nurse. And then ... it was gone.

                “How is that even possible?” Carlos was shaking his head back and forth. “How could James just evaporate into thin air?”

                Stephanie was baffled as her eyes searched the disgusting scene. There was just no way – especially if James had crawled out into the center of the gun war.

                But at the same time, it was dark in the clinic with some of the lights overhead destroyed by bullets, and maybe ...

                Stephanie ran to the front desk where she had first hidden with James, but her hunch was a letdown: James wasn’t there. And nowhere else in the clinic lobby, as far as Stephanie could see. She burst into tears.

                “Stephanie? Whoa, whoa,” Carlos said, rushing to hug her. “Just keep it together.”

                “James!”

                “Kendall, are you insane?” Carlos shouted just as quickly as Kendall did. “Do you want the bad guys to hear us?”

                But Kendall looked every bit as frantic as Stephanie. “We’re dead anyway!” he began to rant. “Why not just end the chase? Logan’s a sitting duck with the kids, we’ve got no idea where the other girl is, and hey, what does it matter? Because as soon as Crazy Psycho Dad shows up with his gun, we’re all screwed! He’s got nothing to lose, his kid’s dead, the police are losing this war—”

                “Kendall, you’ve got to get yourself together – I’m not kidding. Just sit over there, and just – chill!”