I don't think I slept a wink that night. I was so nervous and anxious. Joel wasn't much better either. We were so scared of what was going to happen. I had been so confident that I had the situation under control, right up until I had gotten off the phone with the detective. But it was then that I suddenly realized what I had agreed to. I never asked Joel what my face looked like when that realization hit me, but I could tell that it scared him.
We had arrived in Adelaide, as planned, at just after six in the evening. Nathan had held to his word and had called off the cops. Or at least I assumed he did, because we didn't see anything of the cops for the rest of the day. When we had arrived in the city, I had wanted to check out the library, but because it was a Sunday, it was closed. So I had to get there early the next morning. I found out that the library opened at ten, so we would have an hour before Nathan was due to arrive.
Joel and I had found a small restaurant and had dinner, and then we had decided to sleep in my car, as it was less of a risk of being caught. I drove out into the woods a bit and parked the car. In the back of the car, the back seats could fold back into the boot, and it made a semi-makeshift bed.
We had been lying down for a little while. I wasn't getting even a little bit tired. I just lay there wondering what would transpire tomorrow. I wasn't able to think straight. I looked across at Joel; I saw that he was silently looking at me.
"Jason, what's going to happen tomorrow?"
I wanted so much to tell him not to worry, that I had everything under control, but I knew I couldn't lie to him.
I was silent for several moments, before I looked him in the eye and answered him honestly. "Joel, I don't know, I really don't. But I think I've got a bit of a plan."
He looked at me sadly. I knew what he was thinking. But I didn't know what to say. I had tried to explain my plan to Joel ever since I had gotten off the phone with the detective. And while he had understood, he had managed to find several flaws with it.
I knew that he was trying to find confidence in my idea, and I also knew that it was hard to do. "Joel, you've got to understand that this was the only idea I could come up with."
Joel looked so terrified, just looking at him made me shake with fear. I didn't want him to get hurt, and I certainly didn't want him to ever--and I mean ... 'ever'--have to go back to John.
As we lay there in the backseat of the jeep just looking at each other, I remembered everything that had happened in the last week and I remembered why I was doing all of this. And I again realized that no matter what it took, I was going to get Joel out of this mess, and to safety. And I knew I meant the part about whatever it takes. The scariest bit was ... I realized that that included being arrested.
I had been unable to speak for the longest time; I even considered just trying to go to sleep, but sleep was one thing that just wasn't going to happen any time soon.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Joel turned to me and, still looking scared, said. "Jason, I know, I know, but I'm just so scared. I mean what happens if this cop arrests you? What if it backfires?"
I slid across the seat and wrapped my arms around his shaking body. Joel started to cry softly. I just held him as he let it all out. I held the embrace, hugging him as tightly as I possibly could.
Joel was crying his heart out. It reminded me of everything this kid had been through, not only over the last week, but over the entire duration of his life. In my opinion it would have been enough to break most men, let alone a fourteen-year-old kid.
There were no words to describe the sadness I was feeling. We stayed like that for a while. Then I pulled my head up, which had been resting on Joel's. I rubbed the top of his head as he began to calm down slowly. "Joel, I know you're scared. What person wouldn't be in your shoes? I'm scared, too, but I promise you, nothing will happen to you."
Joel looked up at me; we were still in a tight embrace. "Yeah, but what about you?"
Then he leaned up into me and planted a light kiss on my lips. It was so electric, I kissed him back fiercely and we fell back on the seat as we began to duel with our tongues. By the time we had broken the kiss; my hand was inside of Joel's pants. He was again wearing no underwear, so I touched naked flesh, and I loved it.
Joel's hand was also making its way down through the top of my jeans. But I was wearing boxers so I helped him to lower both garments, and then it was only a matter of seconds before he had his fist tightly wrapped around my throbbing penis. His hand felt so good, that I couldn't help but to let out a deep moan. He started to work my boner up and down as I removed his pants properly.
We were seated in the back of the car, gently stroking on each other. I was still thinking about a lot of other things, but it was impossible to really concentrate on anything other than his hand. Then without warning, his hand left my cock. But by the time I looked down to see what was going on, I felt the warmth of his mouth surround my cock, I let out a loud moan as I lay back and let him do his magic.
He was covering every inch of my penis as he moved his mouth up and down on the shaft. I began to raise my hips to meet every one of his downward drives. I knew as usual that it wasn't going to take long before I was ready to unload in his mouth. And as I got closer I couldn't help but to start moaning out loud. The feeling was just so incredible.
Then I let out one enormous groan as I started firing volley after volley of cum into the back of his mouth. Joel didn't flinch as he started swallowing. Once I had fired off several good shots, I slowed down; once I had finished, Joel slid up in the seat so that we were again lying face to face. Then he moved in and kissed me, I got a pleasant surprise as I realized that Joel was passing me my own semen.
I enjoyed the taste to say the least. Then once we broke the kiss I started my own journey down his body. As I went I planted kisses all along his shirt-covered chest. Then I finally reached my goal, and without a second thought I engulfed his entire length right down to his pubes. I drew in a deep breath and I could smell the pure ecstasy of his boyhood.
It was more than a little intoxicating as I began to move my head up and down. Joel was moaning heavily as I manipulated his cock. I ran my tongue all over the uncut head of his penis. It tasted so sweet; I couldn't get enough of it. I wanted to taste more and more of it. I never wanted to let go of it. I tasted drops and dribbles of precum and it only served to make me more ecstatic.
I was enjoying the taste so much that I didn't hear Joel moan anything about the fact that he was about ready to cum. But I didn't care, because as he fired the first shot into the back of my throat, it only intensified my feelings. I was nearly drowned as the boy fired shot after shot into my mouth. It was incredible, I lapped it all up. Then when I had a little bit left in my mouth, I reached up to Joel and pulled him down to me as I shared his nectar with him.
Once we were both recovered, we lay on the back seat of the car, just holding each other. I had managed to not think about the next day for nearly half an hour or more, and I realized that the best way to deal with it, at least until the time came, was to ignore it. Because no matter how hard I tried to think about what to do, the more scared Joel and I were getting.
I was now standing at the entrance to the library. It was a quarter to eleven. Joel and I were as ready as we thought we were ever going to be. As we stood there, I again went over in my mind what our plan was, for about the millionth time of the last twenty-four hours. I was trying to convince myself that it would definitely work. But I wasn't being too successful.
Joel seemed to be surprisingly calm; his calmness was actually a little disconcerting. I wondered what had changed in him. I mean this whole time Joel had been acting as though we were both going to die, and now when I'm at my most nervous point, and we are at our most critical point, he seemed as though he was walking on water, as though there wasn't a thing in the world to worry about.
I looked at him as we stood out front having a cigarette. I didn't smoke very often, mostly only when I drink, or when I was scared or nervous. So far, I had had more than eight in the four hours since we had `woken' up.
"Joel, you know what to do?"
I had been over the plan with him more than a hundred times since I had come up with it. But I had to ask the question, if for nothing else, so that I had something to talk about.
Joel looked at me like I was crazy. "Of course I know what to do; I just hope that it works."
I nodded my head in agreement, and then I looked at my watch and saw that it was only five minutes until Nathan was due here. I put out my cigarette and indicated for Joel to do the same. When he did, we walked back into the foyer of the library.
Once we were inside, I turned to Joel and with a sigh I said. "All right, it's show time. Just remember--don't come out until I radio you and tell you to."
Joel nodded as he hugged me.
I had bought a pair of two-way radios once we had arrived in the city the night before. I now had one attached to my belt that I was trying to hide the best I could under my jacket. Joel, on the other hand, had his in his pants pocket. We needed them handy in case something went wrong.
When we broke the embrace, Joel tried his hardest to give me a confident smile as he turned and headed up the stairs to the second level where he would hide, while keeping an eye on what was going on downstairs. More than anything, he was my eyes to see if Nathan had brought company with him. We had covered the entire library this morning, looking for escape routes. We thought we had everything planned out well enough to cover most possibilities.
I was standing in front of the ground floor information desk, when I noticed a guy who looked to be about twenty, walk in and look around briefly. Then he spotted me and, as casual as he could, he walked over. Once he was only a few feet away from me, he stopped and looking at me cautiously.
He said, "Hey, Jason. I'm Detective Nathan Myles."
Now that he was here, I completely froze.
After a few brief moments, I regained my composure. I shook the hand that was being offered to me. We held the shake, and I half expected him to whip out a pair of cuffs and arrest me then and there. But he didn't; he just stared at me as though he was trying to size me up. I held his stare and we stayed like that in the foyer of the library for several long minutes.
Finally, I removed my hand from his as I remembered what we were here for. Nathan seemed to remember as well; he was the first one to speak.
"So, Jason, where is Joel, I was hoping he would be here."
I had been expecting this, and that was precisely why Joel wasn't standing in the foyer with me. "No, Detective, he is safe. But he isn't here. I told you, until we had sorted things out, you wouldn't see him."
The look on the detective's face was priceless. But I tried to look as though I hadn't seen it as I said, "I thought we would go into the café over there and have a talk." I pointed to the library café, which I knew would be right in the line of sight for Joel. Nathan looked more than a bit hesitant. But I figured that he realized he didn't really have any choice, so he nodded.
We made our way into the café, and I ordered a coffee for us both, and paid for them both. Nathan looked surprised, but he accepted all the same. Once we had placed the order we made our way over to a booth that backed onto a huge glass window. Again, so Joel could see, but I tried to act as though it was just a random selection. It was paramount that he didn't figure out what I was up to.
Once we were seated, I placed the backpack that I had been carrying, the same one that Joel had had earlier, on the seat next to me. Nathan sat across from me and seemed to be waiting for me to start.
When I didn't, he looked at me and asked, "So, what's your plan from here? You wanted to see me. Now you have me. What do you want?"
I was a little surprised by the tone that he was using. But I tried not to let it show.
I looked up as a waitress brought us our coffees. We thanked her, and then when we were sure she was out of earshot, I turned to Nathan and said quite simply, "I want to show you the reason why I did what I did."
If Nathan was surprised, he didn't show it. He looked at me, with what I could only guess was a mixture of confusion and bemusement. I wondered whether he had thought this all along.
He took a sip of his coffee and then he asked, "Okay you're going to show me why you did it. I'm listening."
The doubt in his voice was not hidden well. Although I'm not sure that it was meant to be. I just looked at him, thinking about whether it was time to make my next move yet. This talk was moving a lot quicker than I had been expecting.
Casually, I glanced up to where I thought Joel should be. I couldn't see clearly but I thought I could see the top of his head, at a computer. I turned back to Nathan and he seemed to have been trying to see what I was looking at, but by the look on his face, I was pretty sure he hadn't known what it was. Finally I placed the bag on my lap and began to open it. As I did I explained. "I've made copies of what I'm about to show you."
Nathan nodded as he watched me open the bag and reach inside to grab something. For a brief moment, I saw a look of fear cross his face, as I think he realized that I could have a weapon. So I quickly pulled out the folder, and a look of relief crossed his face. I placed it down on the table in front of me as I closed the backpack again.
Nathan was sitting there looking at the folder, anxious to find out what was inside. I was still extremely hesitant to open it.
I couldn't explain why, but something in my gut told me that there was something wrong. I sat there with the folder in front of me; I looked at Nathan. I needed to do something. I felt as though it was stupid, and a waste of time, but I knew if I did it, I would feel a whole lot better. I looked Nathan in the eye and asked him, "Be honest. I need to know. Have you talked to anyone about this since I called you yesterday?"
Nathan was startled by the question. He looked as though he wasn't going to answer at first but then he looked at me honestly and said, "The only person that I've talked to is my boss. And you knew about that."
The feeling in my gut didn't go away. But that had been the answer I had been looking for. So I decided to ignore the feeling and concentrate on what was at hand.
I took one final deep breath as Nathan began looking at the folder. He stared at the cover for a few moments. Then as he was about to open it, I said. "Look over that. I think you'll find it very interesting. I need to use the toilet. And like I said I've made copies, so don't go anywhere."
The truth was I didn't need to go to the toilet; I wanted to check on Joel. I got up and left for the toilet, and so that Nathan didn't get suspicious, I headed around the corner to where the toilets were located. Once I was out of sight, I took the radio off of my belt and raised it to my mouth. "Joel are you there?" I got a strange look from some Asian guy that was coming out of the toilets. But I just ignored it as I awaited a reply.
When there was no immediate answer, I panicked; I was ready to race upstairs to check on him. But luckily for me, after a few seconds, Joel's voice came through.
"Yeah, Jason, I'm here. How's it going down there?"
I sighed with relief. I leaned my back against the wall as I said, "Yeah, it's going good; Nathan's looking at the folder. I just had a feeling something was wrong, so I had to check on you." I realized that I had a huge smile of relief on my face.
Joel seemed to find my panic funny as he said, "Nah, everything is all good up here, other than a really slow computer, that is. You'd better get back to it. I can see Nathan; the folder sure seems to have pissed him off."
I agreed and said I would call him when it was safe. Then we disconnected, and I made my way back towards the café, feeling only a little better.
Once I was back inside the café, I could see that Nathan was looking at the folder in shock. I smiled as this was the effect that I had been hoping for.
I slid into the booth, and he barely looked up as he said, "Is this real? I mean that IS the guy that you stabbed isn't it?"
I nodded but he was looking down so I realized it was a rhetorical question.
I just sat there and waited for Nathan to react. I saw that he had flipped through most of the folder to the last document. Something, that hadn't been in the folder when I had looked through it at Liam's place, a written account by Joel of everything that had happened to him. And I mean everything; it was basically his life's story. I had gotten him to write it while we were driving to the city yesterday.
I had read it when he had finished it, and I was balling my eyes out by the time I got half-way through it. Even though he had told me most of it before, it was still an amazing story. Nathan was reading it, and I could tell that it was definitely having an affect on him. In fact at several stages he wiped at his eyes, obviously trying to get rid of tears.
He had been reading for some time, when he stopped and looked up at me in horror. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. I looked at him confused. Then he withdrew a slip of paper. I couldn't see what it was, but I knew from the look on his face that it wasn't good. Nathan looked between the slip of paper and Joel's story, and each time he did he looked more and more horrified.
"Jason, I think you'd better get Joel."
I was about to ask him what he was talking about when suddenly my radio went off. I snatched it up in time to hear Joel say.
"Jason, shit get up here. They're here. The cop tricked us." I swore repeatedly out loud as I jumped up and snatched the folder out of Nathan's hands. At first he looked startled, but I was moving too fast for me to care. I raced out of the café and started for the stairs.
I was acutely aware that Nathan was following me, but I didn't care as I said to Joel, "Where are you?" I made it to the second floor landing. I looked around and couldn't find Joel. But when I glanced down at the entrance to the library, I saw John and another guy walking in. "Oh, fuck." I half whispered it as I turned and headed to the next set of stairs.
My idea was to head up, but I didn't know where Joel was. I turned to Nathan as I said, while keeping an eye on what was happening downstairs. "You said you didn't tell anyone. How could you have lied to me?" I wanted to hit him, in fact I wanted to do more then just hit him. But I knew that I couldn't, otherwise I would have been a real criminal. Suddenly Joel's voice came over the radio.
"I'm on the second floor. Where are you?"
I smiled as I realized Joel was following our plan. I started to make my way up the stairs. As I moved upwards, I replied, "I'm coming up now, but keep on moving, follow the plan."
I looked downwards and couldn't see John, I figured they were making their way through the ground floor. Or at least I hoped that they were. I also noticed that Nathan was no longer following me.
I wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not, but for now, I had bigger things I had to worry about. I reached the second floor, and was surprised to see Joel standing there just in front of the staircase to the third floor. I stopped and was about to ask a question when I saw that John was standing behind him. I froze as I realized that he was holding a gun.
I shook my head as the flaw in my plan, automatically came to me. We had decided to use the stairs because we didn't want to chance having to wait for the lifts. John had gotten lucky and got the lift, and as a result had found Joel, while I assumed he had been talking to me. I wanted to kick myself for being so stupid. I just stood there frozen in shock.
Joel was looking at me pleadingly; he hoped that I had a plan, but the truth was ... I had nothing. I could only stand there looking at John, wondering what he was going to do.
"I must say, it's been hard work trying to catch you two. I mean, I don't even know you kid, but damn I'll give you credit--you did a pretty good job of running."
I just glared back at him, waiting for something to happen.
John just kept on smiling as he continued. "But I just waited until you made a mistake. I mean, after all, you are just a kid, and you were always going to make one eventually. I guess Joel forgot to tell you how close I am with police officers."
I automatically remembered Nathan, and I suddenly had a desire to find him and kill him. But that was only short lived as John continued. "I mean, smart move going to the cops in Adelaide; you got lucky, you found one of the very few cops around here, who wouldn't have called me straight away."
I was becoming more and more pissed off as I stood there looking at the hopelessness of the situation. Something suddenly caught my eye on the staircase, coming down from the third floor, I tried not to make it obvious what I was looking at, as I realized what it was, and saw it as my only hope. I looked at John and said, "So ... if Nathan didn't call you who did?"
John seemed to be enjoying my confusion, and failed to notice what I had been looking at. He looked down at Joel and patted him on the head, Joel wriggled away from him, or as far as he could, while still being held in a tight grip. It was while I had been watching the staircase that I also spotted the guy that had been with John when he had arrived. I didn't know for sure who he was but I suspected that he was John's cop buddy, McCormack.
He was currently standing at the base of the first level staircase, cutting off any chance of escape. I had to acknowledge that it was very smart move. But I also knew that it made what was about to happen a lot easier.
"Well, Nathan had to go and talk to his boss, to get permission to meet you. His boss then decided to follow protocol and called the Perth Police Station, to get the information on the case. He talked to a very, very co-operative officer named Dennis McCormack."
I shook my head, as I realized that it hadn't been Nathan's fault. Joel seemed to realize the same thing. We shared a look, but mine was one of relief as I saw Nathan emerge behind John and Joel. He had been the one who I had seen coming down the staircase.
John still hadn't realized that he was there until Nathan said in a very level tone, "Drop the weapon and release the boy."
John didn't move, but the look that crossed his face was priceless. It was a mixture of surprise and fear. He didn't lower the weapon, but he turned slowly, while still holding the boy to his chest. When he saw who it was, he looked slightly relieved.
"Hello, officer, I'm glad that you're here. This is Jason Porter; he is wanted in Perth, for attacking an officer, and for kidnapping Joel, here."
Nathan looked unimpressed and I realized that he had his police pistol pointed at the man's head. I watched this unfold just a bit anxious. I was currently leaning against the ledge, which looked down at the lower levels of the library. As I stood there I looked down and saw that Dennis still hadn't moved, so he hadn't figured out what was going on upstairs yet.
I looked back to John as Nathan said to him, "I said ... release the boy and let the weapon go; I'm well aware of what is going on here. I have seen all of the evidence."
John was confused. He didn't know about the folder, which I realized could be to our advantage in case this went badly. Joel knew where the copies of the documents from the folder were.
John's confusion only stopped him for a few moments, as he said, "I don't know what you're talking about; I don't know what this boy has told you, but he has lied. I was the one that he stabbed, I have witnesses. I've been ordered to arrest him and bring him back, and I have to bring back the boy as well; his mother is worried sick about him."
I tried not to show my anger, as the lies poured out of John's mouth.
Nathan didn't flinch as he kept the pistol lined at John's head. "You're in my jurisdiction; therefore you aren't going anywhere, until I say so. Now I warn you for the last time ... unhand the boy, and drop the weapon. Otherwise ... you're going to wear a bullet."
John didn't flinch, but as he was about to respond, we were interrupted by a scuffle downstairs.
I looked over the ledge to see Dennis being arrested by a dozen other officers. I was more than slightly surprised; it would appear that at some stage, Nathan had called for some backup. I was impressed. But my surprise was nothing compared to that that registered on John's face. In his surprise he loosened his grip on Joel, which was more than enough for the youngster to twist completely out of his grip.
John suddenly realized that he was screwed. He looked at Nathan who still had his gun pointed at the man's head. Then he turned and looked at me; the look on his face was one of pure hatred. Finally his eyes rested on Joel. John hadn't moved his gun and it was now pointed at Joel's chest, and he said, "I'm not going down for this little cocksucker and his bum buddy over there."
I thought I had him scouted. I expected him to pull the trigger, so I started to move across to try and get Joel out of the way, but too late I realized what he was really going to do. He had moved the gun up and across and fired. The result was instantaneous, I heard the gun go off, and then I felt immense pain go through my entire body. But then I felt the force of the bullet throw me over the ledge that I had been moving along.
The pain didn't last for long, and I didn't feel myself falling, because by the time I had crashed over the ledge and to the floor below, my world and everything around it had gone completely black.