“Why are you so hairy?” Gus asked getting a laugh from Brian and Justin.

“It’s a look I’m trying. Think I should keep it?” he asked Gus.

The little boy wrinkled his nose and shook his head. “No, it’s icky.”

“What about you, Sunshine? What do you think?”

“I’m going to have to go with the kid here. I like my men without worrying if there is a birds nest hanging off their face.”

Brian smiled at Justin’s attempt to lighten the mood. They both knew that in a few minutes they would be separated, and he didn’t know when they would see each other again. But they couldn’t say anything in front of Gus, it wouldn’t help to scare him.

“Don’t let them take him from you,” Justin said just as the woman from earlier came in. “I promise I’ll be alright just don’t leave him alone.”

After that Brian was practically dragged out of the room, Gus crying in his arms. He got glares from the dark suit people; these were people he was wary of instantly. He skipped the waiting room, not wanting Lindsay to cause problems. His attempt was a valiant effort, but she caught up to him in the parking garage.

“Where do you think you’re going?” He kept Gus’ face buried in his shoulder. Usually the boy would be fighting to get to her, but her voice was scaring him.

“Home,” he said, feeling so very tired.

“Brian, I’ve missed him for seventeen years too,” she said softly.

That he couldn’t deny, no matter their differences she grieved their child just as he did. “Alright, come over but if you start on Justin or scare Gus you’re out, understand?”

She gritted her teeth but she than nodded. The drive home he tried not to worry about Justin too much. His phone pinged non-stop with messages from the gang he left at the hospital. He had to think of Gus and too many people that changed too much would be a lot for such a little boy to understand.

“Why do you look different?” Gus asked.

They were walking into the building; Lindsay should be there soon.

“I don’t really know. I just know everyone except you and Justin got older.” He was trying to keep it simple.

“Huh?”

“I don’t know why I’m older and you’re not.”

“I don’t like it.”

“Me either.”

A SUV with darkened windows picked him and his forced posse up. Justin just assumed from now on he would have them always with him. He wasn’t stupid, they wanted something from him. The only thing was he didn’t know what it was. They seemed to be talking in code when he was around. Kept using the work ‘Striker’, whatever that was.

They ignored him for the most part, any time he asked a question he was told he would be told soon enough. After a few minutes he just stopped caring where they were taking him. It wasn’t until they pulled up to a small airfield when he started to worry again.

“What’s going on? What are we doing here?”

“We’re going for a little ride. Don’t worry, it’s not that far.”

“Not far, that sounds…ominous.”

They glared at him, so he decided to keep his mouth shut. If he played their game in two weeks hopefully, he could go home. Maybe in that time he could wrap his head around everyone he knew aging almost two decades while he was the same. Just yesterday Brian was a thirty-five-year-old and now he was fifty-two. That meant his little sister was who was fourteen yesterday was now in her thirties, his baby sister was older than him.

When he got back home what did it mean? Everyone would have changed so much and here he was exactly the same. They all had stories and lives without him. What if Brian had a husband or boyfriend, he wasn’t telling him about? His sister could have kids. Who all had died when he was gone? Was his father dead? Would he never get the chance to make up with him? All his friends were in their fifties. What kind of life would he be going back to?

The flight was short, and the small six-seater airplane wasn’t too bad. They had gone back to ignoring him which was fine. His mind was going over everything to a crazy level. Most of all he was exhausted, since waking up he had been so focused on protecting Gus, now that was Brian’s job again. Justin could just worry about himself, and worried he was.

For the next two weeks he had to just think about himself, which was hard because Brian had come in number one to him since he was seventeen. Even through all the bad and his moving to New York, it was Brian that called the shots…he always did. But Brian wasn’t here, he wouldn’t be saving Justin from himself or these people. It was him against the world.

A new SUV with darkened windows met them on an even smaller airfield. The SUV looked identical to the previous one, that if it wasn’t for the location, he would have thought it was the same. None of the people who flew with him got in the car with him. It was a driver and a very large man who sat in the passenger’s seat.

“Where are we going?”

“That’s privileged information,” the passenger said.

They were treating him like a child, it was pissing him off. But since they were holding all the cards, he would just have to bide his time.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Lex, your lead bodyguard.”

“I need a lead bodyguard?”

“You’ll be briefed when we get where we are going.”

“Oookay then.”

A shiver went up his spine when they drove through a high gate surrounded by a high fence. There was no way he was getting out of here without permission. He hadn’t even realized he was thinking about escaping until the option was taken off the table.

A tall, willowy woman greeted him outside a plain looking building.

“Hello, my name is Dr. KaMoria Ffolkes. I’m going to be your doctor during your time with us. Would you like to see where you are living? We’ll have our talk afterword.”

While she looked like a doctor, he guessed she was much more. “I’d like to see where I’m staying,” he said. All the sudden he was scared to be in a room alone with the woman.

“Alright, Lex will show you the way. We’ll be waiting for you in the conference room.”

As they made their way into the building, Lex seemed to lose a bit of his tension.

“It’s not as bad as you’re thinking. I know it can be a bit daunting but it’s not as bad as you’re making it in your head. In a few weeks the new apartment will be ready, and you won’t have to stay in this room.”

“Oh, I’m only here for two weeks then I’m going home.”

The man’s jaw tightened. “Of course.”

“I am going home in two weeks, right?”

“If that’s what you were told then I’m sure you’re right.”

The lie was dripping from the other man but before he could interrogate him, they stopped outside of a thick metal door. There was some sort of scanner and Lex looked at it with his right eye.

“Luther Green, access granted,” a robotic voice said before the door slides open.

Justin’s eyes widened at the room. It was an artist’s wet dream. It made his tiny studio apartment in New York look like a kid’s art room.

“Wow!”

“We found out you are an artist. Doctor Clayborn, your psychiatrist, thought it would help your anxiety.”

“How many doctors do I need?” Already he had two and that didn’t include the doctor he met in Pittsburgh.

“We have your best interests in mind with everything we do. There are questions we need answered but that doesn’t mean you’re a prisoner.”

Looking at the heavy-duty door that had no doorknob just another scanner, he asked, “Aren’t I?” Lex had nothing to add to that.

Justin looked around the room again, his eyes landing on the large queen size bed in the corner. What he wouldn’t give to just crawl up in the bed and go to sleep right now. That wasn’t on the agenda now according to his agenda that was on a dry erase board on the wall.

“What the hell is this?” he said pointing at it.

It was blocked off in thirty-minute intervals. It weirded him out that according to the clock on the wall and the board, at this moment he was ‘Inspecting Living Facility’. Can you say creepy?

“This is just the board, so you know what to expect for the coming day. I will change it every morning when I bring your breakfast in at seven.”

“I thought you were my bodyguard, but you’re not, you’re my jailer. Fine, whatever, lets get the next part over with.”  It was time for his meeting with the doctors.

“You don’t need to think of this as a punishment. Think of it as an adventure,” Lex said as they made their way down some hallways.

“I find out I’ve been gone for seventeen years and everyone’s aged except me and my partner’s son. My friends and family thought that I stole Gus and ran off. Brian thought we were dead; he thought his son was dead. How can he ever heal from that, even with Gus back? Everything is wrong here.”

“That’s what this is all about. Finding out where you’ve been. Justin, you need to let the doctors do their work.”

“How will doctors tell me where we’ve been and what happened to us?”

“Because no matter what you think, the answers are in you somewhere. They have to be.”

Justin didn’t argue with the man; it wouldn’t make a difference. He was theirs for the next two weeks and not a minute more.

He was led to an official looking room that reminded him of Brian’s conference room at Kinnetik. It could have been anywhere; it was just so normal looking. If fact, everything had been so normal looking. He had no doubt he was in some hidden base but there wasn’t a name on anything, he guessed that’s why he thought it was hidden. He didn’t know why they wanted him so much, he didn’t remember anything. What kind of tests did they need to run on him? There had been so many scans, blood tests and eye tests at the hospital. What more could they want or need?

They were alone in the room for a few minutes then were joined by several people. A short, round man with balding red hair who introduced himself as Dr. Clayborn, his psychiatrist. An older woman with grey hair in a bun and heavy jewelry gracing her hands and neck, she was a big wig at the facility, but he didn’t know what exactly she did, her name was Dr. Ismire. Dr. Ffolkes was there, her dark eyes staring through him it felt like. Two men who were introduced as the rest of his security detail, Milo, a short but robust man of about twenty-five and Chris, in his thirties, a tall and muscular man who looked like he lived on a beach with his darker complexion compared to Milo, making the other man look downright pale. There were some other people, but they offered no name or title just cold looks and tapping on some electronic things.

“Mr. Tyler,” one started, one with no name or title.

“Taylor,” he corrected.

“Too right, my apologies,” he said, the British accent wasn’t as charming as it should have been. The man was all sharp and pointed with his words and glares. “Anyway, as I was saying before I was interrupted, you are here because of your memory issues.”

“I have no memory problems, I just have no idea how I got here,” he said, he could feel his cheeks reddened.

“Like I said, memory issues. Until you’re deemed safe for the public by the government you will be kept here. You shouldn’t fret too much, it’s all very normal.” He raised up a piece of paper, read it over and lowered it. “Mr. Kinney and all the people that were at the hospital have signed a confidentially agreement. If they don’t speak about the incident, then we will not have to take custody of the boy.”

“You can’t take Gus, he’s just a little boy. He needs his parents. I won’t cause any problems; I promise just as long as Gus stays where he is.”

“That’s very good, now I believe Dr. Clayborn wants to speak.”

“Yes, thank you, as I said before I’m your psychiatrist. We’ll be seeing each other everyday at noon. If you need to see me any more than that feel free to call me using your phone, my number is listed beside it. Just remember it doesn’t reach anyone outside of this facility. If you want to call someone from the outside you have to use to phone in Dr. Ffolkes office.”

“If this isn’t a prison why can’t I have a phone to talk to my family in my room? I also noticed there wasn’t a computer in that room.”

“It’s just to keep everything low key. No reason to get upset,” Clayborn said.

“I can’t do all my artwork by hand. Sometimes I lose control if I’m too tired or my emotions are too much. Brain damage will do that to you. I need my computer.”

“I’m sorry, that really is impossible,” nameless suit number two said.

“Whatever. Is this meeting over?”

“Yes, you’re in for the rest of the night but starting tomorrow you’ll start the tests. With any luck, we’ll be able to find out where you and the boy have been for the last seventeen years.”

Lex left him in his bedroom prison when they got back to it. He wanted to be left alone anyway. Instead of touching any of the stuff in the room to occupy his mind, he laid down and decided never to get up again.