While Henri and the others had decided to venture to London before jetting off to Cairo, they failed to realize international plane tickets cost money. Two tickets to London Heathrow in England's capital weren't cheap. The Beck siblings weren't loaded with cash at the moment either. They might've been millionaires, but it was their parents who held the keys to the family wealth.

As it turned out, Thea didn't have enough money on her phone to purchase tickets for the next flight to London. Asking Malik or his mother was out of the question; they'd received enough help from the Jacksons as it was. Though, something told Henri they wouldn't be able to help even if they wanted to.

So, after breakfast, they spent the rest of the morning developing a scheme to get them on a plane.

"What if we call one of Mom and Dad's rich friends?" Henri stroked his chin. "Surely one of them owes us a favor."

"I think all those donations to the Beck Foundation was them paying their dues to Mom and Dad."

Henri sunk into his seat on the couch in the living room. Who else could they call?

Thea continued to scroll through her contacts. Her eyes lit up as she stopped on a name. "We could ask Jeffrey."

He shot up from his seat. "Jeff! How did we forget about him? If he's heard the news about our parents and seen the house, he probably thinks we're dead right now." He hadn't heard from his family's assistant/chauffeur since the man dropped him off at The Smithsonian. "He hasn't called you, has he?"

"I don't think so," Thea said.

"Give him a ring," Henri told her.

"You think he'll help us buy the tickets?"

"I don't see why not."

Malik sat down on the couch. His tree trunk of a thigh brushed against Henri's. "Who's Jeffrey?"

"He's our family's personal assistant," Henri answered quickly. He gestured at Thea to make the call. She dialed the man's number and waited for him to pick up.

"Jeez, you guys have a butler?"

"We don't like to use that term," Thea said.

Malik shrugged. "Sounds like that's what he is."

She ignored him. Her phone rang three times without a response.

A bit of worry bubbled inside Henri. They hadn't spoken to the man since the museum fiasco. Granted, Henri's cellphone had been reduced to cinder and spare parts, but Thea's had been on the entire time. The man didn't call her a single time. Was he alright?

"Looks like he's not gonna—" Thea cut herself off as the line picked up on the fourth ring. She hastily cleared her throat before speaking. "Er, Jeffrey? Are you there?"

"Thea?!" The man's palpable concern could be felt through the phone's crackly speaker. "Is that you?"

"Yes, it's me. Henri's here too."

Henri moved over to her and waved at the phone. "Hey, Jeffrey! We're okay!"

"He can't see you, genius."

"Oh, thank goodness you two are alright!" Jeffrey exclaimed. "I started to fear the worst after I heard what happened to the house."

Thea was squinting at her phone now. "You didn't think to call?"

He didn't go see the house? was the question on Henri's mind. While it might've belonged to the Becks, Jeffrey lived there too.

"Thea," Jeffrey began, his voice low, "no one could've survived a fire like that."

"But we did."

"You're right, you're right," Jeffrey said with a shaky sigh. "I-I should've called. Just with everything with your parents and the fire, I couldn't help but assume the worst..."

Henri couldn't help but feel terrible for putting the man through that. Who knew what he must've been thinking over the past day and a half? Not only had his friends been abducted, but the place he also called home had been burnt to a crisp. Anger flashed across Henri's face at the thought of his destroyed home. Decades of history evaporated into smoke and ash, never to be seen again.

Sergej and Arkangel took that from him. While he hated them for what they'd done, he knew they weren't all to blame. They were just following orders—orders given to them by the one and only Monet Delacroix. Allegedly, of course.

"Where are you two?" Jeffrey's concerned voice crackled through the speaker of Thea's phone. "I can arrange to have you two picked up as soon as possible."

Henri's face lit up. "That'd be—"

"Actually," his sister rudely interrupted, "would you mind doing us a huge favor, Jeffrey?"

"Of course, dear! You must be having a torrid time right now. I'm sorry for not being there to help. After everything at the museum, I couldn't find you."

"It's alright, Jeffrey. Honestly, the entire thing was chaos. But we're alive and that's all that matters."

"You're right about that. I'm also working on figuring out what happened with your parents."

"About that..." Thea shifted in her seat. "Can you get me a few tickets for the next flight to London?"

The other line went silent. Henri tensed. It seemed like Jeffrey had hung up, but the numbers logging the call time on Thea's phone continued counting.

Considering the circumstances, the request was an odd one. The man had just heard from them for the first time after everything that happened, and now they were asking for a plane ticket out of the country. He would've been skeptical as well.

In fact, he was.

The entire idea to travel to England to meet some random conspiracy nut she met online still didn't jive well with him. But he told her they'd do it. Growing up, his father drilled several principles into him. While he struggled with most of them, he tried his best to live by what he felt was the most important. A man's word meant nothing if he didn't keep it.

And the Becks always kept their word.

"Why do you need tickets to London?" Jeffrey finally asked.

"It's a long story," Thea said hurriedly. "But to make it short, we might have found out what happened to our parents. There's someone in London who can help us find out more. But we need to leave as soon as possible."

Henri opened his mouth to warn the man about the mercenaries hunting them down as if they were wild game. Thea must've sensed this because in an instant, she clamped her hand over his mouth like a fly swatter slapping a bug. Eyes bulging, he shot her a befuddled glance.

She quickly pressed the mute button on her phone before lifting her hand off of his mouth. "I already know what you're about to say. We can't tell him they're after us. He'll never let us go once he figures that out."

"So, you just want to lie to him instead?"

"Oh, don't be so dramatic, Henri. You want to help them, right?"

Huffing, he turned away from her.

"Just trust me, alright?" she said. "I got this."

He stared at her through the skeptical slits he called his eyelids before relenting. This was her idea. That meant it was her call. He'd let her take the reins on this—for now, at least. But the moment things started to pan out the way he anticipated they would do this his way. For all their sakes, he hoped her little plan worked out.

Nodding, Thea unmuted her phone. "Jeffrey? You there?"

"Er, yes, dear. I'm here. It's just...that's an interesting request. Can you tell me what you know about what happened? I don't have much information myself, as I wasn't in the museum when it happened."

Now he'd mentioned it, Henri didn't remember seeing him amongst the crowd. Sure, Jeffrey might've been acting as his chauffeur for the night, but he still worked for the Becks as a whole. Not to mention he was practically Simon Beck's best friend. Surely, he should've been present for the grand opening of their new exhibit.

The man also hadn't called Thea a single time since they fled the museum. Why was that?

His brain replayed the man's first words after he answered Thea's call. Concern was what he heard. He might've had hyperthymesia, but that didn't always mean his memories were interpreted correctly. The more he listened to Jeffrey's words, the more his concern started to sound like disbelief.

Almost as if they weren't meant to be calling him.

Henri squeezed his eyes shut. As per usual, his overactive imagination was getting the best of him. Paranoia and exhaustion were also playing their part. There was no way in hell Jeffrey was involved in this. It was an absurd thought, one he banished to the depths of his mind immediately.

He took a breath. Calm down. Reality snapped back to him like a pulled rubber band just in time for him to hear Thea's answer to Jeffrey's question.

"We're still figuring out the details," she told him. "But we'll fill you in along the way. For now, we really need those tickets."

There was a pause.

"I'm not sure if I can get you tickets," Jeffrey finally said. Henri's face fell. "But I've got a friend who keeps a few private jets at Dulles Airport. His name is Avery Graves. He should be able to get you to London and back."

"Really?" Henri could barely contain his excitement. "That would be great!"

He hated flying commercial anyway.

But a private jet alone wouldn't be enough to get them out of the country. There was still the issue of getting through customs at the airport. That required passports—which neither he nor Thea had. They'd been destroyed in the fire.

"It's the least I could do to help," Jeffrey said. "I know you probably don't have your passports on you, but your parents always planned for stuff like this. You'll find duplicates in a safety deposit box at the airport. The code to the safe is your father's middle name. Numerical code, of course."

Henri locked that tip away in the vault that was his mind.

It didn't surprise him his parents had copies of their passports stashed away somewhere. The Becks were known for their contingency plans, however ridiculous as they might've seen. No amount of planning could've prepared them for what happened at the museum, though.

Jeffrey's voice crackled through the speaker of Thea's phone. "I'll send over the information for the flight soon. A pilot should be expecting you on the tarmac in the next two hours." He paused again. "I need you two to promise me something, though."

The Beck siblings exchanged a wary glance.

"Go on," Thea said.

"Don't get in too deep with this, okay? I don't know what you two are doing exactly, but I know that it's dangerous. Just...don't do anything rash."

Thea narrowed her eyes at her phone. "No promises, but we'll try our best. Right, Henri?"

Swallowing hard, he nodded. "Yep. We'll try to keep a low profile. We're the only ones who can help our parents right now. They need us. But we'll try to keep a low profile, Jeff. Promise."

Jeffrey sighed. "Keep in touch, alright?"

"Of course."

Jeffrey hung up. An eerie silence followed.

Malik, who'd been silent for the entire call, scratched the top of his head. He lifted a brow at Thea. "Am I trippin' or was that weird?"

"It was," she confirmed. "Subtly weird, but weird nonetheless." She turned to Henri. "We can't trust him."

"What do you—"

"You remember what Dad said before we ran out of The Smithsonian?"

Henri swallowed hard.

Trust no one.

"You don't think—"

"I'm not saying that," Thea quickly said. "But we should use Dad's advice."

He snorted. "Kinda ironic considering we're sitting in a stranger's house getting ready to meet another stranger in another country." He flashed a sheepish smile at Malik. "No offense."

The boy simply shrugged.

"Malik's an exception. And the only exception," Thea said. "Besides, we're not trusting Tinfoilhat99. We're just going to have a little chat. We'll keep our guard up the entire time." A quiet chime sounded from her phone. She snatched it up in an instant, the light from the screen illuminating her face for a few seconds. A grin stretched her mouth.

Henri and Malik exchanged identical glances of apprehension.

"Jeffrey sent the money." Her grin widened. "Time to get out of here."

@

"Are you sure you're okay with driving us to the airport?" Henri asked as he and Thea stood behind an SUV in the parking lot of the apartment complex.

"I can't have you driving around in that thing you rolled up here in," Grams replied while unlocking the doors to her car. "You'll get pulled over quicker than—"

"You don't need to finish that joke, Ma," Malik grumbled.

Henri stifled a laugh. Grams made a good point, though. His father's precious Thunderbird might've managed to get them into the city, but it wouldn't be able to do much else in its current state. Bullet holes riddled the sides and front, all the windows had been shot out, and it was a miracle the tires hadn't met a similar fate. Not only was it a safety hazard but driving around in that thing would only attract unnecessary attention.

Arkangel had yet to find them. They needed to keep it that way for the foreseeable future.

Besides, Henri intended to leave the car with Malik. Repairing a vehicle like that certainly wouldn't be cheap, but it was still worth a lot. And it was drivable—barely. He wished he could leave Malik and his family with something more, but that wasn't possible at the moment. But once this all was over, he'd get his parents to pay their dues.

It was the least he could do. The Jacksons had done more than enough to help Henri and his sister.

His father might've told him not to trust anyone, but Malik and his mother were different. They were searching for the Library of Alexandria. They didn't work for some nefarious corporation. They were just normal, decent people trying to make it in life.

Henri owed them both big time.

He turned to Thea, whose clouded gaze was transfixed on the asphalt beneath her shoes. Her jaw moved in the way it did when she found herself deep in thought. He softly nudged her out of her brain.

"What's going on in there?

"Nothing you want to hear."

He pursed his lips. "What's that supposed to mean?"

She exhaled. "Sorry. I'm just...still on edge after that phone call with Jeffrey. It's probably nothing, honestly, but I can't get rid of this feeling in the pit of his stomach."

He chewed on the inside of his cheek as he contemplated his next words. That same feeling gnawed away at him too. At least his paranoia wasn't unique to him; she was feeling it too.

"Jeffrey is like family, right?" he said. "He's on our side. It's Arkangel and whoever this Tinfoilhat99 person is we need to be worrying about."

Thea hesitated before nodding. "Right. You're right."

A few minutes later, Grams let them know it was time for them to leave. Their flight was in an hour and a half. If they wanted to make it on the plane in time, they needed to hit the roads now.

"You guys alright?" Malik asked from the passenger's seat.

"Yep. Everything's a-okay over here."

Thea shook her head at him while climbing into the backseat. "God, you're weird."

"What'd I do?" He didn't get a response. Shaking his head, he took his seat in the SUV.

###

The drive to Dulles International Airport, located on the outskirts of Washington D.C., was shorter than Henri anticipated it to be. He spent most of it staring out the backseat window, silently watching the cars whiz past.

Malik and Grams's voices filled the inside of the car, but he'd tuned them out a long time ago. Two things were weighing heavy on his mind like anchors holding down a ship. The first was their eventual meeting with Tinfoilhat99, whoever they ended up being. He trusted his sister and her plan, but he couldn't shake the uneasy feeling worming its way through his chest cavity.

How did this person know so much? Why did they want to help?

Henri's mouth went dry.

Did they even want to help?

They would've been naïve to think this stranger didn't have any ulterior motive of their own. But that didn't mean their interaction couldn't end with both parties walking away with what they wanted. Yet, there was every chance Henri and Thea ended up with nothing.

The plan did have its pros, though. With Sergei and his goons hot on their trail, fleeing the country would put some much-needed distance between them. The city of London had been inscribed deep into Henri's brain, much like every other memory locked away in the vault of his impressive hippocampus. Should they get in a pinch, he trusted himself enough to navigate their way out.

"Alright, everyone. We're here," Grams announced as she pulled her car into the departures lane of the airport's upper level.

Henri stiffened in his seat. His eyes landed on the glowing sign above the automatic doors leading into the larger airport building. The structure was a massive rectangle of steel and glass, decorated with neon signs, colorful flags, and posters advertising various overpriced airlines.

"We're really doing this, huh?"

"If we don't, who else will?" Thea said. She flashed Grams a smile. "Thank you again for all your help. Honestly, I don't know where we'd be right now without you and your son."

"I'm just glad we were able to help after everything you two have been through," the woman said. "I hope you find your parents."

Henri hoped so too.

"Come on, Henri," Thea said while stepping out onto the sidewalk. "Time to go."

"I'll, um, walk you guys to the door. Yeah, to the door." Malik rushed his words out as if he were tripping over them. He fumbled his way out of the car and rushed over to the backseat to help Henri out.

Face reddening, he grumbled out a 'thank you' before exiting the vehicle. The two boys stood face-to-face next to the SUV with the afternoon sun beaming down on them. Its magnificent, marigold rays kissed Malik's ebony skin, almost making it appear to sparkle in the sunlight. Henri swallowed hard and shifted his feet.

It was time for another goodbye.

Henri didn't want it to be.

"You know, I've never been to London before." Malik rubbed the back of his neck. "Never even been on a plane before, believe it or not. Make sure to take plenty of pictures for me, yeah?"

Henri wanted to smile, but his heart ached. This couldn't be the end of their journey...right? His mind went back to their conversation that went deep into the night. In just two days, they'd grown closer than he'd ever imagined. He didn't even know the boy existed at the beginning of the week.

"Maybe I'll show you when we get back," Henri said timidly.

"I'd like that."

"Me too."

Henri bit his bottom lip as his gaze slid to the ground. Part of him wanted to ask the boy to accompany them to London. The rational side of his brain shot the idea down faster than an expert gunslinger. A gunshot rattled off in the back of his head—a remnant of the shootout in the FBI headquarters. His jaw clenched. His ears rang. Guilt raked its cold fingers down his back and arms, causing him to shiver uncontrollably.

After what happened to Agent Derek Callahan, his conscious couldn't let him ask any more of Malik. The boy had already done more than enough; venturing to London would only put his life in more danger. Luck had kept him alive thus far, but who knew how much he had left on his side? Henri knew everyone's luck had to run out sometime.

He wouldn't risk Malik's life. Not after what he'd seen what could happen.

This was something he and Thea had to do on their own.

Malik jammed his hands into his pockets. A pensive look took hold of his strong features. "I guess this it then."

"Looks like it."

Thea approached them both. "You know, since we're flying private, I'm sure we could add another passenger no problem."

The boys gawked at her. Henri hadn't even thought about that.

"Seriously?" Malik rubbed the back of his neck. "I dunno, man. I mean, that would be crazy, right? I can't go to London. I've got to help my Ma take care of the kids and my job at the museum... I didn't even bring my passport—"

"You didn't," a voice said from behind them, "but I did."

Henri glanced at Malik's grandmother, who was leaning against the passenger side of her SUV. Her arms were folded across her chest, and a navy blue, leather-bound booklet rested in one of her hands. A familiar golden insignia had been printed into the thick material.

Malik furrowed his brow at her. "Why'd you bring that?"

"Because I know you. And I knew you'd want to finish...whatever this whole thing is," she responded. "And I know you've been lost for quite some time now. Ever since your dream was taken from you, you've been lost. Wandering and searching for your purpose in life. You've been so, so hard on yourself. I've tried to help but..." Her words got lost in her throat as tears brimmed in her eyes. Sniffling, she wiped them away before they could drop. A sad smile settled on her lips. "I've never been any good at this. Your dad...he always knew how to get through to you. But since he's been gone, I've seen you struggling and I don't know to—"

Her voice shattered like broken glass.

Malik approached her and took her hands into his. "Ma..."

"I don't say it enough, but I'm proud of you, Malik Titus Jackson. I'm proud of what you've done and the man you're becoming."

Now it was her grandson's turn to wipe away tears.

Henri almost felt wrong for watching the emotional exchange. He wanted to turn and look the other way. Respect their privacy. But he found himself drawn to them and their outward expression of emotion. He could count on his hands how many times he'd received love in that manner from his own parents.

His heart ached for both Malik and Grams. This was the first time he'd heard anything about the boy's father. It didn't take a genius to realize that was a painful subject.

Grams reached up and caressed her grandson's cheek. "You've always been a protector. A leader. I don't know what the future has in store for you, but this might be the next step in your journey."

Malik went silent for a moment. After a while, he lowered his head a bit and whispered, "Are you sure?"

Smiling through her tears, his mother nodded.

"But what about Keon and Amaya? And my job at the museum?"

"I can handle them for a while. Plus, you can always get another job. You hated working there anyways."

Malik laughed. Then he pulled her into a tight hug, his face burrowing into the crook of her neck. "Thank you, Ma. Thank you."

Henri glanced at his sister. Even her iron-clad demeanor had been pierced by the sincerity of the moment she'd just experienced.

"This might be dangerous, you know," she told Malik. "You sure you want to do this?"

Malik nodded. "'Course I do. Besides, we gotta finish this." He peered at Henri for a split second. "Together."

"Right. Together," Henri said.

As much as he didn't want to involve the boy, they had started this all together. Fate brought them together as if they were the heroes of a Greek epic. But this wasn't the Iliad. This was real life. There were real stakes involved. All their lives would be in danger if they continued down this path of searching for Simon and Aminata Beck.

But he'd already been shot at a dozen times within the last two days. A few more times wouldn't hurt. Or maybe it would.

He didn't care either way.

For once in his life, his parents needed him and not the other way around.

He just hoped he could come through for them.

"We should get going," Thea said. "Sergei hasn't found us yet. Let's keep it that way."

Henri faced Grams with his eyes shining with gratefulness. "Thank you so much. For everything."

"Anytime." She glanced suggestively at him, her gaze sliding from him to her house before returning to him. "Look out for each other, okay?"

Blushing, he smiled and nodded. Then he turned to Malik. This was it. Once they entered that airport, there wouldn't be any turning back.

"Ready?" he asked.

The boy looked him in the eye. His features tensed with determination.

"Ready."