~The fact that we can sit right here and say goodbye,

Means we've already won~

AUGUST 1ST

Harry, as the designated mom friend of the group, took personal responsibility for everything that happened to Niall. It had started the day of Zayn's wedding to Luke, which was rudely interrupted by the police first to get the money launderers - Luke, Palmer, and Perrie. And then secondly, by the police again to capture wanted criminal - Niall Horan. A series of lawyers and judges had decided that it was too risky to extradite him back to the United States to a maximum security penitentiary, so he was kept in the UK.

The tall curly one blamed himself for everything to do with Niall's capture. The group had long since theorized that it was Evelyn Rodes - the sister of the man that Niall helped to break out of prison - that had turned him in - due to a complicated turn of events. [That you'll have to read Niall's backstory to fully decipher.] Harry thought that if he could have just turned her into the police, or maybe even killed her, then Niall wouldn't have spent a day apart from them. He didn't deserve to be locked up for the rest of his life for a mistake he made when he was a kid, basically. It was the American prison system's fault for leaving a 19-year-old as the primary therapist to some really messed up folks.

Since he had this role in the group, but mostly towards Niall, he knew that there was no way he could do was Simon was asking from him. Keeping secrets from each other wasn't the way they rolled. While Louis decided that Harry was just going to let Simon walk all over him with the request, Zayn knew that there was no way that he was just going to follow orders. He had to tell Niall.

As soon as the meeting was over, Zayn pulled Harry into a hall closet. There was really no privacy in a house that big with that many people around at all times. Perrie was such a little eavesdropping - there was no way that she could be trusted. "We can't keep secrets, Zayn!" Harry told him in a hushed tone.

"Yes, yes, I understand your savior complex," He said. "I took a psychology class at MIT. But, Harry, Simon's not going to keep a secret without reason."

Harry bit his lip. "So why are we going to Philadelphia then?"

He pushed his glasses up and closed his eyes, trying to remember what the paper had said. "There's an address and a name. Simon probably doesn't want him knowing who we're going to see. Definitely not a family member of his. Are we recruiting someone new to the team? Simon usually does that." Harry let Zayn continue down his path of asking questions out loud. The two of them worked well together on sleuthing. "He's sending us to do something he doesn't want to. Because New York and Philly aren't that far apart. He could just drive there. So, we're heading into a dangerous situation."

"He just said that he cares about human life more than his brother."

"How much more though?" Zayn stared up at his friend. "Let's go into the office and look the name up before we make a decision."

Just down the hallway was the office, which was different from the conference room. And there were two of them in the house - Zayn was the only one to use this one, while the other one belonged to Simon. When he was in town, of course. His laptop was sitting on the tabletop - worn and not the newest model. When Harry had once asked him about it, he had brushed the question off with nervous laughter. It was clear that the object held sentimental value.

It booted up quickly, and then he was doing a search while Harry looked through messages on his own phone. He knew that he needed to have some business calls with the manager of his bakery in Holmes Chapel, but he knew that she could handle it without him. Harry was the CEO, and everyone else had been doing all of the work while he was wrapping up in the crime sector.

Zayn coughed and showed his friend an article. While it didn't give them a positive answer, they all simultaneously remembered bits about their mutual friend's past. "He'll be heartbroken," Harry said, clutching his chest.

"And once he gets over that," Zayn shut the laptop and opened his job folder again. "He'll realize that Simon probably never wanted him anyways. Probably broke him out to appease the rest of us."

Harry grit his teeth and started pulling on his newly dyed hair. "Niall's coming with us. No secrets."

"We wait until Philly to tell him."

The two of them discussed the situation a little bit farther, knowing that they had to bring Niall with them on the little trip. An extra ticket was booked, and then they had to tell him, so they found him playing FIFA with Louis in the living room. "Come into the office for a chat, Ni?" Harry asked.

"I'm busy?"

Louis kicked him and paused the game. "Go with them, you idiot." Then the orange-headed man was walking with them, and asking questions.

"Is this about the job?"

Zayn was sitting in his chair. "We want you to come with us on our little trip to America."

"Every police officer in the world is looking for me, you realize?" He raised his eyebrows and took a seat.

Harry started pinching the ends of his hair, not making eye contact with anyone in the room. "It's not like you haven't been on the run before. We'll visit bars and stay out late. Catch up for some missed time. Besides, maybe you'll be safer on the other side of the Atlantic for a while."

"Sure, after going through airport security, customs, and more airport security a billion times. Sounds fun, though. I like a little danger. When are you guys going?"

Zayn gave him the details of the flight, and the group collectively laughed about how pissed Simon would be when he found Niall not working on his preparation for the job. He had one of the most influential parts of the job, or maybe he wouldn't, depending on what went down in Philadelphia.

---

In the dining room, there was a table with normally only about six chairs. But now there were more than could be counted by a quick glance, due to all of the guests staying in Simon's London residence. It wasn't very far removed from the city, but just enough for them to do what they wanted without the prying eyes of neighbors and police officers.

The Cowell family was from the East Coast, but London was a hotspot for business, and both of the brothers had found needs to travel there frequently. And after all, England was a beautiful country. It only made sense that Nicholas would want his third wedding to happen there, at his palacious mansion. Meanwhile, Simon had always preferred New York there. If he ever got married, for the first time, it'd be there.

At the very end of the table sat Liam with a scowl on his face as he ate a hearty salad. There was no phone near him, and it was clear that he didn't want anyone else around him. He was brooding. Of course, this was the perfect opportunity for Luke to come up and bother him.

Luke had on gym shorts that were way too small, and a white tank top. It was almost like he was trying to imitate Liam's style, and that pissed him off even more. His blonde hair made him look like a beach boy, and there was nothing Zayn loved more than cigarettes, computers, coffee, and the beach. "What's the matter with you?"

He slid into the seat next to him and took the fork, taking a bite. It seemed like Simon's rejects - Luke, Perrie, and Palmer - existed just to irritate the rest of them. However, Liam was one of those rejects, and Perrie actually wasn't. Simon always wanted her, and she chose her friends over him. Her bank account definitely reflected that fact. Liam was just muscle - indisposable, unlike all of the others. He hated it, but he wasn't going to complain if he was going to get three million dollars at the end of this, just like everyone else.

"Our collective love interest is avoiding me," He said, deciding that it was better to open up rather than shut him out. Either way, he was still going to bother him.

"I like the way you phrased that," Luke laughed and handed the fork back. Zayn and him had been in a short-term relationship before deciding to get married. Right before they said "I do", however, the police had arrived and carted him and his lackeys off. While the computer nerd and him hadn't spoken in the two days that he'd been out of jail, it was clear that the two were never meant to last past when they did. "He's just your love interest now, Liam."

"He says we're going to talk and work everything out, but he's just...and now he's going to America for a couple of days. Delaying all of this." Liam slumped in his chair.

Luke took a couple of more bites of Liam's salad and thought deeply about the situation his acquaintance was in. It was good that the two of them were resolving their differences early, since they had to work closely on this job. "Ah," He started. "Don't tell him I told you, but I bet he's going to Boston for personal reasons. Not for the job."

"His family's in Virginia, though?" Liam was ready to pull his hair out from the stress.

Luke swallowed the last of the lettuce in his mouth. "He's probably going to get closure from his last serious relationship before starting another one. You know, his math teacher?"

"They didn't get closure?" He questioned - he really didn't know a lot about his friend.

Luke shook his head. "I was in a relationship with him, yeah, but he puts all these walls up. Talked about that math teacher all the time, and I hated it. You're probably better for him than I ever would have been, Liam. I've got my own problems."

"Bullying gay people is one of those?" Liam raised an eyebrow.

Luke's look turned murderous. "I didn't know how to get rid of him. Yes, yes, I was flirting with Louis -"

"I knew it!" Came the shout from the living room, where Louis could apparently hear the entire conversation that was happening.

He continued. "Maybe I was homophobic back then," Luke slumped in the chair. "I almost married a man, so I'm obviously not that way now. I'll spend eternity repenting for my sins, so don't bring them up ok?"

Louis entered the kitchen and Luke left, done with his little heart to heart with Liam. "Get me a new fork? I don't want his spit." A second later, a new fork was sailing towards him across the room, and he caught it with ease.

The small angry man was still looking over his job folder, and getting even angrier by the second. After a minute of pacing, he dropped it and went out the kitchen door to find a hose, a bucket, and a sponge or rag.

Twenty minutes later, Perrie found him angrily washing all of the cars in the garage. "Is this about Simon putting your baby in danger?" She was chewing gum and being her annoying self. Maybe Palmer was the only redeemable one out of the trio. "You're overreacting."

He didn't bother noting that he definitely wasn't doing that, but started ranting anyways. "I'm just going through a lot, you know? My friend just died not too long ago, not that you ever had the pleasure of meeting him, and my daughter is going to be in the middle of some double reverse heist, and it's enough to make a man crazy!"

Perrie didn't have a lot of compassion for him - she'd held an irrational hate towards Louis since the day she had met him. "Who died? It was Simon's fault, wasn't it? He claims he's innocent, but there's got to be some dirt on him."

"Ed had leukemia," Louis said with a scoff at this girl and her ability to somehow disrespect the dead without ever knowing him. "He was the best person I ever knew."

It was clear that Perrie couldn't make Louis feel any worse than he already did. Her ambitions were usually to push people's buttons - annoy them and make them angry - but he was already there. So, she sighed and headed back towards the house to maybe do something productive for once. "Shut up and drink your grasshopper mocha, you basic white girl. It's all going to be ok."