Chapter Text
After a year, June was finally getting a hold on the idea that the horsemen were now part of what was her small makeshift family. She loved Charlie and Bosco, but now that the five horsemen were a fixture in her life she felt safer than she had in a long time. Jack and Lula had basically adopted her in a way, she felt like Jack was the older brother she never had. He was intensely protective of her, constantly letting her make fun of him, and always attentively helping her with new tricks or just general life things. Lula had made the second bedroom in her and Jack’s apartment a sanctuary for her, when she got handed a key to their apartment she tried to reject it at first but Lula simply winked at her and told her that sometimes the boys club can get annoying and a girls gotta have her space. Sure enough she spent an equal amount of time there as she did her own apartment, neither Jack nor Lula tried to parent her, they just acted like she was always meant to be there, like she was a permanent fixture from the get go. Only Charlie and Bosco had ever managed to make her feel that seen. So when Jack never came home with the pizza she and Lula had begged he go get from one of the old hole in the walls down the street, it took everything in her not to feel like her life was about to shatter before her.
“Lula its been over an hour, it should not take this long.” Her breathing was uneven but she was trying to keep it together because this was Jack, even if he had encountered trouble he was exceptionally good at getting out of it.
“I know! I know!” Lula responded with full panic in her voice, June had learned quickly that while Lula could handle anything, when it came to Jack she could crash out in an instant. They held each other up in ways June could only dream of having one day. “Its four blocks away June, its only four blocks.”
Lula was staring out the window that faced the street and June could tell that she was praying for Jack to cross it, but June knew better. He had taught her early on that at any sign of trouble you SOS the team, they all had a special button on their phones just for that. Dylan had helped them set it up, so the fact that he hadn’t and his phone was going straight to voicemail sent chills up her spine.
“We need to call the others.” She managed to get it out while doing her best not to reach the level of panic that Lula seemed to be, she was failing miserably. Every part of her body was vibrating with fear. They had enemies, all of them, but she knew Jack maybe had more than the rest whether it was from his days on the streets or all the horsemen type work he had been pulling off on while working on the cruise ships.
None of them had known that at first until the first time she met Dylan. He had arrived at their apartment to officially welcome her, Charlie, and Bosco into The Eye. The other horsemen had been elated to see him albeit frustrated about the way he had handled things in the 10 years they thought he was suffering in a Russian prison. She remembered Dylan clapping Jack on the back congratulating him on keep the horsemen tradition alive while he was away and everyone was confused. She remembered Atlas making a comment about Jack selling out but Dylan quickly shut him down telling everyone all about the rich and entitled assholes Jack had managed to steal from or get locked up while doing his gigs. She remembered how Jack looked, almost embarrassed that his good deeds were being brought to light. He had spent all those years targeting marks and taking them down on his own without ever getting caught. It was at that moment that June realized just how fitting the “Jack of all trades” moniker was for him. Now however she was terrified because if something had happened to Jack it was more likely than not a result of someone he had duped.
Merritt was the first one through the door, swearing up a storm while he bounded over to cradle both herself and Lula in a hug. If anyone else was going to lose it over this as much as the two of them it was Merritt. Despite the age difference Jack was his best friend, the confidant he never had, and essentially the brother he had always wished Chase would be. She could hear his heart racing in his chest as she clutched onto his shirt trying to get some semblance of herself together.
“What happened?” It was Atlas’ voice, he was ten steps behind Merritt with Charlie and Bosco in tow. He voice sounded measured and precise and it was the one time June was willing to put up with his lack of emotion because its exactly what they needed.
“He went out to get pizza over an hour ago, its four blocks away Danny. He should have been back by now. His phone is going straight to voicemail.” Lula was shaking as she spoke, June had never seen her like this, and it seemed like maybe none of the horsemen had either.
“Charlie, Bosco - go canvas a six block radius while I call Dylan. Merritt get Henley on the first flight out. Lula and June I need you to tell me everything.” Charlie and Bosco had barely set foot inside the apartment before they were running out of it, both at full speed. Merritt finally released her and Lula; June could see the tears welling up in his eyes as he took his phone out to call Henley. The sudden warmth and safety of his hug gone and leaving her back in a state of trying to pull it together, if not for Jack then for Lula. She gripped Lula’s hand like her life depended on it and watch as the older woman turned to look at her. June had seen Lula work, she always had a switch that allowed her to turn things all the way up too a hundred, and as soon as they locked eyes it was like she actually saw the switch flip.
“We are going to get him back.” June was amazed at her ability to suddenly regain control, but she could tell from the shaky hands that it wasn’t full control. “I can’t lose him again.”
The last part hit deep. While they never really talked about the break-up June had gathered it was Lula who left and not in the most eloquent fashion. The guilt in her eyes when she had heard small bits here and there told her that neither of them had handled the Russia thing well, it seemed Jack had shut down and instead of sticking around Lula had simply left. While June could understand from an outside perspective, and Jack never blamed her, she seemed to still blame herself.
“Dylan is calling in all his resources and will be here within the next eight hours. They are looking into anyone from our past and Jack’s as we speak. Until then we have to see what we can find. I need you both to think, has anything out of the ordinary happened recently? Have you seen anyone looking closer than they should? Has Jack said anything that at the time seemed like nothing but now is sparking something?” Danny was speaking faster than his normal, which June had learned was a sign of distress, yet he was the calmest on in the room so she had to use it to her advantage to try and get herself to re-center.
“Literally nothing. Everything has been normal, well at least our normal.” Lula responded after a few moments. Normal for a group of eight master magians was a laughable term so she had to make distinction.
“I can’t think of anything. I mean he’s probably got a laundry list of people who have a grudge, but how do we know its not someone who just has a grudge against all of us? Or you guys before we came into the picture. Atlas this list feels like it could be a novel what are we supposed to do?” June was desperate. All she could think about was what if it was someone who wanted to hurt her so they were doing it by taking one of the people she loved the most.
“Henley will be here in two hours. Her husband managed to scramble a private flight. God bless her for finding a man with money.” Merritt said as he came back in the room. “What did Dylan say?”
“He will be here in eight and The Eye is looking into everyone we have ever pissed off. He said Li will be available to us should we need him to fly out as well. For now Charlie and Bosco are canvasing.”
Merritt didn’t bother hiding his distress, he told her once he was too old to care about leaving his emotions on his face especially since he could read everyone else's anyways. He had told her in the early days that Lula and Jack were his hardest reads and most of the time he would get it wrong, so when they ended up together he wasn’t surprised. The one who keeps no secrets and the one who has thousands usually end up making a better match than most would expect is how he explained it to her.
Suddenly they all turned towards the open apartment door as they could hear footsteps bounding up the stairs, undoubtedly those of Charlie and Bosco. Both of them looked absolutely exhausted as they practically fell into the apartment red faced and out of breath. Danny walked over and closed the door behind them while Merritt grabbed two bottles of water for them from the kitchen. They downed them before they spoke, they both had clearly been running the entire time and had probably easily done multiple laps in each direction.
Suddenly Bosco pulled something out of his pocket. It was a smashed phone covered in blood. June felt all her own blood drain from her face, and she was probably the palest she had ever been in her life. It was Jacks phone.
“We found it in an ally two blocks east of the pizza place.” Bosco said while still trying to catch his breath. “There was some blood on the ground next to it but not much and no sign of a struggle. If he was taken it was quickly and quietly.”
“I don’t understand how though, Jack is the most hyper aware person ever, how could someone get the jump on him?” Charlie was still redfaced, his eyes filled with confusion and worry as he spoke.
“Thats probably exactly why it was him” Danny said matter of factly. “Jack is the most hypervigilant person I know and the most adept at getting away from trouble. If they could get the jump on him then its to send a message.”
The inferred meaning of danger weighed heavy as they stood in silence for several moments. June could feel Lula start to fidget, a sign the switch might be on its way to flipping back to sheer panic. This was her person, and out of everyone she had lost in her life he was the one she got back.
They were all shaken out of their collective anxiety when a phone started ringing. Everyone looked to Danny but he just shook his head, it wasn’t his, but June recognized the ringtone, it was Charlies.
“Charlie?” She didn’t mean it to come out like a question but it did, and even he was confused. He seemed to grow more confused as he looked at the caller ID. There was nothing, not even an "unknown caller” or “private” just blank.
“Put it on speaker, I’ll record it from my phone.” Danny said while Charlie stared.
“Charlie answer it.” Bosco all but screamed. It seemed to shake him out of his frozen state and he hit answer.
“Hello?” His voice was shaky as he answered, June had seen every version of Charlie over the years and this was the one she liked least. Aside from Atlas he was always the smartest person in the room so when he was at a loss it was never good.
“Hello Charlie, its been a while hasn’t it?” The voice belonged to a man, one who clearly wasn’t trying to hid his identity in anyway. Yet she could tell Charlie was having a hard time placing it.
“Who is this?” He asked tentatively trying not to sound as anxious as he looked. However the laugh on the other end of the line shook him and his face went pale.
“I think you know very well who this is. I would say we’ve missed you here at St. John’s but you know very well that theres nothing left of it.” Everyone was staring at Charlie now, but he simply looked down at the phone in his hands with fear bleeding out of every part of him.
“Mr. Colin” It was barley a whisper as tears began to well up in his eyes.
“Yes its been a long time hasn’t it? Here I thought you had disappeared and then I see you putting on the performance of a life time in Abu Dhabi of all places. I must say I’m impressed Veronika Vanderberg is no slouch, but I guess taking down family is your preferred way of doing business.”
“What do you want?”
“Well imagine my surprise when I saw you on TV with our very own Jack Wilder. I would have never in my life guessed my two star pupils would have crossed paths. I had always thought you might make something of yourself but Jack? Now I had always envisioned him ending up in a jail cell or exactly like I thought he had on that bridge all those years ago.” Charlie finally looked up from his phone, confusion written all over his face. The only people in the room who didn’t seem confused were Lula and Merritt. Merritt had long since taken his hat off and was now pacing and rubbing his face with his hands, while Lula had gone stock still, anger shrowding her like a shadow.
“I’ll ask again, what do you want?” Charlie responded with more conviction this time. June had known his time at St. John’s was riddled with trauma, it was something he avoided talking about for a long time after they first met, he eventually had come around to telling her and Bosco all the horrible things that had gone on there leaving them both ready for vengeance but knowing that Veronika was the more important target at the time.
“I want my money. You see when you decided to re-distribute the wealth you inherited from Veronika and take down all her co-horts you lost me a lot of money. See I had a rather large investment with Mr. Latson one of her board members and it turns out that investment was tied up in the Vanderberg corporation. So not only did you steal from her, you stole from me.”
Charlie’s eyes widened at the statement, from what June knew about Mr. Colin he was a very wealthy man who had started several “charitable projects” to make himself look good in order for people not to follow his money or his temper. One of those projects had been St. Johns Home for Abandoned Youth.
“To top it all off, Mr. Wilder here is the reason St. Johns is no more. See before you pulled off your big scheme he somehow managed to get the place shut down, ruining my good name in the process. I will give him some credit though, I never would have known it was him had it not been for your re-emergence.” Charlie looked like he was about to vomit, everyone in the room could feel all the emotions seeping out of him, and they were screaming ‘this is all my fault’. “Now, I’m going to make this simple because I don’t care to waste time when it comes to my money. You owe me 20 million and you will get it to me in the next 48 hours or our friend here will end up, well lets just say his death won’t be so fake this time around. Got it?”
“Yes Sir” It was an automatic response, almost as if Charlie was 12 again.
“Good. I will be in touch about a time and a place soon. Please don’t try anything Charlie, or your horsemen will officially be back to a set of four.”
With that the call disconnected. No one moved or spoke, Charlie still staring at his phone, only now the tears that had been welling up in his eyes were falling silently down his pale cheeks. Bosco looked completely disconnected, like someone had just turned him off, it was his go to when things became too much and June knew this was way more than he could ever handle. Even Danny was in shock, the only noticeable sign of life was the erratic movement of his chest as his breathing picked up the longer they stood.
June didn’t know what do to, she couldn’t speak and could barely think. They didn’t even ask to hear Jack’s voice or see his face. For all she knew he was already dead. People with money like Veronika and Mr. Colin could care les about the people in their path to get it, all they saw was green.
“I need a minute.” Lula’s words shook the group out of their own heads and back to reality. However she was closing the door to her and Jack’s bedroom before any of them could even properly register her movements.
“How… I mean what… What are we supposed to do?” Bosco’s voice was low, his tone spewing uncertainty and anger.
“This is all my fault.” It was barely audible, Charlie slid down the wall as he said it. Merritt was beside him in an instant, catching him so his head didn’t flop back, and keep a comforting hand on his shoulder.
“This is not your fault kid. We have made a lot of enemies over the years, before you three were even in high school we were fishing Dylan out of the Thames. We will figure something out.” Merritt was using his calming voice, the one he used most when trying to hypnotize someone but this was clearly more directed at trying to allow Charlie to get his barrings.
“How the hell are we supposed to get 20 million dollars Merritt? I mean Its all gone, all the money from the diamond has been redistributed. Theres nothing left and none of us have anything near that. There is no way The Eye is supplying us with that kind of money.” Charlie was speaking faster than she had ever heard him before, panic written all over his face and body. Merritt set himself down next to Charlie and wrapped an arm around his shoulders and started him on some breathing exercises in another attempt to get him somewhat calm.
Bosco and Danny were exchanging looks above them, June could see that both were having a silent conversation, one she was not privy too. It was something all of them had become shocked by over the past year. While they still argued constantly the two of them shared something, tethered to one another by either control issues or the need to be validated. Some of the best plans the group had cooked up over the year had come from the two of them, Charlie felt elated in some respects because he no longer had to bare the weight of a trick all on his own and be behind the scenes. Now though he was front and center and not in a way any of them were prepared to handle.
“I didn’t even know Jack went to St. Johns. I mean, how could I not know that. I spent the better part of two years researching everything I could on all of you so that we could pull off the trick against my sister. How did I miss this.” It wasn’t a question. It was an admission of guilt, one June wanted to erase desperately. Charlies was right, he had done his research on the five horsemen, but in the last year it had become clear to her that there was way more to all five of them than they had memorized, and the reality became they truly only knew the basics and if there was one thing that was basic it was Jack’s file. It was almost as basic as Charlie’s would be before he had revealed himself to the world. Jack never hid anything from the them but he also never offered it up either, his secrets staying just that for what seemed like their sake.
“Its not your fault Charlie.” Danny finally spoke looking down toward where Charlie and Merritt were huddled together. “Something we learned very early on is that Jack may wear his heart on his sleeve but he doesn’t wear his life on it. Not to mention there was no way anyone could have known this Mr. Colin had money tied up with your sister. Its an unknown variable. The worst kind of thing that can happen to a magician but it is not your fault.”
“Jack is not one to talk about his past kiddo, the only reason I know anything about St. Johns is because one night we were getting drunk at a bar and one of the former orderlies walked in. I’ve never been dragged away from a glass of whiskey so quickly in my life. The kid was moving faster than the cards he throws. I only managed to get him to talk about it because he wouldn’t stop looking over his shoulder for a week.” Merritt’s accent was thick, another thing June had picked up on over the past year. When he was tipsy, feeling down, or angry his texan accent punched through like a boxer putting a hole in a wall.
“I just… I don't know what to do. What do we do. Please I can’t… I can’t… Im so sorry” Full sobs were now coming through as Charlie spoke, he was inconsolable. No matter Jack’s own role in taking this man down Charlie only saw his own faults. Merritt pulled him into a tight hug and began to slowly rock back and forth.
June couldn’t bare to look at the scene in front of her, her own tears were threatening to spill over now. To many things were happening, she knew the horsemen had a lot more experience than they did, but this kind of danger was brand new to her and her boys. They had been through some rough stuff together over the years but nothing came even close to what was unfolding now. All she could think about was a moment a few months back with Jack.
“Do you ever think about what you would have done if you hadn’t become a horsemen?” June asked as she worked on an old school safe lock Jack had been teaching her how to pick.
“Honestly no.” She popped her head up over the lock and looked at him with raised eyebrows. She didn’t know what prompted her to ask the question, but she also didn’t think that would be his answer. “I wasn’t exactly living a life where the future was something you thought about. I was barely older than you and I was basically pickpocketing for a living, I had to live in the moment not for the future.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t think -”
“Do not apologize, its a valid question. We both know I didn’t exactly have the best life before all this so when that tarot card ended up in my back pocket I knew that was it for me. There was no and there never has been a Plan B for me.” He looked at her earnestly, June had looked up to Jack for a long time before she ever met him. He was the best sleight of hand and pickpocket she had ever seen. Dylan had said the same to her once as well. He wasn’t flashy like Danny or Henley, he just was. It was her favorite thing about him. He was always just Jack.
“I don’t think I ever did either. Once I found Charlie and Bosco I never looked back. I just kept moving and I guess if I hadn’t then I wouldn’t be where I am now.” She replied looking back down at the lock, the picks in her hand seeming more special than they ever had before. “I would never had found the family I always wanted.”
“I wouldn’t have either.” Something about the way he said it made her eyes well up. She knew he wasn’t just talking about the horsemen, he was talking about her.
“June” Bosco’s voice brought her out of the memory and back to the terrifying reality they were currently living. “Hey you okay?”
“I need to go check on Lula” Was all she could respond with. She turned around quickly as her tears fell, moving swiftly towards her destination.
She didn’t even bother to knock, slowly letting the door creep open as she slipped in quietly. She pressed her back to the door once it finally closed and tried to blink away her tears before she moved to join Lula on the bed.
“Its okay to cry kiddo.” Lula’s voice was certain yet filled with emotions June couldn’t identify. Granted she’s never been in love and had that person kidnapped for ransom. June slid down the door and hugged her knees to her chest not bothering to make it towards the bed where Lula sat. She took several deep breaths while resting her head against her knee’s, she had come in here to comfort Lula and now she could feel the older woman sliding down the door next to her to comfort her.
“I’m supposed to be checking on you, not the other way around”
They both let out a sad laugh as Lula wrapped her arms around her and rested her cheek against her head.
“I’m not going to be okay until he’s standing in front of me safe and breathing; and neither is anyone else.” Lula spoke quietly but evenly, something June couldn’t comprehend given the circumstances. “Something you ponies will learn is that he’s what makes us all work. He’s the heart of the horsemen, the one we all look to when we need something or someone. He also is someone who never gives up, once he gives you his trust, unless you tear it to pieces he will leave it with you. He knows we will get him back. Its just who he is.”
June leaned further into her embrace, her and Lula’s tears all but becoming a waterfall now. It was true, all the tricks they had studied before meeting the horsemen showed that nothing would work without Jack’s skillset. Charlie was the one to point it out, saying how Jack must be the glue, because he was always the one willing to get his hands dirty and do the work the rest of them couldn’t. Bosco had scoffed at first until Charlie challenged him to mimic a voice for a small tick they performed in prospect park, he failed miserably. Charlie had held it over his head for a week straight, pointing out that not only was he right but that Jack also would never have gotten the black eye Bosco was sporting due to his failed endeavor.
Jack was the glue, and now she could feel all the seams beginning to split. Bosco and Charlie gave her a home, the horsemen gave her a purpose, Lula gave her confidence, and Jack gave her safety. How would she ever feel safe again if the one person who had truly instilled in her over the last year was gone?
June didn’t know how long they had been sitting there, it could have been minutes or hours but she began to feel her eye lids get heavy. Now was not the time for a fitful sleep, she needed to help them, needed to come up with a plan, needed to make sure Charlie knew it wasn’t his fault and yet as desperate as she was to stay awake, the steady rhythm of Lula’s heart beat won out as she finally slipped into a restless sleep.