Just after six oclock, Harry finally went into the bathroom away from Louis and Amos and worked up the nerve to call Patricia. She answered the phone after the first two rings.
"Hello?"
"Ms. Malik."
"Harry. Are you alright? Why did you just up and leave like that?"
"I want to speak to my children." He said without answering.
"What?"
"I want to speak to Nema and Charlie right now."
"Well, I can't do that. They're not with me. I'm at the penthouse."
"Then where are they?"
"They're with Niall. He came over and got them when you left yesterday. Where are you, Harry?"
But again he did not answer her question. He hung up before she could say anything else. Then he called up Niall. Like Patricia, he answered pretty quickly. But he was a lot less calm.
"What the hell is your problem, Harry? Have you lost your mind?"
"I would like to speak to my children, please. On speaker."
"Oh really? That's the first thing you say, huh? I can't believe you just left your children. You didn't say goodbye. You didn't make sure they were being taken care of. Nothing! Just left them in someone else's hands!"
"Listen. I didn't want to. But you all left me no choice with your accusations."
"Oh, stop it. Don't make it seem like they weren't warranted. And you sure as hell didn't come up with any proof when you denied them."
"Because what is the point of doing that when you haven't heard from Zayn? You'll just continue to assume the worst without knowing the truth."
"Well okay. Let me ask you. Did you hurt Zayn?"
"You know better than that."
"Interesting. You didn't deny it."
"No! I didn't hurt him! Let me speak to my kids!"
"I hope you know that Nema was very upset. Today was the last day of school and apparently there was a party in her class. She was really hoping you could come since the parents were invited but she didn't get to ask you because you never saw them yesterday. You came in the house, got angry with us and then left."
"I know what I did. I don't need you to tell me."
"But I certainly need you to tell me what you know about my best friend. Zayn is your husband. You live with him. You work with him. You have lied to all of us about him. Bet you wouldn't even tell us where you are now, would you?"
"I don't have to. I'm not guilty of anything. And you know I hate to threaten you because I really do like you, Niall. I do. But if you don't let me talk to my children right now, I promise you that from here on out, I will make it very hard for you to get started in your career as an attorney. Don't think that I'm lying."
The line was quiet and finally Niall spoke up again. "Fine."
A moment later he heard Nema speak into the phone.
"Hey, Pa."
"Hi, Sunshine. Where's your brother?"
"Here."
He smiled. "Charlie?"
"Sleepy."
"I know. Maybe Uncle Niall will let you have a quick nap soon. I just wanted to say that I'm proud of Nema for passing the first grade and I'm proud of you for being good. I love you and you both really mean the world to me. I hope to see you soon."
"Where are you?" Nema asked.
"I'm... I'm taking care of a very serious matter. That's why I wanted to talk to you before I go."
"You're coming back tomorrow?"
"I want to."
"Me too. And daddy."
He smiled. "Hopefully he will. We'll see, okay?"
"Okay."
"I love you. Do you love me?"
She giggled. "Yeah."
"Good. Do you love me, Charlie?"
"Uh huh."
"I love you too. Talk to you soon. Alright?"
"Bye!"
"Bye, Charlie. Nema, take good care of your brother."
"I will."
"Harry. Why are you talking like that? What is going on?" Niall asked into the reciever. But Harry hung up and leaned against the wall. What he was about to do was highly dangerous and there was no guarantee he would return home. So if there was nothing else he was able to do, he wanted to at least talk to his children and let them know how much he loved them and only wanted what was best for them.
After that, Harry put his phone on silent and came out of the bathroom. Louis and Amos were waiting for him.
"Are you ready?" Amos asked as he handed Harry his duffle bag in which the bolt cutters were hidden. And he did a great job pretending not to have heard Harry's conversation from outside the bathroom.
"As ready as I'll ever be."
"Alright then. Grab the cat and let's go and bring Zayn back alive."
"And bring a criminal to justice."
"Amen, Louis."
* * *
Harry drove his car from around the back of the abandoned house and parked it in the driveway. His headlights were off and his window was down. Buddy was in his lap.
"Ready to go, boy?" Harry asked the cat. Of course there was no answer.
"If you had told me four years ago, I'd be doing this, I would've laughed at you." Amos said from the passenger seat next to him.
"I would've laughed at me too."
"Yet here we are about to start the most important mission of our lives."
"You think so? I mean... for me. But you... You've saved countless people. Even children, I'm sure. How can you call this your most important?"
"Because it feels personal. I don't have a family. At least not one that I go home to every night. But you do. And the fact that this bastard is making it hard for you to even do that makes me angry. You don't deserve it, your children don't deserve it and neither does Zayn. You all deserve to be home with each other. And even if I never get to do that, I'll sleep well knowing that you'll be able to. Because I know that's what you want more than anything."
Harry nodded. "Thanks Amos."
"You're welcome. And before you try to give me the sappy just-in-case-something-goes-wrong speech, it won't. Before you know it, All four of us will be sitting in a bar somewhere drinking beer and having a laugh. "
"Zayn doesn't drink beer."
"Okay we'll just go for drinks then."
"Deal."
"Good. Now give me your cat."
Harry handed Buddy over to him and could tell that he was very uncomfortable to be in Amos' arms.
"Easy, boy. It's alright."
Harry reached for the bolt cutters that were on the floor sticking out from under his seat and clutched them in his hands.
"Got the key?"
He patted his pocket. "Yes."
"Let's go then."
They both opened their doors, got out and quietly closed them behind them. Together, they made their way across the street and into the yard of Zayn's possible kidnappers. While Harry quietly tiptoed around the side of the house, Amos knocked on the door and rang the doorbell.
Just a few moments later, the door opened and there in the doorway was a man. And not just any man. But the man they'd been watching with their binoculars. The tall guy with dark hair.
"Can I help you?" The man asked.
He had not put on any pajamas, nor gotten ready for bed yet. He was still fully dressed in his shirt, jeans and shoes.
"Uh, yes. I'm a neighbor of yours from down the street. I came to return your cat to you."
The man looked confused. "What?"
"Your cat. I was just getting ready for bed when I heard a noise outside my front door. Went to see about it and there it was meowing up at me. So I decided to bring him home."
The man scoffed. "I'm sorry. That cat doesn't belong to me. Try down the street."
He was attempting to close the door but Amos grabbed his attention again. "Are you sure? Because I saw your wife playing with it sometime back."
The man paused. "My wife?"
"Yes. The lady with the red hair. Maybe you can go get her."
The man smirked. "I think you're mistaken. There's no redhead here and she certainly wasn't playing with any cat. So kindly step off my property."
He started to go back inside but once again, Amos grabbed his attention.
"If it isn't your cat, then whose cat is it?"
"I don't know and I don't care. All I know is that it isn't mine. And honestly you are going to get yourself killed walking onto people's property after nine o'clock harassing them about a damn cat."
"I'm sorry. It's just that if it was my cat, I would want somebody to bring it back to me. Pets are such a big part of family. And I can tell this one is quite special to his owner."
"You can tell all that from looking at him?"
"Well, yes. All you have to do is look at him. He's well taken care of. So someone must love him and will miss him if he's gone."
"Well, let's hope you find that someone so they don't have to. Just know that it sure as hell isn't me. You have a good night, sir."
As Amos was about to think of something else to capture the man's attention, Buddy leapt out of his hands and took off into the dark.
"Buddy, no. Come back here!"
As soon as he said that, the man reached behind his back and pulled out a gun. He pointed it right at Amos' face.
"Who are you?"
Amos put his hand up to surrender. "Whoa. I told you, man. I'm a neighbor of yours. A distant neighbor but a neighbor nonetheless."
"You're lying."
"No I'm not."
"Yes you are."
"How do you know?"
"You tell me. What did you just call that cat?"
Amos shrugged. "I... I don't know."
"Yes. You do. You called him Buddy. If you thought he was my cat and you were bringing him to me, how do you know his name is Buddy?"
"I did? I thought buddy was actually more of a general term than a name. You know... Like how's it going, Buddy or are you okay, Buddy? That kind of thing."
The man lowered the gun to point at Amos' chest. "Don't play me for a fool. Tell me why you're really here or this bullet goes right through your heart."
Amos took a step back. "I told you. I came to bring the cat because I thought it was yours. That's it. I also never said Buddy was his name. You did. And if you didn't know the cat, why would you assume an informal term such as Buddy would be its name?"
The man chuckled and kept the gun pointed. "Did he send you here?"
"Did who send me here?"
"Harry Styles."
"I'm not at liberty to say."
"Hmm. Well he must not be too smart if he doesn't think I do my homework. The man talked about his damn cat in his second Gloria Mag article last year. I've never seen what his cat looks like but I know his name is Buddy. And I have news for you. You shouldn't have come here. Because now you're standing on my property and I suddenly feel like you're tresspassing and that you're a serious threat to my life. That means I have every reason to shoot and kill you. How does that sound? Neighbor."
"I would very much oppose that."
"I bet you would. Is he here?"
"Who?"
"Harry. Are you the distraction while he looks for Zayn?"
"No. It's just me. I just wanted to see for myself."
"And I think you're lying."
"It's just me." He repeated.
As he said that, they heard the sound of many hard thuds come from behind the house. In an instant reaction, the man pulled the trigger and sent the bullet aiming straight for Amos' heart. Amos immediately stumbled backward off the sidewalk and fell into the grass.
The man didn't care that he had just shot to kill him. As far as he was concerned, Harry broke the rules by telling him and he had it coming to him. So he simply stepped over his still body and rushed around to the side of the house, with plans to leave him there to die.