Love Is Only an Illusion

Emerging from her bedroom in blue skinny jeans, a brown leather jacket, grey tank top, and black sneakers, Sutton smiled to herself as she saw the others working diligently. Danny stood in the middle of the room, fidgeting with his cell phone. Suddenly, he threw the phone to the ground, stomping on it, knocking Sutton’s smile into a frightful mess.

“The firewall’s down,” Henley yelled from the desktop computers as Danny picked the phone up, examining it to make sure it truly was destroyed. “Do they know about this?”

“”They” who?” Danny asked as he picked through a pile of documents.

“”They,” “them,” whoever we’re working for.”

“Who are we working for?” Sutton threw the comment out as she and Jack scrabbled to pick up a pile of documents. Jack’s tarot card lay under them. Sutton gave him a compassionate look as her best friend stood back, swallowing hard as he repeated, “death” in his head again and again. Sutton grabbed his hand, squeezing it to bring him back to life.

“And are we prepared to do to jail for them?” Merritt added as he gathered more documents.

“Okay, stop being paranoid,” Danny instructed them all.

“It really does happen,” Merritt retorted.

“Yeah, it happened to you,” Danny threw back. “It doesn’t mean it’s gonna happen to us.” He bumped into Sutton’s shoulder as he pushed more documents into Jack’s hands.

“Guys, I don’t know if I can do this, all right,” Jack spoke up, fear in his voice. “I don’t wanna go to jail, you know?”

“Then don’t screw up,” Danny told him.

“Danny,” Sutton muttered, strands of her red hair falling into her face as she looked down.

Danny took a quick glance at her, yet continued to lecture Jack. “You’re always talking about wanting to be treated like an adult. Now might be a good time to start acting like one. Stick to the plan. Stay here and burn it all.”

Sutton sighed. “Danny, stop acting like a-“

“Like a what, Sutton?” Danny said as he turned around quickly on his heel.

“Like an ass!” Sutton exclaimed, annoyed with his demeanor. Everyone looked at the two.

Danny’s eyes grew wide at her tone of voice. He swallowed hard, staring straight into her eyes. He wished so desperately that he could read them, but Merritt was right; she had built her walls up, even from Danny himself.

“You’re just mad that you can’t control what is happening right now,” Sutton continued. “Don’t take this all out on Jack. He and I will get this done better than you would.”

Danny swallowed his angry comment back down his throat, knowing better than to push Sutton over the edge any further. Instead, he let his true thoughts talk, the ones that had been haunting him for some time now. “You’re not staying here,” he told Sutton, grabbing her hand and drawing her close to him.

“Like hell I’m not!” Sutton retorted, ripping her hand out of his grasp. “Jack is my best friend, and the plan specifically says, “Jack and Sutton stay behind and burn the documents.” You can’t go against the plan, right, Danny? That’s what you’ve said all along. “Stick to the plan.””

Sutton was fuming, and Danny knew it. Her words were out of frustration with him, both now and in the past, but he couldn’t help but take them to heart. The two stared at one another, their faces only inches apart, fixated in a battle filled with the emotions that threatened their hearts.

“I don’t know what I’m doing here,” Merritt spoke, drawing the attention away from Danny and Sutton.

“I don’t know what you would do anywhere else,” Danny yelled as he turned sharply away from Sutton.

“I’m here for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,” Merritt explained. “That’s it. Then I’m gone.”

Sutton squealed, tears quickly filling her eyes. Jack wrapped her into a tight hug as Merritt threw more documents onto the pile.

“You can do whatever you want when this is over, Merritt, but until then, you stick to the plan,” Henley reminding him, her eyes filled with anger toward the mentalist.

“Hey, guys,” Danny mumbled into the metal blinds. “Uh, they’re here.”

“Start burning the papers, Jack,” Sutton instructed her best friend as he lit the fire. Sutton began passing him handfuls of lengthy documents which her and Danny had mulled over each step of the way, hours of work turning into nothing but ashes and smoke.

“You are not staying here, Sutton,” Danny spoke through gritted teeth once more as he grabbed the last of the money bags. He placed his hand over hers as she grabbed for more documents.

Sutton felt the familiar spark pulse through her but this was not the time for it. She quickly ripped her hand away, passing Jack a large pile. She looked Danny in the eye, reading his icy blue eyes for what was really in them. He was scared, but scared of what? She leaned in close to him, close enough to make everyone question their relationship, but they didn’t. “Go, Danny,” she whispered. “I’ll see you soon.”

Danny stared at her as Sutton leaned away from him and handed Jack more documents. His mouth fell open to speak but he had no time before Merritt grabbed his backpack, pulling him along.

“Okay,” Merritt announced. “Let’s do it.” With that, they were gone.

“It’s going to be okay,” Sutton reminded Jack -and herself- as they sat near the fireplace, throwing in documents as soon as others were burned.

Jack nodded, a look of terror still in his eyes. “I don’t want you to get hurt, Sut.”

Sutton smiled lightly. “I won’t, Jack.” She leaned over and gave him a small kiss on the cheek.

Jack blushed. “Even though we do that all the time, this time feels different.”

“Probably because we were never in a “fight or flight” situation before,” Sutton giggled. Just then, the door creaked opened to the apartment.

The two looked at one another, quickly and quietly stacking their bodies on top of the bookshelf. As Agent Rhodes made his way into the room, distracted by the replicas of the buildings Sutton had made, they snuck into the kitchen, only to see that Agent Fuller was there.

Jack placed a finger to his lips, tiptoeing over to the sink and grabbing a wet rag. He skillfully shoved the rag into Fuller’s mouth as soon as he noticed Sutton, silencing him as Jack yanked the agent’s jacket down to his wrists. Pulling him to the sink, Jack turned on the garbage disposal.

Sutton cringed even though she knew it wouldn’t hurt the FBI agent. She heard Agent Rhodes coming, so Sutton grabbed Fuller’s belt, whipping around and wrapping the accessory around the gun he held. By pure mistake, the gun hit Agent Fuller’s groin. Jack punched Rhodes as Sutton swung the belt to slap Fuller. Rhodes attempted to grab Jack, only to be pushed into the refrigerator. As the duo escaped, Fuller called for his partner, only being told to hold on.

“Go in the corner,” Jack instructed Sutton.

Unlike with Danny, Sutton obeyed. She watched as her best friend fought off the agent, eventually handcuffing his legs. Jack stripped Rhodes’s walkie talkie from him just as another voice came over the speaker.

“Five is clear. Standing by for six,” the voice reported.

“You little shit!” Rhodes exclaimed, not once noticing Sutton in the corner near the door.

“You little shit!” Jack repeated.

“What game ya playing?”

“What game ya playing?” Jack mimicked, sounding exactly like the FBI agent. Sutton smiled, wanting to applaud Jack for his secret talent. “We’re all good at six. Move to seven,” Jack replied to the unit outside the door.

“Copy that,” the unit responded. “Going to seven. Go, go, go!” echoed voices outside the apartment.

Jack threw Sutton the walkie talkie. She threw it in the fire, the electronic burning with a zap. Noticing the most important of the papers, Sutton slid across the floor to grab it, stuffing it inside her jacket. She moved in enough time for Jack to throw flash paper at the FBI agent. Again, Sutton watched as Jack’s many talents were revealed, amazed by all the he could do.

“Sutton, go!” Jack yelled as he jumped from out of nowhere. As he ran toward her, Rhodes knocked him down.

“Jack!” Sutton screamed, running for her best friend. Noticing the pile of playing cards scattered on the ground, Sutton hastily collected them and handed Jack a pile.

“Come here!” Rhodes yelled at the two who attempted to back up.

“All right, hey! Hold on, hold on!” Jack and Sutton requested, the two flashing him their cards.

Agent Rhodes looked at them like they were complete idiots. “Really?”

“Yup,” the two responded, flinging the cards at his face as he screamed in pain. They each threw a card at Agent Fuller for good measure.

“Talk about a paper cut!” Sutton laughed. She grabbed her backpack with her laptop off the couch, flinging it over her shoulder as Jack pulled on her hand.

“You little…” Rhodes hissed as Jack and Sutton made their escape from the apartment.

~~

As Danny, Henley, and Merritt were piling into the taxi, they heard loud shouts from their apartment. Henley looked up at the windows before being pushed into the taxi by Merritt.

“They’ll be fine,” Merritt reminded Henley as he closed the door.

“What do you care?” Henley hissed as Danny rattled off the location to the parking garage.

Merritt looked at her hurt, although he knew he deserved it. “Henley, I didn’t mean what I said in the apartment. It’s just, all these emotions are coming up and, well, we’re all a little on edge.”

Danny glanced back at the two, thinking about how he treated Sutton. He should have kissed her when he had the chance, in front of everyone, just to show her how much he really cared.

“Well, your little stunt hurt Sutton, if you didn’t notice,” Henley recalled.

Merritt’s face distorted into a look of shame. He removed his fedora. “I know. I owe her the biggest apology.” Henley snorted. “She’s the daughter I never had, Henley, for the record.”

Henley closed her eyes as she attempted to calm herself down. “Why didn’t you tell her that?”

“I’m not good with that emotional crap,” Merritt smirked. “I mean, look at Atlas. He’s rubbing off on me.”

Danny looked back at him, slightly grinning. For once, he appreciated the mentalist’s joke.

The taxi pulled up to the parking garage, and the three Horsemen rushed out, quickly making their way for their vehicles. They changed into their outfits for the adventure ahead of them, merging onto the road.