Note: This is a flashback to the scene where the Horseman (minus Jack) are in the apartment after Dylan discovers the chip in his phone and traces the Horseman to New York. R and R!

"Alright, we need to get out of here. Henley, you and Merritt are coming with me to set up the mirrors so we can get the safe. Jack, you need to stay here and burn any evidence from the Eye. Got it?" Danny barked orders in a tone which suggested that he was not to be questioned.

"You got it, Chief," Merritt droned, sounding completely unenthusiastic despite the fact that the FBI could have been busting down the door at any given moment.

"Woah, hold up Danny. Why am I the one who has to stay?" Jack protested, sounding almost indignant. "It's because I'm the youngest, right? The most expendable?"

"Look Jack, one of us has to do it, and you're the best man for the job. Besides, you've always got your cards as a weapon, right? So why should you be nervous?" Danny shot back, sounding exasperated as he bustled around the apartment, grabbing various items and shoving them into a messenger bag, Henley and Merritt following his lead.

"It's not that I'm nervous, Danny, it's just that I don't want to get caught. If the FBI shows up and I'm still here, I could be done for, man!" Jack pressed.

"Then figure something out!" Danny retorted quickly. Jack paused, seemingly taken aback, and the harsh look on Daniel's features softened a bit. "I'm sorry, Jack, I know it's a lot to ask. But we've got to set up the mirrors as soon as possible, so I really can't afford to argue with you right now. Just trust me, you can do this. You know what to do."

"Fine. Fine. I'll do it, you're right. You win," Jack sighed as he made his way over to the fireplace and shuffled through the papers that had accumulated there, seeming to be mulling over which to first consign to the flames. Henley watched him, noticing for the first time how young he really looked.

He hardly seemed out of high school, and yet he had told the Horseman that he had been pickpocketing off the street for a few years. Just what kind of life had Jack Wilder led?

Henley really had no idea, but she could sense that the luck of the draw had never really been on his side. Suddenly, it didn't seem fair to her to let this boy, the least fortunate of them all, risk his life for theirs.

"Guys, maybe I should stay here. I am the escape artist, after all. I've got more experience than he does with this kind of thing," Henley offered, but the look Jack gave her, somehow soft and stern at the same time, was almost enough to stop her in her tracks.

"No, Henley, no. I can do this. Danny was right, it has to be me. You said you have more experience anyway, so you need to put it to good use. Besides, I'm tired of you guys thinking I'm just some kid off the street who can do a few card tricks. I need to...prove myself, I guess," He smiled slightly, the corners of his mouth upturned, and Henley almost lost the will to argue with him.

"Right, so come on, Henley. We need to get ready to go, hurry up!" Danny's commanding tone brought her focus back, and the next few minutes were swept up in the flurry of motion in the apartment as the Horseman prepared to leave.

Henley quickly checked the computer, almost if as a means to distract herself, and was shocked to find that the FBI seemed to be catching up with them. Danny wasn't much of a help in this matter, reminding them all that they had not even the slightest idea whose orders they were taking in the first place. She saw Jack listening to their frantic comments with a slightly nervous look on his face before adding his own two cents.

"Hey guys, I don't know if I can do this, alright? I don't want to go to jail, you know?" He sounded nervous, almost scared, and Henley's heart tugged at the sound of the fear in the boy's voice, well-hidden but definitely there. He had been so confident, so willing a moment ago...what had changed his mind?

Perhaps the prospect of being caught? She hadn't been entirely reassuring a moment ago, and the tension in the room had definitely increased when she had announced that the firewall was down. Their comments may have gotten to his head, taking his earlier commitment and warping it into anxiety. Whatever it was, Henely couldn't help but feel some level of pity for him.

"Then don't mess this up. You're always talking about how you want to be treated like an adult, so now might be a good time to start acting like one. Prove yourself, or whatever the heck you wanted to do. We have a plan, stick to it. Stay here and burn it all," Danny, on the other hand, was as void of compassion as ever, only stopping in what he was doing to clap Jack on the shoulder for a brief moment before resuming in his work.

Henley held back her first impulse to volunteer herself again, but knew better this time. Danny would never go for that now, not when the FBI was on their tail and the plan was so close to being set in motion. She wouldn't be able to argue with Danny to the point where he would change his mind, she knew from experience that it was virtually impossible to come out victorious in an Atlas Argument. And even if she had wanted to argue, Merritt's next words denied her any chance to do so.

"I'm just here for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. That's it. Then I'm gone," he announced, the snide and indifferent facade still in place even at these crucial moments. It ignited an anger inside Henely that she couldn't explain, and she reared on him almost instantly.

"You can do whatever you want after this is over, Merritt. But for now you stick to the plan," Her words were spoken with a conviction, and Henley was half-aware that she was trying to make herself believe what she had said, so that the order was less for Merritt and more for her own benefit.

She realized she sounded just like Danny, but it was worth if it could calm them down. She glanced over towards Daniel, who was standing by the window, a look of utter seriousness on his face.

"Uh, guys? They're here."

Almost simultaneously, all four Horsemen stared out the window and down onto the street, where several FBI vehicles had screeched to a halt in front of the apartment building.

Agents armed with guns were storming into the ground entrance, and Henley knew they had come down to the wire. If they stayed in the apartment any longer, they would be caught. And if they were caught, any prospects of admittance to the Eye would vanish like a rabbit from a box.

"Come on!" Danny jolted her out of her thoughts, throwing her a bag stuffed with equipment. Henley managed to catch a glimpse of Jack over her shoulder and she was swept out the door with Danny and Merritt-the boy had already sprung into action, tossing sheets of paper into the crackling fire as if his life depended on it. Which, of course, it did.

A sharp pang of guilt and worry shot through her, but Henely knew she had no time to dwell on it, even as she thought she saw Danny glance back at the kid as well. Jack would be fine. He would be fine.

She keep repeating the phrase over and over as she and the holders of the Lover and Hermit cards rushed down the winding staircase, through the chute, and out of the building. Otherwise, it would be all too easy to imagine that Jack Wilder would not be fine. And this was not an option.