Disclaimer: I do not own Now You See Me or any of its characters. If I did, there would be more of Jack

Author's note: I'm soooo sorry for the long wait. It is inexcusable... but I do have a semi-legitamate excuse, I promise. The good news is: I'm hoping to have the next chapter up in much less time! Thank all of you for being so patient!

Chapter 9: Escape

The days were running together. Seconds flowed into minutes, flowed into hours, flowed into days. Time was now indiscernible, and Jack had no idea how long he'd been a prisoner in this black hole of a cell, but every second was spent biding his time. The young sleight had determined early on in this misadventure that there was no way he was going to allow himself to be used as bait for his friends. It had simply been a matter of time until he escaped.

Apparently Thaddeus Bradley had grown tired of his daily visit, as he had failed to show up the previous day. Jack sincerely hoped the same absence would occur today.

His scheme had been several days in the making, beginning with Bradley's sick idea to call up Dylan during his designated gloating time. Jack found that his own predictable reaction to that news had been the perfect cover up for step one of his escape plan. As the three "henchmen" had been trying to gag him, Jack lashed out, head-butting the one named Nathan harshly and sending him stumbling back. The other two had responded just as he had anticipated, by blindly restraining him. As one of them made a grab for his wrists, Jack twisted his arms just enough that the man's thumb landed on the scanner for a half-second, thankfully enough to get a reading. Jack used the sounds of his struggle to cover up the muted click of the chains unlocking. After that he was extremely careful to prevent them from falling off in the beating that ensued and during the past couple of days. Now that Bradley seemed to be absent, Jack figured that this was the best chance he would get.

He lay there in uncomfortable silence, chest aching and wrists raw, for what could have been minutes but seemed like hours in his anticipation. Finally he heard the faint sounds of footsteps echoing outside his cell door, signaling food. He gently removed the chains and gingerly stood up, placing a hand on the wall when he was hit with a sudden dizzy spell. After taking a short moment to allow his balance to restore itself and the sharp pain in his ribs to subside, Jack wobbled his way over to stand beside the door. He waited, body tense, while the door was unlocked from the outside and pushed open. As soon as the man took a step into the darkness, Jack grabbed him from behind and put him in a sleeper hold, easing the door shut with his foot. He lowered the man to the floor, unconscious, before returning to face the door, calling out in a perfect copy of his victim's voice, "I'm gonna be an extra minute or two. Getting tired of the runt disrespectin' our hospitality."

Jack could hear the guards' chuckle outside as one of them called back, "Gotcha."

As quickly as he could manage, Jack checked the man's pockets for anything of value, finding nothing but the key to his cell and a pistol, which he stuck in the back of his pants, praying he wouldn't need it. He pocketed the small lump of bread the guard had brought in and chugged the water before straightening up. He took a deep breath and opened the door, beginning his surprise assault by slugging the man on the left with a right cross to the knock-out point on the jawline. His aim was true and connected solidly, effectively taking guard number one "down for the count". Unfortunately, the element of surprise can only last for so long, and by the time he had finished with the first guard, the second one had snapped into action. Jack just managed to side-kick the gun out of the man's hand as he prepared to fire, ignoring the protesting of his ribs. The guard threw a powerful right-handed punch which Jack quickly stepped to the left of and deflected with his right hand, swiping it down the man's forearm and grabbing his wrist. Jack jerked him forward, at the same time bringing his foot up in a strong kick to the sternum, knocking the breath out of the guard. He finished his movement by releasing the man's arm and throwing the knob of his wrist bone into the pressure point at the base of the skull, sending the guard to the floor, out cold.

Jack dragged both men back into his prison and locked all three of them together in the chains. He snuck back out of the room and locked the door behind himself, placing a hand on his chest, trying to slow his breathing. The lack of sustenance as well as the physical abuse had really done a number on him, and he realized at this point he was really just running on fumes and determination. Thankfully, he had a lot of determination.

Jack slunk up the wooden staircase ahead, all the while watching out for Bradley's men and keeping to the shadows. He emerged through a door at the top and did a double take. He was in a house. A newly renovated house, it appeared, judging by the high-tech locks and appliances. He must have been "living" in a basement all this time. Jack saw three armed men watching a football game on a flat screen TV in the next room over, and he nearly laughed out loud. He had thought that sort of stuff only happened in movies. Bradley and his men must not have given Jack much credit; not that he could blame them, given his condition.

He silently ducked around the corner and came face to face with a kitchen and a door that led to freedom. Unfortunately, freedom was being prevented by two more guards outside of it. Jack realized that there was no way he could disable those two without being heard, so he looked for a Plan B, which he found after he snuck upstairs. One of the bedrooms had a relatively young oak tree growing close to the window. Jack shimmied the lock with some bobby pins he had discovered in a bathroom drawer and removed the screen, sliding it under the twin bed. After shutting the window behind him, he moved as fast as he dared down the tree, which, considering he grew up in New York, wasn't as fast as he would have liked. He dropped six feet from the last branch and landed in a roll, coming up gasping as his body screamed at the torture. Jack took a moment to regain control of the pain and checked for enemies before sprinting into the woods behind the house. He circled around towards the front, where the driveway branched into a highway and began his journey away from captivity.

Jack ran as long as he could, until his adrenaline faded and exhaustion caught up to him, but even then, he stumbled along for a while until he finally came upon an old off-brand gas station. He staggered inside and up to the counter asking for a phone, where a kind-looking elderly man took one look at him and directed him to a pay phone outside, handing him a few coins. Jack quickly punched in Daniel's number, but was met with an unanswered call, so he left a short voicemail. He then took a gamble and called Merritt, needing someone who would both answer their phone and be able to keep a level head. His friend picked up on the second ring.

"Hello?" The mentalist's voice sounded hesitantly on the other end.

"Merritt!" Relief rolled off Jack's voice.

"Jack?! Wha-? How-? Are you alright?!"

"A little worse for wear, but alive."

"Where are you?"

"Uh… I don't know. One sec," Jack placed his hand over the mic and yelled to a middle-aged woman who had just pulled up to a pump, "Excuse me, but could you tell me where we are?"

She looked at him like he was crazy, but sort of shook her head and called back, "Tuscaloosa, Alabama."

"Thank you!" Jack brought the phone back up to his ear and relayed the information to Merritt.

"Okay," The elder magician began, "I have good news and bad news. Good news is we're already on our way there. Bad news is we're still seven hours out from the city limits and we don't even know exactly where you are. Can you give us an address we can plug into the GPS?"

"Sure. I'll call you right back. Don't go anywhere." Jack hung up the phone and rushed inside, acquiring the exact address of the gas station before quickly ringing his friend back up. He told Merritt the address and waited for him to punch it into the GPS. Jack realized he couldn't stand outside on the pay phone forever, but he hated the thought of being alone again, even if he knew it was only temporary. All too soon, his time was up, and he smiled as Merritt ordered him to stay put. Where was he going to go? They traded "see you soon"s, and after hanging up the phone, Jack made his way inside to chow down on his bread while waiting out the long hours ahead.