What's this? After three years this story is being updated? I want to apologize to everyone who was reading, following, reviewing, and favoriting this story over the three years I had abandoned it. There are no reasons for why I abandoned this story, but I'm back now and I do intend to finish it! In fact, I am already planning and writing the next few chapters.

But before you jump right in, please read this VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION: For reasons explained in chapter one, I chose to go back and completely rewrite this story. So what that means is that what you might have read just this morning might now be drastically changed (for example, chapter 13 bears no resemblance to the original). So, if you have read this story before today (July 24, 2016) then I would highly recommend going back and reading the rewritten story.

With that note, I just want to thank every single one of you who has over the past three years reviewed, favorited, or followed this story. Your support even when I hadn't touched this story in years brought a smile to my face and was a big part of bringing me back to writing this. There are not enough ways to thank you, so I will settle for saying it one last time: thank you everyone for reviewing, favoriting, following, and simply reading this story! It means the world to me and always brings a smile to my face. So thank you so very, very much.

Disclaimer: Neither Now You See Me, its characters, or the song belong to me.

Half a Plan

As a child you would wait
And watch from far away.
But you always knew that you'd be the one
That work while they all play.
In you, you'd lay awake at night and scheme
Of all the things that you would change,
But it was just a dream!
~Warriors by Imagine Dragons

Dylan and Jack spent the majority of the day scouting the house and surrounding areas before slipping away to the car and making their way back to town. After a brief stop for take out, the two fugitives locked themselves in the motel room where Dylan immediately plopped down on his bed and began scribbling blueprints of the house while Jack made his way to the shower. When he was done, Jack practically had to force the older man to shower as Dylan didn't want to leave his blueprints. Finally, Dylan conceded and headed for the shower and Jack shook his head, wondering how the man had survived making the heist plans without someone to make sure he took care of himself. Sitting on the bed to study the expertly drawn blueprints, Jack carefully added a few things of his own from where he had explored. When that was done, he fell onto his own bed and grabbed the TV remote.

"…arson is the suspected cause of the McDonald's…"

Not interested in a burned down restaurant, Jack flipped between the channels, growing frustrated when it became apparent that the only channels the crappy satellite could pick up were one local and one national news channels, what looked to be a Spanish soap opera channel, and Disney Channel. Giving up, Jack changed it back to the national news and grabbed his pack of cards. He'd been working on a trick that involved "dissolving" all but the chosen card before everything had happened and he had yet to perfect slipping all the cards down his sleeve without it being obvious. He ignored the program as he worked and barely noticed when Dylan emerged and went back to his bed and the blueprints. Several minutes passed like that before the news caught their attention.

"It has been two days with still no sign of the Four, now Five, Horsemen. In a revelation that stunned the nation, it was revealed that the FBI Special Agent in charge of the Horsemen investigation, Dylan Rhodes, was in fact the mastermind behind the heists that left television star Thaddeus Bradley unjustly imprisoned for the crime. Upon Bradley's release, Rhodes escaped custody on Monday and fled for parts unknown. He along with the remaining Horsemen J. Daniel Atlas, Merritt McKinney, and Henley Reeves have officially been placed on the FBI's most wanted."

The story switched to a generic one about texting and driving, so Jack muted the TV and glanced over at Dylan. Like Jack, he had paused his work to watch the story, but he didn't continue studying the blueprints after the story ended. Instead, he leaned back against the pillows and closed his eyes while absentmindedly rolling the pen between his fingers. His trick momentarily forgotten, Jack began to shuffle the cards as he watched the silent TV. He knew Dylan was stressed and that having his face plastered all over the TV was not helping things, but Jack knew he needed to voice the concerns that had been mounting throughout the day. He'd talked himself into believing he was simply being paranoid and because he did not want to add any more stress to Dylan, but after the day spent scouting, he knew he needed to at least mention them.

"Doesn't this seem a bit too easy?"

"Hmm?" Dylan didn't open his eyes.

"Getting to New Orleans, scouting his house, it feels way too easy. Almost like Bradley wants us to get ahead of him."

"What do you mean?"

Jack sat with his legs crossed and turned so he could see Dylan better. His hands still shuffled the cards as he thought of ow to phrase his concerns.

"Bradley had men on us for weeks, right?" Dylan nodded and sat up swinging his legs off the bed to face Jack. "And yet both of us managed to get away scot free with no followers. And then we manage to travel half-way across the country and straight up to his home with him none-the-wiser. It's sloppy."

"What are you saying?"

"I think we're playing into Bradley's hands."

Dylan didn't respond. His eyes grew vacant for a moment and Jack shuffled the cards uncomfortably. He had phrased his concerns much better in his mind, but he still thought he'd gotten his point across. At least, he hoped he had. He still wasn't sure how to explain the gut feeling he had that was screaming at him that something was very wrong.

"You have a point," Dylan finally replied. "But what makes you think we got away scot free? It seems to me that Bradley tried his hardest to make sure we didn't escape, but he underestimated us."

"Maybe," Jack frowned. "But he had a man on me for three weeks. You don't trail someone that closely for that long and then let him traipse halfway across the country without trying to stop him unless…"

"Unless you know you can catch him when he arrives." Dylan finished.

Jack nodded. "If he was just going to have the FBI arrest you, why would he bother going through the trouble of kidnapping me and the others instead of just telling the authorities or killing us on the spot."

Dylan frowned, but made no move to respond, so Jack continued.

"When the man came after me he had a taser. With as hard as he fought, he clearly had orders not to let me escape, but the taser means he also had orders not to kill. If Bradley believed that the FBI could have arrested you, why would he have ordered for me and the others to be taken at all? Why not just turn us over and spare him the trouble."

Dylan caught on quickly. "They're bait."

"So long as he has the others, he's got leverage."

Dylan sighed and ran a hand through his hair. The thought had crossed his mind, but he had tricked himself into believing that his escape had been a fluke that Bradley could have never predicated. But if what Jack said was true, then the situation was more hopeless then he had led himself to believe.

"You're probably right," he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "But there's nothing we can do about it."

"Why not? We can't just play into his hands!"

"And we won't." Dylan motioned to the blueprints. "We let Bradley believe he has us where he wants us, but we have to be ten steps ahead of him at all times. We can't slip for even a second."

Jack set the cards aside and leaned forward. "What's the plan?"

Dylan hesitated. "I hand myself over."

Jack just stared, not sure he had heard right. "What?"

"I hand myself over." Dylan repeated.

"Are you crazy?" Jack yelled, quieting only when Daniel made a shushing gesture. "That's suicide, man!"

"Maybe, but we need a distraction so you can slip in and free the others."

"How?" Jack couldn't believe what he was hearing. "We don't even know if the others are even there. For all we know he could have sent them to Antarctica!"

Dylan raised an eyebrow. "Antarctica? Really?"

"Shut up, you know what I mean. Besides, he knows I'm with you. It'll never work."

". The Horsemen are his insurance. Without them, he has nothing so he'll keep them close by if only so he can have direct control. Wherever Bradley is, that's where the others are. He suspects you're with me, but he can't know for sure. He'll assume that we met up and will be planning for the both of us, but all he can know for sure is that you escaped."

"And where else would I be?" Jack sounded hurt.

"New York, Europe, Antarctica, anywhere. The Eye has safe houses all across the world they could send you too. Without actually seeing you, he can't know for sure that you weren't sent to any number of places."

Jack eyed him like he had grown two heads. "He's not stupid, Dylan. He'll know I wouldn't abandon my friends."

"We know that, but Bradley can't be sure."

Jack shook his head, not liking the idea but also knowing that they didn't have any other options.

"What about you? If I'm going after the others then who's saving you?"

Dylan didn't respond. Jack shook his head and jumped to his feet.

"Uh uh. No way. There is no way I'm going to let you hand yourself over and leave you to die. Forget it! It's ain't gonna happen."

Dylan spoke quietly. "If it means that you and the others get out alive, then what does it matter what happens to me?"

Jack sank back down onto the bed and shook his head in disbelief. "It matters, Dylan. And I won't do it. If you go through with this, then you're on your own and nobody will be saved."

Dylan sighed and placed his head in his hands. When he looked back at Jack, all the fight was gone and for the first time since Jack had met the man, Dylan showed his vulnerability.

"Then what do you suggest we do?"

Jack reached over and picked up the blueprints. Leaning forward, he held the plans up.

"We use what we have and whatever else Alma can dig up. We do what we did today until we have every little thing accounted for. Bradley gave us a week, so let's use it to prepare instead of going in half-cocked."

Dylan studied the younger man for a moment. Jack held up the blueprints and after a moment's hesitation, Dylan took them. With a nod, he conceded.

"We got work to do."