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

Alterations

Now the dark begins to rise.
Save your breath, it's far from over.
Leave the lost and dead behind,
Now's your chance to run for cover.
I don't wanna change the world,
I just wanna leave it colder.
Light the fuse and burn it up,
Take the path that leads to nowhere!
~I Will Not Bow by Breaking Benjamin

The phone clicked silent and Bradley leaned back in his chair, frowning as he thought. He had been led to believe that any useful information on himself and his home had been hidden away, but evidently someone had missed something. The history of the house was of no concern, but old floor plans were a different story. Though the house had undergone renovation twice since the Civil War, the floor plans would still provide Shrike with a rough idea of the current layout. It was concerning, but at least he now had positive confirmation that Jack Wilder was in fact with Shrike. The two men he had ordered to follow Shrike had reported as much earlier in the night, but having confirmation from the boy himself was nice.

But the question still remained: what was he to do with the knowledge that Shrike now knew the layout of the house? The Horsemen would need to be moved, that much was certain. They were currently being held in a specially designed room on the second floor, but should his enemies manage to get past his security they would have no trouble finding their captive friends. No, the Horsemen would need to be moved as soon as possible to prevent their comrades from finding them. But where to put them? He had specially modified their current room to be escape-proof, but he had no back up room. To move them would risk their escape without outside help.

Deciding to mull over his options and make a decision in the morning, Bradley let the Horsemen be for the moment and went to bed. By morning, he had found the solution. According to Wilder, the original floor plans did not feature the two additional buildings his father had built onto the porch. Though one functioned as a kitchen and a laundry, the other was practically abandoned as it served as spare guest rooms on the first floor and storage on the second. The kitchen was flanked by several large trees and thick bushes, a fact that would make that position the most obvious for Shrike and Wilder's entrance due to the cover it provided. The other building had nothing but flowers surrounding it, and though the rooms would not be as secure as the one currently serving as a prison, they could easily be cleaned and converted into a makeshift holding cell, though they would require an additional guard without the deadbolt to keep the Horsemen in.

There was one particular closet Bradley had in mind. It served as a maintenance closet and could easily be emptied and, though larger in length then width, would serve its purpose. The door locked, though it would be an easy lock to break, and the only ventilation duct in the room was far too small to crawl through. For what he needed, the room would do, and Bradley quickly ordered his men to begin clearing the closet out, but warned them to be careful to remain quiet and keep out of sight. It was safe to assume that Shrike and Wilder would return to study the house and guard patterns and it would not do for them to see anything out of the ordinary that would lead them to suspect their friends were being moved from the main house.

The preparation did not take as long as he had thought it would, and by one in the afternoon the room was completely cleared and ready for the Horsemen. Despite that, Bradley did not immediately move his captives. The tracking device showed that Shrike and Wilder were once again somewhere in the woods outside his house. Moving the Horsemen from the main house to the storage building would require walking them outside which would reveal to their would-be-rescuers exactly where their friends were being held. There would be time enough to move the Horsemen later, so for the moment they remained locked in the same room they had been in since they arrived.

Satisfied that the unforeseen discovery of the floor plans had been made mute, Bradley left the blonde man Tressler had hired to watch the tracking device. Grabbing a book, he moved to the second floor balcony and sat in his favorite chair where he could overlook the front of the house. Discreetly studying the woods around him, he noted that he could not see far into the trees, making it easy for his enemies to study his house. Making a mental note to think out the surrounding area once this was all over, Bradley opened his book and began to read.