Syndicates //

xxx

Cobalt has been working my fingers to the bone for the last two weeks. I've been hacking into bank accounts and other financial records of the Black Diamond Brotherhood. He's looking for any sort of weakness in their finances to exploit. We've come up with a few things, but nothing much. It's very obvious why Cobalt hired me at the time he did. I'm really what's making the destruction of the Brotherhood even possible.

The boys haven't had much work to do, other than keeping their senses heightened. It's a weird job in that you work really hard for a week or so and then have tons and tons of free time in between, yet they still work as hard as anybody with a consistent 9-5. I've hardly spent much time with Harry. We went grocery shopping once and we still have our nightly routine of watching a show before bed. He's snuck kisses here and there. Still, nobody knows about what happened between us.

My long hours of scrolling and coding are interrupted by the occasional check-in. There's always one of them leaving or coming home, going downstairs to workout, watching a game on the TV... It's a lively house unlike my old place where I'd go out to work just to have some energy whizzing about.

"So," Niall taps his scheming fingers on the dining table, "a certain lady's birthday is coming up next week. What's the move?" He looks at me. I'm that lady.

"Uh," I chuckle, dropping my fork to think, "nothing?"

"Oh cmon, Mia, we've gotta do something. It's the big two-one," Niall insists energetically.

"I already got shitfaced at my fake ID's 'two-one'" I say with my two fingers making quotation marks. "Not happening again considering there were people literally after me and I can't even recall it."

"We should at least go to dinner," Harry suggests. "We could bring it here if that makes you more comfortable."

"How about you guys surprise me?" I suggest. I'm probably opening up a can of worms.

"I like that idea," Liam's eyes light up. "Do you have any hints for us?"

"Mmh, no... Have fun with it and I'll probably have fun," I shrug. "Maybe pass on Deck 52."

"So yes to a nightclub just not Deck 52?" Niall quirks an eyebrow.

I laugh at his clever loophole, "Again, it's your guys' call."

Louis very loudly whispers to the other guys. I'm at the head of the table and they're all across from each other, 2x2. I can't hear everything he's saying exactly, but he gave away the key details: Vegas, private jet, something about strippers that I really hope I wasn't hearing right.

"Louis, I can hear you," I interrupt him. He turns wide eyed like a child caught playing where they're not supposed to, and bashfully returns to his plate and takes a bite of the pasta.

The conversation switched between a few clinks of forks on plates and we eat. "How's the stuff with Cobalt going?" Liam breaks the silence.

"A whole bunch of leads and most of them are dead ends. It'd be really easy to go in there and change some numbers, but Cobalt doesn't want to do that. He's just casing info."

"Cobalt is extremely methodical," Liam replies. "He covers his trail extremely well and plans everything out exactly, at the cost of him working a little slowly."

"I don't know how much longer I can sift through Brotherhood tax files and other documents," I groan. "Why can't I just hand the information over to someone who's job is to make sense of it all?"

"Good question. Don't ask Cobalt." I would never. Cobalt is very sure of himself, and you have to be sure of him -trust him blindly- if you want to be on his good side.

We wrapped up dinner and collectively helped to clean up and get ready for bed. As we scattered the kitchen and dining room, our phones simultaneously buzzed. There was motion outside of our house.

"The devil himself," Liam mumbles, setting his phone down and heading to the toward.

Cobalt strolls in with his typical snooty stride, leaving his shoes on. Liam leads him into the kitchen. "Smells good. Am I late for dinner?" he jokes.

"We've got a few leftovers if you'd like," Niall offers the plate of pasta covered in cling film.

"I'm alright, kiddo," Cobalt approaches the kitchen island and comfortably rests his forearms. "I finally have our next mission and a new acquaintance."

"Are they here with you?" Liam asks.

"Come," Cobalt wiggles his finger at us, "Let's go meet him."

We dropped everything, got our shoes on, and followed Cobalt. He had a three-row golf cart that we all squished into. His guard drove us to the building that leads to the basement. With him, we easily passed every checkpoint with no fuss. His employees part like the sea and he is Moses.

Down the flights of stairs to the basement, he leads us to an interrogation room, the same kind that I was brought into. He shuffled us in and we were met with a man as he locked the door.

He wore a navy pinstriped suit, paired with some black boots. tattoos covered his exposed skin, up to his styled, but messy dark hair. He had incredibly strong features and reminded me a lot of Liam, Louis, and Harry: ruggedness, tattoos, and enigmatic charisma.

"This is Zayn Malik," Cobalt announces.

That name is familiar, shocking the boys as they put a face to the name. I search for why the last name Malik is so familiar....

He's the son of the leader of the Brotherhood.

How the hell Cobalt managed to get Zayn onto the estate (and willingly) is beyond even me. I just ran some background on Zayn, but I never expected him to be here.

"You got a habit of kidnapping potential legionnaires?" I sarcastically ask Cobalt. I earn a few low chuckles from the 04, nodding to my upbringing into the Legion.

Zayn being in this room, un-handcuffed and unbeaten, is something I know all too well. He looks up at us after staring his dark brown eyes into the concrete floor. His face is welcoming, though not a smile. Silence. He's handling this a lot better than I did at first.

"Actually, he came here willingly," Cobalt turns to fire back at my comment. "He approached me at the gala. As Cipher has found, he's got a squeaky clean record. His father on the other hand, well... he spent more time raising his body count than raising his son. And now he's going to pay."

"So whatd'ya got for us?" Liam asks both Zayn and Cobalt.

"His father's warehouse has an archive of every major crime the Brotherhood has been involved with" Cobalt explains. "We're draining it for information -evidence- to eventually expose them. It's like a museum, according to Mr. Malik."

"I know the place like the back of my hand," Zayn finally speaks. "I can show you the way inside."

"Why are you helping us?" Liam toughly and defensively asks. "What's it to you?"

"My father wants me to start doing more work than just finances. He never raised me as a son, he raised me to be his machine. I want to watch his company burn so I can be free."

"We're keeping Zayn safe here on the estate," Cobalt tells us. "Everything he's told us has been true so far, but we've got an eye on him."

We chatted with Cobalt a little while longer, but didn't get into any details just yet. Zayn was quiet and definitely in his shell. He's clearly younger than us, meaning he's gotta still be a teenager. I bet he's terrified out of his mind right now. That's a lot of trust to put into a group of people he's known as an enemy for his entire life. I can't imagine the courage he's been building up to get this far.

"Well that's all for now," Cobalt dismisses us. "We'll talk more soon. Let me walk you guys out."

"Hey boss, I'd like to speak with Zayn for a moment," Harry ask. The request peaks the interest of the rest of us. Zayn looks a little scared at that idea, but Harry doesn't have that glint in his eyes like he's about to do something rash. He'll be okay.

"Very well," Cobalt says, partially confused, but trusting that Harry is onto something. "I'll drop them off and send someone to come back and get you."