Stockholm Syndrome - A Harry Styles Fic

Niall sat with Paul going over each detail that lead to Harry’s disappearance as he could recall while the other members of One Direction sat by listening. Jack Broadway was sitting on the couch next to Niall, writing down notes and picking up on certain things and writing them down.

“Any word on when Harry’s parents will get here? They said the next flight out right? I still say finding out your son was kidnapped by the media instead of us calling is going to get our ears boxed.” Louis muttered, looking to Paul in a silent accusation for not letting them phone her in case it brought false panic.

“Don’t blame this one on me guys, I’m not the genius who allowed them to sneak out in the first place and Alan was technically supposed to refuse involvement in helping any of you go somewhere without notifying me or the other staff. The blame goes on everyone here, not just one it’s everyone’s. Yours for not talking them out of it, mine for not being more observant, Niall’s for not going about it legit and Harry’s for getting himself into this mess. Unfortunately we need to get Harry back soon as management are shitting bricks and for each day he’s gone, your revenue and sales goes down, which makes the powers that be lose money. Fucked up priorities but that’s business and corporate greed, they do not care about the artists as a person, they look at it from a business standpoint. If this organization want a ransom then we’ll pay the ransom at no matter the cost, we just have to wait for contact to be established.” Paul reasoned, although unsure considering it had been a few days since they had heard anything.

“There won’t be a ransom and if there is you won’t be able to pay it. Trust me, I’ve dealt with these people before and that’s not their MO when they kidnap people. Money is only a small part of it. This organization likes control. They like to send messages to gain the upper hand. They want to break everything they touch and right now, I almost guarantee that Harry is their main focus. They’ll break him and then they’ll sell or kill him. The more broken they are the more premium they get. Harry is a super star, which means his price – we’re talking hundreds of millions. If he won’t break, they’ll kill him. Believe me when I say that I know that from first hand. My son was kidnapped by these men. I was on their trail, even arrested one of the high up guys. I suppose I was a threat so they took my son as leverage. I got his finger back the first week and a toe back the next. I released the guy in exchange for my son’s life. That’s when things got a little weird. My son wouldn’t come back home and contact had then ceased and I didn’t hear from him for nearly a year.”

Niall folded his arms across his chest to listen, the other members wondering the same thing but neither of them prodded.

“He called me one day out of the blue on an untraceable phone, told me he had met a girl and that he gained their trust enough to be considered a non-threat. Jude was crazy about her, told me she had been there for years. Her name was Sorrow Heart and he wanted to stay with her, he wanted to protect her. The boy always had a good heart but as a father I needed him to come back and get the hell out of there. I don’t know what went wrong but I think the girl he tried to protect either turned against him or they considered an FBI’s son a huge risk. Whatever the case may be he was brutally stabbed but not before being hung and tortured for hours. The forensics report gave me a play by play. There was a kiss left on his lips, they pinpointed it to right before he was stabbed so either the girl did it or…it was all one sick game. I just know I want justice for my son and will help you try to get Harry back, come hell or high water.”

Niall felt the relief fall over his shoulders like a huge weight being taken off. He wanted to hug the guy. With the FBI on their side they at least had a chance.

“Thank you. After the one officer was here – handing us our ass on a plate and then just leaving-“

“What was the cop’s name? He sounds familiar.” Broadway interrupted as he started going through old photos of the boys and the one they called Alan, cross referencing him with older photos from other cases. His dead green eyes carefully examining every detail.

“Officer…Pilla? Philla-“Louis paused as he tried to remember, looking at Paul since he had called the police before the emergency with Harry’s parents phoning in and was outside the room trying deal with them while the office conducted the interview.

“Phillandrias? Ed Phillandrias? Sound familiar?” Broadway took a stab as Liam snapped his fingers, pointing.

“Yeah! That’s the wanker!”

“Liam!” Niall chastised, looking to Broadway.

Louis looked to Zayn and shook his head. This was draining and this whole thing made no sense.

“Alan told me that this was planned well before pre-fame. Which was xfactor. If they were going to take Harry, why wait this long? He’s twenty-one and got famous well before that. That’s my million dollar question because our top of the world days were at their peak when we were sixteen. You’d have to wonder why they’d waste the extra resources to wait so many years.” Louis pointed out, his gaze going to Broadway.

Paul’s phone rang again, he glanced at it and stood up.

“Harry’s mom, I’ll be right back guys.”

With that he stood and left the room to take the call. Broadway watched him go with suspicion but went back to the photos that were laid out on the coffee table in front of them.

“I’ve been following this organization for years so if you’re looking for answers I don’t have many. All I can tell you is they saw something in Harry that they thought they could break. Something worth some value. Whether it has to do with him directly or indirectly. For all I could guess is they’re sending a message to all the other musicians out there, telling them ‘we got a pop star, are you next?’ I don’t know guys. I just know they killed my son and I’m seeking justice for him. If it gets Harry back in the process then it’s not been for nothing. When you become a father your whole world changes and I got to experience that joy, I got to see him grow and then I got to experience the pain of losing him all because I was close to a breakthrough on a following case. This organization is bigger than people think and no one even knows how big.” Broadway explained, his eyes stopping to a picture of Alan a few years prior.

“This. When was this taken?” He tapped the photo impatiently as his eyes followed to a counter picture – to a different man with straight blonde hair, skinny physic and cold steel eyes. Comparing it to the short brown haired muscular picture beside the boys at one of the many venues they toured. His face looked different and his eyes were a deeper color but something stood between the two that struck a nerve.

“The blonde guy was Alan in our starting out days. He started getting some changes done – bulking up and all that, when we saw him the following summer we didn’t even know what to think. He said he didn’t want to be known as ‘the weakling’ forever, especially since he was one of our bodyguards and the long hipster with blonde hair wasn’t putting fear into the hearts of teen girls...I’m assuming now the change was for another reason?” Zayn inquired, his eyes also studying the picture, the pieces slowly coming together when Broadway handed him a picture of a guy in a police mug shot.

“His real name is Jake Hemmore and he’s been avoiding the FBI for many years over a 1993 murder of a cop, drug deal gone bad and all that. Originally a US citizen he escaped jail, turned tail and ran to the UK – how your management didn’t look further in to this guy is beyond me– how they could hire a criminal with a murder background…” Broadway shook his head in disbelief.

“So now what? How do we get in contact with them? Waiting isn’t working and Harry’s parents should be here soon. We need to give them something, they’re going to be worried as it is.” Niall sighed, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Harry’s parents should be extremely worried. I’m not going to sugarcoat anything to calm their fears. The truth is they need to hear these things as a possibility that they may never get their son back or worse. It’s not pleasant but you can’t tell a four year old getting a shot that it doesn’t hurt and then when it does you come out looking like the asshole for lying to them in the first place. I’m going to tell Harry’s parents the statistics of getting him back, the best case scenario and the worst case scenario. I’m not going to hold their hand or yours and tell you it’s going to be alright. If you want coddled than find your parents because I’m going to give you the facts and nothing else.” Broadway warned, eyeing each member of the band. “Some of my methods are unorthodox but they get the job done.”

“The newspaper said you had a different way of handling tragedy. I suppose with what happened to your son…”Niall trailed off.

“This has been going on even before my son was kidnapped. I’m not a liar and I won’t pretend to be. If you want someone that lies then I’m more than happy to get Phillandrias back out here.” Broadway shrugged with indifference.

“No, we’ll follow your lead. I just want a shot at finding Harry, we’ll do what you need us to do and cooperate. Just let us know.” Niall spoke the desperation clearly in his eyes as he stood. “It’s my fault this whole thing is happening anyway. I should have listened.” He admitted, going to sit outside on the balcony to think.

Louis sighed and went after him leaving Liam and Zayn with Broadway.

“If it makes any difference to you guys, they would have gotten Harry sooner or later. He was their target. What Niall would have done or not done makes no difference in this situation. This organization is well run and if I couldn’t get my son back with even being an investigator for the FBI than Niall certainly doesn’t need to be blaming himself.” Broadway said, reaching to study more of the photos.

Liam sighed and stood.

“Then tell us straight, what are the statistic of getting Harry back alive? What happens if he runs in with that girl? Do you think she’d make any sort of decent lead? Maybe something that you could possibly follow up on her history to see if she plays any sort of roll in this?”

Broadway threw the photos back on the table and looked Liam and Zayn straight in the eye, his face a dead expression.

“Victim recovery on average has a twenty-three percent success rate. The other percent were not successful or they were simply never found. Twenty-three people for every hundred or twenty-three hundred per ten thousand. If you take every disappearance and divide them, the success is slim but there’s always a chance – which is twenty-three percent. That’s on average. This organization has a point zero, zero two percent recovery rate. Meaning the chances of a person being found is slim, the chances of them being found alive…slimmer still. So that twenty three percent chance means shit. If you want me to give you the pill straight, Harry coming out of this alive is as slim as you winning the Lottery. In fact, if you were to go and buy a ticket right now, you’d have more of a chance at winning it then finding Harry. Point zero, zero two percent is two people per two hundred million. Your chance at winning the lottery is only point zero, zero one. One in one hundred million people. As for the girl, I’ve searched for leads and nothing in our databank comes up. It’s hard to know if that’s even her real name. If she were to call, the lead would help yes – but we need to get a message to them and that’s where you guys come in. You have the media attention right now and we can use that to our advantage.”

“Absolutely, what do you need us to do?” Zayn asked, standing up with Liam.

“Call a press conference for us, I have an idea…but be warned it might stir up an ant hill with the police and their investigation.” Broadway warned, reaching for his phone to dial his boss.

“Phillandrias and his investigation?” Liam made sure, Broadway nodding, the wheels in his head beginning to form an idea.

“Let’s do it.” Zayn agreed, Liam nodding with agreement. Whatever Jack Broadway had planned, if it got them in contact with Harry’s kidnappers than it could open a door for negotiation and bring Harry back to them…or it could get him killed.

Notes

Chapter 10 goes back to Harry. Warning; violence between chapter 10 and 11 happening.