concealing ➸ tomlinson

xli

zayn didn't understand what jacob was talking about.

after two or so minutes of checking the device over, he hadn't found anything really wrong with it. nothing had been tinkered with or altered. aside from what he'd done purposely himself, but that shouldn't have allowed just anyone to sneak in at will.

holding onto his flashlight in between his teeth, as turning on the lights would alert anyone awake to his presence, zayn screwed the screws back into their place. jacob had to have been lying; saying something to keep zayn on his toes. only liam knew about the keyhole, and zayn still had yet to finalize that sketch. he shouldn't have been thinking so far into this, but if something were to happen a second time, jacob wouldn't be as calm as he'd been in the hall.

suddenly, he heard the door creak open behind him. zayn jumped, spinning around and fumbling the flashlight into his hands. he'd been expecting jacob, or maybe harry, god forbid. instead, zayn was greeted with a small group of people, all wincing away from the sudden harsh light. zayn had to blink a few times himself to allow himself to adjust to the otherwise dark room.

the first voice to speak up was a familiar one. "zayn?"

zayn frowned, finally now able to recognize who was in front of him. "liam?"

almost instantly, zayn shined the light on the people behind liam. ashton, michael, and calum. he put the light back on liam.

"you four were the ones that broke in?"

"five, originally." michael said, "luke's not here at the moment."

that was followed by the sound of someone punching michael in the arm.

"no, four." liam said, "i just got here."

zayn exhaled, then placed the flashlight on one of the shelves so that it cast out a longer light. "okay, someone explain to me what you guys are doing."

"michael and i stumbled across the door a few days ago, but they've apparently been sneaking in and out since then." liam glanced behind him, glaring slightly.

ashton cleared his throat. "and, uh, what's zayn's part in this?"

"jacob knows that someone's been trying to get in, so he asked me to set up security on his behalf." zayn said.

"wait," michael said, "why are you helping him?"

"because i'm attempting to fix a problem, not generate more. and if jacob thinks that i'm screwing around with him, anyone he even suspects could know about it is going to be on the chopping block." zayn glanced around the room. "which amounts to about half of us here and anyone else he could find a good enough excuse to blame."

they stood there in silence for what dragged on forever until zayn spoke up again. "look, however you guys managed to break the system doesn't matter to me. but as long as this room- door, whatever- is being monitored like the white house, it's way too fucking risky. at stay away for a few days and let things get out of the danger zone."