Common Ground

A Leverage / Burn Notice crossover

Part 1

Alex Hardison came through the door of the suite carrying his laptop and equipment. He came in and set everything down and breathed in heavily. "Ahh, cool air!"

Following him was the pro grifter on their team, Sophie Devereaux. She spoke in her main English accent. "Oh, Hardison, you've been in the heat before."

"Not this kind of heat. Miami in the summer? We've been here all of forty-five minutes and I'm sweating like Porky Pig. I feel the need for a shower already."

"Not yet," said the voice behind them coming in. This was the mastermind of the crew, Nathan Ford. When he spoke, the team listened. Mostly. He addressed Hardison. "You have to set up those GPS coordinates. Find out where Degato is and see where he's going. Remember we don't have audio on him. Don't want to waste Parker's talents in the airport earlier."

Hardison said while he was hooking his laptop to the 32-inch flat screen that came with the suite, "Heh, Parker could plant a cam on the President without the Secret Service even knowing." Once he was hooked in, he tapped keys on his computer. As he did, the blonde thief named Parker came in with her backpack of goodies.

She cheered, "Hey, there's a job. Not much of a challenge, the Secret Service. Their tactics ain't a secret." She set her backpack down, winded. "Wow. How hot is it? It's hot! Damn hot!"

Hardison shook his head as he typed. "You think I can't spot a Good Morning, Vietnam quote, baby?"

"Maybe." She went behind him to wrap her arms around his waist. "But it is hot. And did I hear someone say they needed a shower? Cuz, I'd help you there if you needed it." Hardison couldn't help but smile deviously.

Nate interrupted their moment. "Guys! We have a man out there in the field waiting. Everyone got their ears on?" Nate and the others each placed their elaborate audio devices into their ears that allowed them to hear and talk to one another on a job. Nate then called out, "Eliot, you copy?"

The hitter of the crew was not in the room but he sounded as if her were. "Copy. I'm in position behind Degato. Is Hardison still complaining about the heat?"

"Hey, I'm not used to this humidity. Do you know what is used to it? Germs!"

"You know who doesn't care? Me," answered Eliot.

"Sorry, dude, I wasn't stationed in the Mojave Desert or somewhere."

They all could almost feel Eliot Spencer's rage coming through his voice. "It was the Maranjab Desert. Miami has nothing on getting pinned down in a barracks made of sand with no water at 130 degrees. You wouldn't last a minute, Hardison."

Sophie flopped on the sofa in front of the TV and said impatiently, "Can we get on with it? Marcy said something about a meeting here at the dog track today."

"Right. Thank you, Sophie," said Nate. "Hardison, do we have a visual on the cam?"

"Yes, we do. Thanks to the plant of that cam on Degato's lapel by the lovely Parker." He typed more keys and an image appeared on the TV of the insides of a dog track in Miami. It was a first person point of view. Wherever Degato went, the team saw. "Ok, ladies and tourists, welcome to the Biscayne Greyhound Park. One of many liquid assets of CEO Hector Degato. This park is the only one of his proceeds that he can hide through offshore accounts."

Sophie reiterated, "That's because his casinos are state funded."

Nate agreed. "Right. He can't funnel the profits from them without the Gaming Commission of Florida knowing. Because he has total ownership of this track, he can send that money just about anywhere and hide it. It's a classic case of independent assets."

Hardison checked. "Yeah, everything on this park is in his name alone. No partners. Ownership, land permits, even his gambling license. Degato wants this puppy all his own."

Parker chuckled. "Puppy greyhounds. Then when they get older they race!"

Nate ignored Parker and asked Hardison, "You still can't find where Degato is channeling that money from here?"

"No, man. It's strange. I've looked through all of his banks and I can't find any of his profits on this place. Makes me want to cry. It's painful."

"No Swiss accounts?" asked Nate.

Hardison gave Nate a look of disdain. "Speaking of painful, after all these years and you think I can't trace assets to a Swiss account? Nate, you wound me."

"Oh, I know you can. I'm just wondering why Degato is taking such extra precaution in hiding these profits."

Sophie offered, "If he's hiding the profits, then he's hiding the spending too."

"Good point," Nate said. "So, what is Degato buying that he doesn't want the public to know about."

"Could be anything," said Sophie. "Art. Diamonds."

"First editions of The Avengers comics."

"Women's shoes." said Parker. All in the room gave Parker a look. "Hey, the head of the FBI once wore women's clothes and no one knew. Just sayin'"

"What about real estate?" said Sophie.

Eliot answered in their ears, "No, real estate in Miami has been a joke ever since Hurricane Andrew. Too cheap for Degato."

"I agree," Nate said.

Hardison wondered, "Drugs? Cuz, that would play into a Miami stereotype."

Parker asked too cheerily, "Hey, can our cover names be Crockett and Tubbs? That would be cool!"

As usual, Nate ignored Parker and said, "No, can't be drugs. Too many cartels in Miami for Degato to deal with."

Sophie said, "Yes, I can't see him dealing with them. He has no love of art, as Marcy said. He has no pictures of anyone on his desk. Hasn't been married or dated in a long time. Degato is a loner. Only wants control on his own terms."

Eliot offered, "A gambling debt?"

Nate replied, "No, if he was running up markers he would be walking with a limp by now from one of the collectors."

Sophie said, "Maybe this meeting of his will shed some light."

Nate glanced at his watch. "Right, Marcy said it was at 4:30. That's in five minutes." He looked at the image on the screen. "Eliot, where is Degato? All we can see is something white."

"Yeah, he stepped into the bathroom just now. Didn't want to call it to your attention for obvious reasons."

The team in the room suddenly looked away from the screen.

Parker stated, "It's good thing we have no audio."

Nate brought them back. "All right, moving on. Eliot, keep on him. I want to know who is at that meeting."

After Eliot acknowledged, the team waited as they watched the images on the screen. Hardison took that moment to open the orange soda he bought at the airport for five dollars. Meanwhile, the mark, Degato, greeted many of his patrons at the track, encouraging them to bet more. The middle-aged man, though, did not go back to his office as the team anticipated. Instead, he went down the elevator into the parking garage. This section of the parking lot was secluded with very small amount of light coming from outside. The cam showed that Degato turned in every direction once he reached his desired floor. That meant that Eliot was further behind.

Once Degato was satisfied that no one was following him, he proceeded to an even darker area. This made Hardison a little frustrated. "Hmm, too dark. I wish I could put night vision on those cams."

"Lens would be too small," said Eliot in their heads.

Nate perked up. "Eliot, are you near Degato?"

Eliot stated in an even softer voice than normal, "I'm as close as I can be without detection. About 40 yards. Any closer and they'll see me."

"They?" asked Parker as she squinted at the screen.

"Yeah, there's two men he's meeting with."

Nate watched the screen and then said, "Yes, now we see them."

Hardison noted, "I'm adjusting the exposure. There. Much better."

"Not too many business meetings conducted down here," Parker said.

Sophie replied, "That depends on the business."

Nate asked, "Eliot, are you close enough for an ID?"

"Not a positive one. The first man is 5'9. Olive skin. Dressed in black Armani with Gucci tie. I can see an outline of a pistol at his waist but can't ID it. Best guess, he's Israeli. The other guy is Caucasian. About 6 foot. Tan coat. Grey slacks. Not high end. Hardison, can you get anything on face recognition yet?"

"It's working now." After a few moments of his program working, Hardison said, dumbfounded, "And...nothing. Huh? Nothing on either men. Man, this program compiles file databases from the FBI, CIA, and Interpol. Still nothing. Only way that happens is..."

"If the men paid high money to be kept out of those databases," Nate finished.

Hardison said, "They're government ghosts, then?"

"Maybe," Sophia said. "But which government?"

Nate stated, "I can guess the Israeli's. The other one could be any of them."

Parker was watching the screen when she announced, "Looks like they're arguing. Eliot, are any of them raising their voices?"

"As a matter of fact, the Israeli is."

Parker replied, "They're arguing on a price."

Sophie sounded impressed. "Nice deduction, Parker."

"Yeah, but the price for what?" asked Nate, mostly to himself.

Suddenly, the Israeli pulled out his gun from his waist and pointed it at Degato.

"Whoa, didn't expect that," cried Hardison.

Nate said, "I did. Eliot, can you see the gun?"

"I'm getting closer. Yeah, I see it. A Jericho 941. Complete with combat grips. Typical Israeli pistol. I'm guessing he's ex-Mossad."

"Which explains the no facial recognition," Nate said. "And the third man is the distributor. Add those two up and what do you got?"

"Arms dealers," said Parker.

Hardison questioned, "They don't have any supplies here."

Eliot snapped, "They're not dealing here, you geek. Too public. This meeting is for negotiation. With the Mossad the artillery is usually top of the line assault rifles. Norinco 56's most likely. And the Israeli didn't like the price."

Nate noted, "Looks like the distributor is smoothing things over."

"Brave man," said Eliot. Then his voice sounded like recognition. "Wait a minute. Guys, I know who the distributor is. And I think he's in cover."

"Cover? As in he's conning him?" cried Sophie.

"Either the Israeli or Degato. All I know is he is no distributor of arms."

Nate asked, "Eliot, how do you know this?"

Eliot replied, "Because he used to be a spy."

Part 2 coming soon.