Hotel Bar
Los Angeles
Nathan Ford sat alone at the end of the hotel bar, hunched, leaning against the marble counter. The unkempt, ex-insurance investigator waited silently in the empty room. The bartender approached while Nate hoped he wasn't going to cut him off. Instead, the employee set down a glass tumbler of Coke. "I checked. Airport shuttle's in fifteen minutes," he said before quickly disappearing again. Just as the bartender turned his back, Nate retrieved out a small glass bottle of amber whiskey from his jacket, pouring it into his drink.
He had barely taken a sip when a voice spoke behind him. A short, heavy-set man in his fifties nervously moved toward Nate. "I'm sorry Mr. Ford, sorry, I know who you are." He pushed wire glasses back to the bridge of his nose. "I've, uh, excuse me." Mr. Dubenich hung his heavy coat on the chair adjacent to the Nate's. He pulled the chair out, sitting down, holding his bag in his lap. "I've read all about you. I know for example that-that when you found that stolen Monet painting in Florence you probably saved your Insurance Company what 20-25 million dollars. Then there was that identity theft thing, and you saved your insurance company -I don't even know how many millions of dollars." He continued speaking even when Nate returned his gaze to the wall and took another drink. He lowered his voice before saying: "but I just know that when you needed them…" he shook his head. "What happened to your family is the kind of thing-"
Nate slammed down his glass, his head swiveling to glare at the uninvited guest. " You know that part of the conversation where I punch you in the neck nine or ten times? We're coming up on that pretty quick," he said, his tone daring the other man to say anything else.
"I just want to offer you a job." "What do you got?" Dubenich leaned in closer. "Do you know anything about airplane design?"
"I could give it a shot, you know, you give me a pencil and one of those little rulers," he replied facetiously.
"Somebody stole my airplane designs," A look of realization flashed across Nate's face as he finally turned to acknowledge Dubenich. "Oh, I see, and you'd like me to find them, right?"
"No. I know where they are," he replied while Nate raised his glass to his lips. "I want you to steal them back."
If Nate had been expecting anything, it definitely had not been that.
-O-
Pierson Aviation
The Next Evening…
Nate kept a quick stride alongside the willowy blonde woman whom he had identified as Parker. He recalled her infamously escaping with a Pissarro his former company had insured in Monaco a few years previous. It had been Sterling's case. The incident had not bothered him one bit when she escaped, forcing Sterling to write a seven-figure check. He still remembered that moment with a particular fondness.
They both walked in an unnerving silence until they stood directly across the street from Pierson Aviation. Two men stopped beside them, one dark-skinned and the other light. Both wore black clothing. Eliot Spencer stood with his arms crossed, an intimidating gaze roving over his new colleagues. Alec Hardison shifted uncomfortably while Parker never showed any kind emotion- negative or otherwise. The three soon started across the street as Nate turned, walking the opposite direction.
He entered the new building construction, stepping over various tarps and equipment. He pulled open the doorway to the back stairwell. By the time he reached the fourth floor, he wished the elevators had been working. When he arrived on the tenth floor, he went toward the middle office. The door was open. He kicked away the plastic under his feet before picking up a table, setting it up before placing his laptop on the surface. Nate went to the window, looking out to the Pierson Aviation building.
-O-
Hotel Bar
18 hours earlier...
Seated at one of the nearby tables, Nate briefly looked at the CEO's photograph before dropping it to the table. "You're sure Pierson stole your designs?"
Dubenich motioned wildly with his hands. "Look, my engineer goes missing, he disappears with all my files and then one week later Pierson announces an identical project. Come on." he said dubiously.
Nate's finger moved beneath his lip, his forehead wrinkling in light contemplation before he replied: "I don't know." he shook his head, scratching his nose. " Stealing them back, it seems like a stupid risk, there are other ways…"
Dubenich leaned more heavily against the table. "Listen. Listen to me. At the end of this month, I have a shareholder's meeting Mr. Ford. I've spent, already, five years, 100 million dollars on RD. If I go to that meeting with nothing to show for it? Then I am dead." he said, lightly striking the table with the bottom of his closed fist. Nate leaned back in his chair, tapping his finger against the table, giving a skeptical expression. "Look." Dubenich pushed a blue file folder across the table. He pointed to the papers inside before Nate took them. "look at the people I've already hired. Do you recognize any of these names?"
Nate flipped through the pages in quick succession. "Uh, yeah, I've chased all of them at one time or anoth-" he stopped suddenly, his brow furrowing disbelievingly. "Parker? You have Parker?"
"Is there somebody better?" he asked anxiously, looking as though he were willing to promise anything (or anyone) to convince Nate.
"No," He glanced up to meet Dubenich's eyes. "but Parker is insane."
"Which is why I need you," Dubenich answered.
Nate chuckled, shaking his head. "No," he said. He closed the file, throwing it back to the center of the table. "I'm not a thief,"
"Thieves, I got." he held up his finger. "What I need is one honest man.. To watch them,"
-O-
Building Across from Pierson Aviation
Eighteen and a half hours later…
Nate set his projector atop the table, hastily connecting it to the laptop. Schematics of the Aviation building suddenly rose to glowing life on the wall behind him. He turned, checking to ensure it to be working correctly. A confident smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth.
-O-
Hotel Bar
"Are you in?" Dubenich asked.
Nate leaned forward, saying: "It's not going to work." he scratched his chin. "These people you hired. They all have the same rep. They work alone. They always work alone. There's no exceptions." he shook his head. "There's no way they're going to work for you,"
"No, they will. For $300,000 each, they will." he argued. "and for you, for running it, it's double that. And it's off the books, completely off the books. Look at me, I'm desperate here. And that's just the salary, there is a bonus. Pierson is insured by I.Y.S., your old bosses." Nate looked up at that. "It's a 50 million dollar intellectual property rights policy. Mr. Ford, how badly do you want to screw the insurance company that let your son die?"
-O-
Nate pulled on a headset. "Ok. Clear comms,"
Across the street on top of the Pierson Aviation building, Hardison picked up the headset in extreme distaste. "No, no, no, no. No, hell, no. This equipment is total VH1, brah, it's best of the 80's." Hardison shook his head. "I got something nicer."
"Alright. No surprises now."
"I've been doing this since high school, bro, I'm Captain Discipline." Hardison retorted smugly. The hacker reminisced about a memorable New York incident; he, unfortunately, learned that the 'Force' didn't work as well as it did in the films. He pulled a box from his jacket pocket. "This is a bone-conduction earpiece mic, works off the vibrations in your jaw." He held the small device between his fingers, enabling the hitter to get a better view. He tossed it to Eliot, who held it up to his ear. "You can hear everything," Hardison whispered.
"You're not as useless as you look," Eliot replied.
Hardison scoffed derisively, turning around. "I don't even know what you do,"
A breeze tousled Eliot's hair as the man gave a half-smile. Memories of Belgrade, a baseball card, and an excellent cup of coffee flashed through his mind. He pulled a black knit hat over his head while Hardison adjusted the earpieces in the box. Eliot didn't flinch when Parker suddenly appeared between the two men, hanging upside down from scaffolding. Her blonde ponytail dangled, moving in the wind.
"Can I have one?" she asked, perfectly comfortable in her position.
Hardison lifted the box, and she took an earpiece. "You can have the whole box," Electrified by the peculiar thief, he watched as she disappeared again.
"What're you gonna do when she finds out you live with your mom?" Eliot asked, raising his brow in amusement.
Hardison simply grinned. "Age of the geek, baby," he said, pulling on his own hat. "We run the world,"
"Yeah," Eliot replied in a sarcastic drawl. "You keep tellin' yourself that." he walked past the younger man.
The thief sat atop the scaffolding, higher above any other building in the vicinity, smiling without care. She pushed the earpiece into her ear. She remembered a man telling her years ago to become a better thief. She also remembered the explosion that closely followed afterward. Her smile grew. She still had that stuffed bunny rabbit tucked away.
Parker readjusted her gear, lovingly caressing it. Tucking the last strand of blonde hair into the leather cap, she said: "Last time I used this rig, Paris, 2003."
Eliot examined the earpiece more closely. "Is this thing safe?"
In the next moment, Nate spoke up, realizing something. "You talking about the Caravaggio? You stole that?" His comment to Parker was ignored as Hardison explained to Eliot nonchalantly.
"Yeah, it's completely safe, it's just, you know, you might experience nausea, weakness in your right side, stroke, strokiness,"
Eliot's glare beat into the back of the young man's head, shoving in the earpiece. "You're precisely why I work alone," he groused.
Nate paced to the window, binoculars in hand. "Guys listen up, we're going to go on my count, not a second sooner. Parker, no freelancing," he warned.
"Hey, relax," Eliot said, his hand moving to the earpiece. "We know what we're doing,"
Nate lifted the binoculars to his eyes, spying three figures on the rooftop across the street. "And on the count of five!"
"Oh, he doesn't wanna be our pal," Hardison snarked.
"We're on the count. Five, four.." Nate said. Parker dashed across the rooftop. "Three,"
Eliot glanced over his shoulder at the sound of light footsteps before he quickened his stride. "She's gone,"
Nate's arms dropped, his head rolling to the side in irritation. "Sonuva-" Parker dove off the building's edge, screaming excitedly as she dropped. Nate lifted the binoculars back to his eyes, watching as the woman fell hundreds of feet.
Eliot leaned over the roof's edge, saying: "That's twenty pounds of crazy in a five-pound bag,"
Parker hung upside, looking inside the window to the alarm system. "Vibration detectors are on,"
"No cutting, Parker," he instructed. "Use the binary,"
As Parker layered the acidic paste on the double-paned glass, Hardison and Eliot ran across the roof, bags in hand. They opened a roof access hatch, hastily sliding down the ladder into the building. Parker attached a vacuum suction cup to the window, pulling the circular cut away from the pane before carelessly dropping it to the ground. Careful not to touch the vibration sensitive glass, she reached through the hole, dropping a remote onto the table. Climbing through the window, she pressed a button on the remote, and her harness released. With a graceful flip off the desk, she whipped around just in time to catch a pencil from hitting the ground. She crossed the room, opening the door, moving down the hall until she reached a room labeled: 'Danger: High Voltage'. She tested the knob, smiling when she found it unlocked.
Hardison and Eliot waited atop the elevator while Parker pulled a small laptop from her gear bag. She pulled her hat off before crossing two red wires. Impatient, Eliot began: "You know Parker anytime you wanna-"
The elevator jerked to life, starting its descent. "Woah!" Hardison fell back, hitting his shoulder against the elevator shaft wall.
"Boys are on their way," Parker said calmly.
"What are you getting with security? You see security?" Nate asked.
Parker looked at her monitors. "They don't see a thing," she answered, a superior smile growing. The guards sat around the security desk, watching monitors filled with empty rooms and unmoving elevators.
Parker's swift, gloved fingers moved across the keyboard as the boys neared their planned destination. "Door's open," she murmured.
"Alright, guys," Nate said. "Here we go,"
Hardison walked in front of Eliot down the junk-filled hall; several different carts in several shades and sizes littered the space alongside the walls. Eliot gave a small device to Hardison. "Here,"
Hardison stopped in front of a door labeled 'Research and Development'. "Got it." Hardison inserted the card into the door, his gaze nervously darting from side to side.
"Ok, you got any chatter on their frequencies?" Nate asked.
"No," Parker answered, stopping her typing but didn't look away from the screen. "Why?"
Stolen records projected onto the wall. Nate walked past the table. "There's eight listed on the duty roster. And there's only four at the guard post,"
Parker readjusted the screens. "I can't even tell how many guys are in the room. How can you tell who's who?"
Nate scratched near his eye. "Haircuts, Parker. Count the haircuts,"
Parker looked up, surprised. "I would have missed that," she said to herself.
"What?" Nate asked.
"Nothing!" she quickly replied.
Eliot lifted his hand to his ear, remaining aware of his surroundings while the hacker worked. "Problem?" he asked.
Nate's voice turned higher, uncertainty barely noticeable. "Uh, maybe. Run the cameras,"
Hardison's eyes were locked onto the small device he held in his palm. He watched the numbers change on the screen. "A 10-digit password. I salute you, sir,"
Parker searched through rolls of video feed on her monitors, scrolling until she found the missing guards. "They're doing their walk-through an hour early… why the f-"
Nate pulled back, looking more closely at the projection. "Because it's the playoffs," he said. Parker tightened the frame on her monitor, zooming in on the previously unnoticed basketball game. "Yeah, game five of the playoffs. And they're doing their rounds an hour early so they can watch the playoffs." Parker hit several keys on her small keyboard. "Alright, where are they?"
"They're at the stairwell," Parker answered.
Nate turned, quickly appraising the blueprints on the wall. "Ok.." Parker watched as the guards doing their rounds found an open door and immediately reached for their walkie-talkies and weapons. "Ok, guys. Here's what we gotta do. We gotta squelch 'em,"
Parker tapped another command into the laptop, and a high pitched ringing went across the guards' frequencies.
"Eliot," Nate began. "What I want you to do is clear the zone, and use Hardison as bait,"
Eliot unzipped his jacket, pulling it off before disappearing around the corner. Hardison turned around, offense and concern fighting for control of his expression. "Bait?" he repeated. "Hold on. Wait a minute. I know you ain't talkin' about me. I ain't nobody's bait." he tapped the side of the device. "C'mon, baby. Work for me, baby… c'mon, baby." Hardison's heart thumped in his chest, the echoes of the guards' voice ringing in the cavernous hallways.
"Hardison, they're almost there," Parker said.
"C'mon, baby. Come on," he said to the device, eyes darting to the side as the guards drew nearer. "Just come on, man." He shook his head, dropping the device. The numbers still moved across the screen as it swung back and forth, loosely hanging from the scanner attached to the water. He grabbed his bag from the floor, getting ready to run. "Forget it," he mumbled anxiously. He turned to exit down the hall, suddenly freezing when the guards stood before him with weapons aimed directly at him.
"Hold it right there," one of them said.
The bag still in hand, Hardison lifted his arms above his head. Eliot reappeared behind the guards, his glasses missing. Hardison dropped his bag as Eliot began his assault. A blur of guards hitting walls and collapsing to the ground filled Hardison's senses as Eliot subdued them. The sounds of punches and the men's pained groans echoed. Hardison's bag hit the ground while Eliot was left the last man standing, holding one of the guard's guns. Hardison looked at Eliot warily. Eliot held up the gun, pressing the release, the magazine clip falling to the floor.
Eliot tossed the useless gun over his shoulder, inordinately pleased with himself. He smiled. "That's what I do," Hardison nodded, unsure of what to say but also impressed. He turned his head when the lock disengaged. He and Eliot stood in the doorway. Hardison laughed when faced with fields upon fields of servers. The hacker entered, connecting to the main terminal while Eliot began dragging the guards into the room by their ankles.
"Guys, guys you gotta talk to me, okay? 'Cause I don't know what's going on." Nate said in a brusque tone.
Eliot pulled the last man in as Hardison replied: "It's all good, I'm stripping the drives right now." he plugged his flash drive into the main terminal before beginning to comb through several screens of data. Hardison laughed. "Come on, baby," he said, retrieving all of the stolen files before deleting them from Pierson's database. "Mm-hmm. Got all the designs. Got all the back-ups. We're leaving the cupboards bare,"
Nate started another track of pacing. "Drop the spike,"
Several colors flashed across the screen before the Blue Screen of Death appeared. Hardison stood from his chair, irritatingly pleased with himself. "Did you give 'em a virus?" Eliot asked.
"Dude," he glanced at Eliot. "I gave them more than one virus," he said as they exited into the hallway, the lights in the project room gradually switching off. As the two men started down the corridor, Parker spoke:
"Problem. Those guards you ganked?" She shifted her position, typing on her device. "They reset all the alarms on the roof and all the floors above us. We can't go up,"
Eliot shook his head, returning to his quick stride. "Every man for himself, then,"
"Go ahead," Hardison retorted. "I'm the one with the merchandise,"
Parker narrowed her eyes, becoming frustrated. "Yeah? Well, I'm the one with an exit,"
Nate stopped in front of the window, saying: "And I'm the one with the plan. " Eliot, Hardison, and Parker didn't move while Nate gave his commands. Hardison suddenly downcasts his eyes, his grip on his bag flexing. "Now, I know you children don't play well with others, but I need you to hold it together for exactly seven more minutes. Now get to the elevator, and head down. We're going to the burn scam,"
Eliot and Hardison changed directions, together heading for the elevator doors, while a smile tugged at the edges of Parker's lips. When the elevator doors opened, Hardison and Eliot dove into the cart, throwing down their bags, grabbing extra clothes, taking off their hats. "Going to plan 'B'?" Hardison asked.
Nate pulled a paper from the bottom of the stack on the table. "Technically, that would be plan 'G'," he replied.
The elevator doors reopened on Parker's floor just as the two men finished adjusting their suits and ties. Without care, Parker pulled off her shirt. The men in disbelief shared a cautionary glance before hastily looking away. "How many plans do we have?" Hardison asked as the doors closed. Parker began pulling on her own business attire. "Is there like a plan 'M'?"
Nate began to gather his things. "Yeah, Hardison dies in plan 'M',"
Eliot gave a small grin, fixing his tie and pulling on his jacket. "I like plan 'M'," he didn't turn his head to see the offended expression Hardison then wore.
As the elevator continued to descend, Eliot retrieved a blue leg brace from the bag, attaching it the thief's leg while Hardison applied burn scar makeup to Parker's face. "Stay still, stay still. Don't move," Hardison said.
The elevator dinged as it reached the bottom floor. The doors opened as one of the guards approached, his hand on his weapon. Parker leaned heavily on a cane as she exited with Eliot and Hardison close behind. The guard let his jacket fall, covering his gun, while he continued to stare at Parker. Hardison held onto Parker's arm as he assisted her through the security divider.
"Nice!" Eliot griped, covering his drawl. "Why don't you stare a little more?"
The guard backed away. "Sorry," he said, embarrassed.
"You gotta be kidding me!" Eliot protested.
Parker held up her free hand. "No, Tom. It's ok," she said to Eliot, feigned emotion seeping into her voice.
Hardison glared at the guard who unknowingly began to trail after the trio. "No, it's not,"
The guard mumbled another pitiful apology. Parker's voice became tearful as she continued to hobble away. "I understand,"
Eliot watched as Nate pulled a dark sedan to the curb outside the building. "Get the door!" Eliot ordered, nearly having fun watching the security guard fall over himself to assist three thieves fleeing from the building. Parker groaned, grabbing at the scar on her face. The guard hurried back to the security desk after they exited. Parker dropped the act as they put distance between themselves and the building. She tossed the cane to Hardison, who deftly caught. She grabbed the car door handle, jerking it open. The three fell into the car before Nate sped away.
-O-
In half an hour, the four stood dressed in different clothes in a park in the middle of the city, impatiently waiting as Hardison worked on his laptop. "Come on, come on, it's only taking all night." Nate shoved his hands in his pockets. "Come on."
Hardison didn't look up. "I got a couple of Wi-Fi networks with some crappy bandwidth." he tapped a few more keys before the laptop pinged. "There you go." Hardison glanced at the people around him. "The designs are sent,"
"All right, all right. The money'll be in all your accounts later today." Nate said.
Hardison slid his computer into his messenger bag. "Anybody else notice how hard we rocked last night?"
Eliot moved, walking behind them, ready to leave. "Yeah, well, one show only, no encores," he replied.
"I already forgot your names," Parker said breezily.
Hardison pulled his bag closer to his side. "It was kinda cool bein' on the same side,"
Nate stepped toward Hardison. " No. We are not on the same side. I am not a thief,"
A mischievous gleam took life in Parker's eyes. "You are now. Come on Nathan, tell the truth," she said playfully. "Didn't you have a little bit of fun playing the Black King instead of the White Knight, just this once?" Nate refused to answer while they all went their separate ways.
Author's Note: Hey, guys! I've been reading on this site for absolute ages, but this is my first ever story on this site. I know the OC hasn't been mentioned or introduced yet, but I think that letting Nate and the team get acclimated to each other is definitely important to the plot. If you guys wanna leave a review or even just read my first story, any support would be super appreciated! Thanks a bunch! Xx