"I don't like it", Sophie said, disapproval clearly written on her face. Nate raised his eyebrows.
"Why not? You've done the Sicilian duchess hundreds of times. It always works."
They were sitting in the office, planning the next step in their current job. The aim was to expose a corrupt judge by getting him to accept a bribe from a weapons' dealer.
"All you have to do is chat him up and then, when you are somewhere private, to arrange a meeting between him and Enrico Fellini." He pointed at his breast to indicate that he would play the part of the weapons' dealer in this.
"Can't you just approach him directly?" Sophie suggested.
"Having you do it would be much more believable. You know that."
"Why don't you want to do it? Being a Sicillian duchess sounds like fun to me."
Sophie jumped when she heard Parker's voice over her head. The blonde thief was dangling from the ceiling upside down.
"It is not the role. Nate is right, I can do that in my sleep. It's the judge. I ... I don't know ... I really don't like him. He gives me the creeps."
"Of course you don't like him", Hardison said, bringing up some images of the mark on the flatscreens in front of them. "We are not targeting him because he is a nice person. He is known to be a corrupt, racist, chauvinistic pig. He's known to send black people to prison for ten years and more for drug usage or small scale shoplifting, while he lets rich white rapists and even murderers off the hook with little more than a reprimand. Not someone I would like to date either."
"It's not about you having a good time", Nate reminded her.
Sophie snapped at him.
"I know that."
She couldn't say why this simple grift did bother her so much. They had run scams that required her to do much more uncomfortable things. It was just that something about this guy really made her inner alarm bells ring. Eliot noticed her discomfort.
"I am having your back, Sophie. You know that. That guy so much as looks at you the wrong way, you say the word and I am in there to punch his face in in a second."
Sophie smiled at him gratefully.
"I know, Eliot. I know you wouldn't let anything bad happen. It's just ... I really don't know why this creeps me out so much."
Nate took a sip from his whiskey glass.
"Come on, Sophie, take one for the team."
She pulled herself together.
"Okay, Hardison, set up Duchessa Sophia Chiaramonte for me."
Hardison was already typing away at his keyboard, generating false newspaper articles, two marriages, a divorce and immigration papers for the Duchessa.
"What do I get to do?"
Parker wanted to know as she somersaulted to the ground.
"You will provide an escape route, in case that Sophie's cover is blown or anything else goes wrong. Eliot, you go in as concierge. We will find a way to send the real one on a short vacation. Hardison and I will be standing by in the van."

The best part of being the Duchessa was the outfit, Sophie decided as she glanced at her reflection in the glass door of the court house cafeteria. The expensive purple Italian designer dress was just the right mix of classy and slinky, and it went so well with the high stiletto sandals she had picked. Now that she was in role, she felt a lot more confident about this job than she had yesterday.
"Okay Nate, the judge is here", she mumbled into the comms. "I am going in."
"Remember", Eliot's voice said in her ear. "If anything goes wrong, just say 'Palermo' and I will be there in a sec."
Sophie grabbed a tray and a beverage and positioned herself in the dead corner behind the judge. When he turned away from the cash register to find a seat, she hit him in the back with the edge of the tray and then let it fall to the ground with a little scream.
"Attentione, Singor, prego", she said.
The judge looked at her startled.
"Oh, sorry, I did not see you."
"Such a shame, the good cafe crema", she said and bended down slowly and cumbersomely began to collect the cup and tray from the floor, allowing the judge a good view of her cleavage.
"Oh, let me help you with that", the judge said and quickly retrieved the tray. "I apologize. How can I make it up to you? Can I get you a new coffee?"
"Si, that would be fantastico, you are a nice man, molto simpatico." She smiled at the judge and gently placed a hand on his forearm.
"You are Italian?", the judge observed, while he led her to a nearby table and pulled out a chair for her.
"Si. From the island of Sicily"
"I have never been there, but I heard it is very beautiful. Same must be said about it's women", he said with an appreciative glance at her. Sophie forced her smile to become even wider while inwardly rolling her eyes at the judges plump attempts of flirting.
"Quite the charmer", Nate commented in her ear, making it even harder for her to keep a straight face.
Sophie suffered through fifteen minutes of smalltalk about Italy, the weather and about what had brought her to the United States. Then she finally managed to change the subject to her acquaintance Mr Fellini and his interest in the import and export business. When she uttered her wish to take the conversation to more private surroundings, the judge was only too eager to oblige.

Meanwhile Eliot was busy at the reception desk, directing visitors onto the right floor. A work crew reported to him, they were supposed to do maintenance on the air conditioning. He checked their working papers thoroughly, but they turned out to be completely legit. Still, he put Hardison on it as well.
"Just tell me if that company has done work in the court house before", he requested. The hacker looked into it at once by pulling up the court's finance records.
"Yeah man, looks alright to me. They do regular maintenance work on the air conditioning and heating system every other month. It is right on schedule, nothing to worry about."
"Thanks", Eliot acknowledged and returned his attention to Sophies conversation with the judge.
"Let's go to my office", he just offered. "We will be much more private there."
"That sounds magnifico", Sophie purred.
"Okay", Nates comment came over the con. "You've got him. Now just make an appointment for the meet and then get out of there."
"Can we rappel down the elevator shaft?" Parker suggested.
"No need for that, Parker", the mastermind cautioned. "If everything goes right, Sophie will just walk out of the building normally. No stunts required."
"Can I rappel down the elevator shaft on my own then?"
"If you must. But stay put for the moment."

Sophie followed the judge into the elevator. He hit the button for the fourth floor.
"Fourth floor", she chimed to let the other team members know where they would be going. "I bet you have a nice view over the park from up there."
The elevator came to a halt and the judge put a hand on her back to gently guide her towards his office door. When his moist hand touched her naked skin, Sophie wished she had gone for a bit more class and a bit less slink in the dress. When the judge opened the office door, Sophie noticed a draft of very cold air. In the same moment her comm started emitting an awfully loud mix of a high beep and static noise. She bit her lip to keep from wincing. The sound was almost too much to bear.
"Do you have a private bathroom?" she asked the judge. "I need to ... you know ... powder mio naso."
"Of course, darling. Right there", the judge said and pointed to a door at the left hand side of the office. "Don't take too long", he added. Sophie shuddered at the leering in his voice. She hurried into the small bathroom and locked the door behind her.
"Nate! Nate can you hear me? Eliot? Anyone?" But the earbud just maintained its high frequency beep. Frustrated, Sophie took it out of her ear. The noise was so loud that even when she held the device in her hand it was still audible. She switched it off.

Eliot cringed when the noise hit his ear.
"Hardison! Nate! What's going on?" he demanded to know. A man in an office suit who just passed by the reception area looked at him curiously. Eliot pretended to push a button on the phone in front of him. "Damn speakerphone" he muttered.
When the man was gone, he tried the comms again.
"Parker? Sophie? Anyone?"
He cursed, then he took out the earbud and pocketed it. He picked up the phone for real this time, and dialed Hardison's cell.
The hacker answered on the first ring.
"What the hell is going on, Hardison?" Eliot wanted to know. "I lost the comms."
"We too, mate. Something must be interfering with them. I guess, it has something to do with the air conditioning. It uses the same frequencies for its wifi control system."
"Can you do anything about it?" the hitter asked.
"No man. I mean, I could alter the frequency on Nate's and my comm, but that still won't allow us to hear any of you."
"So what do we do?" Eliot demanded to know.
"We abort" Nate decided, his voice clearly audible through the phone. "Eliot, go up to the judge's office and get Sophie out. Make up an excuse. If she hasn't set a date for the meet yet, she can do it another time."
"What about Parker?"
"We'll worry about Parker later. She is safe where she is."
The hitter agreed.
"Okay, I get back to you as soon as I have Sophie."
He left the reception desk and walked over to the elevators. He considered using the stairs, it was only four floors after all, but decided against it. Normal people took the elevator. It was a lot less conspicuous.
He regretted his decision when the elevator came to an abrupt halt somewhere between the first and second floor. The LCD Display with the floor number flickered one last time, then it just went dead.
"You are kidding me!" Eliot said to no one in particular. He slammed the emergency call button. A dial tone told him that somewhere a phone was ringing. Twice, three times, four ... after six rings, he gave up. A small sign he hadn't bother to read before informed him: "In case of an emergency, this button will connect you with our reception desk." The desk, he abandoned just a few moments ago.
"Just great!"
He looked around. If he found something to slide in the small crack between the doors, he might be able to pry them open. He took a folding knife from the back pocket of his jeans. With a bit of wriggling he managed to wedge the blade between the doors. He carefully started to turn the knife. With a hard snap it broke off.
"No!"
Eliot hammered at the door in frustration. At the same moment he heard a loud banging on the roof of the elevator. He looked up in alarm when the grid that covered the emergency latch was pushed to the side. He got into a fighting stance, ready to ward of an attack when Parker's smiling face appeared in the opening.
"Parker! What are you doing here?"
"There was this awful noise in my earbud, so I decided to come down and look for you guys. I stopped this elevator, so that I could use it as a landing pad."
"Well, switch it back on, for God's sake", Eliot urged. "I have to get to Sophie!"
"Oh ... is she in trouble?"
"I hope not, but with the comms down, there is no way to tell and Nate said we should abort."
Parker swung down to the floor in one gracious movement and began to work on the elevator controls. With a comforting hum, it came back to life and continued to crawl up to the fourth floor.
"Get out and go to the van. Tell Nate and Hardison to prepare for a hasty exit!" Eliot demanded. "Sophie and I will be down as soon as possible." Then he sprinted along the hall as soon as the elevator doors opened. He found the judge's door and yanked it open. What he saw made his blood freeze.
Sophie was lying on the floor, her dress pushed up over her hips, the judge was on top of her, holding her mouth shut with one hand, his other hand had grabbed both of her slender wrists over her head.
Eliot needed only one big step to reach him. He grabbed the man's hair with one hand and lifted him up with it, smashing him against the wall. Then he kicked him hard, once in the ribs and once against his head. The judge was unconscious before he hit the floor.
Sophie scrambled away from him as fast as she could, then, leaning with her back against the side of the desk, she pulled her knees up in a fetal position and tried to smooth her dress back down. Eliot squatted down beside her.
"Sophie? Look at me! Are you hurt?"
The grifter swallowed hard, trying to form words. A few tears rolled down her face. Eliot gently dabbed at them with his finger.
"Sophie?" he repeated, his voice just a hoarse whisper now. "What can I do?"
"Just give me a minute!" she finally managed. "I'm gonna be fine."
"Sophie! You are not fine. This pig just raped you. Look at me! I'm gonna get you out of here and I am going to get you to a doctor."
She wiped the tears away with her hands and shook her head firmly.
"No! I don't need a doctor. Really. I'm fine. Just help me get up, okay?"
Eliot looked doubtful, but he stood up and extended his hands to carefully help her to her feet. She winced and held onto him for a second.
"Are you wearing your comm?" she wanted to know. He shook his head. "No, there was this interference, I had to take it out. I talked to Nate and Hardison on the phone, though, and Nate said to get you out."
She looked relieved.
"Good. Listen, Nate cannot know what happened, you hear me?"
She let go of him and with careful little steps made her way to the bathroom door.
"How do you plan to keep this from him, hm?" Eliot wanted to know. "You are hurt, Sophie. The judge is out for the count and, I would guess, not willing to make a deal with Fellini anymore. Nate has to know."
"We can tell him that the judge tried to attack me", she said, "but he has to believe that you came here in time."
She walked into the bathroom and tried to fix her hair and clothing. She applied new makeup as well, hiding the angry red marks where the judge's hand had strangled her. When she came back out, she looked a lot more steady on her feet, even though Eliot could tell that she was in pain.
"But Sophie, you cannot keep this from the others."
"What? I cannot take one for the team?"
Eliot shook his head. This was wrong.
"This is far beyond taking one for the team, Sophie. None of us would have wanted that or agreed to it, and you know it. Why don't you want Nate to know?"
"Do you know what it would do to him?" was all she answered. He thought about that for a second. He knew what it was doing to him. The knowledge of what Sophie had been through because he hadn't been here on time. The fact that he had promised her to have her back and had let her down. He also knew that Sophie was right. Nate had called the shots, he had talked Sophie into taking this job, even though she had been afraid. The guilt would destroy him.
The brunette grifter looked at him expectantly.
"Do you really think you can pull this off?", he asked. She nodded.
"I have to."
"One condition", he demanded.
"What condition?"
"I'll take you to the doctor later. Nate doesn't need to know, but I want to make sure you're alright.
Reluctantly Sophie nodded her head.
"Okay!"
She allowed Eliot to support her on the way to the elevator, but as soon as they made their way to the ground floor and headed out of the building towards the van she walked on her own, her head held high.