One

Yeah, he probably should have asked the client to come to Boston instead of agreeing to meet him in Washington, D.C. The only pictures they could find of him had been from years ago and always been bad quality – as in driver's license and passport bad – so he's not really sure who to look for. And to make it worse, their client is an officer in the United States Air Force and officers of all four branches are in abundance in Washington.

"Hardison, please tell me you found a current picture of our Major," he murmurs but when Hardison starts muttering about not being Miracle Max he suddenly sees him. "Okay, revise that. I think I found him." Yep, over there by the window. The guy's in civilian clothing but that's what makes it so easy to pick him out once you caught sight of him.

Career soldiers out of uniform always have this slightly uncomfortable look about them, as if they feel like they are in the wrong place and this guy is no exception. Tall, blond and good looking but shifting a little uneasily in his seat and looking nothing like the stereotype of a dare-devil flyboy you'd expect an Air Force officer to be. But then again… he'd learned very early on that the most important thing about stereotypes was not to listen to them.

So, right… job at hand. He makes his way over to the Major, Eliot's voice in his head, "Be careful, Nate. There are at least two military spooks in that coffee shop."

"Aw, Eliot, man, we're in D.C. Every second guy here's some kinda spook." Yeah, of course Hardison would feel challenged by Eliot but he chooses to ignore their bickering. He also hopes that Sophie will be here soon to provide some distraction if those spooks Eliot saw are really on their or the Major's tail.

But as it is… she's not here yet so he has to start on his own. With perfect ease, he slides into the chair opposite the Major and can't help being a bit amused by the small flinch the moment the Major realizes he's got company. Seems like flying a desk requires different skills then flying a jet. He gives the Major a tight little smile and introduces himself, "Nate Ford, pleased to meet you, Major."

The Major doesn't quite lose his tense expression. "Major Charles Williamson, pleased to meet you, too, Mr. Ford."

Ah, yeah, he doesn't look like it but that's okay. Williamson isn't their first client serving in the Armed Forces… but yeah, admittedly, he's their first officer client and their first Pentagon employee at that. It's probably understandable that the Major's still wary. He clears his throat. "So… what've you got, Major?"

Williamson runs a hand through his hair. "Do we really have to do this here? Don't get me wrong but… this isn't exactly a secure surrounding." Yeah, that one totally is a desk jockey. He can't have been doing lots of field work or he'd know that public places like coffee shops are about the safest places you can get.

"You'll be fine, Major, I promise. So… we know that a few weeks ago you found some papers that appeared to be suspicious?" Or at least that's what they got from the weird Google search terms and attempts at getting information from not quite public servers that sprung up on Hardison's client search grid and brought their attention to the guy now sitting opposite him.

The man nods. "Yeah, this is about it. Listen, Mr. Ford… I have a really bad feeling about this." Yeah, he starts to get one as well. Where the hell is Sophie? He throws Parker, who's working as a barista, a quick look but she just shrugs and keeps on cleaning tables. Either Williamson didn't see that or he chose to ignore it, since he continues, "See… my brother in law and his fian… wife… I have a feeling they're somehow part of this and it's starting to get at me that I don't know what part exactly that is."

Ah, they're finally getting somewhere. He nods. "Please go on, Major."

Just when Williamson opens his mouth to continue, finally Sophie appears in the coffee shop, slowly making her way over to them… "We got a problem." Wow, that was fast. He can't remember ever hearing that tone in Eliot's voice during the introductions. "Sophie, to your right. Guy and his friend are way too interested in Nate and the Major. Try to get them off them."

Without even missing a beat, Sophie smoothly changes her direction and manages to bump into one of the suits Eliot was warning them about and spilling her coffee all over his jacket. Immediately, she starts fussing over him and getting him and his buddy to concentrate on her. She even manages to turn them around and… "Our cue, Nate."

Alright. He really, really doesn't want to leave Sophie – and now also Parker who joined Sophie in her fussing and he's pretty sure that if the girls make it out of here, they'll have two nice pairs of wallets and cell phones to tinker with by the time they're back in their hotel suite – but he tries to tell himself that Sophie's smart enough not to get herself into trouble.

He gets up and motions Williamson to do the same thing. For a moment the Major looks at him warily, like he's trying to puzzle out if this is a trap but in the end he seems to have decided he's probably better off doing what he just told him to do. Keeping an eye on Parker and Sophie he exits the coffee shop with the Major in tow.

After a few steps they're joined by Eliot and without stopping, he turns to Williamson and motions his hand towards Eliot. "Major Williamson, meet Eliot Spencer, our… retrieval specialist."

Frowning, Williamson looks at Eliot and after another moment of distrust, he slowly nods. "Pleased to meet you. Well, I guess so, at least."

If that offended Eliot, he doesn't let it show, just nods and they walk another few steps, until Sophie gives them the all-clear and Hardison confirms that the spooks have lost them momentarily, according to the pictures from the coffee shop's video cameras that Hardison seems to enjoy way too much.

They stop two blocks away, in a small park. Williamson still looks a little nervous but strangely not as uncomfortable as he looked in that coffee shop. If anything, that man does have good instincts, especially for a desk jockey. He clears his throat. "So, Major… you were saying?"

He can see that it takes Eliot some effort not to snort at that, most of all because of the slightly incredulous face the Major just made. But then he catches himself, probably reminding himself that he's an Air Force academy graduate – among the top three of his class even – and a career soldier. "I was saying, Mr. Ford, that I'll now give you a compilation of the suspicious material I found."

Ah, very good. And yeah, the Major reaches into the backpack he'd been carrying around and pulls out a big and pretty thick manila envelope. Oh, Hardison will probably be in government conspiracy heaven for the rest of this job. He nods at Eliot and he takes the envelope from the Major. "Thank you very much, Major. Now… you have to understand… we need a way in and since you said that your brother in law and his wife are probably involved… can you tell us anything about them?"

Williamson runs a hand through his hair again, becoming much more uncomfortable again. Somehow… he gets the feeling that the Major is very aware of the fact that he's probably about to break the trust his relatives put into him. However, in the end, Williamson says, a little reluctantly, "Major Evan Lorne, USAF and Captain Laura Cadman-Lorne, USMC. Until about six months ago they were on deployment to God knows where – and trust me, it's practically impossible to find out where they were deployed to. Then they suddenly showed up stateside again, with no sensible explanation whatsoever. Oh yeah… and they are getting married in San Francisco in about a week."

That makes Eliot raise his eyebrow. "Didn't you just say that they are married?"

Williamson shrugs and rolls his eyes. "Technically, yes. But it's… a long story. I just think Evan's… I mean, Major Lorne's mother and Captain Cadman-Lorne's mother weren't exactly happy with them marrying on their base, so they forced them to have one of those big, traditional military weddings. Or at least that's what my wife told me." That being Lorne's sister, apparently. Okay… he starts to see through this.

Apparently, Eliot does as well because his frown grows deeper. "Wait, they got married during deployment? That's not exactly standard procedure, is it?"

The Major shakes his head and looks very much like this isn't exactly his favorite topic to talk about. "Not exactly, no. Most of all not when the bride is directly under the groom's command." Is that… a hint of bitterness he hears there? And is that a near… horrified look on Eliot's face?

"Look, I hate to break up your little chat here… but what the hell is this all about?" Now Williamson and Eliot look at him like he just appeared out of thin air. Oh, just great.

Williamson also looks like he's about to explain but Eliot barges in, "I'll explain when we get back to the hotel."

That prompts Williamson to clear his throat and rub his neck. "Yeah, Mr. Ford, Mr. Spencer… I'm sorry but I need to get going. My wife's gonna skin me alive if I'm late to dinner again." That almost makes him grin, wondering how much of an ogre the Major's wife really is… and if that kind of thing runs in the family. It would sure be nice to know it because it could make dealing with her brother easier.

Also… it's very funny to see how Eliot's face momentarily contorts at Williamson calling him 'Mr. Spencer' and he decides he just found a new way to needle Eliot. But okay, concentrate on the task at hand. "Of course, Major. We will inform you of our next steps in the next two days, if that's okay for you."

Williamson seems to consider this for a moment, then nods. "Yeah, sounds good. About… about your payment…"

He makes a split decision. After his team got him out of jail, they also unfroze his assets and thanks to Hardison some of those assets earned some nice interest rates… yeah, he certainly has some money to spare. "Don't worry, Major. Let's consider this… repayment for the service the Air Force does to our country."

For a moment, it looks like Williamson is considering pulling out of this, probably because he finds it hard to believe that there are people willing to help others in a case like this without taking anything in return – or maybe because of the slight cynical undertone he couldn't keep fully out of his voice – but in the end he nods. "Thank you, Mr. Ford. I appreciate it."

With that, the Major takes his good-byes and a few minutes later he disappeared around the next corner. "Hardison…"

"I'm on it, Nate. Got two personal records here… some stuff looks hinky but can't really make anything of it yet. Too many fucking acronyms."

He looks at Eliot who just nods and then says, "I'll see what I can make of them when we're back."

And that's their cue so he rallies up the troops and tells Parker and Sophie to get back to their hotel suite. Apparently, they just got themselves a very interesting case. Well… it's been kind of boring lately, anyway.


A/N: And this is where Team Leverage doesn't have any idea what they're getting themselves into. But I'm pretty sure they'll learn soon enough ;) Anyway, mac would like to let you all know that Hardison will never be Miracle Max because not even Miracle Max is Miracle Max. It's rather like the whole Dread Pirate Roberts thing. I think. Yeah... yeah, I think that's what she meant to say.