A/N: Hey y'all! I'm sorry I've been gone a while, my job has taken up a lot of my time so my updates are going to be a bit shaky. Thanks for your support on my story, the feedback has been amazing! I appreciate it greatly. Don't forget to favorite and follow maybe even comment. Constructive criticism is always welcomed.
Allison groaned and opened her eyes, squinting against the bright light. She sat up and took in her surroundings.
Eliot sat handcuffed to a chair in the corner of the room, looking as annoyed as ever.
Parker was pacing the room. She had long ago unlocked her hand cuffs, and was now tossing them up in the air.
Hardison sat on the bed, watching Parker. When she looked in his direction he held up his cuffed hands, asking to be released.
She ignored him.
"You don't like hospitals." Eliot said smugly.
Allison wrinkled her nose. "Not much." She said.
They reminded her too much of her, now dead, cousin, Sam.
"Where are we?" She asked.
"County hospital. Firefighters got there just as we woke up." Hardison said.
"Have we been processed?" Allison asked.
Eliot held up his ink stained fingertips and wiggled them around. "They faxed our prints to the state police." He said.
"Yo, if the Staties run us were screwed. Well, except maybe Allison." Hardison said.
"Hey, if you guys go down, I go down." Allison said.
"How noble of you." Eliot said sarcastically.
She glared at him. "You know, you have a strange ability to make me want to smack you upside the head every time you open your mouth."
"How long does it take to run our prints?" Parker asked, unknowingly interrupting the clash that was fixing to happen between Eliot and Allison.
"Thirty, thirty-five minutes. Depends on the software." Hardison said.
"They printed us twenty minutes ago." Eliot said with a grunt. "So, unless we get out of here in the next ten minutes, were going to jail."
"Right..." Allison said slowly.
Well, wasn't this perfect.
"I can take the cops." Eliot said.
"Don't you dare. If you kill anyone, it ruins my escape plan." Parker whined.
"Look, I'm still handcuffed. I cant even go to the bathroom, and I have to go." Hardison complained.
While they were wasting time bickering, Allison was thinking.
"How long did you say we had?" Allison asked.
"Ten minutes." Eliot said.
"Ten minutes." She repeated, a tiny smirk appearing on her lips, as a plan formed itself in her mind.
Parker glanced at her. "What are you thinking? You have a plan, don't you." She accused.
"Depends, are you three are up to working together again." Allison said.
"I thought your uncle was the one with the plans." Hardison said.
"Guess it runs in the family." She said, pressing her hands together in a praying fashion.
"Parker, if I can make a distraction, can you get me two cell phones?" Allison asked.
Parker gave her a no-duh look.
"How are you going to make a distraction?" Eliot asked skeptically.
"I have my ways." Allison said.
"This was a one time thing." Eliot insisted.
"Look, here's your problem, you all know what you can do. But I know what you all can do. That gives me an edge, a plan." Allison said.
"I don't trust these guys." Parker said.
"Do you trust me." Allison asked.
They were silent.
She looked each one of them in the eye.
"Sure, your an honest girl." Hardison said.
Eliot looked hesitant, but nodded.
"Alright, is everyone ready." Allison asked.
They nodded.
Parker jumped on her bed and locked herself in.
Allison grimaced. "This is going to suck." She said before shoving her fingers down her throat and keeling over the edge of the bed, vomiting what little contents resided in her stomach.
"Aw, no man! Gross!" Hardison shouted.
"Why didn't I think of that." Parker said, pouting.
"It's a good distraction, I'll give you that." Eliot said, wrinkling his nose.
In seconds a doctor was taking her temperature, while a nurse stood by.
"Nausea could be a sign of a concussion." The doctor said. "If you feel anymore of the symptoms, please alert the police officer." He took out the thermometer.
Allison nodded feigning weakness.
The police officer walked over and checked Allison's cuffs, then Parker's. Satisfied that they were secure, he walked out.
Allison looked over at Parker, who beamed brightly and held up two phones.
She tossed them over to Allison, who tossed one over to Hardison.
"Work your magic. Make yourself an FBI identification." Allison said.
Hardison nodded.
"What are you planning?" Eliot asked.
"They want a call. So, we give them a call." Allison said. She tossed the remaining phone to Eliot.
He nodded, catching onto the plan. He dialed the number.
While he was talking, Parker gave Allison the keys to her cuffs. She unlocked herself and threw the keys to Hardison, just as Eliot threw the phone back to Allison.
"Yes, hello Deputy Burns. This is Deputy-Director McCumber, FBI." Allison said in a harsh, demanding tone.
"A woman?" The voice on the other end asked.
"Is that going to be a problem deputy?" Allison asked in a testy voice.
"No ma'am." The man politely said.
"Good. Now, is our man alright?" Allison asked.
Hardison took a picture of himself.
"Pardon?"
"Our man. He's been in deep, deep cover for three years. You have one of our men in your hospital." She said.
"Seriously?" The deputy asked.
"Would I lie to you?" Allison asked.
Parker nodded.
Allison smirked.
"I sent a fax. Didn't you receive it?" Allison asked.
There was rustling.
"Fax just came in." A muffled voice from the background said.
"Yes ma'am, we just received it." The police officer said.
"Good. Now, most of what I told you is classified. I hope you'll keep it safe. I can trust you, right deputy?" Allison asked.
"Yes ma'am." The deputy said proudly.
"Good." Allison said before hanging up.
"Where did you learn to do that?" Hardison asked.
Allison smirked. "My uncle use to have me make calls for him when he was running a game on someone. Said when they heard a woman's voice, chances are, they would let there guard down. Especially if you pulled the 'Battle Of The Sexes' card." She said.
Minutes later, Allison and Parker were in a car.
Hardison shoved Eliot towards the car, knocking his head against the frame.
Whether it was accidental or on purpose, Allison couldn't tell.
Eliot growled.
"Walk it off." Allison commanded.
"Yeah, walk it off." Hardison mimicked.
"Hardison!" Allison hissed as Eliot slide next to her.
Hardison shrugged shutting the door. He turned to the cops. "Men, it fills my heart with tears of joy. What you guys do, it does." He said, pressing a hand to his heart and getting in the car, just as the deputy received the real phone call from the state police. Hardison smiled slyly and drove away.
Parker was quick to pick the cuffs that restrained Allison, Eliot, and herself.
"Hardison, give me the phone." Allison said, the minute she was free.
He handed it to her.
She dialed her uncle's number.
"Allison, where the hell have you been!" Nate shouted. His words slurred slightly, but not to bad.
"Yell at me later. We've been double-crossed. I'm texting you an address, meet us there."
Soon, they arrived at Hardison's apartment building.
Nate was pacing in the lobby. "What the hell's going on?" He asked.
Allison grabbed him, and pulled him into the elevator, with her finger to her lips.
He nodded.
"Dubenich tried to kill us, he called, told me he never received the designs, and told me he was freezing the payments. He tricked us into going to a warehouse that was rigged to explode." Allison said when they were securely in the elevator.
"What!" Nate exclaimed.
"Cops picked us up and took us to a county hospital." Parker said as Hardison pressed a button.
"How'd you get out?" Nate asked. "Surely they printed you." He said.
"They did." Eliot said.
"So, what did you do?" Nate asked.
"Let's just say brilliant minds run in the family and leave it at that." Allison said with a smile as the elevator halted.
"Alright, six tickets to anywhere but here, coming up." Hardison said.
They walked into his loft, and was startled to see it was a nice loft, a very nice loft.
"Whose place is this?" Parker asked.
"It's mine." Hardison said proudly.
"I'm going to beat Dubenich so badly, even people who look like him are going to bleed." Eliot snarled viciously.
"I'm with Eliot." Allison said, hopping up to sit on the desk as Hardison began tapping away at the computer.
"You wont get within 100 yards of him. He knows your faces, he knows all our faces." Parker said, leaning against a pillar that stood in the middle of the room.
"He tried to kill us!" Eliot exclaimed angrily.
"And what's worse, he didn't pay us." Parker added.
"How is that worse?" Allison asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"I take that personally." Parker said simply.
Allison grinned.
"There's something wrong with you." Eliot said jabbing a finger in Parker's direction.
"Heads up, Dubenich's story is 90% true, he is the head of Bering Aerospace, big rival to Pierson. But, look what my little web crawlers coughed up." Hardison said. He showed a video of Pierson talking about losing the designs the company worked for five years on.
"Could be a cover story." Nate offered.
But a feeling told Allison it wasn't. She started to feel sick as Hardison explained why that feeling was telling her the truth.
"So, we didn't steal the designs back..." Nate said slowly.
"No, we just stole them." Eliot said.
"Why would Dubenich lie to us?" Parker asked.
"Because your thieves." Allison explained. "If he came to you, just wanting to steal the plans, you would of been suspicious of him. But, by doing it this way, you just saw a average citizen way over his head. That's why you never saw the double-cross coming."
Nate nodded.
"Then, why didn't you two see the double-cross coming?" Eliot asked, as if the whole thing was their faults.
"It's because we're not thieves." Nate replied in a snobbish tone.
"You know, maybe that's the problem." Eliot said, walking towards Nate.
"Hey, hey, hey, look, I bought tickets to London, Paris, Rome, Sao Paulo, and Allison, I just know your going to love Athens in Greece." Hardison said, pressing papers into their hands.
Nate didn't take his, so Allison grabbed it for him.
"You're running." Nate said in his far away voice.
"Yes sir, do you have a better plan." Eliot said.
"Not you." Allison said motioning to Nate, who had now walked towards the monitor.
"You're running. Now, that was a high risk play. You've got your balls tied to the stock price like a cinder block." Nate continued.
Allison smirked and shook her head.
"What is he doing?" Eliot asked, confused and definitely irritated again.
Allison was seriously doubting if he had any moods other than, grouchy and annoyed. "This, is how he gets before he finds a mark." She said.
"Shareholders meeting coming up, we can't let this guy cool down." Nate said.
"A mark?" Parker asked.
"A mark." Allison confirmed.