The Carnival Job - Chapter 6
Ethan Hubert's carnival was located off the main road. It was set up in a mowed-down meadow surrounded by forest. One had to drive through the trees on a dirt path just to be able to see the place. Nate guessed that only the locals knew about the carnival and they spread its whereabouts by word of mouth to enthusiasts.
After pulling into a mostly empty parking lot, Nate and Parker hopped out of the car. The carnival consisted of many differently sized and colorful tents. There was one big tent in the center, which Nate thought was probably used for the main performance, with lots of smaller tents surrounding it for unique, individual shows.
"Okay guys," Hardison came in, "I just hacked the security camera feed. I got you two and the entire area on my screen. It seems the carnival doesn't start till evening, which explains the lack of people."
"For a carnival, there sure is a lot of security," Sophie added.
"Nate," Eliot began, "we just saw someone walk into the large tent. It might be Ethan, so you should head there first."
"Alright," Nate replied.
The size and height of the main tent seemed much more grand once inside. Stands for people to sit flanked the entire right side while a huge ring for the performance was on the left. Nate and Parker looked around for someone to talk to, both ready to get the scam started.
Nate wore his trademark tacky suit, the color for today being powder blue. Parker wore her usual black and slim fitting attire that she used when braking into banks.
"What are you doing here?" A voice asked from behind them.
They both quickly turned around to find a tall, bulky man giving them a questioning stare. He wore an outfit one might expect to see on a music conductor, but in an awful mustard yellow color.
"Great, we found someone!" Nate said in excitement, giving Parker a victory shoulder pat. "We are here looking for a job, good sir. Can you direct us to whom we might talk to about that?"
The man kept his suspicious glare, but answered their question. "Well that would be me you're looking for. I'm Ethan Hubert, the manager of this carnival."
"Isn't that a wonderful coincidence," Nate replied while smiling. "O, and I almost forgot to introduce myself! I'm Dr. Oliver Molenstein-"
"You're a doctor?" Ethan questioned skeptically, looking at Nate's outfit.
"Well no," Nate chuckled, "but it sounds nice, and who really checks up on that kind of stuff anyways. So as I was saying, I'm Dr. Oliver Molenstein and this is Clara Burton."
"You're looking for a job?" Ethan replied, more as a statement than a question.
"Yes sir," Nate said loudly. "You see Ethan, I'm a man not much different from yourself. Had a business like this up north in Missouri. But the damn government got its hands all over it, questions about morality and whatnot. Bunch of bull if you ask me. I get my livelihood stripped right out from under me, so what do you think I do? I'll tell you what I do. I grab my star girl Clara and head down to Arkansas. I've heard of you Ethan, and I was thinking we could team up. It would save me the hassle of restarting my business from scratch and you would get to have Clara here as one of your performers. Great deal, right?"
Ethan just shook his head. "I'm sorry Mr.-"
"Dr." Nate interjected.
"Whatever," Ethan said more irritably, "I ain't good with sharing and my show is doing just fine as it is."
"Well that's your problem," Nate explained. "I don't know about you, but just fine isn't good enough for me. You've got freaks Ethan, but what you don't have is someone with skills. I bet you'll be signing me up as co-manager as soon as you see what my girl Clara can do."
Parker gave Nate a nervous glance at all the hype he was giving her.
Ethan, however, seemed more interested after hearing this and was willing to take Nate up with his bet. "Alright then, what is it that you do Clara?"
"Ahhh, acrobatics." Parker answered a little awkwardly, having not been asked to speak through the entire conversation.
"Just give her something to do," Nate added. "Anything at all. She can do it."
"Don't push it Nate," Sophie advised.
"Yeah man," Eliot came in, "Parker is good, but if he asks her to fly, I don't think she can do it."
"Fine," Ethan responded, "lets make this try-out official." He got out his cell phone to call someone, "Hey, bring all that gymnastic, trapeze stuff we have stored in the back to the main tent. Yes now, and hurry!"
Sophie, Hardison, and Eliot were getting a little worried as they watched the stunt course for Parker being put up. They all knew Parker could rappel off a roof, crawl through an air duct, and maneuver through laser security, but that was not what she was being asked to do now.
However, they soon realized once a mischievous smile appeared on Parker's face, that this was just a giant playhouse to her.
She easily preformed impressive flips through the course of mats and trampolines, jumped through hoops both aflame and not, flew through the air on the trapeze rig with no safety net, and skillfully walked across the tightrope while performing front and back flips.
The whole scene ended obviously, with Nate shaking hands with Ethan and the signing of contracts.
When Nate and Parker came back from the carnival and entered the hotel suite, the smell of Eliot's cooking greeted them.
"Smells great," Nate remarked, clearly very hungry.
"Parker, why do you have that?" Sophie inquired after seeing Parker walk into the room with a unicycle in hand.
"I have to learn how to ride it," Parker said, appearing excited about the homework assignment she had been given.
"You're not practicing in here," Hardison announced. "I'm paying for this suite and I don't want anything else broken. Eliot already decapitated the coffee machine."
"I told you man, it was broken before I did that." Eliot explained in frustration.
"Well they ain't gunna be able to fix it now!" Hardison countered.
Author's Note: This chapter didn't turn out exactly how I wanted, but it'll have to do. I'm way too excited about the upcoming leverage episode to think clearly. I can just feel it's going to be one of my favorites.