Thanks to all of you who have reviewed and followed. Sorry this chapter took a while.
Enjoy.
Inside the van Hardison cracked his knuckled with a gleeful smile. "This is how we roll."
As if on cue a smart man dressed head to toe in black strode confidently into Sophie's room. With an air of authority he set down a briefcase and glanced up at the seven pairs of eyes watching him.
"Ladies and gentlemen. I present you with the Regent." He spoke with a rich voice and a thick French accent.
"Sophie there's a guy stood at the door looking at you." Hardison informed her, leaning forward in his chair. "Skinny looking dude, black, thick rimmed glasses, roman nose, cropped hair. He ugly."
Sophie bent her head and stroked her nose with her finger.
"Do you know him?" Nate asked.
Again Sophie repeated her action.
"Damnit." Hardison tensed. "Yeah she knows him."
"Has he seen her face yet?" Nate enquired. If he was at all anxious his voice didn't betray it.
"No, he's switching from Dubouis to her, seems to be losing interest." Hardison relayed.
"Chances are he'll believe her interest is genuine, then. Carry on with the plan but Eliot, get ready, she may need you."
"Got it." Eliot replied.
Chrissy closed her eyes; her heart was in her mouth, the stress of the situation building to an intolerable level. She rubbed her head as a dull ache throbbed through her skull.
"Hang on a minute!" Sophie cried, bringing Chrissy's attention back to the screens. She watched as Sophie crossed the floor and pointed a finger at Dubious. "What are you trying to pull? That's not the Regent!"
A commotion broke out in the small room as people rushed forward, providing Sophie with a decent enough cover from the man at the back of the room.
"He's staring only at Sophie now." Chrissy whispered.
Dubious snatched up the diamond, his face switching from confusion to fury as he realised Sophie was right.
"She's right! What the hell?" A balding man next to Sophie growled, lunging forward to pin Dubious against the wall.
The Frenchman quickly came to his senses and glared towards the man at the back of the room. "Get Rye!" He demanded. "That filthy bastard has switched my diamond!"
The man turned to leave but was stopped as the door opened and the person in question waltzed in, smiling. His smile quickly vanished as the hostility in the room turned to him.
"Parker? Thirty seconds and you're good to go." Hardison instructed, watching the buildings guards as they completely their routine checks.
"I think we need to see your office Mr. Rye." Dubious snarled, grabbing Chrissy's former boss by his collar and dragging him from the room.
"They're on route, Parker." Hardison said, his eyes flicking from one screen to the next as he kept the relevant people informed.
Chrissy kept her eyes on Sophie, and watched in horror as the man who had been observing her caught her elbow and held her back. "Ah, I thought it was you. It's been a long time, however you do not look a day older." His British accent was not as smooth as Sophie's and he spoke with a hiss.
"Peter? My, how you've changed. Working for the French now, I see." Sophie smiled sweetly, completely unaffected by the man holding her up.
"Indeed." All formality left his stance as he rounded on the brunette. "What are you doing here? Since when doe you buy diamonds?"
She plastered a smile on her face and disentangled her arm from his grip. "Since when does the Regent come on the market?" She paused before angling her body back to her companion. "It's not that I couldn't get it if I wanted to, but this time, it's not for me. I'm buying on behalf of… A client. Now if you don't mind, I'd be very interested to see what game is being played here, if I'm buying the diamond I want to be sure its genuine."
Peter stepped back and nodded. "Of course. But I'm watching you." He warned.
"Nothing new there." Sophie called as she sauntered out of the room.
In the van, Hardison put down his soda and picked up his keyboard. Tapping a few buttons he nodded to himself before checking the monitor bank.
In all the excitement with Sophie, Chrissy hadn't noticed Parker's entrance in to Jack Rye's office.
"Two minutes." Hardison warned the blonde thief.
"Only need one." Parker retorted, setting down a replica of Dubious briefcase. "Watch this!" Parker confidently announced, allowing her hands to work quickly as she opened the wall safe with a flourish. Moments later the briefcase was safely lodged inside and Parker was disappearing through the air vent. "Told you so." She gloated as her feet disappeared in to the black hole above Rye's desk.
She was long gone when the group, which now included Sophie, barged in to the office.
"Open your safe!" Dubious shouted angrily.
With a perplexed expression, Chrissy watched as Rye opened his safe. His jaw dropped as he was confronted by the case Parker had just delivered.
"Wait, what? I was just in here and this wasn't there. I don't understand." He turned his worried face to the angry mob. "It's not mine." He protested.
"Sophie, it's time, get out." Nate said.
As discreetly as she could, Sophie backed from the room and slipped away unnoticed. "I'm at the elevator." Sophie said quietly.
"And that," Hardison grinned, leaning back in his chair. "Is how we roll baby."
"She's not out yet, Hardison." Nate chastised. "Eliot, meet her at the elevator. I think she's going to need you."
"Way ahead of you Nate." Eliot answered.
Chrissy scowled, she'd been so busy watching the goings on in Rye's room she'd missed Eliot entering the building.
"Damn it. How do you keep up with them all?" She hissed at Hardison.
"Practise." He replied with a smile.
"Less than three minutes, guys." Nate called, his voice marginally louder than it had been.
Behind Chrissy, the door opened and a flushed faced Parker clamoured in.
"Now that was fun." She smirked.
Without turning from the screens, Hardison quirked an eyebrow and shook his head. "Base jumping is not a sport."
Parker, choosing to ignore him, dumped her bag at the far end of the van and settling down on top of it.
Chrissy couldn't keep up. She looked from Hardison to Parker, both completely at ease with the situation even though Eliot and Sophie were still inside and they were still parked outside Core Industries.
Snapping back to the monitors, her eyes grew wide as she watched Eliot take down two security men. They hadn't even seen him coming. He'd reached the elevator banks just as the doors pinged open.
Sophie walked out and greeted the man in front of her.
"Hello Peter." She smiled. "You know, I never did like you."
His scared face twisted in to an ugly grimace. "Feeling's mutual you deceitful bit-"
Before he could end his insult, Eliot had knocked him out cold. He kicked the body on the floor and cursed.
"Show a lady a little more respect." He snarled.
Sophie laughed lightly and side stepped the crumpled body, her heels tapping on the marbled effect floor as both she and the hitter left the building. As they exited, Hardison switched off the monitors and hopped over the back of his chair in to the divers seat. With the keys in the ignition he started the engine.
"We're out." Sophie said.
"Thirty seconds." Came Nate's reply.
Once more the van opened. Sophie slid in to the front and Eliot joined Chrissy in the back. She waited for the door to slide shut before she threw herself at him and held him as tightly as she could.
"It's okay, Chrissy, it's all over now."
The van lurched forward and the couple stumbled but it didn't take Eliot long to steady them.
"Nate?" Sophie's voice rang clear through the van and the comms, "we're clear."
Chrissy's flopped forward, resting her fore head on Eliot's shoulder. Her body relaxing, each aching muscle letting go of every anxiety she'd been clinging to. It had worked, she was safe. Nate would wrap it all up and be back at Eliot's apartment with in the hour. It was over.
She smiled as Eliot lowered her to the floor, her legs as numb as they had been the first night they'd met.
It was over. She was safe.
She looked up and smiled in to his crystal blue eyes. She was finally free.
He stared back glumly causing a new realisation to hit her with a sickening thump. It was over. The smile fell from her face, her eyes still locked with his as the words fell from her mouth.
"Elliot… It's over."