A/N - I love writing this story...
More ripples in the pond... Repercussions of Parker's secret plan...
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Thanks!
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Hardison?" Was what Alec heard on his ear bud all of a sudden.
He hadn't been aware anyone was up. Time had come to pay the piper…
"Hey, what's dat supposed to mean?"
"I don't have time for games, Alec. You know what's going on with Parker… What's she planning to do? And I want the real plans this time… As you probably know, Eliot's been made aware of something the rest of us didn't know…"
"I don't know what to say."
"How about starting with the truth?!" Nate yelled in his ear…
"She's gonna kill me if I tell anyone the real plans."
"I'll kill you if you don't… Which is it to be Hardison?" He was deadly serious.
"Dammit all you guys… Aw hell, I'm gonna die one day anyway. Parker is planning to pit one drug cartel against another and let them both fight it out. The last men standing get to watch the drugs they were both fighting over get blown to kingdom come and then walk away with the blood money."
Hardison thought it was a bad idea from the start since he nearly got blown up by two cartels himself. Definitely not a good idea to double cross two cartels… He told her that she needed to let the professionals handle the drug cartels from any information they could gather… But no, she wanted to be sure they weren't coming after Eliot or his family, or her adopted family of thieves, grifters, a hitter, and a geek. She hadn't considered Quinn part of the family yet because she hadn't worked with him long enough, not like she had with Tara Cole. Tara was like the older sister she didn't have as Sophie was more like the mother she would have liked to have had. Alec thought Parker had grown up a bit to allow more people into her secondary circle of friends, her primary being him, Eliot, Sophie, and Nate.
"Is that everything?"
"Not exactly…"
"What else, Hardison?!" Nate yelled once more…
"There's a second team working on the other angle. She's having them steal the drug shipment we all knew about coming from Chile… Only she's having it sent to San Francisco so it can be taken to Oakland and surrounding areas. There have been two fake containers set up in Los Angeles to get the El Serpiente cartel mad and go looking for the real shipment. The Villareagos family was supposed to come to Oakland to fight for the shipment that wasn't theirs to begin with. Parker will have the drugs and money secure from both families to start… Though the Delgadillo's cartel won't know it."
"Why the hell did she want our team in the dark…?"
"Because she wanted no distractions. She didn't want any of us gettin' hurt. She's ordered gear for Quinn to wear and the second team has their own."
"Does she have gear? Something to protect her?"
"I don't know. I assume so. My only problem is that she doesn't have her ear buds in or her cell phone. I messengered it to Quinn. She'll have it when she gets to San Francisco. All she has is a burner and I'm having trouble tracing it because she's not on the line long enough."
"Find her, Hardison!" Nate yelled before Alec heard his signal go dead.
It wasn't going to be easy, but he went right to work trying to find a way to trace her burner phone. He had a feeling the rest of the team had some choice words to impart to their thief…
Nate was thoroughly pissed… Something had been biting at him since he left the plane and found Parker's cell phone in his pocket. When she'd said that her back up plan was to get the team out and blow the whole lot to kingdom come he knew something was off… Parker rarely ever mentioned blowing anything up… Her style was to Taser and shoot if necessary. Where had she gotten the desire to become a demolition expert? Nate had no idea that Parker had a history of blowing things up… Most of which wasn't in the files he had on the blond thief. It started with her last foster family… Parker had foster parents she called, 'Slave and Stupid.' Stupid worked the graveyard shift somewhere that did manufacturing, had a drinking problem, and a mean temper. Slave did whatever made Stupid happy so he wouldn't hit her or his kids. He liked hitting the outsider though… Her. He took her bunny away one too many times… That day that he took away her bunny again was his last… Nate wasn't sure what he could do to rectify the situation. If he tried to stop her for her own sake, he could jeopardize her life. If he didn't stop her, she could be doing the same. And worst of all… Eliot knew about her plans now. He wouldn't just sit at home and wait for word that it was all over. Sophie and the hitter would never forgive him if something happened to her. He was stuck…
"Dammit," he cried out as he hit the small desk in his borrowed quarters; fortunately no one heard him except the four walls around him.
Then the proverbial light bulb went off in his head… There was something he could do… Just keep the Villareagos family as distracted as he possibly could to benefit Parker. Then once they went off to San Francisco, he'd go and to stop Eliot from injuring his healing body as well as getting Parker killed. Keep all distractions away from the action so that she could focus.
Sophie stopped by and got the things she needed to go to Southern California with. Before she was about to head out, she decided to check in with Beretta Winchester and let her know about the recent events… Maybe she could talk Eliot out of whatever he planned to do to stop Parker. When the woman opened the door, the grifter saw the worry written all over her face.
"What is it, my dear?"
"It's nothing really… Let's go into the bedroom where we can talk.
Sophie sat on the end of the bed as Beretta closed the door.
"I don't know if you believe in ghosts, Miss Devereaux, but I do."
"Ghosts?"
"My step-father came to me in a dream. He said that I need to get to Eliot because he's going to be in so much pain. He said to wait until the seventeenth. I can't help but worry about him and this job y'all are doing for me and my family."
"Honey, there's something you need to know."
"Tell me, I've been climbing the walls since my dream."
"It would seem that our Parker didn't give us her real agenda when we gathered to brief you and your husband. I don't know the full details of the situation, but Eliot has found out what her real plans are through the wife of another teammate. He's already tried to bribe me to take him to Southern California so that he can stop her before she gets herself in too much danger."
"Only problem is he's still healing and thinks he can run a marathon if given the chance, I bet. Am I close?"
"Spot on, dear. Now, I took the battery from Parker's truck. So he's out of transportation for now, but he's going to use any means necessary to head south."
"I get the picture. My step-father said I had to wait but I can call and get him to talk if I have to."
"For now, the plan is to keep him here in Portland long enough for Parker to get the job done."
"If I know Eliot, that won't hold him for long when he wants something bad enough, he's like a bulldog and he won't let go until he gets what he wants."
"Distracting Parker could put everyone's lives at stake. Though standing by, to let her walk into a snake pit without a gun and a prayer could be disastrous, even deadly."
"I get your point… Does she know she's on a suicide mission?"
"It's likely she's just crazy enough to think she can complete the job unscathed. I fear she's going to get herself killed especially after the fight she and Eliot had the night she left for Los Angeles."
"Wait… They had a fight? Tell me more…" Beretta perked up for any new morsel in the possible couple's relationship.
"Parker got all dressed up and helped Eliot do the same. She made a special dinner and then after the meal she helped him to stand in the living room. She put on some music and for his physical therapy she tried to get him to slow dance with her. Now as I understand it, she was trying to tell him that she loved him through the lyrics of the two songs. Eliot seemed to take offense to what she was up to and flat out told her that he was unlovable and she needed to let him go because he couldn't love her the way she wanted him to."
"Whoa!" That was quite a revelation to Beretta…
"Of course she let him have it before she went up to her room."
"Good girl…" Inside she was cheering for Parker to win over her step-brother…
"But then she left…"
"I warned him that she would one day," Beretta sighed.
"He's afraid of love…"
"Yes, he is. He's almost afraid to be happy. He feels that he doesn't deserve to feel happy. Aimee broke his heart because she wouldn't wait for him… I didn't like her much anyway."
"There are times from his past he won't share with anyone and I fear that you are right about him believing that he doesn't deserve to be happy because of what he did in that past."
"He's not as hard as I last saw him before I left home for college. I know he's changed and I hope for the better."
"He has his secrets as we all do, but from time to time the job needs him to be that hard man again. I once saw him take a beating that would have killed any other man off the street and he shrugged it off like water off a duck. I stuck Parker on him like glue to get him to the hospital to check out that hard head of his."
"Did she drive him crazy until he went?"
"Yes. She stayed with him that night because the doctor told her not to let him fall asleep and to never leave his side for a week. Then to go back for a recheck," Beretta laughed.
"I can just imagine the looks on his face."
