Kaira always got nervous when Eliot had to leave for recon. This time, it was for Lilian Foods. Nate and Sophie were meeting with the client, Dr. Leigh Jameson, who was trying to get the reports to take down the V.P, who knowingly put tainted frozen dinners on the market. Kaira sat next to Hardison on the couch as he was balancing a tennis ball on his forehead as they watched through the button cam footage as Eliot went to Lillian Foods as a pizza man and Parker would report in on the outside. Kaira did like the pizza delivery outfit on Eliot. "Her name is Katie. Likes - wild horses. Dislikes - vanilla toothpaste." Hardison said. "Hardison, you don't need to give my fiancé any ideas." Kaira quipped. "Please stop talking." Eliot said, not happy. Eliot went to the front desk and waited for the secretary to finish talking. He turned away. "Oh, I'm so in." Eliot said, proud. Kaira chuckled. "Hey, Cowboy, remember your coming home with me tonight." Kaira flirted a bit. "Hey, uh, Eliot, what is that blocking your button cam? Oh, yeah, it's your ego." Hardison quipped. "Parker?" Kaira got her attention, chuckling at Hardison's quip. "First 10 floors are free-climbing heaven, but after that, it's a slip and slide." Parker said. Another male voice was heard, saying Parker had nice hair. She told him he didn't. They heard Nate and Sophie come up from behind, arguing about Nate getting a date. "Hardison! Kaira!" Nate got their attention. "Hey, Nathan." Kaira said, looking at Nate. "Mnh-mnh. I don't think that counts." Sophie said. "Are you, uh, running recon on Lillian Foods?" Nate questioned. "Uh, yeah?" Hardison answered. Nate hit the tennis ball off of Hardison's forehead.
"Don't you think you should consult with me first?" Nate asked. "Did you - did he ju-" Hardison stumbled out, offended as Sophie sat down next to Kaira. "We do this all the time, Nate." Sophie called out to him. "Hey, look, man, where do you think my intel comes from? For the last time, there is no blueprint fairy." Hardison said. "Plus Eliot can handle it. I wouldn't have sent him in with Parker if I didn't think he could handle it." Kaira said, looking at Nate, who was grabbing coffee. "Yeah, well, I want you to pull them out. Do it now." Nate ordered. "Nathan, we know what we're doing. It's not that risky of a building. It's a food company." Kaira said. "No, no, you don't, no. Not with a place like this. You don't know what you're doing." Nate said, going to sit down at the table. "I'd give it exactly, uh - uh, two seconds before this becomes a train wreck." Nate said. Kaira scoffed. As if on cue, Eliot came on comms. "Hardison, we got a problem." Eliot reported. Kaira groaned and saw Nate's "I told you so" look. "Baby, what do you mean we got a problem?" Kaira asked Eliot. "They're MRI'ing my pizza, and their stance says ex-CIA." Eliot reported. "Shit." Kaira groaned out. "You can tell somebody worked for the CIA just from how they stand?" Hardison asked Eliot. "It's a very distinctive stance!" Eliot exclaimed, quietly. Just then a warning with rapid beeping came on the screen, saying there was an sat up and got to work. "Oh, no. No, no, no, no. You are getting query spiked all over the grid. NSA. CIA. OSS. I-I don't even know what that - you know what? You want to play rough? We gonna play rough." Hardison said, not happy as he typed on his keyboard. Kaira sensed the look they were getting. "Nathan, get that shitty smirk off your face! I can see it from here!" Kaira called out. Nate chuckled. "Oh, we gonna play." Hardison said, in the zone. "How... do you like me... now?" Hardison said, finishing his typing. "Yeah." Sophie whispered. The screens changed to a bright red security threat detected warning with the threat of a lockout imminent. "Oh. Uh, Eliot, you need to get out of there..." Hardison said as the power went out in the apartment. "Right now." Kaira finished. "Working on it!" Eliot called out as Kaira heard fighting on her comm. "Dammit Hardison!" Kaira yelled. Hardison groaned as he worked to get the power back on. "Parker, I'm coming out hot." Eliot warned Parker. "Okay. All clear out here. Just me and..." Parker said before the same voice was heard, except this time it was him saying he had another one out where he was. Parker got away, and so did Eliot. Kaira was relieved they were okay. "What? Hardison!" Nate called. "Wait for it." Hardison said as he typed on his keyboard. He snapped his fingers and the power came back on. "See? It wasn't no problem. I mean, I-I had it under control. You like the, uh, the new clear image on the... button cams? I-I upgraded. Yeah." Hardison said, trying to recover. "We did have it under control." Kaira pointed out.
An hour later, Eliot and Parker returned. Kaira greeted Eliot at the door. She hugged him. He winced and she pulled back. "I'm so sorry, Eliot. Let me get you an ice pack." Kaira said, nervous. Eliot grabbed her. "It's okay. I'm fine." Eliot smiled at her. "You really expect me to believe that? You took on what, three ex-CIA guys? And you winced when I hugged you. So sit your ass down on the barstool, and let me get you an ice pack." Kaira said, almost scolding Eliot. The team looked amused as Eliot grabbed Kaira and kissed her. "I love you, Princess." Eliot smiled at her. "I love you, too, Cowboy." Kaira smiled. She walked Eliot over to the barstools as Nate tossed Kaira an icepack. She handed it to Eliot, but he wouldn't take it. Kaira gave Eliot a look, causing the team to chuckle. "Eliot Spencer, you are taking this ice pack, and you aren't allowed to say no." Kaira said, sternly. Eliot smiled at her, amused. "How about if I get a kiss first?" Eliot asked Kaira. Kaira chuckled, not surprised at what was happening. "Damn you, Cowboy." Kaira smiled as she leaned in and kissed him. Eliot grabbed the ice pack and put it on his forearm. Parker sat next to Eliot and Kaira stood in front. "So, pizza-delivery guy was your big plan?" Nate questioned, sitting with Sophie at the table. "You know what, man? It was recon. Okay? Information gathering has historically been a very safe and peaceful business. And - and it was a food company! It wasn't like they were making weapons." Hardison said, not happy. "Listen, I-I've worked insurance for companies like this. Anyone gets their hands on the company's food patents, it could cost them billions. And, by the way, they guard that stuff better than defense contractors." Nate explained. "Alright, point made, Nathan." Kaira sighed. "Does that hurt?" Parker asked Eliot, poking his arm. "Yeah." Eliot said, looking at Parker. "Well, that explains all the ex-spooks hanging around the lobby, then." Sophie said. "You know what? You live and you learn." Hardison said, wanting to move on. "No, I lived. All right? You sat behind a computer and acted like Kool Moe Dee." Eliot quipped. "What you call me? Kool Moe Dee? Like you even know anything about Kool Moe Dee. I was gathering very crucial information." Hardison said. "Does that hurt?" Parker asked Eliot, poking his arm. "Yeah." Eliot said. "How about now?" Parker poked Eliot again. "How about you share that crucial information with the rest of us?" Nate asked Hardison, not wanting to argue anymore. "Okay. You - you know what? You ain't said nothing but a word." Hardison said, pulling out his remote and getting the briefing loaded up. "Stop." Eliot told Parker, who kept poking his arm. Parker went to leave, but turned back around and poked Eliot's arm. Kaira chuckled at the shenanigans. "Eliot. Guys. Eliot. What are you doing?" Nate asked, trying to rally the kids. "She was poking me." Eliot said, still sitting at the barstool. Nate walked by and was about to poke Eliot, who flinched. "Don't. Man-" Eliot warned. Kaira moved out of the way to go sit down and saw Nate try to touch Eliot again. "Hey." Eliot warned. Nate was at the screen while everyone else was on the couch.
Kaira was sitting on the couch with Eliot behind her on a backward chair, playing with her hair, and laying the ice pack on his forearm. "Lillian Foods is the third-largest food company in the world." Hardison explained as Nate went to sit down. "Last year, made 12 billion dollars. This is the vice president of the frozen foods division - Erik Casten. Erik with a K, Casten with a C." Hardison said. "How is that relevant?" Nate asked. "Oh. Eric with a C - nice and friendly, Erik with a K - evil." Parker said, getting a look from Eliot and Kaira. "I didn't know that." Sophie said. "Everybody knows that." Parker said. "According to Dr. Jameson, Erik with a K is trying to cover up salmonella found in the frozen dinners so his division doesn't have to pay out for that recall." Hardison explained, moving on. "That's why I grow me and Kaira's food." Eliot said. Kaira chuckled. "How do you find the time?" Sophie asked. "You make time." Eliot said. "He only sleeps 90 minutes a day. The rest is spent cuddling when he's done with the garden, or other things." Kaira smiled. The team got disgusted looks but kept silent. "All right, so what we have to do is we have to get a hold of Casten's report and make it public." Nate explained the plan. "Okay, well the second part seems easy enough, but that first part may be hard. It should be on the servers. Hardison, how do we get in the building?" Kaira asked. Nate had a proud dimeter looking at Kaira. "I'm so far ahead of you, man, it's scary. I love it. Look, I can't hack their system from the outside, so I sent a trojan phone. It's hacker 101. What I did was messenger a smartphone with an extended battery to an employee that's on vacation. Package sits in the mailroom, it scans for wireless and Bluetooth access points. Unfortunately, even their internal servers are locked down like the CIA, so all I was able to get was employee e-mails." Hardison explained. "Well, anything useful there?" Sophie asked. "Oh, yeah. You know what? Marie from payroll has a crush on Steve from accounts receivable. Look, that's Steve right there on his vacation in Florida from a month ago." Hardison said, pulling up the picture and getting off track.
"She likes him? Really?" Parker questioned. "Sure as hell ain't my type." Kaira answered, uncomfortably. "Oh, yeah. That man is a sexy man-beast right there. Now, Shannon and Chris from marketing, they got a little fight going on with Lauren from ads." Hardison continued getting off track. "Office politics. God, it's lucky we don't - we don't have that." Sophie said. "Yeah. Except instead of co-workers, I'm stuck with a brother and sister who annoy the hell out of me, my fiancé who can't work a computer worth a damn, and my two mentors. But I wouldn't have it any other way." Kaira said, smiling at the team. The team smiled back, liking the kind words. "Thank for that, little sis. Anyway, everybody up in there is complaining about this "State of the Company" thing tomorrow. And Brian from I.T-" Hardison was saying as Nate got an idea. "That's it. That's it right there. That's our way in." Nate realized. "Brian from I.T? No, he is not a team player." Hardison said, confused. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's our - that's our way in. yeah. Yeah, yeah. That's it. That's it. Yeah, the "State of the Company" meeting. Here we go." Nate said. The team was confused. "What is that? I don't know what that is." Eliot said. Hardison shook his head no, confused. "Me neither." Parker said. "It's like State of the Union-" Hardison guessed. "What is that?" Sophie asked. Kaira also shook her head no. "Oh, right, right. No, you guys never had real jobs. Yeah." Nate said, sarcastically. "I worked at a restaurant all throughout high school. A couple of them actually. I also worked at a candy shop in middle school." Kaira answered. "Really?" Nate questioned. "Well, yeah. I didn't always want to be a thief. This guy screwed that plan up." Kaira answered Nate, smiling at Eliot. "Right. All right, so when I used to work for I.Y.S, we would do this all the time. The company - big companies, they make their employees sit for the entire day and listen to these boring speeches, lame entertainment, bad food - it's -" Nate explained. "Ugh. I'm so glad I don't live in the real world." Parker commented. "Yeah, and it's mandatory. It's the only time that all of the employees are away from their desk at the same time." Nate said. "All right, so, we go in as caterers, we download the report while everyone's chucking back the mini quiches - easy." Sophie said. "No. No, see, it's a food company. All the catering is in-house." Hardison explained. "Which leaves the entertainment as the only outsiders. Hardison, who's the entertainment?" Kaira said. Hardison chuckled a bit. "Oh, you're gonna love this." Hardison said.
Hardison pulled up the entertainment and left with Parker and Kaira to set the magician up so they could go in as the entertainment. They sat at a table and watched the magician, who wasn't that good. "Chronos the Magnificent. More like Chronos the jackass. Look. Multiple sexual harassment charges." Hardison said, showing the women the news articles on his phone. "Even his assistant hates him." Kaira pointed out, reading the body language of the assistant. "That's kind of sad." Parker said. Chronos said he needed a volunteer. Everyone had their hands up. Kaira felt her breathing get heavy and her heart racing. Kaira knew what caused this... a panic attack. Kaira excused herself, leaving just Parker and Hardison, who sensed her change in dementor. Parker ended up volunteering to go. Hardison showed her the schematics for the box Chronos was using for the trick. She went up, with Hardison and Parker acting so in love it wasn't even funny. Kaira went into the bathroom of the building and hid. She pulled out her cellphone and called Eliot. "Hey, sweetheart. Everyone okay?" Eliot asked. "Hey, baby. Yeah. Hardison and Parker are about done." Kaira informed Eliot. "Good. Good. Are you okay?" Eliot asked. "The jackass asked for a volunteer and I had a panic attack. Couldn't breathe. I got myself calmed down, but I just needed to hear your voice." Kaira smiled. "All right. I love you." Eliot said. Kaira grinned. "I love you too." Kaira said. She hung up the phone and left the bathroom. Kaira heard Hardison and Parker finish, with Hardison having gotten punched.
They went back to the office and finished setting up the covers for the next day. Hardison and Kaira were in the kitchen, taking a breather. Hardison pulled Kaira aside. "Hey, what happened at the show? You just vanished." Hardison questioned, concerned. "I was about to have a panic attack. That's why I left." Kaira answered, ashamed of herself. Hardison placed his hand on her shoulder. "Hey. No reason to beat yourself up over it. Are you okay?" Hardison said, concerned. "I am now. If I can get out of the situation that caused the panic attack, then I can stop it. That's why I excused myself. I did not want to be up on stage. I don't know if it was because that guy would see my panic and pick me to be an asshole, or if I got scared, but I hated that feeling." Kaira admitted reluctantly. Hardison pulled her into a hug. "It's okay. As long as you got us, you're gonna be okay." Hardison comforted Kaira, who smiled and calmed down. They let go. Eliot joined them. "Hey, sweetheart. How are you holding up?" Eliot asked her as Hardison left with a smile. "I'm better. I don't know what happened, it just came out of nowhere. My body wanted to run, so I did. I'm supposed to fight, not run." Kaira admitted, painfully. Eliot places his hands on Kaira's shoulders. He looked her in the eye. "Hey. There's no shame in running. No one's mad or upset at you. Come back into the living room and let's get your cover ready for tomorrow." Eliot smiled at Kaira, pulling her into a hug. Kaira smiled as she hugged Eliot. "Thank you, Cowboy." Kaira said, letting go of Eliot. "No problem, Princess." Eliot smiled, holding her hand. Kaira placed a kiss on his cheek and they walked out. Kaira was gonna be the assistant manager of the company, Sophie was the manager, Nate the magician, Parker and Hardison were the assistants, and Eliot was the background, with Kaira as needed. They left that night and went home. Kaira and Eliot got changed and laid in bed. Kaira laid on Eliot's shoulder. "I love you, Eliot." Kaira looked at Eliot, smiling. Eliot smiled back. "I love you too, Kaira." Eliot said. He placed a kiss on her forehead. Kaira chuckled as she got comfy. "I can't wait to call you my wife, Princess." Eliot smiled, still not believing he got Kaira to agree to marry him. "And I can't wait to call you my husband, Cowboy." Kaira smiled back. Her eyes closing. Eliot placed another kiss on her forehead as Kaira drifted to sleep.
The next morning, they met back up at the office and got their covers, van, and the tricks set up. They drove to Lillian Foods and parked. Sophie called the head of security as the rest of the team got everything out of the van. Eliot got in the Box of Mysteries with the white rabbit as they started wheeling their stuff in. Nate walked in first with Kaira. Nate started chuckling as he played with the deck of cards he had. He walked up to the security guy and fanned the cards out. "Pick a card." Nate said. He showed the guy another trick as she shook a card, changing it from a King of hearts to an ace of spades. Nate pulled out a card and gave it to the security guy. "Harry Turner." Nate introduced himself. "Chloe Turner. The assistant manager for Harry." Kaira answered. "And my daughter." Nate added, causing them both to smiled. "Magician, I know." The security guy said, looking at the card as Nate kept walking. "He prefers illusionist." Kaira pointed out. "Magicians do kid's parties. I do Fortune 500 companies." Nate pointed out. Kaira called the gang in as they brought in the equipment. "Whoa! And who are these people?" The security guy said, stopping Nate and Kaira. "Oh, this is my team. I believe you spoke with my manager. This is Nell Carver. All right?" Nate said, pointing to Sophie, who was wheeling in boxes. "And that's our illusions designer, Frank Brunner." Kaira said, pointing to Hardison, who was wheeling in a big box with Eliot inside. "And my lovely assistant, Clea." Nate pointed out Parker, who was wearing all black. Hardison walked up. "Hey, man. I hope you have a doctor in the house, because this man right here is gonna blow your mind." Hardison said, shaking the security guy's hand. "Thanks, Frank. We're on a very tight schedule." Kaira told the crew as they went to move the stuff in. "Nothing gets in or out of this building without getting scanned." The security guy said, stopping Nate and Kaira again. "These crates contain my illusions, my life. I'm not gonna reveal my secrets. Come on." Nate argued, trying to move forward, but was stopped. "That's not my problem! Is it?" The security guy said. Kaira gasped. Nate chuckled. "Could you please -" Nate said as Sophie interrupted him. "Yeah, I'll take care of this, Harry. Mr. Markland, um, I'm sure we can figure something out. It's not gonna be possible-" Sophie said before Kaira spoke up. "Be a dear, Frank, and pull up the van so we can leave." Kaira said. "Chloe..." Sophie was about to scold Kaira. "Yeah, I think so." Nate said, causing the team to prepare to leave. Sophie and Nate started arguing as Mr. Price came over.
"This is ridiculous! What the hell is going on here?" Mr. Price, the CEO asked. "Mr. Price. Sir... this is-" The security guy said as Nate turned around, handing him another card. "Harry Turner, Illusionist extraordinaire." Nate said. "Are you Mr. Price, the CEO of this company?" Kaira asked. "I am. What's going on here?" Mr. Price said, not happy with the ruckus that was created. "I would like very much, sir, to give your people a wonderful show, but your, uh, doorman here would like to look at our boxes of illusions and - and destroy the illusion." Nate explained. "Markland, just lighten up, will you?" Mr. Price scolded his security. "Just lighten up, would you?" Nate repeated. "It's a magic show, for Pete's sake." Nate repeated the line as Mr. Price walked away. Kaira smiled and signaled the crew to get ready. They went backstage, Kaira following closely behind Nate, clocking the exits and security. She signaled Nate they were safe. "Okay, we're clear. Let him out." Nate ordered as he pulled out a red handkerchief. Parker opened the door to reveal Eliot in all black, wearing a black beanie, holding a white rabbit. "It's a good job your not claustrophobic, Eliot." Sophie said. Kaira walked up to Eliot. "I was when I was a kid. Take this damn thing." Eliot said, handing the rabbit to Nate. "Oh, all right." Nate said, grabbing the rabbit. "Really? How'd you get over it?" Parker asked. "Here, Parker." Nate said, handing the rabbit to Parker. "I locked myself in a woodshed behind my house for a couple of nights. After that, I was fine." Eliot said, joining the team in a circle, looking at the various tricks. Parker handed the rabbit to Hardison. "That is so funny. I was scared of the dark and did exactly the same thing." Parker said. Parker said she was buried alive in a yard.
Kaira couldn't tell if she was telling the truth or not. "That's not the same thing." Eliot said, shocked. "What's wrong with you?" Eliot asked. Sophie started walking over to Nate. "So, you - you - you're actually enjoying this." Sophie questioned Nate. "Oh, you know, being a magician, it's the next best thing to being a con artist. You know, it's all about misdirection and control." Nate explained. "So, uh, no one actually told you that you can't control life?" Sophie questioned. Nate laughed as he was getting stuff from the box. "You see, this is why you're not in a relationship." Sophie said. Kaira groaned and walked over. "Sophie, stop with the whole Nate getting a date thing. It's up to him if he wants to get a date or not." Kaira quipped, then continued getting stuff ready. "No, Sophie, I'm just very focused on my work right now, you know? I was out of control before. Now I'm in control. It's a good thing." Nate explained. "So, what you're doing is trading one addiction for another." Sophie said, moving the birdcage. Eliot walked up to Nate and Kaira. "Hey, man, do you know how to do this magic stuff?" Eliot asked Nate. "Oh, no, absolutely. Positively. Yeah. No, it's all about... the rabbit. You know, having - by the way, where's-" Nate started looking around as Eliot pointed to Hardison behind him. Nate walked over to Hardison. "Hardison, let's go over the plan." Nate said as Eliot shut the door to the big box. Kaira stood my Hardison. "Okay, the show opens with our friend Erik Casten delivering the "State of the Company" speech. The speech is scheduled to last an hour, giving myself, Eliot, Kaira, and Parker enough time to go down to the server room, hack the servers, download the report, and get back downstairs." Hardison explained the plan. "So, massively, there will be no magic show." Sophie said. "Oh, no, there might be a magic show. No, absolutely. We might want to treat these people to the illusionist extraordinaire, right?" Nate said, causing a smile from Eliot and Kaira. "Yeah, you, um, you really do need a girlfriend." Sophie said, unamused. "No, all I need is the... is the rabbit." Nate said. Eliot and Kaira looked at Hardison. "Yeah. H-Hardison." Eliot said, gesturing to Hardison. "Hmm?" Hardison breathed. "Have the rabbit?" Eliot asked. Hardison was holding the hat. "It's a real magic hat, man." Hardison said. "Where's the rabbit?" Nate asked. Kaira had an "oh shit" face as the team looked around. "I thought you had it." Sophie said to Hardison. "Come on, fan out. Fan out. Let's find the rabbit." Nate said, causing the team to split. Kaira turned around and went with Eliot. "Damn it, Hardison!" Eliot exclaimed, angry. They searched for the rabbit.
After a while, they stopped searching and got the stage ready for Nate and Parker. The crowd has started forming, and Nate was hiding backstage with Sophie in the crowd. "Sophie, you're on." Nate said. Sophie went up to Mr. Price. "Mr. Price. Nell Carver." Sophie introduced herself. "Hi, Nell." Mr. Price said. "Yeah, I-I we - met earlier, actually. I work with Harry." Sophie said. "Oh, the - the magician." Mr. Price said. "Yeah, that's right. So, listen, um, there's this little thing. When Harry does these - these corporate gigs, you know, he likes to work in a few little tidbits about the employees, you know, just funny little things. I knew you'd want to help. I wondered if I could just scribble down a couple of things." Sophie said as Mr. Price started talking about an employee and his coffee addiction. Hardison, Eliot, Kaira, and Parker walked into a hallway and turned left to go to the elevators. "I thought you said you had to have a corporate I.D badge to get in the elevator." Eliot said. "We do. We actually need one from a top executive." Hardison explained. "Where are we gonna get that?" Parker asked. "Sophie's sending one to me right now -by magic." Hardison said. He walked to the elevator and plugged his phone into the card reader. "See, Sophie's smartphone is picking up the RFID signal from the big boss's I.D. All she had to do was cozy up next to him and..." Hardison said as the elevator chimed. Eliot and Karia saw security walking up to them. Eliot whispered for them to go as they piled in the elevator. "You picked his pockets without actually stealing anything? Cool." Parker complimented. "It's what I do. A man. A phone. No limits." Hardison said. The security passed by just as the door shut. "How about "a man. A phone. No action"?" Eliot chuckled as Kaira tried not to chuckle and Parker laughed. "Come on, man, you left that out there like a hanging curveball." Eliot quipped as Parker handed him the case.
They got ready to send Parker up. Sophie and Nate were still on the stage, listening to Erik Casten talk. Eliot boosted Parker up to the top of the elevator shaft. It was a second before Sophie and Nate spoke. "Oh, it's you. Hey, you're on." Sophie said. "Parker, I need my assistant now!" Nate exclaimed, quietly. "Yeah. Speaking of that - how come Parker gets to be the assistant?" Sophie asked Nate as Hardison tried to get Sophie's attention. "Sophie. Sophie. How come Nate gets to be the magician? I do card tricks, too. I do great card tricks." Hardison said. "Can we talk about this later?" Nate asked as Sophie talked. "Yeah, exactly. That's what I was just saying!" Sophie exclaimed. "Does anybody want to do my job? Huh? I get punched and kicked." Eliot quipped as Sophie spoke. "I just think that if it was me, we'd be better off -" Sophie was saying with Nate going up on stage. "Anybody want my job? I got to watch all you idiots asses." Kaira quipped. The team then went silent as Nate started his thing to stall for Parker's entrance. Parker dropped the rope down. "What am I suppose to do with that?" Hardison asked, looking at Parker. "Hook it to something, dumbass." Kaira quipped looking at Hardison. "Ain't nothing to hook it to." Hardison said to Kaira. Hardison bent over and Eliot grabbed the rope and attached the carabiner to Hardison's pants. Hardison then shot up, after Parker was heard falling and boards breaking. Nate introduced her to the crowd. Eliot and Kaira started chucking. "Wow." Eliot said. Kaira looked over as Nate told Parker to wave and say hi. Kaira pointed to the railing. "Baby, you could've put it on the railing." Kaira said. "My bad." Eliot chuckled. "How am I supposed to get down?" Hardison asked, stuck on the roof. Kaira heard the rope go slack and Hardison fell on his front, laying on the ground, groaning. "Really, man... you didn't see that coming?" Eliot asked Hardison. "Not funny. Not funny." Hardison said, getting his breath. Kaira helped him up.
They exited the elevator once Hardison composed himself and walked to the server room door. Hardison was hacking into the card swipe so they could get through. Eliot and Kaira were on watch. "How long is this gonna take?" Eliot asked. "As long as it has to take. You know, I was just pulled up to the ceiling of an elevator by my pants, so do not take that tone with me." Hardison said, not having it. They heard the elevator chime and went to hide. They rounded the corner. Hardison poked his head out to see what was happening, but Eliot pulled him back and then rounded the corner again, hiding. "It's Casten. What the hell's he doing in the server room?" Eliot asked. Kaira groaned as Hardison started typing on his phone. "Let's find out." Hardison said. "What are you doing?" Kaira asked. "All the employee phones in this building are hooked up to the internal wi-fi. You remember the Trojan phone? It works both ways. See, I can use the server to access his phone. And once I'm in, I can see through his phone's camera." Hardison explained. "You can do that?" Eliot asked. "Oh, you'd be surprised at what I can do." Hardison said. He was able to pull up the video and showed it to the couple. It showed Casten deleting the reports. "Dammit! Casten's deleting the report." Kaira reported. "Guys. You remember that bright idea we had about accessing the server room while everyone was at the show? We're not the only ones." Hardison reported as Nate asked for Parker to hurry up. "He's gonna wipe everything from the system. People are gonna die." Eliot said. Parker arrived on stage and Sophie told Nate to stall. He pretended to set up a trick. "Have to have another way to access the servers, guys." Nate whispered. "Already on it." Kaira reported. "Leigh, I need secondary access to the servers." Hardison called Leigh Jameson, walking up the stairs. "Try the junction room. It has one I.O station and be careful." Leigh said, hanging up. Hardison and Nate rounded the corner to get to the junction room. "Can you get to the server room from here?" Eliot asked. "Oh, yeah. If anything, computer systems are more vulnerable up here. The only catch is, security is way gnarlier." Hardison informed Eliot. "What about Casten?" Kaira asked. "It'll take him some time. See, he has to find and delete all the copies. We just need one." Hardison said. They approached the junction room and Kaira groaned.
"Uh, guys, I-I can't bypass the biometrics. I need a fingerprint." Hardison reported. They heard the elevator door chime, and they went underneath the computer desk and went quiet. "And it has to be somebody with pretty high clearance." Hardison said. Eliot shushed him as security went by. "I'm on it." Sophie said. She went up to Mr. Price and told him to come on stage. He did and Nate sold the bit. Nate had Mr. Price hold onto a phone that scanned the fingerprint and sent it to Hardison to print out. He had pulled out a tiny printer as Kaira laid in front of Eliot. He played with her hair and used his other hand to lay his head-on. After he was done playing with her hair, he moved his hand down to her waist. The machine printed out the fingerprint. Hardison grabbed it and showed it to the couple. "Abracadabra" Hardison said. Nate finished with Mr. Price as Hardison and the couple went up to the door again. Hardison put the fingerprint on the scanner, but it was denied. "What?" Eliot questioned, seeing Hardison's face. "It's not optical. They're using active capacitance. See, what happens is, it measures the change in voltage across the microridges of the-" Hardison was explaining before Eliot interrupted. "Can you get in or not? Eliot asked Hardison, annoyed. "You..." Hardison dug in his bag and started humming. He pulled out a gummy frog and ate one and another and put the fingerprint on it. "Gummy frogs?" Kaira and Eliot questioned. "Mm-hmm. Gummy frogs have the same resistance as human skin - about 20 milliohms." Hardison explained as he placed the print on the scanner and moved it in a circle. It accepted. "What'd I say? That's a low tech hack right there." Hardison said as Eliot and Kaira smiled. "It's just a piece of ca-" Hardison said as a buzz was heard. The system chimed and scanned Hardison's face. "There may also be a retinal scanner." Hardison reported. All three of them had a not happy demeter. "Retinas? How am I gonna get his retinas?" Nate whispered. "Well, a proper assistant would know the answer to that." Sophie said. Nate told them to hold on and got Mr. Price in the box of mystery. Nate sold the crowd while Sophie wheeled him up to the elevator. "I don't see why I wasn't the assistant. Well, why wasn't I? "Abracadabra." I could do that. It's all yours." Sophie said. Kaira and Eliot walked over to the elevator and grabbed Mr. Price. They wheeled him over and moved him in front of the retina scanner with some complaining from the boys.
Eliot ducked and Hardison opened the door and Eliot blinded him with a flashlight. Once the scan was done, Kaira slammed the door shut and locked it. "Doing a hell of a job, man. You're killin' 'em out there!" Eliot exclaimed to sell the bit. Hardison snuck in the junction room and Eliot and Kaira wheeled him back to the elevator. They got in the elevator. Hardison then started yelling no. "We're too late. They're all gone. Casten deleted all copies of the report. The elevator started going down. "Uh-oh." Hardison said. "Uh-oh?" Eliot questioned. "What do you mean, uh-oh?" Kaira questioned. Just then the elevator opened up and a couple of security guards told Eliot and Karia to step out of the elevator. "Oh, that uh-oh." Eliot whispered. The blond security guard told them to leave again. Kaira and Eliot said no. The door then started to shut, causing the guard to move to open the door, causing Eliot to grab him and start fighting. Kaira then pulled the black-haired security guard in and punched him, playing shuffleboard with Eliot and Kaira dodging kicks and punches. Eliot got his guy taken down, and took on the black-haired one. He kept trying to punch them both, and the couple expertly blocked him. The guard went to kick Eliot, who grabbed his foot and Kaira punched him, sending him to the far wall, and Eliot and Kaira grunted as they pushed the box on him. "Hey, Nate. You know that trick where you make the guy disappear from a locked room? I could really use that right now." Hardison said as Nate and Parker sold another trick. Eliot and Kaira were still pushing the box. Eliot and the security guy exchanged jabs, then Eliot blocked him and leaped forward, knocking him out with his elbow. The door opened and the couple left, leaving a confused Mr. Price in the box. "Show's over, Nathan. We're blown." Kaira reported, signaling for Nate to finish up before the security showed up as they walked past Sophie. "Ew. Nate, bring down the curtain now." Sophie said, joining Eliot and Kaira as they walked away.
After a bit, Hardison came on comms. "Thank god. This, it turns out, is not the men's room. But y'all should really have signs up and down the hallways, cause I've been stuck in here for about an hour, man. Ironic, I know, because of the whole magic, but see, I build tthe magic trick, my man does them." Hardison tried to get out of it. "The drive." Casten said. "The - I'm s- the, uh - I don't drive." Hardison played dumb. Kaira groaned as she knew Hardison was caught. "That drive. Oh, okay. I see what you-" Hardison said before getting punched. Parker brought out the curtain and Nate told the crowd to count with them. Parker asked Nate if the trick would work. Nate said there was a 50-50 chance. "Where is the rest of your team?" Markland asked Hardison. "I don't even know what you're talking about, man." Hardison said. Kaira heard Nate and Parker make their escape and met them upfront as Hardison had his phone taken. "Magic tricks?" Casten questioned. "Hey, man, you - you lookin' at all my stu - that's all my business. You know what? You, sir, should expect a very strongly worded letter from the magicians local 77." Hardison said. "The labels on frozen dinners say heat to 161 degrees. That kills the bacteria. It's on the package." Hardison then started grunting from being choked. "The world is a very dangerous place for people who can't follow simple instructions." Casten continued. "I'm sorry. They're outside in the gray van." Hardison said.
He got walked out after complaining more, saying he had asthmatic tendencies. Kaira watched as Parker lifted Casten's phone and walked it to Nate. He called Markland as Kaira sat next to him. "I don't see a van. You have five seconds to tell me what's really going on here." Casten threatened Hardison. "Do I? Really? Okay." Hardison said as a Markland's phone rang. "You're a little strong-arm, ain't you?I blogged your website about that. The Lillian Foods website." Hardison said cockily as Markland looked at his phone. "Did you pocket dial me?" Markland asked Casten. "What?" Casten questioned, feeling his pocket. He grabbed the phone and answered it. "Who the hell is this?" Casten answered the phone. "The secret of magic is misdirection, Mr. Casten." Nate said. "The magician? What are you doing on my phone?" Casten asked. "Misdirection. So, you went after the incriminating reports." Nate said. "And I deleted it. Every copy." Casten said. "Absolutely. But you know, I don't think all that security is in place just to protect those reports. Do you? I mean, uh... what's really valuable on those servers? Hmm." Nate said. Kaira remembered hearing Nate asking for the food patents when Hardison was still in the junction room. "Yes, I had my assistant download them." Nate said. "Magician, thief, whatever. We have your man and his hard drive. You never got the patents out of the building." Casten said. Kaira grabbed the phone. "No, no. You got the patents out of the building. All we had to do was pick up your phone." Kaira said. "The magician's daughter." Casten said. "Yes. And you have my friend. I don't like it when people hold my friends hostage." Kaira said, almost threateningly. "What are you gonna do?" Casten questioned Kaira, almost daring her. "By what I'm told, those patents represent hundreds of millions of dollars of your company's present and future earnings. All on your cell phone, which my partner here lifted. All downloaded when you were in the server room alone." Kaira said. Nate grabbed the phone. "I wouldn't want to be caught in that act. Would you? Huh, Mr. Casten?" Nate said. "What do you want?" Casten asked. "Well, first, I'd like you to let my friend go. Next, you'll pull the entire frozen-foods line from the market." Nate said. "You have to be kidding me! Do you understand how much that'll cost the company?" Casten exclaimed, not happy. "Yes, well, we're sending a specialist to help with the recall." Nate said as Kaira saw Leigh Jameson arrive from inside with Mr. Price. "You'll also issue a formal apology." Leigh said. "Along with your letter of resignation. You know what? They had me in a box! Get him upstairs! Clear out his office right now!" Mr. Price exclaimed at Casten, not happy. "Now, why don't we give the lady a nice round of applause?" Nate said. tossed the phone to Parker, who caught it, looking like she was bowing. Kaira and Nate stood up, joining arms with Parker as they walked away.
They met back up at the office and had leftover Chinese. Hardison was showing Parker a card trick. Eliot had grabbed the leftover container and held it up. "I'm finishing off the kung pao." Eliot said as Kaira grabbed some noodles she had leftover. "Okay, yeah, I got three possible clients to research! Just want to finish." Nate called out at the screen, not even looking at Eliot, Kaira, and Sophie at the table as Kaira and Eliot stood side by side at the table, eating. "I've got an idea. Listen, why don't you give Dr. Jameson a ring?" Sophie suggested to Nate. "I'm working. Working over here." Nate said. Hardison looked over at them and shook his head as he told Parker to put the card back in and redid the trick. Eliot and Kaira sensed the look Sophie had. "What? He's fine." Eliot comforted Sophie. "We practically had to beg him to come back, Soph. He's not drinking. He's at the top of his game." Kaira said. "I got to be honest with you. I can't believe we pulled this one off." Eliot said, going off of what Kaira said. "Well, that's the problem. He keeps winning. And every time he wins, he believes a little bit more that he can control... life." Sophie said, worried about Nate. "It's what gets him through the day." Eliot said, not sure of the problem. "What happens when he loses? Last time he lost, it broke him. He breaks again, I don't think even we could pick up the pieces." Sophie said. Kaira sighed reluctantly as she kept eating, watching as Nate did his research. Kaira knew Sophie had a point. She loved Nate like a father, and she knew if Nate broke again, she couldn't put him back together again. But that doesn't mean she wasn't going to try like hell.