First Person POV (Kaira)
On the plane ride back from a job usually involves me reading to relax. We had just gotten a job done and we were heading back to Boston. We were at the Cincinnati Metropolitan Airport as it just started getting dark out. In order to get back to Boston from where we were, we had to board a plane here. Which meant waiting for our flight. Yeah, I was a little grumpy. Eliot had gotten a bit injured, and I was tired and my muscles ached. I was feeling homesick and wanted some familiarity. But airport layovers are the worst.
We were all heading down the escalator together to get to the gate to our flight back to Boston. "Well, that trip was a complete disaster." Sophie complained.
"It was a train wreck." Hardison said.
"No, it was a shipwreck. And you know how I know that? Cause I was in the wreck." Eliot complained.
"Hey, man, I don't want to hear you complain. At least you don't have to fix the - the earbuds. You know what?" Hardison said.
"Oh boy." I muttered. Seriously, I have had it with them two bitching like they're an old married couple. I don't even argue with Eliot that much.
"Man, don't talk to me about the earbuds! I just fought three ex-Brazillian combat divers with spear-guns, underwater!" Eliot all but yelled.
"I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it." Hardison said, putting his hand up to Eliot.
"Hey, I don't want to hear you two bitch again! It's bad enough I gotta deal with Cowboys grumpy ass, I don't need to deal with yours, Hardison." I finally got them to shut up.
"You believe this?" Eliot hit Sophie's shoulder.
"Ow, don't touch me. I am sunburnt everywhere. I hate playing the French heiress on the topless beach." Sophie argued.
We got off the escalator. "When I get my bag, you can have my after-sun gell. It's got Lidocaine in it." I told Sophie.
"Oh, I don't know what you're complaining about. I didn't even get to see the emerald." Parker said.
All of us, well besides Nate, groaned.
"Oh, my god, for the last time, it's not an Emerald. All right? It's an island. It's the Emerald of the Caribbean." Eliot groaned at Parker.
"It's just a name, Parker." I groaned.
"Guys, qu-quit complaining. I mean, this is what we do. It's our job, and we-" Nate started saying. We took a few steps forward but stopped when we realized Nate wasn't moving. "If we wanted..." Nate said, distracted.
I see him looking around until I see Nate looking at a woman in scrubs. He started walking. I follow, telling everyone else to stay put for the moment. I see now why Nate noticed her. She walked up to a payphone. We stood beside her. I can hear her sniffling, indicating she had been crying as she put the coins in the phone.
Nate and I looked at the map on the wall. "Uh, is everything all right? You were part of a pretty nifty dead-drop back there. Really pretty good." Nate said.
"We saw you swap your cooler for an identical one. Someone grabbed yours. It was pretty good. Professional." I said, keeping my voice down.
"But you are not a slick professional. I believe someone put you up to it." Nate said.
The woman put the phone on the hook. "I-I-I don't know what you're talking about." She said, obviously skittish.
"Hey, it's okay. We want to help you." I said, keeping my voice soft.
Nate nodded his head to confirm what I said. The woman put her forehead on the phone box and help back tears as she sighed shakily. She shook her head no.
"Please tell us." Nate whispered.
The woman sighed shakily. "I didn't have a choice." She sighed shakily again. She looked at us, but turned back. Tears started welling up in her eyes, and she put her hands up to the face to stop them. She sniffled again. "These men told me if I didn't give them the cooler... they have my daughter." The woman started crying.
"Why?" Nate asked.
I put my hand on the woman's back to help calm her down. "What was in that cooler?" I asked her.
She sniffled again. "A heart. A human heart." She revealed.
I feel horrible for this woman. "Come with us. We'll help you get your daughter and get the heart back, okay?" I comfort her.
We took the woman over to the team and we go somewhere more private as she filled Nate and I in. She also told us her name was Linda.
"You were carrying a human heart?" Hardison asked Linda.
"I'm a transplant nurse. I was bringing it here from Detroit for a transplant..." Linda explained.
"...into a 15-year-old boy named Joshua Spin, who lives here in Cincinnati." Nate explained.
"Somebody stole a heart?" Sophie questioned us.
"Literally, and whoever did kidnapped Linda's daughter to get it." I explained.
"Well, can't we just get another heart?" Parker asked.
"From who?" Eliot questioned.
"From..." Parker tried to come up with an answer.
"No, Parker, it isn't that simple." I answer, not in the mood to explain the process.
"No, Nate, this is no job for us. The authorities should handle this." Sophie said.
"There's no time." Nate said.
"Y-you never want a heart to be outside of a body for more than four hours. It may not stay viable. It already took over two hours to get here from Detroit." Linda explained.
"If the authorities shut down the airport, the thieves will go to ground - they'll never find them in time." Eliot said.
"With Linda's daughter, no doubt." I added.
"Joshua is really sick. If he doesn't get this heart, he won't make it to the next one." Linda said.
"Okay, guys, th-this is up to us. Okay, we have to rescue Linda's daughter, we have to get that heart, we have to bring it to the hospital on our own, under the radar, and we have 108 minutes to do it or a boy dies." Nate explained, giving us the stakes.
We all agree to do this job. As much as I want to get back home, I'd rather help this nurse and that boy.
Third Person POV
Eliot, Parker, Kaira, and Sophie all go to a map to make a gameplan.
"First thing we got to do is get this lady's kid back." Eliot said.
"Linda already gave them the heart. Won't they give us her daughter back?" Parker asked.
"They just stole a heart. You think they're gonna leave witnesses?" Eliot asked.
"If we rescue the daughter first-" Parker cut Kaira off.
"We can use the kidnapper to find the thieves." Parker realized.
Back at the spot, Nate and Hardison stayed to get info from Linda.
"These kidnappers, how did they contact you?" Nate asked.
"My phone. Th-they sent me this photo." Linda pulled up the photo on her phone and showed it to Nate.
The picture was of a young girl with curly brown hair and a pink jacket sitting behind an aquarium tank and some kind of placecard.
"Okay, Hardison, can you do something with that?" Nate went to hand the phone to Hardison.
"Yeah, I can make a phone call. Nate, I don't have my equipment." Hardison pointed out.
Nate sighed. "All right." Hardison gave in. He grabbed the phone.
"Well, I mean, it's - it's a pretty high-res pic. Maybe I can pick up some detail." Hardison said.
Back at the airport floor, Eliot, Parker, Kaira, and Sophie were walking.
"The heart could be anywhere by now. They could have jumped in a taxi and driven off." Parker pointed out.
"No, no, we have to assume it's still in the airport, that they're planning to fly it out." Sophie said.
"Why?" Parker asked.
"Cause otherwise, we've already lost." Eliot said.
"So let's stick with the theory the hearts here, yeah?" Kaira said, determined.
Back with Hardison and Nate, Hardison had started zooming in on the photo.
"Some clues. How about that?" Hardison showed Nate a menu that was in the photo.
"All right, let me see." Nate said.
Hardison showed him the photo. "I mean, that looks like a restaurant booth." Nate pointed out.
"There's a lot of restaurants in Cincinnati, man." Hardison said.
"They want to keep her close and keep you on a short leash, so... what's - what's that right there?" Nate pointed to the logo on the cocktail menu.
"I don't know." Hardison said.
Nate looked back, having recognized the logo. "I know where they got her." Nate said.
They were at a seafood restaurant that was in the airport. Kaira, Eliot, Parker, and Sophie walked over to the restaurant after getting filled in by Nate. Eliot was first in the group.
"Just stay right here." Eliot said.
Kaira stayed with Parker and Sophie as they walked to the side. A minute later, Eliot came back out.
"Got anything?" Kaira asked.
"All right. They're in there. We're gonna need a distraction." Eliot said.
Kaira and Sophie looked at each other, knowing they were playing the distraction. Parker and Eliot covered Sophie as she took her pants off, revealing a blue, black, and white speckled dress, took off her blazer, and took her hair out of her ponytail, and fluffed it. Sophie handed Kaira the black pants as she went behind Parker and Eliot.
Kaira took off the jeans she was wearing and pulled down a simple black dress. She put a white blazer over her dress that she got from her personal bag, which was basically a backpack, and put her hair up. Sophie took out a pair of heels, and Kaira took out a pair of flats. Parker was looking at the cash they had.
"All right, they told Linda to call from a payphone for instructions once she made the drop." Parker said.
Eliot got out the cash he had on him and Kaira got hers out of her jeans.
"Better hurry up, or they're gonna start getting suspicious." Eliot said, handing Parker the cash.
"It's a good thing we didn't stay on that island to see those emeralds." Parker said.
"Parker, I just t-" Eliot saw that Sophie was about to put on red high heels.
"You carry high heels in your purse? And flats?" Eliot questioned Sophie and Kaira as they used Eliot to balance themselves.
"I always travel with heels." Sophie said.
She grabbed a scarf from Parker's neck and put it around her waist.
"I'm a grifter, babe. Always gotta be able to change." Kaira smirked a tad.
"How's this? Distracting enough?" Sophie asked.
"That should work, Soph. How about me?" Kaira said.
"Defiently, darling." Sophie complimented.
"Linda's phone." Parker handed Sophie the cash and Eliot handed Linda's phone to Sophie.
Sophie acted like she was on the phone and Kaira went along with it, acting like two businesswomen. Once Sophie and Kaira got in, they ended their phone conversation.
"Hi." The waiter said, looking both Sophie and Kaira up and down.
"Hi. Listen, I hope you're having a better day than we are." Sophie said, walking around the table with Kaira in tow.
Back at the payphone, Nate cued Linda to make the call.
Sophie and Kaira walked so the server would face the opposite direction of the kidnapper.
"I'm so sorry to bother you this late, we have some colleagues that we were on a business trip with, and we're stuck in a layover, so could we camp here until someone calls us about our flight?" Kaira asked the server.
Eliot and Parker sat at a table.
"Uh, look, I'm sorry, but, uh, we're about to close, and I still got to count the tills." The server explained.
The goon got up with the girl and Eliot hid.
"Oh, well, I think I could reimburse you for your trouble." Sophie showed the guy the stack of cash, which of course, the guy accepted as Parker grabbed the kid and Eliot choked out the kidnapper.
"Can I get you a menu?" The guy asked. Kaira and Sophie smiled.
"Thanks." Sophie said.
"Thay would be amazing." Kaira said.
The rest of the team came in once Eliot got the goon under control. Nate told the server to close it up, and he did. Kaira gave him a little extra cash for the trouble. Parker was sitting at the booth with the girl and Kaira sat across as Eliot dragged the kidnapper.
"Yeah, that will work. We'll get you a little taser, carry it with you wherever you go..." Parker told the daughter.
"Parker, no." Kaira scolded.
Linda and Nate came around the corner.
"Tanya?" Linda called for her daughter.
"Mom?" Tanya ran over to Linda, hugging her, nearly running into Hardison.
He sat next to Parker. Nate walked over to Eliot.
"What do you got?" Nate asked them.
"He's not a professional. He has no combat training. Lousy zanshin." Eliot said.
"The what?" Parker questioned.
"He's a loc-it means personal awareness. Thug for hire, but very well funded. Two first-class tickets, one for him and one for the girl, and that's how they got past security, and..." Eliot handed the tickets to Nate and pulled a plastic gun from the back of his pants.
"Plastic gun." Eliot said.
Kaira grabbed it from Nate to look it over. "Goddamn. This is only good for one or two shots in the barrel. This is some pretty expensive hardware." Kaira handed the gun to Nate.
"Why would someone pay for that but not hire a professional?" Parker asked.
"He doesn't want a professional. He wants a local so we can't trace him back to him." Eliot explained.
"All right. What about the phone?" Nate asked Hardison, who had been looking at the phone the whole conversation.
"It's a burner. No contacts and no numbers. This only calls in and out to Linda." Hardison explained.
"So, w-we got nothing on this guy to - to bring us back to the heart thieves? Nothing?" Nate questioned.
"No." Parker shook her head.
"All right. We're back at square one, with 93 minutes to go." Nate said. He looked back at Sophie, who was sitting with Linda and Tanya.
The team moved to gather around a table. Eliot was tying the kidnapper with string.
"Don't suppose you travel with handcuffs." Eliot looked at Sophie and Kaira.
"No, not on this trip." Sophie said.
"Sorry, babe, they're checked." Kaira said.
"All right, so we need to get some information-Hardison, I need you to hack-" Nate said when the server came over and asked if they wanted anything.
The team all said they didn't, sending him away.
"I need you to hack into the airport security system." Nate told Hardison.
"Hack with what, Nate? Did you not pay attention on the island?" Hardison questioned Nate.
Hardison had lost his laptop during a scuffle on a boat.
"Plus the ear buds are busted." Parker pointed out.
"And I burned our phones and our credit cards so we can't be traced." Hardison pointed out.
"Most of our money went on bribing the waiter." Sophie added.
"We're operating in a secured area." Eliot added.
"And Parker's lockpicks and my gear are checked." Kaira added.
"And airport wi-fi is a joke. Face it - we're practically naked." Hardison said.
Hardison saying "naked" triggered a flashback of Nate's son dying.
"Yeah, all right. If we're naked, we steal clothes. That's what we do. There's a kid's life at stake here, guys." Nate pointed out. He calmed down some. "All right, all right. I need you two to get us some new equipment - comms, cash, computers - anything, all right?" Nate pointed at Parker and Eliot. "We got to find out who's behind this, and we got 86 minutes to find this heart. Let's go." Nate said.
The team all got up. Eliot and Parker left the restaurant. Sophie walked up to Nate.
"Hey. You all right with this one?" Sophie asked Nate.
"What?" Nate asked.
"Well, you said it yourself - a kid's life is at stake. You don't think this might get too personal?" Sophie questioned Nate.
"Does it matter?" Nate walked towards the bar and sighed.
Sophie went the opposite way. Linda and Kaira helped Tanya to sleep.
Eliot lifted a platinum card from a flyer to buy walkie-talkies for comms, and Parker not only stole a snowglobe, but she also got a computer for Hardison. Kaira luckily had an idea for what was next.
Linda, Sophie, Nate, Hardison, and Kaira all gathered back around the table.
"Guys, I think I know how we can figure out who took the heart. Who else needs a heart besides someone who needs a heart? We can build our list from there based on Linda's knowledge. We need to steal the National Transplant List." Kaira explained.
"You can do that?" Linda questioned her.
"Y-yeah, yeah, if I had a decent enough set up, yeah. But I need a good starting point, like an I.P address or an email, just something I could use to trace back to that system." Hardison explained.
"An email?" Nate said. Sophie got an idea.
"May I?" Sophie pointed to Linda's phone.
"Yeah." Linda said.
Nate handed Sophie the phone. Sophie dialed the National Transplant Registry.
"Oh, hi. This is Jennifer from the Cincinnati Organ Transplant Center. We just got a donor heart in from Detroit, and, uh, well, the paperwork's a little awry. We're missing the..." Sophie turned to Linda.
"Uh, the donor history file." Linda whispered.
"...Donor history file. Could you email us a copy?" Sophie said, putting on a Midwest accent.
"Oh, it was, but you know how it goes with those little cups on the plane. One bump and Whoops! O.J everywhere." Sophie said. Sophie got the email.
Parker and Eliot came back, and Hardison got the computer set up. Kaira sat next to him as Eliot and Parker were taking apart the walkie-talkies to make cooms. Hardison was only able to get dial-up on the computer, so it was slow. The timer was counting down on the computer. Nate kept pacing.
"Hardison, come on." Nate told Hardison.
"Look, man, this is like stone knives and bearskins, okay? Nobody's asking Eliot to fight a guy with a nerf sword." Hardison said.
"Damascus, 2002." Eliot said.
Kaira and Hardison looked at Eliot.
"Like you've been to Damascus." Hardison quipped.
"Seriously? Babe. Why haven't I heard that story?" Kaira looked at Eliot, wondering if he was serious.
"Because you never asked." Eliot said, going back to the electronics.
"Okay, there we go. One National Transplant List coming up." Hardison started the download, and it was going slow.
"Hardison, you can't load it. It's so slow." Nate complained.
"I can't do anything, man. What do you want me to-" Hardison said as Nate was hitting buttons.
Kaira smacked his hand off. "Nate, that's not gonna help." Kaira moved Nate's hand.
The waiter came over. "Personal space, man." Kaira got the waiter to go.
Finally, it loaded. "Okay. Finally. There we go." Hardison said.
"There's over 3000 names, Kaira." Hardison pointed out.
"This is where Linda comes in. I need you to build a profile of who else can receive the heart. Hardison, filter the names by Linda's profile." Kaira said.
"Um, well, whoever the heart is for would have to be a genetic match." Linda explained as Sophie walked by Linda.
"Hardison, remove all the names that aren't a match for Joshua Spin." Kaira said.
Hardison did that. "And they'd have to be close in height and weight. You can't put a small heart in a big body." Linda said.
"And they'd have to live within a couple ours of Cincinatti so the heart is still viable." Kaira added.
By the time Hardison narrowed the search, there were still about 10 names on the list. Nate looked at the names.
"Right there! Right there. Hm." Nate pointed to the name.
Hardison highlighted it. "Dean Chesney?" Sophie questioned.
Eliot walked over with a couple of walkie talkies with Parker.
"Dean Chesney, CEO of Vertronics Defense Contractor. I had my eye on his for quite a while, but he was never a high-priority target." Nate explained, walking behind Hardison.
"Why not?" Hardison asked.
"He was dying." Nate revealed.
Everyone agreed that Chesney was the one who planned everything.
"Okay, so, Chesney's in Chicago, so it's too far to drive." Hardison said.
"They have to be flying it out." Sophie said.
"Which means it's still in the airport. Which means we have a shot at this." Kaira smiled, getting hopeful.
"Assuming they haven't already left." Parker pointed out.
"No, no. Guys, it would be a private plane-that would be the smart move." Nate said.
"Private terminals aren't connected to commercial terminals. You'd have to have tarmac access." Eliot said.
"Guy's a multimillionaire. I mean, you know, he would have tarmac access." Nate said.
"Which means we need it, too." Parker pointed out.
"Yeah. And all the private-flight plans to see who's flying to Chicago. Hardison, we got to hack into the tower." Nate said.
"Can't, man." Hardison said.
"What do you mean, we can't?" Nate questioned.
"Look, tower - tower computers aren't physically connected to the internet. It stops people from doing exactly what you're asking." Hardison explained.
"All right, well, fine. If we can't do it from down here, we'll do it from up there. We have to get into that tower." Nate said.
67 minutes to go.
Hardison took over the chalk board from the restaurant and got a map laid out.
"So, we're here, the tower's here, and the private terminal is here across the tarmac. Now, to access either one of these, we're gonna have to get out of the public areas of the terminal." Hardison explained.
Eliot was passing out comms.
"As fast as possible." Parker pointed out.
"And without being seen." Sophie added.
Eliot sat down, opposite from Kaira. The kidnapper kept trying to speak, but since he was gagged, he couldn't. Eliot kicked the guy to get him to be quiet. The kidnapper kept trying to speak.
"You done?" Nate said.
Eliot kicked him again, this time harder.
"Yeah." Eliot growled.
"We're gonna need badges. There are three levels. Each successive level gets you better access." Nate explained.
"Level one is your basic backstage pass. gives us access into all the employee-only parts except for the sensitive parts." Hardison explained.
"How do we get that?" Parker asked.
"We're gonna twist Sophie's ankle." Nate said.
"After we get out of the public areas of the terminal, we work on level two. It's ground crew, tarmac access. It gets us from here to the private terminal." Hardison explained.
"How do we get that? Break Eliot's wrist?" Parker questioned.
"No!" Kaira exclaimed.
Eliot just closed his eyes and then turned to look at Parker.
"What? No-no, no. We just pick up one from where the ground crew left it." Nate said.
"All right. After level two, we work on level three - tower access. Now, the tricky thing here is, only people with tower access are, you know, in the tower." Hardison said.
"So we lure them out." Kaira pointed out.
"Oh, okay. Set Nate on fire?" Parker suggested.
"Settle down." Eliot told Parker.
"No, we don't need to lure anybody out. No, the airports keep just a skeleton crew at night to save them money, which means that the people that aren't staying overnight are leaving right about now with their badges." Nate said.
The tea, all stood up, grabbing their walkies.
"Oh, and, uh, there's a slight chance that the radio tower may interfere with the walkie-talkies." Hardison said.
"How slight?" Eliot asked.
"Slight." Hardison said.
The team all left to do their tasks.
Out on the airport floor, Sophie pretended to twist her ankle and ended up getting the badge and passed it to Eliot. He met up with Parker and Kaira, and that's how they got level one. Parker, Eliot, and Kaira then went into the locker room to get spare clothes. Parker picked the lock on a locker.
"Yeah, this will keep my stuff safe-" Parker scoffed.
"From a six year old with the DTs." Parker quipped.
She got the locker opened. Kaira took the one on the left, picking it with a bobby pin she had kept in her hair. Eliot literally hit the lock with his palm and broke the lock. He handed a badge to Parker.
"That's two." Eliot reported.
He took the earpiece off. They all got changed into their new clothes. Eliot went to the louge area, dressed as a pilot. With some slight issues, Eliot got the badge. He left to the hanger, and got on the walkie.
"That's three. Hardison, you're up." Eliot said.
Turns out, Hardison lied. "Hardison." Eliot repeated.
There was feedback in the walkie.
"Hardison!" Eliot growled.
Hardison was waiting on the airport floor, pacing waiting for Eliot. Eliot then got someone to say for "Mr. Picard" to come to gate "e", which Hardison got the code. Eliot was partially in the door and passed the badge to Hardison. Hardison looked at it, seeing it was a woman's badge. Eliot basically told Hardison to deal with it. He joined Parker and Kaira on the tram back in the hanger. They were smushed, but they dealt with it. Eliot grabebd the keys from Parker and they left. Hardison made it to the tower.
Back at the restaurant, Nate had pulled up the profile for Joshua. 43 minutes left on the clock. Sophie walked up behind him.
"I know what you're gonna say." Nate said.
"I think you should have a drink." Sophie said, throwing Nate off as she walked across from him.
"Okay, I didn't know what you were gonna say." Nate said.
"Look, we don't like it when you drink, but we trust you when you do." Sophie said as she poured Nate a drink. She passed it to him, leaning on the table.
"We both knew this was gonna get personal. We need you to stay clear-headed. You let it get to you now, it's gonna go bad for all of us. Be very careful, Nate." Sophie said.
"Listen, that kid, Joshua Spin, 15 years old - he's waiting in a hospital bed for a heart that may never come." Nate pulled the drink towards him and sighed, knowing the flashback of Sam was coming. And it came.
"Sam would have been 13 this year." Nate said.
He went silent as he composed himself.
"A teenager." Nate slightly smiled, trying to hold back the emotions.
"Almost a man." Nate said. He looked to the side.
"I mean, you know, probably a big pain in the ass, but..." Nate said, causing him and Sophie to chuckle. Nate sighed again.
"Joshua Spin is getting out of that hospital bed." Nate got a bit teary eyed.
Sophie shook her head yes in agreement. Nate exhaled again, hand in hand with Sophie as he took a sip. Back at the tower, Hardison stopped the flight matching the one Chesney would take from taking off. Hardison got them the gate number and Eliot, Parker, and Kaira made their way over. However, after comforting Linda, some bad news happened.
"Nate, we got a problem." Kaira reported on her walkie.
"The plane's here, but nobody's on it - no thieves, no heart." Eliot reported.
Nate put his head down. "All right, they - okay... they went to the back-up plan, which is what, Hardison grounded their flight. so they went to plan B, and that is, what? They have no private planes, so they're gonna -" Nate tried deducting the plan. He inhaled sharply.
He then ran back, getting an idea. He went onto the airport floor and looked at the flight schedule. "No." Nate said, realizing that the thieves were on a public flight, which was boarding.
"Parker, Eliot, Kiddo, you got to get back over here. They switched to a commercial flight. Gate B-19 - it's boarding now." Nate reported.
The trio ran back to the tram. "We're rolling! We got to get to that plane." Eliot said.
"It took us 8 minutes to get there." Parker said, everyone loading up.
Parker went to the front and got under the tram.
"Parker, what are you doing?" Kaira asked, getting impatient.
Parker smiled as she got up.
"Did you just pull something out of the engine?" Eliot asked as Parker got on the tram.
"Yeah. Spark regulator - keeps the cart from going more than 25 miles an hour." Parker said.
"Now we'll get there in 4 minutes. Let's go!" Kaira said, realizing there was still hope.
Eliot drove off. The trio ran to the gate.
"They're boarding." Eliot reported in the comm.
"Who's our guy?" Parker asked.
"I just remember Nate saying he had a black suitcase, but that's it." Kaira said.
"Well, that narrows it down to everybody - except the women." Parker said.
"Nate, we need more to go off of. Wh-what are we looking for?" Eliot said in the comm.
Nate and Sophie were sitting at the restaurant bar.
"Don't know yet. Tell you in a minute." Nate said. Nate dialed a number.
"Yes?" Chesney answered the phone.
"Mr. Chesney, my name is Nathan Ford. I have your heart." Sophie did not like that.
"If you want it, I want a million dollars for it - now." Nate hung up the phone.
"Are you insane?" Sophie asked Nate.
Nate ignored Sophie.
"Eliot, someone at that gate is about to receive a phone call. Whoever it is, that's our guy." Nate said in the walkie.
"Copy that." Eliot said.
"That was what I was talking about. You just told the mark we're after him." Sophie argued.
"No, no. He knew we were onto him as soon as we grounded his plane." Nate brushed it off.
"You gave him your name!" Sophie exclaimed.
"I want him to know my name." Nate said.
The trio watched the ground and saw a guy about to board get on his phone.
"There." Kaira pointed out.
"That's him... and his two best friends." Eliot realized.
"They're boarding." Parker said.
"Shit! Nathan, they're getting on the plane with the heart." Kaira said in her comm.
"Well, get him off the plane - now." Nate ordered.
"Well, how is he gonna do that?" Linda asked.
"Um, mechanical issues." Sophie suggested.
"No, no. They'll just keep people on the plane until they fix the problem." Nate said.
"A bomb threat?" Sophie suggested.
"They'll call the authorities. Same thing with a fire alarm - no, it has to be something bigger, something - something..." Nate grabbed the walkie.
"Hardison, uh, we need a tornado." Nate said.
"A-A-A what?" Hardison questioned.
"Listen, they'll pull people off the plane if there's a tornado warning." Nate said.
"I - No. Negative, negative, negative, negative. That's - it's - it's crazy talk. What-" Hardison realized the guy sitting next to him was looking at him.
"It's cra - he thought he saw, like, a UFO. The man gone. He's gone." Hardison brushed it off.
"Last week on that island, you faked a volcanic eruption. How is this harder?" Nate questioned Hardison.
"How is this - that was-" Hardison got up and went to the back of the room.
"Look, man. The tower can't call in a tornado warning, okay? That has to be the National Weather Service, and they only do it if you get, uh, reports of a funnel cloud touching down." Hardison whispered.
"Sophie and I will take care of that. You just sell it to the tower." Nate said.
Hardison went to sit down.
"MassDot Special?" Sophie said.
"MassDot Special." Nate said.
"MassDot Special?" Linda questioned, confused.
"Yes!" Sophie grabbed the phone and dialed the number and sold the report of a tornado, getting a tornado warning.
Hardison did sell the story to the tower, getting everyone out.
Back at the gate, Parker, Eliot, and Kaira saw that everyone was clearing the plane.
"All right. It worked. They're clearing the aircraft." Eliot reported.
Him and Kaira left as Parker stayed to guide people, waiting for their target.
Hardison managed to get himself alone in the tower.
Nate's cell phone then started ringing. He answered it. "Mr. Chesney." Nate got up and walked away. Sophie did not like that.
"You know, you have a strange sense of humor, Mr. Ford. Why are you toying with me, with my heart?" Chesney asked Nate.
He sat on a chair by the tank. "Well, it's not your heart, now, is it?" Nate pointed out, a tone in his voice that would scare anyone.
"Possession is 9/10 of the law." Chesney said.
"Well, I don't have much use for the law, and you don't have much time. There's 24 minutes left on that heart, Chesney. It's not gonna make it to Chigaco. Why don't you give up?" Nate said.
"A heart can last up to six hours outside a body. The odds of successful transplant drop after four, but, hey..." Chesney had a coughing fit. "They're better than my odds, Mr. Ford. Listen, I'm not getting any better. I'm too old to make the top of the list. This is my only chance. I've planned for months. I have eight backup contingencies. I'm fighting for my life, Mr. Ford! What are you fighting for?" Chesney said.
"I am fighting for that 15-year old boy that you're going to kill." Nate said, that tone in his voice again.
"God helps those who help themself." Chesney said.
"And I help people who can't. And God help you if anything should happen to that boy, because he spends more than one second longer in that hospital than he needs to, I will make it my mission in life to end you. I will ruin you. I will ruin your name. I will ruin your company. I will bring down everything you have every touched. And when I am done, I will hunt you down, and I will kill you myself." Nate threatened a calm anger in his voice that was terrifying. He hung up the phone.
Hardison ran into a situation in the tower where he needed to help land a flight. Nate walked back over to Sophie at the bar.
"Parker, Eliot, Kiddo, talk to me." Nate said in the walkie.
Kaira and Eliot made it to their location.
"We're set, Parker. It's on you." Eliot said.
He left with Kaira, taking off his comm. Parker kept watch, guiding people.
"All right. I see him. On three. One... Two..." Parker started yelling as she grabbed the thief's bag and ran like Hell. She led the thieves down a hanger corridor, where Eliot and Kaira took out the back two thieves, leaving just one for Parker to chase.
At the tower, Hardison pulled up a flight simulator to help him land the plane.
Parker ran onto the airport, but was rammed into by a cart. The guy pointed a gun at Parker. She handed him the bag.
"Cheater." Parker said, upset.
The guy grabbed the cooler and left. Eliot and Kaira cleaned up their mess as Parker jogged up to them.
"It's gone. He got it." Parker said.
"Nate, you copy that?" Eliot said into the walkie.
"Copy." Nate said, pacing.
"He grabbed the cooler and went through an employee-only door." Parker reported.
"Okay. He's headed back to the private jet." Nate said in the walkie.
"Wait, Hardison grounded it though." Kaira said.
"Tornado warning. No one's looking, he takes off without clearance, Chesney pays the fine. Hardison, where's that private jet?" Nate said in the walkie.
"Jet's gone, Nate. They took off." Hardison reported.
"And the cooler, too." Nate said.
Nate, Linda, and Tanya left the restaurant, where Nate filled them in, joined by the rest of the team, meeting Sophie as crew.
"They took off?" Linda questioned.
"Yeah." Nate said.
"They took off with the heart?" Linda asked, upset.
"Well, no." Nate said.
"So, they didn't-they didn't get the heart?" Linda asked.
Sophie grabbed the cooler with the heart and handed it to Nate. Kaira smiled because the plan worked. See, they still had the fake cooler from the dead drop. Sophie changed to look like crew, and Nate put the wrong cooler in a suitcase, matching the one the thieves had. When the theft was chasing Parker, in the confusion of the dropped bags, the thief grabbed the one Parker grabbed in the tumble.
"So what did they get?" Linda asked the team.
Nate put the snowglobe Parker grabbed from the store in instead.
"Se we got the heart." Linda realized.
"She's catching on." Hardison said.
"We're not done yet, guys, we still got to get to the hospital. Where is it?" Kaira pointed out.
"15 minutes away." Linda said.
They all walked up the escalator. They all ran outside.
"We don't have much time to get to the hospital." Nate said.
"There's the ambulance. It's waiting for us." Linda said.
When the driver walked up to the team, Nate punched him out. Eliot and Kaira checked for a gun.
"Chesney said he had eight contingencies. By my count, that was seven. Eliot, take shotgun." Nate ordered as Eliot grabbed the gun and everyone piled in the ambulance.
They sped off. Luckily, they got to the hospital in time and watched through the window as Linda was talking with Joshua's parents.
"What do you think Chesney's doing now?" Parker asked.
"Probably firing his man." Sophie said.
"Yeah, well, they're just lucky they're not in jail." Eliot said.
"Can't shine a light on them without getting caught in it ourselves." Sophie said.
"Yeah, but, I mean, we did do some pretty illegal things." Hardison went to pat Sophie, but she gasped, not realizing Sophie was still burnt.
"At least the kidnapper's going down." Eliot said.
"What ever happened to him anyway?" Hardison asked.
Let's just say, airport security picked him up.
"Let's go." Eliot said.
The team followed him out, minus Sophie and Nate.
"You did it, Nate." Sophie said.
Nate walked up to her. "You saved him." Sophie told Nate.
Joshua smiled at Nate. Sophie left. Nate kept looking at the family, and eventually left.
The team flew back to Boston, where needless to say, they were relieved the job was over and they could rest. Well, everyone but Nate. He was building a model ship, the only light being the lamps that were on. His cell phone rang. He put a Bluetooth speaker in his ear and answered the phone.
"Well, well. I was wondering when I might hear from you." Nate said, realizing it was Chesney.
"How's your boy, Mr. Ford?" Chesney asked Nate.
"He's not my boy." Nate said.
Chesney chuckled. "So now what? You can't report me without exposing yourself. And what's to stop me from trying again?" Chesney said.
"I am." Nate said. He grabbed a remote and pulled up security feed of Chesney's room and monitor on one screen on the big screen, Chesney's accounts, and company info.
"I'm watching you. I'm watching your money, your people, your company. What have you got there, a pulse rate of 86?" Nate said.
Chesney got freaked out.
"Oh, look at that. Just jumped up to 104. That can't be good for you. Make your peace now, Chesney. Because if I see anything... anything I don't like..." Nate threatened. "Well, Mr. Ford."
Chesney chuckled. "It seems you've killed me after all." Chesney said.
"Oh, I didn't kill you. God killed you. I just... made sure it took." Nate said.
He hung up.
First Person POV (Kaira)
I wasn't gonna lie, it felt amazing to be back home. I know this job was hard on Nate. And it was hard for me, too. Thinking that Kasey would've only been two years older than Joshua if she was still alive.
I walked over to Nate's apartment. I knocked on the door.
"Come in." Nate called.
I opened the door.
"Hey, Nate." I smiled.
"Hey, Kiddo." Nate said.
I walked up to the table, seeing the boat model and the security feed.
"Nate, I know this job was hard." I said, pulling over a chair to sit in.
"I was okay." Nate said.
I gave Nate a look. "Nathan, you have security footage of Chesney's hospital room, and his and his company's financials up." I pointed out.
I take a breath.
"It makes sense. Chesney will try this again. Now it's up to us to make sure he doesn't cause anymore harm." I said.
I could tell I was perplexing Nate. "Yes, he will. And yes it is." Nate said.
"You know, Nate, Kasey would be 17." I told him. I smile a tad. "Imagine her and Sam together." I chuckle, and I see a slight smile from Nate.
"That would be like two bulls in a china shop, kiddo." Nate chuckled a bit.
"Yeah, you're right." I said.
Suddenly, there was a heavy feeling.
"Nate, I know you saw Joshua, and you saw Sam. And if I'm being honest, I saw Kasey. It wasn't easy, but we made it through." I said.
"Yeah." Nate said.
I gave a smile and left. I believed there was a special place in Hell for Chesney waiting for him, along with the heart thieves and the kidnappers.