Nate was alone in his apartment after having sent the rest of the team home for the night. The money he'd gotten from Caldwell would go to Scott's family to help cover their expenses until he was released, and Hardison had verified that the files they were looking for were indeed on the flash drive they'd taken from the CEO's office. Leaving the building without checking the drive first hadn't been Nate's ideal scenario, but with Sterling throwing a wrench in things they didn't exactly have much choice. At least this time something worked out in their favor.
He closed the door to his room and sat down on the bed, throwing his com on the nightstand before laying back and running his hands over his face as he thought about the job. It had been tough, one of their hardest to date, but they'd all pulled through and the mastermind was immensely proud of his team. But despite their success today, he wasn't as happy with his own performance. He'd been a hair's width away from losing control on numerous occasions and had also almost ran out of plans, both scenarios that didn't sit well with him. If they ever ended up with another fiasco of a job like this one, he definitely planned on adding some additional letters to the alphabet.
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When Nate found himself still contemplating which language he could steal letters from an hour and a half later, he realized sleep was probably going to elude him. He sighed heavily and got out of bed, deciding that the best course of action was to make some much-needed coffee.
To his surprise, he found the living room light on as he reached the bottom of the stairs. Parker was sitting on the sofa with her back to him, crunching on yet another fortune cookie based on the number of wrappers scattered haphazardly around her.
Parker, Nate thought to himself. Of course. He was just about to ask the thief why she was still there when he noticed she was twirling a swipe card skillfully in her hand. He knew he'd left Caldwell's entry card for Dalco behind, but this one definitely had the CEO's face on it.
"Parker, where did you get that?" He asked as he approached, skipping his initial question about her presence. After all, popping in and out randomly wasn't exactly unusual behavior for the thief.
She quickly pocketed the item at Nate's unexpected appearance. "Uh, get what?"
"Parker..." He gave her his signature you-know-you're-busted look and held out his hand.
"Okay fine...there were two cards in his wallet and I didn't now which we needed, so I grabbed them both." Parker handed over the card, anticipating Nate's displeasure before adding a quick apology. "I'm sorry." She really wasn't, but thanks to one of Sophie's coaching lessons the thief knew it was the right thing to say when you got caught.
Nate grabbed it and turned it over; it was Caldwell's entry card for SenTech. To Parker's surprise he smiled. "No don't be, this is perfect. I can use it to get into their building tonight."
If he hadn't been able to get Caldwell to confess to the framing, returning the designs was part of Nate's backup plan to help prove Scott's innocence – or at the very least get him off on reasonable doubt. After all, if he was guilty he wouldn't possibly be able to return them while he was in custody. The mastermind had of course still planned on giving them back even with the CEO arrested, and having an all-access pass to SenTech's building just made it that much easier. He could be in and out without anyone even knowing he'd been there.
"Tonight?" Parker asked, breaking into his thoughts.
"Sure, if we can finish the job early we should," Nate said. "And besides, having someone else's property hanging around can just end up being a liability." In all honesty leaving this godforsaken job unfinished was nagging at him and preventing sleep, but he wasn't about to admit that to her.
Parker was quiet for a moment, thinking about how her entire apartment was one giant liability. "So you're going to un-steal them?"
He smiled and answered her in a playful tone. "I know, that must be an unusual concept for you."
She thought about how Hardison had said she should try things outside of her comfort zone to help her grow as a person, or something like that, and realized this was probably exactly the kind of thing he was talking about. "Can I come?"
He gave her a questioning look. "Wouldn't you rather go home and get some sleep? It's pretty late already."
Of course Parker didn't take the hint, bouncing cheerfully off of the sofa to plead her case instead. "Nah, sleep's no fun. Take me with! Pretty please?"
Nate hesitated a moment, toying with the second swipe card that she most definitely wasn't supposed to take. "Alright, on one condition," he said. "We're not stealing anything. Not even a pen. Got it?"
Her smiled faded but she nodded reluctantly. Yep, this was definitely outside of her comfort zone.
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As they approached the parking lot Nate pressed the unlock button on his fob, garnishing a quick flash of lights from a black Mercedes. Parker hesitated, eyeing the sporty red Tesla parked next to it. "We're not taking the Roadster?"
The mastermind opened the passenger door of the sedan for her. "No, we're trying not to stand out. This one's a bit more subtle."
Uh, she thought. So not fun. She scowled and got in, disappointed that they weren't taking the flashier ride. She never did admit that she was a bit jealous of its speed when she'd first seen him drive it, and for just a few fleeting moments she'd almost considered getting one. If only she didn't have to part with money to do so.
Nate didn't miss the longing look on her face when she took one last glance at the Roadster before getting in the larger car. He smiled, then closed the door after her before walking around to the driver's side and taking a seat behind the wheel.
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They were halfway to their destination when Nate brought the car to a stop at yet another intersection and waited. In the passenger seat, Parker tapped her fingers on the armrest impatiently. "You know you can go."
"It's a red light, not a stop sign Parker."
"Yeah but it's the middle of the night, and there's literally no one around. I would go."
Nate smiled. "That's why you're not driving."
Suddenly a pair of blinding headlights in the side mirror caught Nate's attention. He squinted slightly, the SUV they belonged to didn't appear to be slowing down. In fact, he heard the approaching vehicle's engine roar as it gained speed. He realized it was going to slam right into them.
"Hold on!" Nate shouted to her as he floored the accelerator. He knew he didn't have enough time to completely evade the impact, but at least he could try to soften the blow.
The large SUV plowed into them, shoving their car forward violently. Parker squealed in surprise before turning around, trying to get a look at the culprit. "Seriously?! Probably on the phone..."
Nate steered his car right to get centered on the road again as he looked in the rearview mirror, and saw the SUV turning towards them and gaining speed again. "I don't think so –" He started, but a bullet hitting the back of the car cut him off.
"Parker, get down!" The mastermind turned off his car's lights and sped up, trying to put as much distance between the two vehicles as he could. He quickly pressed the speed dial on his car's console before grabbing the wheel again as the larger vehicle slammed into them a second time.
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It was late and Eliot was about to retire for the night when his phone rang. He checked the caller ID, it was Nate. Great, he thought. I wonder what frivolous errand he wants me to run this time of night. He didn't really feel like it, but decided to answer anyway. "Yeah?"
"Eliot, we've got company….they're trying to run us off the road." The strain in Nate's voice immediately put the hitter on high alert.
"Where are you?" Eliot asked. Before he got an answer he heard two gunshots and the sound of shattering glass, followed by the mastermind cursing. He got up and bolted towards the door, grabbing the keys for his Challenger on the way out. "Nate! I need a location."
"The construction site in the industrial park," Nate answered. "Parker's with me. Tell the others to get to a safe house, we don't know if –" His voice was cutoff by another shot just before the call dropped.