Nate woke early the next morning, the darkened windows telling him that the sun had yet to come up. Sophie, Parker, and Hardison were still sleeping away peacefully, each curled up in individual blankets scattered about on the living room floor. The hitter had insisted they all get some rest, and then go over potential suspects in the morning.
The mastermind threw off his blanket and got up, heading for the kitchen. The coffee machine had just finished brewing, thanks to Eliot he surmised. The bathroom door was closed and he could hear the shower running. He grabbed a mug from the cupboard and poured himself a cup before sitting down at the kitchen table and contemplating their next move.
He heard the water turn off, then a few minutes later Eliot walked out of the bathroom donning a fresh pair of jeans. He slung a clean shirt over his shoulder and started to towel-dry his hair.
Nate greeted him before taking another sip of his coffee. "Morning. You're up early."
"Haven't slept yet." Eliot growled as he finished up with the towel. He threw it to the side, then pulled his new shirt on before walking to the coffee machine to pour himself a cup as well. Nate could tell by his tone that the hitter was still on edge from the events last night. To fair Nate was as well, but he was doing his best to make sure that the other members of the team didn't see it.
Eliot put the carafe back in the machine and sat down next to the mastermind, an uneasy silence forming between them. Nate avoided eye contact, feeling beyond guilty that his hast to finish the job almost got Parker shot last night. That, and his failure to account for every possible scenario.
They'd only looked into people who would benefit from stealing the designs, not anyone that might want them to disappear. Nate thought about how he'd mentioned that angle in passing when they first discussed the job, and it was mistake to not follow up on it. It was his job to think it through, to look at every angle. Damn Sterling, he thought. Throwing him off his game.
Just then Eliot broke the silence, keeping his voice low to avoid waking the others. "You have any idea how dangerous that was, what happened last night? You coulda both been killed."
Nate looked up and met his gaze for a few seconds, but didn't say anything. Eliot saw fear flash across the mastermind's eyes for just a fraction of a second before he quickly regained control of his expression. He often tried hiding his thoughts from the team and that could make things difficult for Eliot, who's job was ensuring everyone's safety. He was glad that at least this time Nate seemed to understand the gravity of the situation. That made it less likely that he would do anything stupid, the hitter thought. Correction – anything else stupid.
"You don't happen to have a plan, do you?" Eliot asked.
Nate kept his attention on the mug in front of him, pausing a moment before answering. "No."
No plan, no contingencies, no what-ifs. Just a simple no. That was unlike the mastermind, but then again he wasn't exactly used to being blindsided. "We'll sort this out," Eliot assured him.
"I hope so," Nate said, before taking another sip of his coffee.
They sat in silence for a few more minutes before Eliot finished his coffee and got up, nodding towards the bathroom. "If you wanna shower there's fresh towels under the sink."
"You know it'd save a ton of water if we all showered together," Parker said from behind them, having appeared spontaneously out of nowhere. Nate almost choked on his drink, as much from her words as her sudden appearance. She turned to him, completely oblivious to the fact she was the cause of the incident. "You okay, Nate?"
"Fine," he rasped, then cleared his throat. "Coffee just went down the wrong way." He grabbed a napkin from the center of the table and starting cleaning up his spill, making a mental note to have Sophie to go over social norms with her. Again.
"Good mornin', guys," Hardison said as he walked in to join the rest of them. He sauntered over to the cupboard in a half-zombie-like state and immediately started hunting for snacks, grabbing a granola bar for himself and one for Parker before taking a seat at the table.
"You guys want a real breakfast?" Eliot asked, hoping to change the subject before the thief brought up any more awkward ideas.
Hardison stopped mid-bite, the granola bar suddenly losing its luster. "You got real food here, man?"
"Yeah," Eliot said, raising an eyebrow at the hacker. "What good's a safe house if you gotta go grocery shopping as soon as you get here?"
"Did someone say 'real food'?" Sophie asked as she walked through the doorway, her hair an utter mess from tossing and turning. Breakfast and lunch yesterday had consisted of whatever food-like substances Hardison kept in the van, and she was definitely craving a wholesome meal after their long and stressful night.
"That'd be great, Eliot," Nate said, especially thankful that Sophie missed the shower discussion.
Eliot tied his hair back before retrieving a carton of eggs from the fridge. "Alright, you guys go get cleaned up and I'll let you know when it's ready."
.
.
.
Parker finished crunching on her toast, flicking the crumbs off of her fingers as she thought about their next plan of action. "We could go over the security footage at the Reliant Building, see who went to the server room after us."
A scowl came across Eliot's face. "Yeah, 'cuz getting in the first time was so damn much fun."
Hardison nodded in agreement. "And not only that, if they were smart enough to find you guys in just a couple hours they'd be smart enough to wipe the footage before they left."
"Um, why exactly didn't we wipe the footage before we left?" Sophie asked, turning to the hacker. "That would've spared us from this whole bloody mess in the first place."
"Seriously? They were watching us run our con in real time, why would I worry about wiping the footage?" He waved his last slice of bacon in the air as he spoke, his gusto causing half of the delicious crisp to break off and plunge the floor.
First Sterling, then the cameras, and now the footage was coming back to haunt them. Eliot couldn't help but think how bad luck seemed to be just raining out of the sky. He addressed all of them. "Alright guys, two new rules for the team: call first if you're going rogue, and: Always. Wipe. The footage."
"Okay, so what's our next move?" Parker said.
Hardison sighed. "There's not much more I can do from here, since most of my equipment's back at the apartment."
The hacker had great security measures in place, and the mastermind was eager to know if anyone made a move on their building. "Anything come up on that end?"
Hardison checked the logs on his screen before turning back to Nate. "Nothing on the motion sensors, alarms, or cameras, and no black SUVs on any nearby traffic cams. Looks like our friends didn't go any farther than running you and Parker through the DMV, not yet anyway." The hacker had checked to see if anyone else's information had been compromised, and he as well as the other two members of the team seemed to be in the clear. To Hardison it made sense, Nate and Parker were the only ones who had shown their faces in the server room or Caldwell's office, and that was likely the only footage their secret admirers had bothered to access.
Nate tapped his fingers on the table, then turned to the hitter. "Eliot, this is your call. Think we'll be alright if we head back?"
"We should be, but Hardison and I should go first. Double check the security."
"Fair enough," Nate said. "Just be careful and we'll wait to hear from you. Hardison, do a sweep for bugs when you get there. Check the cars, too."
"But what about us?" Parker said as a pout came across her face. "There's literally nothing to do here. No board games, no books, no stolen padlocks..."
Eliot cut her off. "It's a safe house, it's not designed to be entertaining." He gestured to the hacker. "Let's go, the sooner we get this done the better. Be sure to lock the door behind us." With that the two of them walked out, quickly disappearing between the neighboring buildings.
Sophie still didn't like having a mystery assailant around, and turned to Parker. "We need to try and figure out who's after us, that should give us plenty to do."
The three of them sat in silence for a few minutes, each playing a mental version of Guess Who. Parker looked between Nate and Sophie before an idea came to mind. "What about the guy Caldwell was talking to at the party? They seemed pretty buddy-buddy."
Nate turned to her, extremely eager to hear what she had to say. "What guy?"
"Mr. Belt-Buckle-Southern-Drawl guy," she said. "He called me 'ma'am', can you believe that?"
Wanting to make sure he didn't miss any angles this time, Nate thought about the briefcase Caldwell had given him when he was trying to bribe his way out of trouble. The CEO didn't come across as the philanthropic type, but the amount was far too small to be the full purchase price for designs of that caliber. He'd assumed it was for a bribe, but if it wasn't, then the money could very well have been for a down payment. If so, then the person that gave it to Caldwell was likely their assailant.
"Parker, did Caldwell have a briefcase with him when you went for his wallet?" he asked.
She thought back and smiled, remembering in detail that fond moment when she finally got to pickpocket someone. "No, but his friend did."
The mastermind paused, this was just the lead they were looking for. "Describe him to me."