"You said he's staying at the Marriott downtown?" Nate asked Hardison.
"Yeah man," the hacker answered, scrolling through the document on his phone. "According to the receipt he's got the penthouse suite, with checkout tomorrow morning."
"Alright guys," Nate said, turning to the team. "We need to take care of this tonight. Eliot, I need the license plates from your truck."
"Seriously?" the hitter asked. "It's parked clear across town. Why don't you take Hardison's plates?"
"Just do it," the mastermind replied, his tone making it clear that it wasn't up for discussion. "We're running out of daylight."
Eliot shook his head and muttered to himself as he walked to the door, slamming it behind him as he left. Once he was gone Nate turned to the grifter. "Sophie, once Eliot gets back I need you to go to the hotel and distract Drake. Parker, recon."
"Yes!" The thief made a celebratory fist before bouncing upstairs to pack her bag. Sophie followed shortly behind, always happy to have an excuse to go through her immense selection of formal attire.
After watching them go Hardison turned to the mastermind. "And what am I supposed to do?"
"You're the hacker," Nate said. "Get ready to hack something."
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Sophie's cab arrived at the Marriott just after dusk. She paid the driver and got out, glad that she had a bit of darkness to cover her as she started to discreetly search the lot for their mark's vehicle. "Alright everyone. I'm here," she whispered into her com.
Hardison was seated behind his laptop in the kitchen, getting ready to do his part. "Just remember Drake's truck is a rental, so it'll have Massachusetts plates. Once you find it all you gotta do is hold the phone I gave you within a few feet of it and I can scan for the remote codes and unlock it."
"Sounds easy enough..." She went through a few more rows of cars before she spotted a black Denali parked in the middle of the lot, just out of eyeshot of the main entrance. After glancing around to make sure no one was watching she approached it, noting the unmistakable scrape marks and black paint on the vehicle's bull bar.
"Found it," Sophie said.
From the living room Nate addressed her through his com. "Alright, you know what to do." He put his jacket on and then proceeded to grab a set of car keys from the hanger by the door.
Hardison hit a few keys to unlock Drake's vehicle remotely and then turned to the mastermind, unsure what the next part of the plan was. "Where are you going?"
"To finish this," Nate answered simply.
"You're not actually thinking of going out there, are you? I mean, if you drive any of the vehicles registered in your name they're gonna come after you," the hacker reminded him. Nate had given Eliot's plates to Sophie before she left, and he hadn't taken any other ones to use for himself.
The mastermind smiled, toying with the fob in his hand. "I'm counting on it."
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Sophie approached the hotel bar, wearing a shimmering burgundy evening dress. From a distance she saw Drake and another man seated on the far end, and quietly spoke into her com to update the team. "He's here. I'm going to introduce myself and see if he bites."
"Oh I'm sure he will," Nate said over the com, thinking of how stunningly beautiful she looked in literally any of her dresses. She smiled at the compliment before continuing to the bar and taking a seat a short distance from Drake, who was leisurely conversing with the man next to him. She recognized him as one of the guys Eliot had pointed out from the footage.
She called over the bartender and ordered a drink, discreetly keeping an eye on Drake when the other man's phone rang. He got up to take the call, which gave Drake an unhindered view of the grifter. She immediately caught his eye, and he quickly decided to put the alone time to good use.
"Barkeep," Drake called over, nodding at Sophie. "Put that beautiful doll's order on my tab, would you?"
She smiled at him before casually moving over to take the empty seat that Drake's companion had left. "Well that is so very sweet of you, mister…?" she trailed off, encouraging him to introduce himself.
"Edwin Drake," he replied. "And the pleasure's all mine, miss…?"
"Katherine Beth Lovely," she said as she shook his hand.
"Very fitting, for a lovely lady such as yourself." He looked her over as he took a sip of his drink before continuing. "So tell me, Katherine, are you here for business or pleasure?"
"A little of both, hopefully," she said, brushing her fingers over his hand. "And please, call me Kitty."
Just then the other man came up behind them, ignoring Sophie to tap Drake on the shoulder. "Boss, can I have a word?"
He turned around to address his companion, clearly irritated at the interruption. "Can't you see that I'm a little busy right now?"
"It can't wait," the man insisted.
He turned back to Sophie and smiled, giving her hand a gentle squeeze as he got up. "Excuse me for just a moment, darling." He gestured his employee to the other side of the bar to give the two men some privacy. "This had better be good..."
The other man nodded, keeping his voice low. "We got a hit on Ford again, just past the license plate reader on mile marker twelve. Black Prius."
His boss smiled a sly grin, that was just the news he was waiting for. "Let's get a move on, then. Get the others down here now." The other man nodded and walked away to make another phone call.
Drake went back over to Sophie, still cursing the inconvenient timing of Ford's reappearance. "So sorry to have to leave on such short notice ma'am, but it looks like I have some important business to take care of."
The grifter's smile quickly faded into a look of disappointment. "Are you sure you can't stay? I'm only here for a few more hours before my flight leaves."
"Unfortunately not," he answered, watching as two more of his men joined the first. "But if you're still here when I get back..."
"Then I'd love to continue where we left off," Sophie finished for him. He smiled and nodded goodbye to her before signaling for his men to lead the way. The grifter watched them exit the hotel before she got up and walked away from the bar, giving another update to the team. "He just left, and there are three other guys going with him."
The hitter had spotted two additional men on the screen, but this brought the total to four including the mark. Sophie heard Nate address him. "Eliot, can you handle an extra guy?"
There was a momentary pause before Eliot replied, and Sophie could only imagine the aggravated look on his face as he did. "Did you seriously just ask me that?"
Nate very much appreciated everything that Eliot did for the team, but he started to think that phrasing his question like that wasn't exactly the best way to show it. "I know, I know, it's just...it seemed like the courteous thing to do."
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Parker was carefully concealed in the bushes along the highway, a pair of heavy binoculars in front of her petite face. She scanned the road until she saw the mastermind's Prius, quickly spotting a black SUV following several car lengths behind.
She made an angry face. "Nate, there's an SUV tailing your car."
Nate's voice came over the com. "Same make and model?"
She adjusted her binoculars for a clearer picture. "Yep, black Denali. Dark tint."
"Perfect," the mastermind replied. "Let's go steal us some vengeance." He pulled out his phone, sending a quick text message. It's go time.
A/N: I know the only episode we saw Nate's Prius was the pilot, but I really wanted to use it in this story. And thank you so much for the reviews and comments, I really enjoy reading your thoughts and guesses for what happens next :)