CHAPTER 4

Introductions

(Scorpion's Garage)

"Son, sometimes I think you forget that not everyone is as honest as you." Cabe frowned.

"Was this a formal invitation? Do we know when he'll be here? Do we even know if he is a he? Maybe the hacker is a woman." Sylvester was becoming noticeably more anxious.

"Sly, just calm down." Paige went to Sylvester and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Hopefully this won't be any worse than one of your Alderman meetings."

"Do we know anything about this guy?" Cabe looked at Walter. "Sly's right it would be good to know what we're getting into here."

. ͽϿ Ѻ Ͼͼ .

(Biltmore hotel)

"What does it mean that he sent you the I thing and he signed it?" Eliot frowned.

"It's an invitation." Parker explained while she drowned a second pancake in syrup.

"Invitation? To what?" Eliot clenched and unclenched his fists.

"We're both hunting the same hacker. I think it was an invite to meet up and see if we could do better together." Hardison shrugged.

"Do we know who this guy is?" Eliot didn't like the idea of going into a meet blind. "How do we know it's not the first guy you were after, and this isn't some kind of trap?"

"Here's the part that gets a little weird." Hardison turned his laptop so that Eliot could see the pictures he'd pulled up on it. "We actually saw this guy yesterday."

Eliot leaned forward looking at the faces on the screen.

"Walter O'Brien runs a group of geniuses that call themselves Scorpion. They're government contractors but do a little freelance now and again." Hardison tapped a key and the pictures slowly changed showing one person after another. "That one's Walter. He's really really proud of his IQ. This one is Sylvester Dodd. Dude is some kind of math wiz. He's had a good run in local politics and is the team's lawyer. Also participates in Fantasies N' Frolics." Hardison nodded his approval of a fellow geek.

"This is Toby Curtis. Psychiatrist, medical doctor, and long-time gambler. This is Happy Quinn. She's a mechanical prodigy but definitely has some anger issues." He tapped the key again. "This is Paige Dineen. Not exactly sure what she does. Was a waitress for a while. I think she handles the books. Her son though, he's actually got a genius IQ."

Hardison stopped the pictures and turned the screen to face Eliot again. "This is where we might have trouble. Agent Cabe Gallo of Homeland."

Eliot stared at the screen for a moment. "Could we introduce ourselves as FBI?"

"We saw Gallo, O'Brien, and Dineen, yesterday. They aren't going to buy the FBI covers especially after Quinn got weird about Dineen." Parker said around a bite of pancake.

Eliot looked over at Quinn. "Shift back. I think we need to know what's going on here."

Quinn whined and pinned his ears back.

"Really?" Eliot arched an eyebrow.

With a huff Quinn headed back to their room. He was back in a few minutes in a t-shirt and sweats.

"So who is this girl to you?" Eliot asked as Quinn sat down. "Hardison said you didn't lie when you said you hadn't met her, but we all felt it in the bonds. You know her somehow."

Quinn sighed and ran a hand through his hair disarranging the curls on top. "She's my little sister."

. ͽϿ Ѻ Ͼͼ .

(Scorpion's Garage)

Cabe had poured himself a cup of coffee as he sat at the kitchen table and watched as everyone settled into a slightly nervy version of their daily routine. He was thinking over what Walter had done. Walter was, by any and all definitions, a genius, but sometimes the things that boy did just made no sense to Cabe. What was the benefit of inviting a hacker, a criminal, into their midst? How were they supposed to trust a criminal? Almost everyone on this team had had a run in with the law in their pasts but he knew they were good people and they'd put all of that behind them when they'd joined the team. This hacker wasn't the same. Sly and Walter had both told him about other things this guy had done, and he wasn't breaking the law because he was down on his luck or boxed into it somehow, no, this guy did it for a living and seemed pretty proud of it.

Cabe's phone rang, and he answered without checking the caller id. "Hello?"

"Agent Cabe Gallo? This is Agent Todd McSweeten with the FBI."

"What can I do for you?"

"I was asked to make an introduction."

~~o0o~~

Cabe hung up with Agent McSweeten and had to shake his head over what he'd just heard. The hacker that Walt had more or less invited to the garage was apparently involved with some kind of Robin Hood-esque group of thieves and grifters. McSweeten had recommended that Cabe look the other way on the legality of their methods and their backgrounds and work with the group of criminals. After working with Scorpion, it wasn't the most outlandish thing he'd ever heard, but he had a hard time just setting the law to the side. His badge and his oaths meant something to him.

His phone rang again. With a glance at the caller id this time. He answered the phone. The caller id had displayed the name Parker with no number. "Hello?"

"Agent Gallo? This is Parker. I asked Agent McSweeten to call you."

"Yes, he told me a number of interesting things about you and the people you work with."

"I thought it would help if you heard from someone else that you might find more trustworthy before I called you."

Cabe nodded even though he knew she couldn't see him. "He said the same thing." He waited a moment but when she didn't continue, he decided to ask a question. "Just out of curiosity, why am I talking to you instead of the hacker?" He flipped through the notes he'd taken on his call with McSweeten. "Alec Hardison?"

"Because I'm the Mastermind of this crew. If I don't think it's safe, I won't bring my crew to your garage."

"It's not my garage." Cabe couldn't help his smile. He liked the girl's candor.

"Walter O'Brien isn't the one that could try to arrest us. We want to help. We understand the implications of this hack, maybe better than you do, but I won't risk my crew."

"If the cause is worthy shouldn't a good man be willing to risk anything?... Or good woman I guess?"

"We are the bad guys, remember?"

He could hear the smile in her voice.

"So is my crew safe?"

"For the sake of the greater good… I'll look the other way. But this is just a one-time thing. Don't suppose for even a second that this will get you a free pass in the future." He did his best to sound stern.

"Good enough."

The line went dead and Cabe stared in amusement at the phone in his hand.

A knock sounded on the front door and all eyes in the room locked on it. No one answered the knock but whoever was on the other side didn't seem inclined to wait. The door opened slowly, and a man stepped into the garage. He was just a little on the shorter side of average height, with a stocky muscular build and shoulder length brown hair. He looked face to face and then took in the rest of the room.

Cabe was sure that the man had been military at some point, but the ready stance and the watchful gaze said that had been a while ago and there had probably been a lot of bad in between. Cabe didn't see the man give any kind of signal but a moment later more people filed in behind him.

There was a petite blonde woman that Cabe assumed was Parker. She was followed in by a tall black man that Cabe recognized as a nerd of some kind. The last one in was a tall blond man in a suit. He had a muscular build that marked him out as a fighter as well.

Parker smiled as she stepped past the first man that had come into the garage. Cabe didn't know why but it wasn't until she smiled that he realized he'd seen her and the last two men yesterday in the elevator.

Parker walked up to Cabe and held a hand out to shake. "Agent Gallo. I'm Parker."

Cabe shook her hand and was surprised at the strength in her grip. "Nice to meet you again."

She smiled and gestured behind herself. "This is Eliot, Hardison, and Quinn."

Cabe looked around at the people that had gathered around them. "Call me Cabe. This is Walter, Paige, Sylvester, Toby, and Happy."

"Not to rush the meet and greet here but we got about…" Hardison checked his watch. "twenty minutes until the next bank gets hacked."

"Right." Walter hurried to his desk and Sly followed him.

Everyone watched for a moment as Walter, Sly, and Hardison all settled in around Walter's desk.

Paige turned to Quinn with a smile. "It's nice to meet you again Quinn."

"Oh, uhm, yah. Nice to meet you officially I guess." Quinn started to cross his arms but at the last second decided to put his hands in his pockets instead.

Cabe looked at Eliot who had turned to admire Happy's motorcycle. He had the feeling that Eliot was still keeping tabs on everything that was happening in the room despite his relaxed posture and his apparent interest in the motorcycle.

Happy went to make sure the stranger didn't touch her bike. "You like motorcycles?" Happy stood with her arms crossed.

Eliot glanced at Happy and smiled at her guarded stance. "I used to have a motorcycle that was the same model." He pointed to the area where Happy had been working. "You're modifying it for a catalytic converter? How are you going to reroute the exhaust like that?"

Happy quirked an eyebrow. Eliot obviously did know something about motorcycles, and she was surprised that he didn't have something snide to say about modifying the old bike. Instead, his questions and interest seemed genuine. "Right. I was waiting on a part that would let me bring the exhaust to the side before wrapping it back around here." She pointed out where everything would go clearly seeing the finished product in her mind.

"Was waiting?"

"The guy that was supposed to get me my part suddenly backed out and it's been nothing but excuses since then." Happy grumbled.

"I know a guy across town. Could get you the part by tomorrow." Eliot offered.

Happy wanted to say yes but she didn't want to end up with stolen parts in her bike. She bit her lip and looked from the empty spot in her bike to Eliot.

"Completely legit. I'll give you the number and you can make the deal yourself. Just tell him Eliot sent you." Eliot smirked and pulled his phone out of his pocket.

A smile crossed his face, and he stepped away as he started tapping at the screen.

~~o0o~~

Eliot smiled when he saw that he'd gotten a text message from Gemma. When things went sideways last night, he'd decided not to text her and things had been moving right along this morning.

'I hope everything is going okay.

Ms. Teo says hi '

'Things got a little out of hand

last night. I hope you slept well.'

'I did. I don't remember what I

dreamed but I woke up humming

a song that you sang.

'What song?'

"The one with the Big Ol' Wheels'

'happy man'

'You make me happy.

I hope you have a good day.'

~~o0o~~

Quinn followed Paige to the kitchen area. She offered him coffee and he nodded his acceptance. She'd pulled out a mug that had pink flowers and another that was plain white. She poured the coffee, and he added two sugars to the mug with the flowers.

As she turned back, she raised an eyebrow when she saw what he was doing. "I wouldn't have thought that you were a pink flower kind of guy."

"I'm not. You looked like a 'two sugars' kinda girl." He smirked.

She took the cup when he held it out. "So what do you do?" She sipped her coffee. "Or should I not ask that?"

Quinn shrugged and sipped his own coffee. "I help protect the others."

"That other guy…Eliot? He doesn't look like he needs a lot of protecting."

Quinn chuffed a laugh into his mug. "No. No he doesn't."

"I'm guessing that he does a similar job to what you do." She grinned as she sipped her coffee.

He nodded.

"I know that Hardison is a computer hacker and I'm not sure what Parker does, but I wouldn't think those two would need that much protection."

Quinn snorted. "You'd be surprised."

Paige checked her watch and set her mug to the side. "I have to pick up my son."

Quinn hated to see her go already since they had hardly had the chance to talk. "Is Ralph enjoying his college classes?"

Paige stiffened and a look of wariness replaced her pleasant smile. "How do you know about my son?"

Quinn realized his misstep too late. "Oh, it's not like that. Hardison, he checked you guys out before we came. I didn't mean anything by it. Really."

Paige looked at Quinn, who really did look apologetic. She seemed to relax a fraction but didn't say anything as she walked past him and retrieved her purse and keys from her desk.

~~o0o~~

Cabe had watched as everyone seemed to settle into smaller groups. He'd taken a seat on the couch near Toby's desk where he could keep an eye on everyone. Before long Toby joined him.

"Looks like that hack is going to take a while." Toby commented when he saw Cabe looking at Walt and Hardison who were both typing feverishly on their laptops.

Cabe nodded. Watching the lines of code scroll across the screens made Cabe feel old. He longed for the days when bad guys couldn't hide behind ones and zeros, and he could actually lay hands on them. He thought about mentioning that to Toby just to give his psychiatrist chain a yank, but he saw Toby watching Paige.

"Isn't that interesting?" Toby muttered.

"Maybe somebody should tell him he's barking up the wrong tree there." Cabe grinned.

"Maybe, but I don't think that's it. Look at the way he's holding his shoulders. And he's leaning toward her just a little, but his hips are angled away. No there's something else going on there."

"If you say so doc, but after watching that guy get all tongue tied and trippin' over himself in the elevator yesterday, I think he's looking for more than friendly conversation."

The clang of something falling from Happy's workbench drew their attention.

"Now that guy…" Toby shook his head.

"That guy is more interested in the bike than he is Happy. Besides Happy can handle herself." Cabe reassured Toby.

Eliot laughed at something Happy said and the warm sound of it inspired Toby to head over to see what was so funny.

"He'd make a good grifter."

Cabe flinched in surprise and looked up. Parker was sitting on the I-beam overhead.

"You would think so, but past experience says he'd just get his ass kicked." Cabe scooted a little to the side and looked up at her. "I'm not sure how you got up there but why don't you come down so that we can talk."

Parker rolled off of the I-beam and caught the bottom edge of it with her fingertips. After hanging for a moment she dropped, landing lightly next to Cabe.

"What do you want to talk about?" Parker tried to read his face the way that Sophie had taught her but mostly she just thought he looked old.

"I know Walter said he sent some sort of invite to Hardison but why would you guys decide to take him up on it? It seems like a big risk."

"Hardison said it was the best way to get the job done." Parker shrugged one shoulder.

"I thought you said that you were the boss?"

"Are you the smartest man in this room?" Parker asked with a shrewd look around at the others.

Cabe huffed. "No. It's safe to say that I'm not."

"Do the others look to you for leadership?"

"Sometimes." Cabe didn't want to sound prideful, but he knew the team had struggled before he came along.

"More than sometimes." Parker gave him a knowing look. "In order to lead them well and make good decisions do you listen to the people that are smarter than you?"

"Okay, okay, point made." Cabe put a hand up in surrender. "Agent McSweeten said that you guys are some kind of Robin Hood group. Robbing from the rich and giving to the poor and what not."

Parker scoffed. "Not hardly. Redistribution of wealth rarely ever fixes anything. No, we help people. People that can't get a fair shot in court, or end up victims of a scam, or a drug company, things like that."

"But why?" I'm told that you are all very good at what you do and that you've never really been on the right side of the law."

"You ever wanted to be a better person?" Parker shrugged and looked fondly at her boys. "We wouldn't make it as straights, working some nine to five job, but we can do what we're good at and help people."

~~o0o~~

Sylvester ran numbers as Walter gave them to him and it didn't take long for Hardison to see what they were doing. Hardison started giving information to Sylvester as well, and it allowed him to focus on the actual coding instead of the math required to plan his next step or predict his targets next step. He smiled as he typed faster.

At some point he could feel Sylvester staring at him and he looked up to see if the man needed more data for the data set, he was analyzing. He realized that Sly was watching how fast he was typing. Hardison considered slowing down, but he knew that if he and Walter didn't keep up the pace then their double pronged attack on the hacker and defense of the bank's system would fail. He readjusted in his chair and slid his laptop around so that Sylvester couldn't see his hands behind the screen of his laptop.

"Walter, do you have the flux ready?" Hardison had taken the lion's share of the coding but if Walter wasn't ready, yet this bank would be the next victim.

"Al…mo…st…Now!" Walter hit a short series of keys to launch his code and Hardison did the same.

They both watched the sudden shift in the code on their screens.

"Alright!" Hardison crowed. He put a fist up to Walter. "Come on don't leave me hangin'."

Walter managed to bump knuckles, but it was so awkward that it made Hardison roll his eyes.

Eliot came over to see what the commotion was about. "Did you fill in your gap thing?"

Walter stared in confusion at Eliot.

"No. This was just stopping the most recent hack. We still need to solve the air gap and patch the doors in the banks that were already compromised." Hardison sighed as the high of besting the other hacker faded under the weight of the rest of the job.

"What air gap?" Walter frowned.

"Have you noticed how the code is launched at the start of each attack?" Hardison focused on Walter.

"Yes." Walt put a hand on his chin while he thought. "Yes, I see what you mean."

Parker perched herself on Hardison's chair. "So now we need to get the external drive, right?"

"That's right momma." Hardison gave her fingers a squeeze.