Kaira and Eliot loaded up some things in the truck. Nate went and did the deal with their mark, Judge Roy. A real bastard, and as Kaira quoted at the briefing, "A bastard son of a bitch." He made deals with various people to get bad people back on the street and apparently liked to hit young ladies' asses without their consent.
They spent two weeks in San Juan setting up Roy to rip him off for a rip deal con. Hardison and Parker were arguing about the heat and the location.
"Hardison, stop your bitching. As soon as Nate rips Roy off, you can go back home in the A/C and your internet connection." Kaira said, loading things up in the truck with Eliot.
"Excuse you, you may like this type of environment, but I, a city boy, don't." Hardison whined again.
"Just shut up about it." Eliot said.
Hardison was silent for the moment.
"How we coming on the breakdown?" Hardison asked.
"Fake addresses are shut down. The post office boxes are closed. The phones are cleared. Five more minutes, we never existed." Eliot reported.
"Want me to call the Delgado family, tell them the news?" Hardison question.
"Not yet. Eliot and I want to call them ourselves as soon as we clear county lines." Kaira said.
Eliot got in the drivers seat of the white truck and Kaira got in the passenger seat.
"I just wish we could do more than bankrupt that corrupt son of a bitch." Eliot said, putting the truck in gear and driving away.
It was quiet for the moment. Eliot and Kaira drove for a bit.
"We got to get out of here." Nate said in a hard southern accent.
"What's he waiting for?" Hardison asked.
Eliot stopped the truck. Kaira was worried. Then through Nate and Sophie's comm, there were two voices, one saying it was a robbery that was happening.
"Dammit, Nathan." Kaira said, upset.
"You've got to be kidding me." Parker said.
"Oh, hell, no." Hardison exclaimed.
"I knew this went to smooth!" Eliot exclaimed.
"Shit!" Kaira exclaimed.
"Get out now." Nate whispered into the comm.
"Is he talking to us?" Hardison questioned.
"An unmarked van parked across the street from a bank that's being robbed? Yeah, I think he's talking to us." Parker said.
Eliot sped to try and get to the bank.
"Another five more feet, and he would've been in the clear. What the hell was he thinking?" Hardison asked.
"Don't be an idiot, Hardison!" Parker exclaimed.
"What?" Hardison questioned.
"Sophie was still in there." Parker said. "Awe Nathan, what the hell?" Kaira exclaimed, not happy. Sirens could be heard through Parker and Hardison's comm. "Not a bad response time. Somebody must have tripped the silent alarm." Parker pointed out. "This is so not good." Hardison said.
Eliot and Kaira pushed through the crowd of people to get a look at the bank. The police officer controlling the crowd tried to get them to leave.
"Tell me what's going on in there." Eliot said.
"I'm afraid I can't do that. This is an active crime scene, and you need to-." The police officer said before Kaira interrupted.
"Sorry, officer. We're private security for a very important businessman in the bank. Our job is making sure he's okay. We were told to wait outside because our presence would spook the man he was making a deal with. Now let us do our job." Kaira explained, shooting him a look.
"How many are there?" Eliot asked.
"Yeah, you're right. Clearly amateurs, these two, uh-huh. Yeah, the younger guy looks like he's never handled a gun before." Nate said in cover.
"I'm assuming that corrupt bastard son of a bitch is next to you?" Kaira questioned.
"Yeah, uh-huh, yeah, definitely amateurs. That's what makes them so dangerous." Nate said.
"All right, two guys, both armed, neither one a criminal mastermind. Want us in there?" Eliot said.
"Sir, ma'am, we can't have you going inside the bank. This is a volatile situation." The cop said.
"Just let us do our jobs." Kaira said.
"Probably a good idea just to sit tight, don't you think, you know, see where these guys' heads are at, you know?" Nate gave the order.
"All right, your call, boss." Eliot said, leaving with Kaira in tow.
"How you doing?" Nate asked Sophie through the comm.
She also heard Roy talking to one of the robbers.
"I'm just peachy. How about you?" Sophie said.
"Something weird is going on in here." Nate observed.
"Hmm. You noticed that too, huh?" Sophie said.
"Hear what that guy said? They didn't have enough. They need more cash, and it's not to pay rent." Nate said.
"I don't care what it's for. Let's just focus on getting out of here." Sophie said.
"We help these guys get what they want, then we can get everybody out of here safely without anyone getting hurt. I mean, I don't know about you, but I am not gonna leave my fate in the hands of the Juan volunteer S.W.A.T team." Nate said.
"Okay. So what's the plan, Stan?" Sophie asked.
There was more arguing off comms between the robber and Roy.
"We cannot allow the local Leos to handle the situation. We have to get in charge of it. We have to be the police." Nate said. He said something to Roy.
Kaira immediately got what Nate was saying.
"Got it, Nathan." Kaira confirmed.
"Parker, Hardison, grab three FBI jackets. Meet us at the building diagonal from the bank." Kaira said.
A short while later, a black car pulled in. It was Parker and Hardison who was in FBI gear. Kaira put on her shades and the jacket. And changed quickly into her FBI persona.
"Nice ride." Eliot said, handing Parker a folder.
"It's embarrassing. Everyone knows you don't job a bank without an exit strategy. These two deserve to get caught." Parker said, handing FBI badges to Hardison and Kaira.
"42 seconds." Parker said.
"What?" Hardison questioned.
"To rob this bank. One security guy who's never fired his gun before, two closed-circuit cameras outside, one inside, and a Glenn-Reeder safe built in the '50's whose default combination is the birth date of the manager's wife. Get in, get out, 42 seconds." Parker explained.
Kaira stopped her.
"Parker, don't be so harsh. We don't know why they robbed the bank. I mean, it obviously was a rush job, which could mean they're in trouble." Kaira said, getting a realization.
"Shit I think I know why they're robbing the bank. They're in trouble with someone who probably asked for money and they were forced to rob the bank to get the amount needed. Why else would they say they didn't have enough cash?" Kaira said.
Parker and Hardison were impressed.
"Nice going, princess." Eliot complimented.
The trio continued walking underneath the caution tape.
"I'm Agent Leonard. This is Agent Elmore." Hardison said, introducing them to the sheriff.
"And I'm Special Agent Child. We'll be taking over this scene. Sheriff...?" Kaira shook his hand.
"Bill Hastings. Nice to meet you." He said.
"You guys sure are quick. Just called this in 20 minutes ago." Bill said.
"We were nearby. Drug sting." Kaira explained.
"So, what do you got, Sheriff?" Parker asked.
"Well, we can't get a good look inside, so we don't know how many gunmen there are or how many hostages they have or what they want." Bill informed them.
"Huh. What about your tactical insertion team?" Parker questioned.
"We don't have a S.W.A.T team per se, but, uh, old Virgil up there, he's one hell of a crack shot." Bill said, pointing to where Virgil was.
"That's not gonna work." Kaira said.
She walked away to think.
"Sophie, Nathan, we have to separate these guys and get answers." Kaira whispered.
"Agent Leonard, can you get some surveillance in here?" Kaira ordered to Hardison.
Sophie got the dad to the vault to talk with him.
"What would help - uh, you listening? - What would help is if we got some kind of background on these people, you know, so we could know how to sort of deal with them right here, right now." Nate said, still in cover.
"Already on it, boss." Kaira whispered into the comm.
"I've hacked into the bank's security system. I've got a good look at your gunmen. I'm running him through my facial recognition database. Tapped into NSA, FBI, and if these guys have records, we should get something pretty quick." Hardison said.
Kaira stood by as Parker talked to the Sheriff. Hardison's laptop beeped fast.
"Oh, that was fast. These guys must have warrants. Check that - the older guy is U.S military. Derrick Clark - served as an officer in the Navy for 20 years. Retired last spring." Hardison said.
"Well, it doesn't make sen - Uh, doesn't make sense. You know, why would a guy like that rob a bank?" Nate asked.
"I'm accessing his financials. Looks like Derrick cleared all his accounts this morning, even visited a bunch of ATMs around town, hitting the daily withdrawal limit on all his credit cards." Hardison informed Nate.
"Yeah, but who takes all their money out of a bank, and then comes back later only to rob it?" Nate asked.
"Someone who is desperate for money to pay someone off, I'm telling you" Kaira said.
She sent the address to Eliot to investigate.
"You say something?" Roy asked.
"I - what? Oh, no, I was just - I was just - I was thinking about, you know, if the cops were smart about this, they would I.D these guys... kind of figure out who they are and maybe get to their family members." Nate said, not breaking cover.
"Two steps ahead of you. Kaira just texted me the address. I'm on my way there right now." Eliot said, driving.
All of a sudden, the power went out.
"Whoa, what's going on?" Hardison asked Bill.
"Cut power to the bank. Standard operating procedure." Bill explained. Kaira rolled her eyes.
"Standard - it's standard op - it's standard? Where you getting that bull hockey from, son?" Hardison questioned.
"Deputy Arnold - he took a seminar in crisis management last year." Bill explained.
"It was an online seminar. We got certificates." Deputy Arnold said.
"Certificates? Magic kits come with certificates. Does that make it cool for kids to saw their parents in half?" Hardison questioned.
"We're just going by the book." Bill said.
Hardison pretended to get offended.
"The - the book? The book got a good man killed. I can't — my blood pressure." Hardison started acting all upset.
"Agent Elmore, just take Agent Leonard to cool off. Meanwhile, get your guys to turn the power on before everyone in the bank passes out from heatstroke." Kaira ordered.
Kaira watched everyone work.
"Why are you doing this?" Sophie asked, presumably to Derrick.
"Don't have a choice. We need the money." Derrick said.
"For what? Your son in some kind of trouble? He is your son, right?" Sophie asked.
"That's none of your damn business." Derrick said, defensive.
"Well, seeing as you have a gun pointed at me, I kind of feel like it is." Sophie said.
"You don't know the combination, do you? Are you even the branch manager?" Derrick questioned.
"Um... not exactly. Okay, Derrick, listen up. It's like this. I just want to help you - you and your son." Sophie explained.
"How do you know my name?" Derrick asked.
"I know a lot of things. I know you don't want to hurt anyone, and I know you wouldn't be doing this if you didn't have to. So just - just try and help me understand. What's the money for?" Sophie said, calming Derrick down.
"The house has been broken into. Someone was here when it happened. His name's Michael. Found his report card on the floor." Eliot reported.
Kaira still kept watch.
"W-w-w- what are you doing? Get back on the ground." Michael said.
"It's not too late, Michael. That's right. You can still save her. Do you know who took her?" Nate asked.
"It's all my fault." Michael said, stammering.
"T - they think I did it. They left a note, said that they wanted one hundred grand by five o'clock... or they'd kill her." Michael explained.
"Nate, get him to tell you who she is." Kaira said.
"Well, we're not gonna let that happen. Okay? But you have to trust me, and you have to do exactly what I say. And I promise you, we will get your mom back." Nate said.
"They had me doing little things at first - you know, errands, stuff like that. And then a few months back, I started running for them." Michael explained.
"Mm-hmm. Drugs?" Nate questioned.
"Meth mostly. I mean, I just - I... I got caught up, you know?" Michel said.
"Michael, why are they coming after you now?" Nate asked.
"Well, l-last week, they got ripped off. An entire shipment, it was - it was just gone, and they - they think I did it, but I had nothing to do with it." Michael said.
"Right, so they broke into your place, they didn't find it, and they took your mom as collateral?" Nate questioned, getting the story straight.
Kaira felt bad for the kid.
"They said I can return the shipment or pay a hundred grand. I mean, that's a hundred grand. My dad and I don't have that kind of money. This is all my fault." Michael said, upset.
Then Michael went off on a hostage. "You just got to listen to me. Listen. I know what you're going through, And I can help you if you let me." Nate said.
"How? I mean, y-you're trapped in here, same as us." Michael questioned. "I got people on the outside." Nate said.
Sophie was still with Derrick.
"No. No cops. If they found out we contacted the police, they'd kill her." Derrick argued.
"They're not cops. I promise you. They're friends of mine. You can trust them." Sophie said.
"Why should I trust you? I don't know who you are." Derrick questioned.
"I'm a thief." Sophie said. Kaira rolled her eyes.
"Okay. I'm not sure what to do with that." Derrick said, unsure.
"That creep over there, Judge Roy? Amongst other things, he's been taking bribes from meth dealers and smugglers. Two months ago, he cut a man loose who killed a local girl." Sophie explained.
"Delgado, right? Beth Delgado. I remember that. She was a good kid. She went to school with my son." Derrick said.
"We're running a scam on the judge. We're stealing all his dirty money and giving it to the family. Listen. I have one partner in the bank and four more outside." Sophie explained.
"I can't trust... you're thieves." Derrick grappled with the idea.
"And we're your only chance. Police have this place surrounded. You're not going anywhere. My people are the only ones who can make the drop." Sophie said.
"But how are you gonna do that? The deadline's in half an hour. Your friends just happen to have a hundred thousand dollars lying around?" Derrick questioned.
"We're gonna use the money that we have in here." Nate said.
"It's not enough. We're still short thirty grand." Michael said.
"No, Michael, not that money. We have an alternate revenue source." Nate said.
"You did not just suggest what you suggested?" Kaira questioned.
"Is he suggesting what I think he's suggesting?" Hardison asked.
"Are you suggesting what we think you're suggesting?" Parker asked.
"You want to give our bad guys' money to some other bad guys?" Parker questioned.
"Yes, that's exactly what I'm suggesting we do. But we're gonna do it without blowing our covers, gang." Nate said.
"Who - who - who are you talking to?" Michael asked.
"Maybe I'm just dense, Nate. But your alternate revenue source is sitting two feet from Boss Hog himself in the middle of a bank surrounded by a bunch of cops." Eliot said.
"I didn't say it was gonna be easy. But nothing's impossible, especially when you have the world's greatest thief on your payroll. Parker, have you ever robbed a bank that's being robbed?" Nate said.
"There's a first time for everything. Bank was built prior to 1980, before computers. Means it's got a larger than normal night deposit chute." Parker said.
"Cause business owners had to drop off ledgers with their daily hauls." Hardison said.
Parker and Kaira were impressed.
"What, you thought my genius was only limited to ones and zeros?" Hardison questioned.
"I'm thinking the chute's my way in. Only problem is it's in the alley on this side of the building." Parker explained. "You'd be visible to the cops out front. I think me and Hardison can handle that." Kaira said.
"We actually have bigger problems." Hardison said.
"What's that?" Eliot asked.
"Sheriff Coltrane over here called the FBI - the real FBI. Now the closest office is in San Diego, so they should be here in about, um, give it 45 minutes." Hardison said.
"We can't worry about that now." Nate said.
"When do we worry about it?" Hardison asked.
"In about 45 minutes." Nate said.
Parker left. "What's going on?" Michael asked.
Nate must have shown him the earbud. Then Derrick came in with Sophie. Kaira got her plan ready to distract the police with Hardison. Parker dialed Hardison's phone and he answered it.
"Agent Leonard." Hardison started.
"Yeah, yeah. Wh - uh, yeah, we will do whatever you need us to do. Just please don't hurt anybody. O-okay." Hardison said, hanging up the phone.
"Everyone gather around!" Kaira exclaimed.
The police gathered around Hardison and Kaira. "Now, boys, that was the call - the call we were waiting for. Now, look, they have a list of demands." Hardison said.
"They want pizza boxes so they can sneak their cash out. They are asking that once we deliver the boxes, we leave so they can escape and run and for us to wait twenty minutes until we go in. So far, none of the hostages are hurt. Though a hostage will be hurt if those pizza boxes aren't delivered in a timely manner. So, get your asses moving and get me the pizza boxes." Kaira ordered.
Her speech gave Parker enough time to get in the chute. It was silent for a second. Roy and Nate talked while Derrick met with Parker.
"There's a lot of money in there." Derrick said.
"Yeah, I know." Parker said.
"My wife's life depends on that money getting to where it needs to go." Derrick said.
"I understand. Sometimes bad guys are the only good guys you get." Parker said.
Parker left the chute. It was silent for a while. Then a gunshot rang out and Sophie called out to Nate.
Kaira tensed up as she ducked behind a police car, just to be safe along with the other cops, who had their guns out.
"Nate, Sophie, what the hell is going on there?" Kaira whispered.
No response.
"Guys, wait a second. You start firing your weapons, you'll scare the gunmen and risk more hostages. Put your guns away." Kaira ordered.
The cops did.
"Please, everybody just calm down. Just - just put the guns down. We can talk this thing through." Sophie said.
Kaira was not liking the situation at all. "I'm not taking orders from you, missy." Roy said.
"What is your problem?" Sophie asked.
"My problem? You're my problem. You and Nate there. I heard what you called him - Nate. Which is weird 'cause when we met, he told me his name was Carl. You guys are trying to rip me off. And you're in on it with these two!" Roy exclaimed, very upset.
"Agent Leonard, I need eyes, now!" Kaira ordered.
Hardison did.
"We have nothing to do with these people." Derrick said.
"No, no, no, no. No, I see what's going on here. The four of you are conspiring against me. This bank robbery is not even real, is it?" Roy chuckled, thinking me had the truth.
"It's just one big scam to try and get my money! And, actually, it's not a bad plan. I mean, if old Carl here just disappeared with the cash, you knew I'd come after him. Eventually, I'd track him down. But if the money was stolen in a bank robbery, well, heck, you might get away with that." Roy said.
"You're wrong. They were just trying to help us. My wife - she was taken. We need the money for ransom." Derrick explained through tears.
"Ransom? Really? Is that the best you can do? You'd have to be an idiot to fall for a cockamamie story like that!" Roy yelled, getting very agitated.
"Guys, what's the play here?" Kaira asked.
There was more banter between the three. "Now, please, he needs to get to a hospital." Sophie pleaded.
Roy wasn't having it. He wanted his money back. Kaira couldn't stay, so she faked a phone call and told the Sheriff that she had a time-sensitive tip she had to take care of.
Eliot and Kaira had taken the briefcase to the site where Michael was supposed to deliver the cash to.
"It's not here." Sophie said.
"Well, I can see that." Roy retorted.
"No, I mean it's not in the building." Sophie said.
"Come on, come on." Eliot said impatient.
"They haven't arrived yet?" Hardison asked.
"Yeah, cause meth heads are so punctual." Eliot said.
"You don't come into my town and think you can get away with my money." Roy said, getting more agitated.
"A man had been shot, sir. Y-you have to let him go." A man said.
"I said no one leaves." Roy repeated.
"He's bleeding!" A woman pleaded for Nate.
"Oh, shut up! Everybody, shut up! I'm trying to think. If you got the briefcase out of the bank, that means you must have a man on the outside. How are you communicating with him?" Roy asked.
Parker was selling the story of the gunshot to the Sheriff.
Hardison walked over. "Gunshot was an accidental misfire. No one was hurt, but one of the hostages was grazed. They're gonna release him as soon as their demands are met. Where the hell are the pizza boxes at?" Hardison informed the group.
Kaira and Eliot waited, nervous.
"Oh this is bad." Parker said.
"Son of a bitch." Kaira muttered under her breath.
"You get your guys when I get my money!" Roy exclaimed.
Roy smashed the earbud and a loud piercing humming was heard. Eliot and Kaira winced.
"This is really bad." Parker said.
"Sophie don't worry, we'll get you out of this. Let me talk to Roy." Kaira said before Sophie took her earbud out and told Roy he had a caller.
"Hello Judge. My name's Kaira Newton. You've shot my boss and are holding my friend." Kaira said, a calm anger to her.
"And you have my money." Roy said, getting angry.
"You'll get your money as soon as we take care of the people holding the man's wife hostage." Kaira said.
"Like I believe that." Roy said, getting agitated more.
"Be seeing you, you disgusting son of a bitch. I'm gonna enjoy taking you down." Kaira retorted.
"And I am looking forward to getting my money back." Roy said.
Roy smashed the earbud sending out another wave of piercing static.
"Is that what I thought it was?" Eliot asked, worried.
"I'm afraid so, cowboy." Kaira confirmed regretfully.
"Nate looks pretty messed up, man. We're gonna need that briefcase back." Hardison said, also worried.
"I'm working on it." Eliot said.
It was silent for a moment. Then the meth heads arrived and looked at the cash. Then a woman got out of the car and tried escaping, but the meth heads stopped her. One pulled out a gun, which Eliot grabbed his wrist.
"Hey. What smells like crank and screams like a girl?" Eliot said before grabbing the gun with his free hand and hit the guy's knee with the gun, causing him to scream like a girl.
"Right answer." Eliot retorted.
He threw the gun at the guy in the truck as Kaira dealt with the other guy and Eliot kept kicking the door shut until finally, they double-teamed to finish off the trio of meth heads. They went to the woman and Eliot removed her gag as Kaira grabbed her knife to cut the tape off and gag off.
"Who are you?" She asked.
"Well, ma'am. We'd be the calvary." Eliot said.
The woman was grateful. They made the final plan.
Hardison faked security footage and used the pizza boxes to bring in the money. Eliot and Parker switched clothes with Michael and Derrick for paramedic uniforms and Kaira went to drive them away with Nate in the ambulance. They also switched the contents of Roys briefcase with drugs.
Once father and son saw the woman, they hugged and were relieved.
"That's all very heartwarming, but could we save it for after the morphine drip?" Nate questioned.
The gang still at the bank made up the story that Roy started the robbery. Kaira went by after in the ambulance. That was after Kaira and Eliot put the meth heads on the front steps of the bank in the trunk of a van. The gang was in the ambulance on the way back. Eliot was patching up Nate as Kaira was passenger, Hardison drove, and Parker and Sophie were in the back helping Eliot.
"Hey, thanks, Parker." Sophie said.
"Whatever." Parker said.
"No, it was an excellent performance. You too, Kaira." Sophie said.
"Yeah, I think I can act okay when I'm yelling at people and bossing them around." Parker said.
Kaira just smiled.
"Well, that's a good start." Sophie said.
"Listen, we have to make sure we get the cash to the Delgado family. Ow!" Nate said before wincing in pain.
"Settle down. You act like you've never been shot before." Eliot said.
"Babe, should I be concerned that you consider bullet wounds not a big deal?" Kaira asked.
"Not really." Eliot smiled at her.
"Damn you." Kaira muttered.
"So, uh, pizza boxes, huh?" Nate questioned.
"I know, I know. You could have done better." Hardison said.
"No, no, no. No, I couldn't have." Nate said.
"I was the one who ordered the pizza boxes." Kaira said.
"Good job." Nate said, proud.
They continued driving in the sunset, glad to have made it out of this job in one piece.
"It goes without saying, but this job was too close. I mean we couldn't have predicted what would happen, but it went downhill fast." Kaira said.
The team agreed. They went their separate ways for the moment.
Kaira took Nate aside. "Nathan, I nearly lost you today. You got shot, and I couldn't do anything." Kaira said, freaking out a bit.
Nate put his hands on her shoulders.
"Hey. Your job is to watch Eliot. Someone has to watch his back while he's watching ours. It's not your job to do both." Nate said, comforting Kaira.
"Thanks, Nathan." Kaira said, composing herself.
She left with Eliot. Kaira could tell Eliot sensed something happened and what it was. They laid down in bed together.
"Eliot, your job is to watch the teams back. But who watches your back?" Kaira asked him.
"I guess you, Princess. You've watched it for the last four years. I can't imagine you not." Eliot said.
Kaira cuddled closer to Eliot.
"Eliot I nearly lost Nathan today. I wasn't there to protect him." Kaira said.
"Oh, Princess, that's my burden. You look out for me. I look out for the team, and the team looks out for you. Nate knew the risks when he went in." Eliot said.
"I guess I wish I was in the bank so I could change things." Kaira said, feeling the emotions coming.
"Baby, nothing good comes from thinking about what you did wrong. Just focus on the end result. We got everybody out alive, and Judge blow hard went to jail, and we got the money for the Delgado family. That's a win." Eliot said, comforting Kaira.
Kaira smiled and calmed down.
"Thanks Eliot for always making me feel better after I do this." Kaira said.
"Anything for my princess." Eliot said.
They leaned in and kissed a soft kiss. Then they went to bed, waiting for the next job.