Kaira and Eliot got called in by Nate. He filled them in on the job. A woman who runs a food bank was scammed by a banker named Jack Hurley, and she was at risk for going to jail. They walked into the meeting room.
"She has all the company's monthly statements. Why can't she sue the firm?" Eliot asked, walking with Nate, Kaira, and Sophie.
"Yeah, well, have fun with your seven-year lawsuit against a wall street firm and your pro bono mall lawyer. Yeah, see how that turns out for you. No, we have to find this Jack Hurley. Hardison." Nate said, cueing up Hardison.
He pulled up the information on the screens.
"Jack Hurley, money manager for McTeague Capital Investments. Single, no criminal record. He owns a condo in the marina." Hardison said.
"Last seen peeling out of the company driveway yesterday. Where is he?" Nate questioned.
"I can tell you where he is not - my world. He's not on the grid. No online noise at all." Hardison reported.
"He's probably liquidated the charity's money into cash." Sophie suggested.
"All right, if that's the case, then it's gonna be burning a hole in his pocket." Eliot said.
"Hardison, try pulling up places he's been." Kaira said.
"Here's his last credit card statement before he disappeared. Uh, bar, bar. Strip club. Taco stand. I didn't know they took plastic. Asian massage. I know they take plastic. Bar. Wing spot, pay per view. This is all Sunday." Hardison explained.
"All right, well, you have any patterns with his movements?" Eliot asked.
Hardison connected the dots of the locations on the screen. It didn't show a pattern.
"That look like a pattern to you?" Hardison asked.
"It's like Billy from "The Family Circus", if Billy was a drunken sex fiend." Parker commented.
"Uh, uh. We're assuming this guy's still in Los Angeles. But you said yourself he could be halfway across the globe." Sophie said.
"No, his passport wasn't dinged. He's still in the states." Hardison said.
"Oh, well, that narrows this down." Parker said.
"Actually, it does. He's an addict, under stress." Nate got up.
"So he's not gonna be doing a lot of exploring. He's gonna stay well within his comfort zone. He's still in L.A. Oh, yeah. All right, we're gonna do this old school. Parker, you break into his condo, see what you can find. Sophie and I will hit the retail spots. You three go to his favorite haunts. But don't spook him, just follow him. Let him lead us to the money." Nate ordered.
"Strip joint." Eliot whispered to Hardison as they left.
Hardison turned back around.
"I'm - I'm gonna need change for 100... in singles." Hardison said, turning back around.
"I'm sorry, what? You think I have 100 singles on me?" Nate questioned.
They walked out the door with Kaira smacking Hardison in the back of the head.
Eliot chuckled as they got in the car and went to the strip clubs Hurley frequented.
"Bar number 12. You see this place? He's not exactly a velvet rope kind of guy, is he?" Hardison questioned.
"No, he's not." Eliot said.
Kaira kept silent, looking out the car. Hardison then started dumping his slushie on the floor.
"Look at this guy one more time." Eliot said, looking at the picture.
"Don't get mad, but I may have spilled slushie in your car." Hardison said.
Kaira looked over and saw the lid floating in the blue slushie on the floor.
"That's like 44 ounces Hardison!" Eliot exclaimed, getting pissed.
"It's not that much." Hardison said.
"Hardison, the damn lids floating in the floorboard!" Kaira exclaimed, not happy.
"Wow, you are being..." Hardison was saying.
"It's running into the backseat." Eliot yelled, still pissed.
Kaira got out and sat on Eliot's lap upfront.
"...very dramatic." Hardison said.
"When we get back to the office, you're cleaning this up. You're cleaning this up as soon as we get back." Eliot yelled.
"That's our guy right there." Hardison said.
"Don't change the subject." Eliot argued.
"No, look, that's our guy." Hardison said.
Kaira looked out the window and saw a drunk-looking Hurley try to give car keys to a woman.
"I'll be damned." Kaira said, chuckling a bit.
"All right, Nate, we got Hurley at location number 12. Meet us here to pursue." Eliot reported in the comm.
"This dude - you see him trying to force his keys onto that girl?" Hardison questioned.
"Yeah." Kaira commented.
"Yeah. It should be the other way around, huh? Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot. You don't know anything about that." Eliot commented.
Hardison glared at Eliot.
"Really? I almost had it in me to wash this car. Almost." Hardison said.
"Ten bucks says you're washing this car." Eliot said.
Kaira was looking out when a car pulled up and crashed into Hurley's car.
"I guaran-" Eliot said when Kaira hit his shoulder to get his attention.
Then three guys came out and started threatening Hurley. Kaira immediately opened the door as Hardison took off his seat belt.
"That is now how you exchange insurance information." Hardison said, getting out.
The trio ran up to the guys. Eliot and Kaira went after two of the thugs, pulling them away from Hurley as Hardison held another guy back. Kaira slammed her guys head on the car, making him stumble. Eliot's guy drew a gun, which Eliot disarmed him by grabbing the gun and hitting the guy with his elbow. Hardison let his guy go and got punched as Kaira saw Hurley get in his car. Then Hurley drove through them as Kaira dived out of the way. As they got up, Hardison grabbed the gun and held it up. He then shot it at the car as Eliot and Kaira stood behind him. Smoke came out of the engine block.
The trio ran back to their car.
"Nice job blowing out the engine block." Eliot complimented.
"I was aiming for his leg." Hardison said.
Kaira took the gun off of Hardison.
"Give me the gun!" Kaira exclaimed.
"What?" Hardison questioned.
They loaded into the car.
"Nate, we lost him." Kaira reported.
"Don't worry. We found him. He's around the corner on Cyprus." Nate informed them.
Eliot drove them away to meet up with the team. They went to the scene. The car had hit a pole. Eliot looked in the driver's side with Hardison as Kaira checked the back with Parker. Kaira moved to the trunk.
"Is he sleeping?" Sophie asked.
Kaira heard loud snores coming from Hurley.
"Could be a concussion." Hardison said.
"No, I've had concussions. You don't snore." Eliot said.
"You just snore later from the pain meds." Kaira chuckled, looking at Eliot.
Parker poked her head up.
"No sign of the money in the car." Parker reported.
Kaira shut the trunk after not finding anything.
"Not in the trunk." Kaira reported.
"Wake his ass up, then. I'll find out where it's at in five minutes." Eliot growled.
"Hold up cowboy." Kaira warned.
"Yeah, and what are we going do while he sends you on a wild goose chase, huh? Tie him to the chair? No thanks. I'm not gonna add kidnapping to my list of crimes." Nate said.
"Well, what do we do?" Parker asked.
"Just got to be smart about this. Run a game on him." Nate said.
Sirens could then be heard as the team stood up.
"What game?" Sophie questioned.
"Nathan, in five minutes, Hurley's gonna be in County. We won't get near him there." Kaira said.
"No, the cops aren't gonna lock him up. Jack Hurley is gonna lock himself up." Nate said.
The team left before the cops showed up.
Nate was in the same room as Hurley in the rehab center by the time he woke up. Sophie was a therapist and Parker was another patient. Kaira, Eliot, and Hardison were on the money lookout. Parker managed to get Hurley's car keys for the car that was actually his and get them to Hardison, Eliot, and Kaira.
They went to the parking garage Hurley said his car was at the next day. They were up on the top floor. Hardison kept pushing the unlock button to find the car.
"Talk to me, baby." Hardison said, pressing the button.
Kaira heard the beep.
"Over there." Eliot hit Hardison and led the way.
They jogged over to the car as Hardison opened the door.
"Ugh. Damn." Hardison groaned.
There were alcohol bottles and food wrappers everywhere. Hardison sat down. Kaira saw Eliot's face. She could tell he was thinking. She re-looked at the car, trying to find the thing. It was a matter of seconds when she realized what it was.
"Hurley's a big guy, right? So is the parking attendant." Eliot questioned, quietly.
"Yeah. So why is the seat up further?" Kaira said, also quietly. Kaira got a sick feeling.
"I don't think I can pop the trunk without starting the car." Hardison said.
He saw Kaira and Eliot's faces.
"What's your problem?" Hardison asked.
"Something's wrong. Stay put." Kaira said.
She and Eliot went down on the ground and looked under the car. Kaira went pale as she stood up. Eliot also had a similar look.
"What?" Hardison questioned.
"There's a bomb under the car." Kaira said.
"What?" Hardison questioned, getting worried.
"Listen, listen. There's a bomb. No, stay." Eliot grabbed Hardison's hand so he wouldn't move.
Hardison freaked and kept saying for them to move as Kaira grabbed his hands as well.
"Hardison, it's right underneath the seat." Kaira said, trying to keep everyone calm.
"All right? That means it's got to be pressure-sensitive. If you move, this thing's gonna go off." Eliot said, laying out the facts.
"Chill." Eliot said, calmly.
Hardison thought as Eliot ducked back under. Kaira rubbed Hardison's hands, keeping him calm as he was thinking.
"Pressure-sensitive? It's pressure-sensitive. You sure?" Hardison questioned.
Eliot looked up at Kaira confirming. Kaira shook her head yes hesitantly.
"Okay. Pressure. Pressure. Okay, um. Eliot go - go g-get a bag of bricks, right. Bricks, and you put it on the seat at the same time I roll off." Hardison said.
"That only works in the movies." Eliot said.
"Bag of bricks is a good, sound plan!" Hardison exclaimed, trying not to panic.
"We got two minutes." Eliot reported.
"Two minutes?" Hardison said.
"Shut up! Focus!" Eliot exclaimed.
"You start with the bomb has two minutes!" Hardison exclaimed again.
"All right. There's wires running in the dashboard computer. That's probably how it's picking up the pressure sensors in the seat." Eliot reported.
Kaira got an idea.
"It's a computer bomb. Computers are your thing, Hardison." Kaira told him.
Hardison got an idea.
"We - we - we got to reboot the system." Hardison said, calming down.
Eliot popped back up.
"You want me to kick it?" Eliot asked.
"No!" Kaira exclaimed.
"God, I'm gonna die. No, just - look." Hardison went to move and Eliot stopped him.
"J-just - no. Duck up under the hood and tell me how it's attached to the electrical system." Hardison said as Eliot popped the hood.
Eliot went up and opened the hood.
"I got it. Man, there's a lot of wires here." Eliot reported.
"Yes, there are a lot of wires. It's a computer." Hardison said sarcastically.
He pulled out a knife and told himself to breathe as Kaira stepped back carefully.
"Okay, you know what? Look. What you got to do, man, you got to yank the wires. At the same time, I'll reboot the system and trick the bomb into thinking it's gone off." Hardison said.
Kaira went up by Eliot. He was right about the wires.
"What's our margin of error?" Kaira asked, worried for her friend.
"About half a second." Hardison informed her.
"Run the bag of bricks by me again." Eliot said.
"You ready?" Hardison asked.
"No!" Eliot exclaimed.
Kaira breathed to calm down. Hardison looked at Eliot again.
"Are you ready?" He asked.
"Yeah." Eliot said.
He moved to get a better position and held the wire. His hand was shaking a bit. Kaira put her hand on his to steady it. Kaira was always better at keeping her nerves in line than Eliot was. Hardison looked a moment at the couple.
"Go!" Hardison called as Eliot pulled the wire as Hardison rebooted the system.
Kaira ran as Hardison jumped out and Eliot ran a bit. Eliot ducked under to grab the bomb as Hardison and Kaira looked each other over and calmed themselves down and sighed in relief.
"Souvenir." Eliot said, walking over to Hardison and Kaira with the bomb.
"Don't. Stop. Don't play." Hardison warned.
Hardison went to walk away as Kaira went towards the car.
"Where you going? We got to search the car." Eliot said.
"I'm gonna go and freshen up a little bit. Maybe cry a little." Hardison said.
Just then a black SUV came screeching in. Kaira got in a defensive position in front of Eliot and Hardison.
"Old friends." Eliot realized.
They opened the doors. As they got out a white car rolled up.
"And new ones." Hardison realized.
"Who are these guys?" The boss of the white car gang questioned as they walked up.
"Our friends from the bar." The boss of the Black SUV gang said in Spanish and drew his gun.
"You two with Hurley? Where's my money?" The same guy asked in English.
The boss of the Korean gang from the white car spoke Korean, a language Kaira didn't know.
"You have five seconds to give us our money, or you die." He said, pulling out his gun.
The Korean guy was counting down from five as the Mexican gang argued about the money.
"We don't have the money. Why do you think we're here? Our boss wants it too." Kaira said in a British accent.
"Five." He said.
"Hey, fellas, fellas, fellas. We are from the same boat, you know? I come from Kingston, Jamaica. I come to collect my money from the bastard Hurley." Hardison tried to negotiate in a Jamaican accent.
"Four." The guys continued.
"You think I'm playing with you?" The Mexican guy argued.
"Fellas, Fellas. We all want the same thing." Hardison said, still in the Jamaican accent.
"Let's be gentlemen about this and talk about this over a pint, yeah?" Kaira negotiated still in her British accent.
"Three." The Korean guy said.
"Keep counting. I'll put a bullet in your head." The Mexican guy argued.
"Two." The Korean said.
Kaira was getting nervous.
"Say one, punta!" The Mexican guy argued.
"Hey, yo, you a Korean. You a Mexican. Her a Brit. Me a Jamaican. Okay. Underneath, we all the same thing." Hardison tried again to negotiate.
"One." the Korean guy said.
"Hold on. I got your bomb right here. All right?" Eliot said, pulling out the bomb that was underneath the car and holding it out in front of Kaira and Hardison as he pulled her back and Hardison went behind them slightly.
"Chileans." The Korean guy realized.
"Never mess with Chileans." The Mexican guy said.
"You mean there's more guys who want this dude dead?" Hardison whispered in his normal voice.
"I got it on a one-second delay. That gives me just enough time to get underneath that truck. Now, maybe I make it. Maybe I don't. But one thing's for certain - you all die. Now, let's just calm down, and let's back away." Eliot said.
It was a tense few seconds before the Korean boss spoke Korean and ordered his men back to the car.
"¡Vamos!" The Mexican guy ordered his men.
Both engines started and the cars backed away.
"Hey Eliot, when you said you were gonna dive under that truck, you were gonna drag me with you, right?" Hardison questioned.
"Sure." Eliot said in a not really tone.
Kaira chuckled.
"I'm serious, man. Don't play with me. I'm serious." Hardison warned.
"You were gonna take me with you, right cowboy?" Kaira questioned.
"Of course." Eliot said. Hardison's jaw dropped as they checked the car.
They found nothing.
They went back over to the rehab center and Eliot dinged the service bell. The blond receptionist rolled over to them in her seat.
"Can I help you?" She asked.
"Yes. We're here to see a patient of yours, Mr. Tom Baker." Kaira answered.
"What's your relationship?" She asked.
"Why?" Eliot asked.
"Second Act has a strict policy. Only family members can see patients. We want to make sure outside influences don't hamper our client's recoveries." She explained.
"I think that's an excellent policy." Eliot said, flirting slightly.
"That's Tom's brother, I'm his future sister-in-law, and beside me is our adopted brother." Kaira answered before Hardison could embarrass them with something else. \
Kaira flashed her promise ring, which could've looked like an engagement ring to someone who didn't know that it wasn't. The lady let them through.
"How did I just notice you had on an engagement ring?" Hardison asked as they walked to the room.
"It's not an engagement ring. It's a promise ring, Hardison." Kaira answered.
Hardison looked at them weird.
"A promise ring?" Hardison questioned.
"Yeah, Hardison. That's why guys do in serious relationships. Oh, I forgot, you wouldn't know about that." Eliot retorted as Hardison scoffed as they entered Nate's room.
They filled Nate in on what happened. He did not look good at all. Kaira knew he was going through withdrawal as he hadn't had a drink in 48 hours.
"So, it wasn't just a charity that Hurley ripped off." Eliot informed Nate.
"It was like the axis of scumbags." Hardison said.
"North Korea is a counterfeiting center. So they must be using Hurley's company to launder their dirty paper." Nate realized, kinda quiet.
"Yeah, well, this Mexican cat had an accent like we was from the Oaxaca region." Eliot said.
"He's probably Sicario. Drug cartel hitmen." Kaira realized.
Nate rubbed his face and sighed.
"Yeah, well, this is great. I mean, the only guy who knows where the money is is a compulsive liar, so..." Nate rubbed his eyes more thinking.
"You all right?" Eliot asked.
"Yeah." Nate said, sighing and breathing heavy.
Then Nate got up and paced by the window.
"We've come up blank on the car, the condo, the office. It means someone else is holding the money for him, right? Eliot, we need to learn about the people in his life. So I'll get the names. I need - I need you three to follow up." Sophie said.
"What about the gangs?" Hardison questioned.
"We - we still have one advantage. Cause we have Hurley, so..." Nate said, cueing the rest of the team to go to the club where they found Hurley at.
They walked inside to find the girl and they walked outside.
"He just called, actually. Sounded kind of rough." The lady said.
"Yeah, well, we saw how he was treating you at the bar the other day, and..." Eliot was saying before the lady cut him off.
"Oh, that, no." She laughed.
"He wasn't harassing me. He bought me a car. He was just trying to convince me to take it." The lady informed them.
Kaira had a confused look on her face.
"He bought you a car?" Hardison questioned, confused.
"Mine broke down. Jack was just trying to help." The lady said.
Eliot was confused.
"Thank you for your time." Eliot said, shaking her hand.
She shook Kaira's hand and Hardison's hand and walked away.
"What the hell?" Kaira questioned, confused.
They got back in the car with Hardison driving, Eliot shotgun, and Kaira in the back.
"Well, there's a dead end." Eliot said as Hardison got the GPS ready for the next location.
"Who's next?" Kaira asked.
"A strip club - Gary's Hideaway." Hardison said.
He started the car and drove off. The trio got nothing at the club, only more information.
Then the team went back to the office to meet with Sophie.
"He's not all bad." Hardison said.
Sophie's phone rang.
"He gave money to those who needed it." Kaira said.
"You ever notice how all bad guys know at least one stripper?" Eliot asked.
Sophie answered her phone.
"Hello?" Sophie said to the phone.
"And you know at least a hundred so what does that say about you?" Hardison questioned.
"Hey, I'm a bad guy." Eliot said as Kaira chuckled.
"Oh, really?" Kaira smiled at Eliot as he smiled back at her.
"I'll be right there." Sophie hung up the phone, sighing.
Sophie got ready to leave when they noticed her face.
"What? What's wrong?" Eliot questioned.
"It's the rehab center. He tried to go over the wall." Sophie said, annoyed as she was leaving. Kaira got the message.
"Shit." Kaira said quietly.
Kaira laid her head down in frustration. Eliot rubbed her back, hoping to help as Hardison grabbed her shoulder.
"It was Nate. I was hoping he maybe would actually get some help being in the rehab center. But I'm worried that Nate's gonna do something bad. Or stupid. Or both." Kaira said.
The boys nodded in understanding as Kaira sat up.
A moment later Sophie walked back in and filled the team in. Kaira was right. Nate was trying to escape the center. Kaira groaned as she realized her fear was coming true.
A few moments later, Nate called them. They sat around the silver phone speaker on the table.
"Hurley says the money's in his car." Nate informed the team.
"Impossible. We searched every inch of that thing." Eliot said.
"Apparently not every inch." Nate said.
"How did you break him?" Sophie asked.
"Uh, well, um..." Nate said as they heard music from a taco truck.
"You took him out for tacos? Nate, you're enabling him." Sophie argued, disappointed.
"Whoa. Whoa. I haven't slept in three days. I had a showdown with two different gangs. Who now, by the way, know my face. I sat on a bomb. And all of this could've been avoided had you gave the man a taco?" Hardison questioned upset.
"Why are we even helping this guy, huh? Why don't we just turn him over to the cops?" Eliot asked, upset as well.
"Listen to me, guys - I'm not saying we throw him a parade. But if we don't help him, he's gonna be dead by the end of the day." Nate said.
"What's the plan, Nathan?" Kaira asked.
Nate told them the plan. Nate drove Hurley to his car and led him to it as Sophie drove the rest over to the car. Before Nate and Hurley went over, Hardison and Eliot planted the Chilean's bomb in Hurley's car as Kaira got the rig ready to pull both Sophie and Hurley away from the car before it exploded. Kaira watched as the car exploded and both gangs drove away. Eliot had covered both Kaira and Sophie with his body before the car exploded.
Then Kaira got up to check on Nate.
"You okay?" Sophie asked.
"Yeah, I wasn't expecting a, uh, explosion that big." Nate said.
"Oh, yeah. I'm sorry about that. That's what happens when you use other people's equipment." Hardison said.
Kaira chuckled a bit.
"Just glad I wasn't in that car this time." Hardison said.
"How's our boy?" Nate asked.
Just then Hurley came over.
"Oh, hey, Hurley." Nate said.
"How you doing?" Nate asked.
" I-I'm not entirely sure what just happened. Y-you and Tom worked together to help me?" Hurley questioned, confused.
"That's right." Sophie said, standing by Nate.
"You must really care about me. I mean, for you guys to work together. You don't even like each other." Hurley said.
Kaira chuckled a bit. If only he knew.
"Oh, well - well, actually, you know, he and I, we -" Sophie explained, stumbling a bit.
"We get along just fine. Sometimes, you know, in the heat of the moment in therapy, you know you say things you don't mean." Nate said before Sophie started arguing.
"You mean what you say." Sophie argued. "Water under the bridge anyhow." Nate argued. "Hurley, that was a pretty wild ride, right?" Hardison asked.
The team was gathered around him.
"Yeah, except for the wild goose chase you sent us on. And me and Kaira checked every inch of that car. There's no money." Eliot said.
"Actually..." Hurley said, walking away.
Hurley had Eliot grab one of the flaming tires and rolled it to another car as Eliot put out the fire and lifted the tire on the trunk of another car. Eliot grabbed Kaira's knife from her pocket and started cutting the tire.
"Steel-belted radials." Hurley said.
In the tire was the money Hurley stole. Eliot got excited as he grabbed a handful of hundred dollar bills.
"What do you think?" Hurley asked.
"I think you might have a knack for this." Sophie said.
Eliot pulled out more bills and put it in a bag.
They went back to the offices with Hurley and had Michelle from the food bank come over so Hurley can give the money back to her.
"Sorry about the rubber smell. It should go away after a while." Hurley said, giving her the bag of money.
Kaira stood to the side as she watched Michelle hug Nate, then Sophie, and ignore Hurley. Nate told Hurley to take the win as Sophie saw Michelle out of the office. Nate then handed Hurley a yellow envelope.
"Here you go." Nate said.
"What's this?" Hurley asked.
"It's your new identity. Driver's license, a passport, birth certificate. There's also a library card, Netflix membership, Sam's Club." Kaira explained.
"I also got you three months free at 24-hour fitness. Maybe work off some of those tacos." Hardison said.
"You didn't have to do all this." Hurley said, surprised.
"Yeah, well, actually, uh, we did. Uh, Jack Hurley is dead. We killed him. So this is your chance to kind of start over." Nate said.
"Wow. Hey, do you think Michelle will forgive me when she gets the payout from my life insurance policy?" Hurley asked.
"Yeah, why don't we just, uh, go with the win?" Nate questioned, leading Hurley out the door.
"This is your second chance, so don't screw it up." Kaira said.
Nate handed him a train ticket.
"Don't worry about me. I'm playing it straight from now on. In fact, as as I get to, uh... Rosarito, I'm gonna find the nearest support group. I promise. Thanks for everything, Tom." Hurley said, grateful.
"And, hey, if you ever need a sponsor, I am totally there for you, man." Hurley said.
Hurley tried to hug Nate, but Nate didn't want to be hugged. Hurley went to Hardison next, didn't want to be hugged. Kaira felt bad so she let Hurley hug her. He told them goodbye and left. Nate sighed as he shut the door.
"Okay. So, we have one more piece of business left to do, right?" Nate said as Hardison shook his head yes.
They met up outside the rehab center as Sophie went in to get Parker out, citing that Parker needed to be around people like her. They were by a tree near the rehab center as Parker ran over to the team, all but bouncing off the walls.
She hugged Kaira, who just chuckled trying to keep her balance.
"I missed you guys!" Parker exclaimed, pouncing on Eliot as she tossed Nate her clothes.
"Ohh! When do the happy pills wear off?" Eliot asked, kinda amused.
"Usually about 24 hours." Nate informed the team.
Parker went over to hug Hardison.
"That's too bad. I kind of like this Parker." Hardison said.
Parker kept her arm around Hardison's neck as she put her other arm around Eliot's neck as he put his arm around Kaira's neck as the four walked to the car. Nate tossed Eliot Parker's clothes. Kaira was chuckling, content with the moment she was in. At that moment, Kaira knew the only people she needed were right beside her. Her boyfriend, her little sister, and her big brother. And her parents behind her.