Kaira got the call from Nate, saying a friend of the teams had been shot and was critical. The team had gathered at the couches, waiting for Nate. Hardison had everything for the briefing loaded up. Kaira was sitting on the arm of the loveseat on top of Eliot, Parker on the couch with Tara, and Hardison on the other couch. Tara left to get Nate, who was gonna meet them after checking on Bonanno. They came back and Tara sat down, and Nate paced at the screen, which showed the article about the shooting. The team, besides Tara as she didn't know who he was, was sad and bitter.
"So, is he gonna be okay?" Parker asked Nate.
"Uh, they don't know." Nate said, defeated and pacing.
"Okay, this guy's a cop. You're thieves." Tara said, unsure of why everyone was upset.
"I'm not a thief!" Nate yelled, pointing at Tara.
"Bonanno is the cop that we tip-off when we need to put the cuffs on a mark." Nate explained, sitting on a chair and calming down some.
"And an honest man. He of all people doesn't deserve this. I mean, he's got a wife and kid." Kaira pointed out, upset.
"Look, you do realize we're gonna be covering the same ground as the state cops on this one - hundreds of angry, very highly motivated state cops." Hardison pointed out as a warning.
"Wha - by the way, guys, whoever shot him up was using military-grade weaponry-" Eliot tried to explain.
"Well, you know what?! I don't care! I don't care about that! This guy dedicated his life to doing the right thing! And this is his payback? I mean, his family's pain is what he deserves? If we don't settle the score on this, why do we do this? You understand?" Nate all but screamed at the team, getting emotional.
The team all looked at each other, in agreement for what was happening next. One of their own had been hurt. They sure as hell wasn't gonna let that stand.
"I understand, Nathan. I want to help Bonanno as well. But we can't do that if we get arrested. Do you understand?" Kaira told Nate.
Nate nodded his head in agreement and understanding.
Eliot leaned a bit forward, Kaira's hand on his back, keeping both of them calm.
"What are Bonanno's active files?" Eliot asked Hardison.
Hardison pulled up the files and stood up as Nate recovered.
"According to the state police database, Bonanno had half a dozen open cases. the most recent one was a protection racket out of Arcadia, but the cops were focusing on an auto-theft ring out of Waynesboro. Let's just say, if you jacked a car in Massachusetts in the last year, your head's gonna be bouncing off a cruiser by dinnertime." Hardison informed the team.
Kaira noticed a case file that barely had anything in it. Nate noticed it too.
"What's that one?" Nate asked, pointing to the file.
"That's public corruption. There's practically no files on that thing." Hardison said.
"That's it." Nate said.
"No, no, these other two files-they-they involve violent criminals." Hardison started as he went to sit back down and Nate went to the screens.
"This one - this - it's government corruption." Hardison tried to argue, but Nate wasn't having it.
"No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no. That's it. That's it. Just... check the shooting. Put up the scene." Nate ordered Hardison.
Hardison did pull up the scene.
"Okay, so, Bonanno - he goes to a remote location, alone, no backup. That means he knows his attackers and he's not expecting any trouble. Now, what did you just say? You said no files on it? So, Bonanno was keeping this investigation off the books." Nate pointed out, filling in the blanks.
"Explains the secret meeting." Tara said.
"And why he was investigating off hours. No witnesses." Kaira pointed out.
"Cops are looking in the wrong place." Eliot said, summing everything up.
"Absolutely. So, I mean, that leaves-that leaves us." Nate said, showing there were no other options.
"So, who's the bad guy?" Parker asked.
Hardison's computer started beeping.
"Or-or-and-and I'm just spitballing here, we could just let the state cops handle this one, call in an anonymous tip." Hardison said, giving a much less risky option.
"Come on, Hardison. I mean, how bad could this be?" Nate asked Hardison.
"Famous last words." Kaira muttered under her breath.
The team did some digging, seeing who the possible suspect of the shooting.
The next day, they found their suspect. A local mayor, of all people. Nate and Tara went to a fundraiser the mayor was having, and Hardison and Eliot went to investigate Bonanno's house, looking for his notes, and Parker and Kaira went to the office.
"A mayor - surrounded by security, the press, probably has half the local cops on his own private payroll. Piece of cake." Tara said through the comms.
"Explains why Bonanno kept his investigation a secret." Nate said, quietly through the comm.
"Not secret enough." Tara said.
It went silent for a moment before clapping was heard.
"So, what's our angle here? I haven't been with you guys very long, but taking someone down for attempted murder isn't something you normally do." Tara said, wondering what the con was.
"Listen, we come at him like any other mark. We flip over a rock in this guy's backyard, see what jumps out." Nate said, giving the idea.
"And how exactly are we flipping this rock over?" Tara asked.
"Ah, we crawl under there with him. Look, the guy's third-generation corrupt mayor, so I know he's rotten, but guys, you know, everything's a good guess here until you get me some good intel. Where are you?" Nate said, getting grumpy without the information.
"Yeah, we're heading in now." Eliot reported to Nate.
"You spend your weekends making these things, don't you?" Eliot asked Hardison, unamused as they started getting ready.
"Yes, I do, and does anybody appreciate that?" Hardison said.
"I do. I like the costumes. I wish I was there." Parker said through comms.
"I do too." Kaira smiled with Parker beside her at the bridge ledge.
"Parker, we need someone to sweep the mayor's office while he's here at the fundraiser." Nate said, signaling for Parker and Kaira to go.
"Fine. But I never get to do anything fun." Parker said.
Kaira double-checked her rig, identical to Parkers, and took a breath and took the leap. Kaira loved jumping off the buildings, though it had been a while since she had. Parker and Kaira soon arrived at the window and unhooked themselves and crawled through the door.
"Nate, we're in." Parker reported.
"All right, Parker, Kaira, get those files." Nate ordered.
Parker went to the computer and pulled out the USB to look at the files as Hardison and Eliot got into the house and Nate and Tara set a meeting. Kaira was scanning for a safe in case there was any hard copies of the files. Soon, however, Parker and Kaira ran into a problem. Some lady was at the door.
"Someone's coming." Parker reported to Nate and Kaira.
Tara excused herself.
"You can handle this. Just feed them a story." Tara said.
"No, I can't do that. I mean, I can, but Sophie usually walks me through this." Parker said.
"Tara, mind if I handle this one?" Kaira asked, looking at Parker.
"Fine by me. Parker, just take a deep breath, and listen to Kaira." Tara said before going back to talking with the mayor, Brad Culpepper the Third.
"Okay, Parker, follow my lead." Kaira whispered to Parker as Parker sat on the chair and Kaira on the table.
The secretary came in.
"Who are you?" The secretary asked the duo.
"Virginia Dunn, private investigator. This is Peggy Marwood, another private investigator." Kaira said, introducing herself and Parker as she pulled out a private investigator badge from the pocket of her jacket.
"What are you doing here?" The secretary asked.
"I thought I had an appointment to ask the mayor some questions, but he never answered me. I guess he doesn't want to talk, huh Peggy." Kaira had gotten up and turned to Parker.
"Yes, very suspicious." Parker said, not really selling the bit.
"Either way, if you could just give us a moment to talk, I'm sure we'd be out of here in a moment." Kaira said as Parker nodded.
"All right, just make sure everything is in order before you leave." The secretary said before leaving.
Kaira breathed out once the door shut.
"Thanks. I owe you one." Parker said to Kaira.
"It's okay, Parker. Let's get back to work." Kaira said.
Parker and Kaira found some files shortly after investigating some more. Kaia heard Hardison start talking to Eliot, so she tuned in.
"Hey. What you got?" Hardison asked Eliot.
"Looks like his investigation notes... from this month." Eliot started explaining before the poor cop at the scene interrupted.
Kaira tried not to chuckle as Hardison sent him away. Eliot soon resumed his report.
"Looks like he was investigating a company called Kirsch Industries." Eliot reported.
"Ah, seems like Bonanno found out that for the past couple of years, Kirsch has been buying up property on the waterfront." Hardison reported.
Eliot went silent for a second.
"What do you think this is?" Eliot asked Hardison.
"No idea." Eliot said.
Then Parker found a file and was reading it.
"Found a file in the mayor's office for Kirsch Industries." Parker started reporting as Kaira walked over to look at the file.
"It's incorporated in the Cayman Islands." Parker finished reporting.
"The only industry in the Caymans is scuba diving and tax evasion." Hardison said.
"So, we're all in agreement that it's a front company for the mayor." Kaira said.
"Mayor did say he wanted to build a park on the waterfront. So, city buys land from Kirsch Industries, and the mayor cashes in." Hardison said.
"Parker, Kaira, what else you got?" Eliot asked Parker and Kaira.
Parker and Kaira looked at all the baseball memorabilia in the office.
"I scanned for a safe some, but not the shelves here as they're littered with baseball stuff. It'll take too long to move." Kaira reported.
"You could start a baseball team with all the crap he has in his office." Parker said.
Kaira heard Nate brush off Culpepper and walk away. Kaira wondered what he was doing.
"What are you doing? He was primed. Could've used the Esplanade." Tara questioned, wondering what Nate was thinking.
"No, listen, I got something much bigger in mind, something he won't be able to refuse. Okay, guys, wrap it up. We're gonna go on a little field trip." Nate said.
Kaira just went along with it, though she was wondering what Nate had in mind. Parker and Kaira left the office out the window and met at a ballpark.
Soon, all of the team was there, minus Nate. They looked out onto the field, wondering what it had to do with what Nate was thinking.
"I don't know. Culpepper doesn't strike me as the type to order a hit, especially on something like a graft case. What's the big deal, you know? You get caught, you go on tv with your wife, you cry, you get re-elected." Tara said, turning around and looking at the team.
"Yeah, it's the American way." Parker said.
"Exactly." Tara said, agreeing.
"This guys been caught in the middle of a dozen corruption cases. Each time, he's walked away and somebody else took the fall. This guy does not get caught." Hardison said.
"I don't know. It still doesn't feel right." Tara said.
"Yeah." Kaira said, not being able to shake the feeling she had since they started this job.
"Maybe Bonanno got too close to an associate of Culpepper's and the associate decided to order the hit on him. I mean, Kirsch Industries is a front for something." Kaira said, giving a possible explanation.
"I buy it." Hardison agreed.
The rest of the team did too. Kaira saw Eliot looking at a piece of paper.
"Babe, what is that?" Kaira asked her husband.
"It's a page I found in Bonanno's notebook." Eliot said.
It had Kirsch Industries on it, then underneath in black ink "Maltese Falcon".
"Maltese Falcon? The book or the movie?" Tara asked.
"It means something. I just-" Eliot was about to explain when Nate finally showed.
"Okay, this is how we're gonna take down the mayor." Nate said as if the plan was obvious.
The team seemed confused.
"Baseball?" Hardison questioned.
"Nate, usually I can figure out your plans, but I'm not gonna lie, I am clueless. What's the plan here?" Kaira said, confused as to the plan.
"Yeah, we're gonna steal his ballpark. Mm-hmm." Nate said, proud of himself.
He walked away a couple of steps, then shot back to the team.
"And then the team. Not necessarily in that order." Nate said, walking away again, not revealing the plan really.
"He pisses me off when he does that." Kaira said, kinda annoyed at Nate as the team went to follow him.
The next day, they got Nate's plan in motion. The plan was for Nate and Tara left to go to the waterfront and take a bunch of pictures at the waterfront to get Culpepper's attention, and Eliot would infiltrate the baseball team as a spy for the owner, hoping to start some rumors so Culpepper thought Nate was stealing a baseball team.
Earlier in the day, Hardison had Eliot in the living room to explain his cover. Kaira stood next to Eliot as Hardison was at the screen.
"You got drafted in the sixth round right out of high school. Had a cup of coffee in the Royals organization. Then you bounced around the minors, you bounced around the world, and, as we can see here, you made a very popular commercial for an energy drink in Japan." Hardison said, explaining to Eliot the cover.
He pulled up the video. Hardison had dubbed Eliot in a baseball uniform speaking Japanese, selling the energy drink and weird color swirl effects. Kaira tried to not laugh as Eliot seemed annoyed at the commercial.
"It took me 13 hours." Hardison said.
"There's only one problem. I don't like baseball." Eliot said.
Kaira looked at Eliot.
"What? Babe, I thought you did?" Kaira questioned Eliot.
"What? Everybody likes baseball." Hardison said.
"I don't like baseball, man. All right? I don't like any sport you can't score on defense. Football, hockey, even basketball, but baseball?" Eliot said.
"I'm not even talking to you." Hardison said.
"It's boring." Eliot said as Hardison went to walk away.
"Hey, wait. Can you play the commercial?" Eliot asked Hardison.
He clicked his remote and played the commercial again as Kaira laughed at Eliot's amusement with the commercial.
"Why did I marry you again?" Kaira chuckled in amusement.
Eliot turned to look at Kaira.
"Oh, my southern charm and rattlesnake smile." Eliot said, also chuckling.
"You're still a dork, Eliot." Kaira smiled at Eliot. He smiled back at her.
"Well, tough, cause I'm your dork, forever and always." Eliot said.
Kaira chuckled at her husband.
"I really want to kiss you right now, but I don't know if Hardison or anyone else is watching." Eliot said, leaning close to Kaira.
"So? Kiss me." Kaira said, not caring.
Eliot smiled and pulled Kaira into a kiss. Then she heard a voice.
"Y'all nasty!" Hardison yelled from across the room.
Kaira and Eliot laughed.
"You're just jealous!" Kaira yelled back at Hardison.
"Dammit Hardison! You had to ruin the moment I was having with my wife." Eliot said, annoyed, and looked like he was about to beat Hardison's ass.
Kaira sensed this.
"Hardison, you may want to hide, cause in three seconds, Eliot's gonna kick your ass." Kaira called out, causing Eliot to storm off and find Hardison, as all Kaira heard, was, "Oh, hell no!" from Hardison.
Kaira ended up breaking them up and sent Eliot to the ballpark to cool off and get started as Nate and Tara were already at the waterfront, taking pictures at the waterfront, according to plan. As Nate, Tara, and Eliot went to do their part of the con, Hardison, Parker, and Kaira started calling the local radio station to further the rumors of the team leaving.
Later in the day, before the game, Parker and Hardison acted as protesters of the team's rumored departure and Kaira sat right behind the catcher mound to watch Eliot as Nate and Tara buttered up the owner of the team and Culpepper. Eliot dealt with the team wanting an explanation for the rumors. Nate met with Culpepper to get the bribe set up for the Hook, Pinch, and Flip con he was doing. Then Nate wanted Eliot to meet them, but he couldn't as he was playing. Nate had the team meet them out in the gates of the park. Kaira, Hardison, and Parker walked with Nate and Tara through the turnstiles.
"All right, good news, bad news." Nate said.
"Good news?" Tara questioned.
"The mayors hooked. We're in the pinch." Nate said.
"Bad news?" Karia asked.
"I think we lost your husband till the payoffs." Nate said.
Kaira groaned at the realization.
The team met back up at the bar and sat down to discuss next steps.
"Now, when the mayor gives us the check, the money is from his re-election campaign." Hardison explained at Eliot arrived.
Kaira smiled at Eliot.
"You left early, man. Huh? Bottom of the ninth." Eliot said, not happy he was left behind.
"I'm sorry, babe! I know you did awesome." Kaira smiled at Eliot, apologetic.
Eliot seemed to forgive her.
"Excuse your rudeness. I'm explaining the con. It's very complicated." Hardison said, not happy with Eliot bursting in like he did.
"Really? The mayor gives us a check, and we deposit it in some company you connected back to him. Looks like he's embezzling from his campaign funds." Eliot said, fake gasping in shock. Kaira was impressed.
"Bottom of the ninth, man. I hit a walk-off single, man. Crowd goes nuts." Eliot said as Kaira kept looking at Eliot, though Eliot didn't notice.
"But that's - that's not all there is, okay? We got - there's-there's the Bonanno thing." Hardison said.
"What? We give Bonanno's notes to the newspaper, man? They named a sandwich after me at T.J Philbin's." Eliot said, getting annoyed.
The team seemed impressed. Eliot just then noticed Kaira's face.
"Sweetheart, why are you looking at me like that?" Eliot asked Kaira.
Kaira stood up.
"Because you're really hot when you use that brain of yours and get excited over something." Kaira smiled at Eliot.
The team ignored the couple.
"I'll give it to you, man. The sandwich thing is pretty cool." Hardison said as Eliot and Hardison started their handshake.
"Is this a hoagie?" Hardison asked as they finished the handshake and Nate's phone rang.
"No, man, it's a reuben." Eliot said.
Kaira was impressed.
"Sorry, this is the mayor. Is-Is-Is it an okay time to take this call, or...?" Nate said, fed up with Eliot.
"Yeah. Go ahead." Eliot said, equally as fed up.
"Good. Congrats on the sandwich." Nate said as he answered the phone and moved to another table as the team talked.
Soon, Nate returned very shortly and gave Hardison the piece of paper he wrote on.
"Here, look it up." Nate ordered Hardison.
Hardison pushed some buttons on his phone and had some intel.
"Okay, the address is right in the middle of the Belbridge waterfront." Hardison informed the team.
"It's a walk-away." Eliot realized.
"This not good, Nathan." Kaira pointed out, not liking the situation.
"No, look, this is even better, cause he has partners, so, this is our chance to bring them down, too." Nate said.
"Nathan, no. We are not doing this again." Kaira said.
"But if the bribe is in cash, the con doesn't work." Parker realized.
"250,000 dollars in cash we're gonna get - that had to have come from somewhere. Hardison can track it." Nate said, thinking of a new plan.
"Uh, no, Hardison cannot." Hardison said, not liking the plan.
"All right, look, you keep saying that you don't think the mayors the kind of guy to kill a cop, right?" Nate said.
"So, let's go meet the kind of guys who kill cops on the waterfront. That's a solid plan." Tara said, not liking the plan.
"I'm sorry. Where are these partners coming from, huh? And why'd they just show up?" Eliot asked, showing that they needed more info.
"The "Maltese Falcon" thing - I mean, it's just weird." Parker said before Nate cut her off.
"Okay, enough!" Nate yelled to quiet the team.
"We're talking about bringing down a corrupt mayor and cleaning up a city. I mean, it's huge. It's probably the biggest thing we've ever done." Nate said, trying to sell the idea.
"They're not handing out trophies for this." Eliot said.
"We don't do this for the glory, Nathan. We do this to help people, and I won't let you put this team and my husband at risk." Kaira said, showing her distaste.
"We don't always win, man." Hardison argued.
"Yeah, but we never quit." Nate said, still trying to get the team on board.
Kaira exhaled. She wasn't changing his mind. If only Sophie was here to set him straight.
"Okay, so, look, you-you guys-you guys check out the security. You do the perimeter, yeah? And we'll be on the inside. Look, we're gonna do this. We can do it. We're gonna bring this guy down." Nate said, assigning the roles and getting the team ready. He got up and left.
Soon, the team was getting covers in order and met the next day at the waterfront meet up. Hardison, Eliot, and Kaira were tasked with checking out the security, Parker was checking the perimeter, and Nate and Tara were going to do the meetup. Eliot, Kaira, and Hardison got out of the van and flashed Homeland Security badges at the two men at the gate. Hardison cleared his throat, getting their attention.
"Homeland Security." Hardison said, showing his badge.
"This is a surprise inspection." Kaira said, sounding professional.
"Nobody called us." The one guard said as Hardison walked in the gate as Eliot and Kaira stood back.
"Yeah, well, that's cause it has nothing to do with you." Eliot said as he flipped through the pages in a clipboard.
"We're here to inspect the gate mounted x-ray imaging system." Kaira said.
"Was installed with the federal anti-terrorism money. We're just checking it out." Hardison said.
"Can you give us five minutes and some space, please?" Kaira asked the guards, smiling, as Hardison pushed them out and Eliot and Kaira walked in.
"Oh, no. We really shouldn't leave, so..." The guard said. He seemed to recognize Eliot.
"Hey, aren't you Roy Chappell?" The guard asked Eliot.
Eliot and Hardison looked at each other as Kaira smiled. Eliot seemed to like the attention, but Hardison didn't.
"Yeah, you hit the game-winner yesterday for the Beavers. I was there with my kid." The guard said.
"I did." Eliot said, proud of himself.
"What are you doing here?" The guard asked Eliot.
"Well, it's triple-A ball, so I got to have a day job, you know?" Eliot said.
"Yeah, and it doesn't hurt to have a little husband and wife bonding on the job, huh?" Kaira said, smiling as he leaned on Eliot, putting her left hand on his chest, flashing her wedding band. Eliot chuckled and went to shut the door.
"Excuse me. Sorry." Eliot said, shutting the door.
The guard moved to the window and placed his clipboard on the window seal.
"Oh, hey, Roy? You mind? It's for my kid." The guard said, handing Eliot the pen.
Eliot started laughing as Kaira let go and Eliot signed the paper.
"No, I don't mind, man." Eliot said as he signed the page.
He handed the pen and paper back to the guard.
"All right. Thanks, Roy." The guard said, leaving as Eliot had the biggest smile on his face walking to Hardison as Kaira chuckled.
"Who are you right now?" Hardison asked Eliot, unamused.
"Hey, man, what do you want me to do? Huh?" Eliot questioned Hardison as he still smiled. "Seriously?" Hardison questioned as Eliot pretended to use the clipboard as a bat, smacking his lips.
"Like a role model." Eliot said, pleased with himself.
"Seriously?" Hardison questioned again.
"What? It's not my fault." Eliot said. "Man, just put the taps on the video feeds." Hardison told Eliot.
Eliot went to do that, but then Hardison stopped him, getting nervous about something.
"W-H-hold - wait." Hardison told Eliot, stopping him.
"Hardison, what is it?" Kaira asked the hacker as he looked around a bit.
"No, something's not right here, man." Hardison said, worried about something.
He pulled out a screwdriver and opened up a black box that was beside him. Nate and Tara had entered and went to do the meet. Then Parker reported in.
"Nate, I'm under the dock." Parker reported. It was silent for a moment.
"Guys with guns." Parker whispered.
"What?" Kaira questioned Parker.
"They're just walking around like they own the place." Parker reported quietly.
It was silent for another moment as Hardison was still trying to look at the black box.
"Soybeans." Parker said.
She went silent again as Nate and Tara still talked with Culpepper. Hardison got the panel open. The electronics inside were off.
"That's a list of all the security upgrades they installed with the federal money, right?" Hardison asked the couple as Eliot flipped through the pages.
"Yeah." Eliot confirmed.
"How much did they spend?" Hardison asked.
"20 million dollars. And I'm no expert, but that don't look like no x-ray imaging system to me." Kaira reported, getting anxious as well.
Something was indeed off.
"No, it's what the inside on an easy-bake oven looks like." Hardison said.
He glanced at the papers again.
"Infrared? There's no infrared feed on these cameras. And 24-hour surveillance? The cameras are rolling but that drive is not big enough to record more than a day." Hardison said, looking at the camera feeds.
"Hell, this is the least secure port on the East Coast." Hardison said.
He looked at the couple.
"So, where'd that 20 million dollars go?" Eliot asked the question they were thinking. Soon, Parker had their answer.
"I'm thinking inventory. These beans are made of guns. and hand grenades." Parker reported.
Nate and Tara were about to do the blow off before Kaira heard feedback from her comm. The quartet winced at the feedback.
"Son of a... what is that?" Eliot asked Hardison, both having their fingers to their ears.
"It's feedback. Somebody else is transmitting on high frequency." Hardison said.
Nate was heard grabbing Culpepper, scarring him into saying, "Jabberwocky."
"That's a code word." Tara said, pissed.
Soon, sirens were heard as vans pulled in and people wearing FBI vests showed up to crash the party.
"That's FBI. Nate, we got FBI." Eliot reported.
"Nathan, Tara, Feds on top of you." Kaira quickly reported as the trio left quickly and met Parker outside the warehouse as FBI was coming in.
Eliot and Kaira watched the warehouse, then met back at the van with Hardison and Parker.
"So, the guy who put out a hit on a police detective is an FBi snitch? That's not fair." Parker said as she tossed Eliot and grabbed herself FBI jackets.
Hardison was at his laptop, searching for a cell phone.
"That one. Federal I.D cellphone." Hardison said as he dialed the number.
The FBI agent picked up.
"You come in, and we'll kill all the hostages." Hardison said, buying time for Nate to come up with a plan.
"Oh, you thought the mayor was the only one? No, look, we got a whole Sunday school of people up in here. We got old folks, we got nuns, and we've got explosives. You come in, you make headlines." Hardison said, threateningly.
He hung up the phone.
"Well, now we know why he never went down for any of the other corruption cases. Cause he's a snitch." Tara said, not liking the reveal.
"You know, it's possible that, uh, he doesn't know anything about Bonanno getting shot." Nate said, throwing the bait.
"Oh, I knew that would come back." Culpepper said.
Kaira was instantly pissed off.
"What? No. No." Culpepper tried to defend himself.
"You did." Nate realized.
"I didn't. My FBI handlers, they told me to be very careful because there was a state police investigation, so I told... someone else, okay? But I had nothing to do with it." Culpepper said, defending himself.
"He has a kid! He has a son! He almost died! Do you understand he almost died?!" Nate screamed at Culpepper as he was scared, defending himself.
"Yeah, Nate, I bought you some time, but right about now, we got a whole army of Five-O coming down on us." Hardison reported to Nate, ignoring the yelling, looking at his computer screen.
"It's a big day." Kaira said, not liking the odds.
"Big, big day for us." Hardison said, also not liking the odds.
"You have to let him go." Tara said.
"No!" Nate yelled.
"Then kill him now! We have to get out of here." Tara said, not happy.
Culpepper about shit his pants as Kaira heard a slam, but no bones breaking, just glass breaking. Nate obviously just scared him.
"Okay, we'll deal with him later. Uh... okay, here's what we're gonna do. Come here." Nate said, talking to Tara.
"I got a plan. Listen." Nate said.
Nate explained the plan as the group outside waited at the van.
"No. Nate, are you kidding me, man? That is the worst plan I've ever heard." Hardison said, starting to walk away.
The others followed him.
"Look, he needs a distraction." Eliot said.
"We did just find a box of ammo and explosives. Boom. I'm just saying." Parker said.
"Yeah, but we need to deliver it." Kaira said.
"And a detonator." Hardison said.
Kaira realized a solution. Eliot, Parker, and Kaira turned to the van behind them. Hardison turned around and caught onto the plan.
"No. Mnh-mnh." Hardison declined the idea.
He kept declining, shaking his head no and showing he didn't like it. "Look, mnh-mnh. Not Lucille. Not Lucille! She all I got left." Hardison said, as the team turned back around. "Don't you do it to me. Get that look out of your eye. You ain't got to be so happy about it, Eliot. You always had it in for my van. You always had it in for Lucille. You said she smells. She don't stink. It's just... and odor." Hardison said, whining and sad as the others went to set the bomb up.
Hardison got the van rigged up to remote control and came to the back of the van.
"Sorry, Lucille. I love you, baby. I ain't gonna forget you." Hardison said, nearly bumping into Eliot as e was putting the box of grenades in.
"Dude, grenades!" Eliot growled at Hardison.
"Dude, the van!" Hardison said.
Kaira groaned.
"Hardison, enough. We'll get you another van." Kaira said to Hardison as she helped Parker with the rigging.
"You know she out of warranty, right?" Hardison asked as Parker and Eliot shut the door.
Kaira patted the van, feeling bad for Hardison as the group walked away to get to some cover.
"You ready?" Nate asked Tara.
"Ready." Tara said.
Nate called the FBI handler and told her a hostage was coming out. Kaira watched as Hardison guided Lucille to the warehouse.
"I've always been and forever shall be your friend." Hardison said, as Kaira pulled him behind cover as the van exploded.
"I will never forget you." Hardison said to himself.
Eliot and Parker drove the handler's FBI vehicle and grabbed Nate and Tara. They soon arrived and Kaira got in beside Parker. Hardison was still pouting, leaning against the bean stacked up.
"Come on, Hardison." Kaira said, wanting to move.
"No!" Hardison said, sounding like a toddler.
"Hardison!" Nate exclaimed at Hardison.
"No, y-you ignored us. You screwed up. You. And you killed Lucille." Hardison said, not happy.
"Listen. Priorities, please. You know, we'll go somewhere safe. You can bitch me out all you want. Get in." Nate argued, all but bribing Hardison to get in.
The rest of the team yelled at Hardison to get in.
"Hardison, you sound like a toddler! Do I have to get out and drag your ass in here?" Kaira threatened Hardison.
Hardison then walked to the car.
"Kiss my ass." Hardison said to Nate as he got in and then drove off.
They were officially on the run and with both the FBI and local police on the hunt for them. And little did the team know at the moment, an old enemy was also on their heels. That enemy was James Sterling.