Sophie Devereaux was in the courthouse, her team around to help break Nate out of the courthouse. "30 seconds. Call it" Sophie ordered, holding a notepad to look like a lawyer.
Kaira and Eliot Spencer were outside in construction uniforms, eyeing the two FBI agents walking into the courthouse. "Two Feds." Eliot pointed out. "Plus five cameras with overlapping 180's." Kaira whispered in her comm. "Response time 15 seconds." Eliot reported, looking away from the building with Karia doing the same. "Hardison?" Kaira got the hacker's attention.
Hardison was inside on his phone, acting as a janitor. "Cameras are watching yesterday's footage. Locking down... which elevator?" Hardison said, causing Parker to wake up from her nap hanging upside down in an elevator, snorting as she woke up.
"Huh? What? Oh, um, um, yes, I-I'm a go for elevator one." Parker said, trying to hide that she was asleep.
"Were you asleep?" Hardison asked Parker.
Kaira and Eliot weren't gonna lie, it wasn't that surprising that Parker would fall asleep hanging upside down in the elevator.
"It's very peaceful up here. Besides, I sleep better upside down." Parker said as the elevator locked down and she got ready to move.
Hardison acted like he was cleaning the floor when Sophie walked up to where Hardison had cleaned, which was still very wet. Sophie dramatically fell into the FBI agent that was outside the elevator's arms and dropped her papers. "Oh, you okay?" The make agent asked Sophie as spoke over him. "Oh! Oh, my papers!" Sophie exclaimed, acting all dramatic.
Kaira had to chuckle.
"Oh, it's all right. I got 'em." The agent said as he gathered the papers and Hardison still acted like he was cleaning, as Sophie lifted the black gun-shaped object and messed with it. "Hey you. You!" Sophie yelled at Hardison. "You should have some signs up or - or pylons or something." Sophie argued with Hardison. "I'll go. I-I'll go. I'll go." Hardison said in an African accent, leaving the cleaning stuff behind, removing his coveralls, and revealing his suit underneath.
Nate Ford came out of the courtroom and spotted Sophie as he was being escorted out by armed FBI agents. "Incoming." Sophie reported, leaning against a wall.
Nate walked in the elevator with his agents and it went down. When it reached Parker, she repelled down to the elevator Nate was in. Parker opened the hatch at the top as the elevator was still going down as Parker climbed down and took a taser to both agents and picked Nates handcuffs. "You know, you could have just taken the keys off the guy's belt." Nate said to Parker. "Eh, this is faster." Parker said.
Hardison was walking outside as the other team members were getting ready for Nate's extraction and was on his phone, activating car alarms, causing the FBI to leave the post to investigate, leaving Eliot to knock a guy out with his helmet, and Kaira to take on the other agent, who pulled out his weapon. Kaira grabbed the guy's arm and pointed the gun upward, and the gun went off, grunting in the process. Kaira used her arms to lock the gun arm and shove the guy on the ground and kept punching him, knocking him down and disarming him as Eliot punched the first goon he took out with his helmet in the shoulder and then the gut and then shoved him towards traffic, causing him to get hit by an oncoming car.
Kaira and Eliot winced a bit and walked away, ready for Nate's getaway as Sophie pulled up. Nate and Parker left the courthouse. "Get in!" Sophie ordered Nate. The team all got in, except for Nate. "No." Nate said. "No?!" Sophie questioned as the team looked at him confused. "Uh... no." Nate said.
At Rockford Private Correctional Facility
Sophie was sitting at the visiting center, on the phone with Nate in an olive khaki uniform across from her, a little upset that Nate didn't like her plan. "What do you mean no?" Sophie asked, a little upset. "It's a horrible plan. None of it times out, and there's no way you can get to the car that fast." Nate said, not wanting to plan a breakout at the moment. "Ah, but you have to admit, it's be a lot more dramatically satisfying if I'm the one driving the getaway car." Sophie said. Nate put his finger to his lip quickly, urging Sophie to be quiet as they were talking about a breakout in a prison. "You know they record these calls." Nate whispered. Sophie showed him her phone, showing signals on it.
"I created a carrier signal for our conversation, but I'm dumping another conversation onto the prison recording system." Hardison said looking at the screens with Eliot and Kaira coming behind him with beers at Nate's apartment. "Spanish soap opera." Eliot pointed out. Kaira chuckled. "Oh, yeah. Check it out, man." Hardison said as Eliot handed Hardison a beer and handed one to Kaira, who took a swig. "Look, it turns out Pepe's twin brother Peppi is actually Guadalupe's baby's daddy." Hardison said as Kaira about snorted her beer in surprise. "Seriously?" Eliot questioned. "Gotta love them telenovelas." Kaira said, joking as she smiled and took another swig as Spanish was heard over the speakers quietly. Just then, Parker walked in, holding her repelling gear. "He didn't want to do it." Eliot told Parker as she went to go sit her stuff down, going behind the group. "Oh, but I love jumping on elevators." Parker said, disappointed, amusing the team. "I know." Hardison said, looking at Parker, who went to sit her gear on the table, the team joining her. "This is my special elevator rig he got me for Christmas." Parker said. "All right, look, Nate, you took the fall for us, so -" Eliot said getting back on track, going to sit next to Kaira, who sat next to Parker, and Hardison beside Eliot. "After you lied to us. He's a liar." Hardison pointed out, causing a scoff from Kaira. "He took the fall for your ungrateful ass." Kaira growled, annoyed at Hardison's comment. Hardison looked offended at the woman. "You went to jail so we wouldn't have to. We get that, so we're square. But now you got to let us get you out of prison." Eliot said, tapping the table. "But if we're gonna do that..." Parker said. "And not all of us are convinced that we should." Hardison said, getting annoyed looks from the rest of the team. "... Then we have to hit you at your next hearing." Kaira butted in. "That prison's escape proof." Parker said.
"Guys, no. I committed a crime, I got caught, and now I am gonna serve my time." Nate said to his team, not wanting them to go through with the plan. "Nate, what kind of world would it be if everybody that committed a silly little crime went to prison, huh? Complete madness." Sophie argued, mocking slightly at Nate. The team looked at each other, slightly amused by what Sophie said. "Did you get the Kielbasa?" Sophie asked Nate. "Yeah." Nate said, showing the kielbasa with a red bow on it to Sophie. "There's an earbud inside it." Sophie revealed quietly, winking at Nate. "Now listen to me, in no way, shape or form are you gonna break me out of this prison. Understood?" Nate said, ordering his team.
"Okay, you know - you know what? Fine, Nate. We're still out here. We're still doing the job. We help people nobody helps. That's important. You want to stay around and miss out just because you got to figure out your guilty conscience, that's your loss." Hardison argued, annoyed Nate wouldn't let them help him. Eliot, Parker, and Kaira also had annoyed expressions. Nate chuckled. "Yeah, Hardison, I wa-" Hardison said when he shut the TVs off, annoyed still. Kaira wasn't going to lie, she was too. She wanted to help Nate, but he wouldn't let them. She walked away, annoyed.
Sophie stood up. "Wait, Sophie. Sophie, Ho- Just-" Nate said before Sophie cut him off. "Who, me?" Sophie said into the phone, annoyed. "Yeah." Nate said. "No. I don't use the name Sophie anymore. I use my real name now." Sophie said, still annoyed. "Oh, your real - a-and what is that?" Nate asked. "You know that they record these calls, don't you?" Sophie mocked Nate and hung up. Nate was shocked and frustrated. As the team cooled off from their conversation with Nate, still annoyed with him for not accepting their help,
Nate walked up to a young black man with a cart of books. "Hey." The black guy said, greeting Nate. "Seamus Heaney. That Irish guy you asked for." He said, handing the old book to Nate. Nate flipped through the pages. "Oh, excellent. Wow, thanks... Billy, right?" Nate asked the black man. "Uh, yeah." Billy confirmed. "Well, thank you. This could not have been easy to find." Nate said, grateful he took the time to find the book. "Well, you seemed pretty down. And we got to stand up for each other, right?" Billy said. "Yeah, You're all right, Billy." Nate said, glad he made a friend. "Yeah. Wish the judge thought so." Billy said, leaving. That caught Nate's interest. "Yeah, I appreciate it." Nate said. He walked to read the book, spying Billy walking into the hallway, followed by two prison gang members with shanks. Nate walked up to the security guard. "I think something's happening." Nate said, pointing to the hallway. "Thanks for your input. You can move on now." The guard said, not caring what Nate said.
Nate let it go and left his book on the counter and walked into the hallway. He found Billy getting shoved into a wall and about to get beaten, so he grabbed a white pillowcase and put it over the goon, tightening it, then shoved him to the ground leaving him there. "Grab the knife." Billy said as Nate grabbed Billy and told him to go. Another gang member went to go after Nate, but shut the door in time and took Billy into the kitchen, leaving the guy banging on the door. Nate walked with Billy in. "Now what the hell was that about, Billy?" Nate asked Billy, point blank. "Remember that '88 gangbanger that got beat to death last month?" Billy asked. "Yeah." Nate said. "Yeah, well, his buddies think I did it." Billy said, still walking with Nate. "Did you?" Nate asked, getting straight to the point. "No! No, I found the body, all right, but the guards say nobody else was near him, so now I'm down for it." Billy said.
"Here." Nate said, pointing to the fridge and shoving Billy in it and closing the door. "Yeah, well, that doesn't make sense. The warden should have put you in protective custody." Nate said, looking at Billy, who was pacing. "Look, I don't even know why I'm in prison. You want to hear what I did?" Billy said, pleading his case to Nate. "Yeah." Nate said, wanting to hear the guy's story. "I drove up to New Hampshire to see my girlfriend, all right? I had beer in the trunk. I-I crossed state lines. I - I didn't even know that was illegal." Billy explained his case, panicking at what happened. "Y-You expect me to believe that?" Nate questined, testing Billy's story. "Look, I swear to God. I didn't even have a lawyer for the hearing. Look, they said it was just a fine. I plead guilty. Next thing I know, I'm in here for eight months!" Billy said as Nate excused himself. "I-I'm a frickin' accountant, man. I-" Billy said as Nate put his shoe on the box and pulled out to kielbasa from Sophie, agreeing to help this guy out. "All right, you're an accountant." Nate revealed the kielbasa and Billy freaked out. "Yeah. Uh, unh-unh. Oh, wait. What, uh - what is that for?" Billy questioned Nate, hoping it wasn't anything bad. "It's kielbasa." Nate said, not knowing what the deal was. "I-I know that, but what are you doing with it?" Billy asked as Nate started digging through the kielbasa to get to the earbud. "Don't - um um - come on, man. That's - that's nasty." Billy said, disgusted as Nate put the earbud in his ear. "In your ear. That's great." Billy said, not having what Nate was doing. "Hardison." Nate said.
Kaira and Hardison were at the table, getting some electronics things ready. Hardison and Kaira were kinda annoyed at Nate. "Oh, no. Mnh-mnh. No, we extended our hand of forgiveness and you slapped it away. Now go away. I'm having some me time." Hardison said, playing with the electronic. "It ain't me time if you got your little sis with you, big bro." Kaira said mockingly but serious as Hardison scoffed at Kaira. Nate rolled his eyes.
"Please, please, I just want you two to check the records of inmate Billy Epping. Fast kiddo!" Nate said. Billy looked at Nate like he was crazy. "Look, man, who are you talking to?" Billy asked Nate.
Hardison looked at Kaira annoyed. "Hardison, you heard the man." Kaira said. Hardison reluctantly put the electronic stick down and started hacking into the prison records for Billy's record as Kaira watched. Hardison didn't mind Kaira watching as he liked teaching her what he did. And he would learn from her too when it came to fighting. The computer beeped at Hardison. "Whoa." Hardison said, surprised about something. "What is it?" Kaira asked the hacker as she looked at his screen. "O-Okay, Uh, William Epping's conviction was for transporting liquor across state lines, but his sentence was way longer than anyone's received for that crime since, like, the pilgrim's, man." Hardison reported. "That's illegal?" Kaira questioned, getting a look from Hardison. Hardison was scrolling through the file. "Wait, Hardison pull up the records for Nate and Billy." Kaira asked Hardison, catching something out of the corner of her eye. "Nathan, your warden was consulted during sentencing. That's fishy." Kaira reported, worried what Nate got himself into
. Billy was done with Nate. Nate walked up to Billy. "Now, listen to me, we're gonna check this out, okay?" Nate told Billy. "Okay, okay." Billy agreed to the help. Nate put his hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry." Nate said. "For what?" Billy asked Nate. Nate then stabbed Billy non lethally with the shiv and eased him down. Nate looked away as Billy was about to pass out.
Kaira was surprised to hear what she did. "Nathan, did you just stab Billy with a shiv?" Kaira asked Nate.
"Maybe. Hardison, why don't you gather the team and get me background checks on the - on the warden?" Nate ordered as Billy was in shock. Billy told Nate off for stabbing him, which Nate told him he will be okay.
"Nate, did you find us a client in prison?" Hardison asked, amused as Kaira smiled. It felt good to get Nate back on the case.
"Yes, we are going to help Billy Epping and maybe take down a warden at the same time." Nate said. He looked at Billy, who once again asked who he was talking to, and then said he was gonna pass out.
Kaira sent the text to Parker, Eliot, and Sophie to meet at Nate's apartment to discuss the background and the plan for getting them help. They met with the team. Hardison was a banker, with Kaira as his assistant, Eliot was a Doctor who was sent to watch over Billy as he was getting patched up, Sophie and Parker went to hit a judge's office. Hardison and Kaira set a meeting later in the morning for the warden.
They met at his office, where he got them both drinks. "How did I get started? Well, hedge funds, actually, and then a bit of international finance. But then 10 years ago, I hit on this- national prison properties. Get the government out of the justice business. Mister..." The warden, Adam Worth the 4th, explained, handing two glasses of liquor to Hardison and Kaira, who was taking notes, wearing a sexy accountant get up with Hardison in a suit as he stood up to take the drink with Kaira. "Barrington-Jones." Hardison introduced himself as he shook the warden's hand and Kaira stood up. "And Miss..." The warden turned to Kaira. She shook his hand. "Morgan Jones. His younger sister." Kaira introduced in a slight southern accent. Hardison rolled his eyes at Kaira, but staying in cover. "Sorry. She likes telling people that." Hardison explained Kaira's burst away. "Brilliant. Corporate-run prisons, five facilities, thousands of inmates - it's tremendous." Hardison said, getting back on track as the warden looked away as Hardison went to plug in a USB to copy the warden's computer. Kaira covered for him by walking with the warden and sitting in a chair in his office. "The U.S has the fastest-growing prison population in the world. Well, it's like the real estate boom." The warden said, chuckling, causing Kaira to chuckle. Hardison looked back towards the warden, who had his attention focused on Kaira. "Except, of course, the problem with real estate - you eventually run out of land." The warden chuckled again as Hardison sat down in the chair closest to the wardens. "You never run out of people to put in prison." The warden said. "Hmm. We haven't had much success with the prison concept in England. Our estimation firm has large real-estate holdings for construction of facilities." Hardison said. "You see, ant old yahoo can lay some concrete and throw up some razor wire. The profit comes in proper management." Hardison got on his phone to check how his USB was doing, tuning out. Kaira still payed attention. "For example, the big money for us is in prison labor." The warden said. Kaira tapped Hardison discreetly on the leg to get his attention. "Sorry?" Hardison questioned. "Goods and services made by prisoners in America - 2 billion dollars a year. One out of every five office chairs and desks made in America. Made by convicts. And those jobs are not going to the Chinese." The warden said, chuckling at his idea. "Bottom's up." The warden said, toasting to Hardison and Kaira, who also toasted as they took a drink. They continued talking, building a rapport with the warden.
Nate and Billy were in the infirmary as part of Nate's plan to keep Billy safe. Two guards were posted outside as Nate stood by Billy, now in a hospital gown, laying on the hospital bed. "Man, is this really the best plan?" Billy asked Nate, concerned, whispering. "Listen, the infirmary's under lockdown. There's cameras on both sides of the door, extra guards because of the pharmaceuticals. It's the safest place in the prison, really." Nate said. Just then the door buzz, revealing Eliot in his doctor cover. "Plus, I, uh, got you a little extra insurance coming right now." Nate whispered.
Billy and Nate watched Eliot as he talked to the guards. "Abernathy, M.D. Here's my C-13A State employment certification. There's my processing forms, the A-76/4 -" Eliot was explaining, looking at each of the guards. "You worked in a prison clinic before?" The guard asked. "Have I worked - Sir, I'm-If you look on this, you can see my history right here. F-Framingham, Concord. Hell, my roommate at Tufts drives a Benz and fixes little girls' noses - rich ones, all right? I-I got shanked by my own scalpel last year in the neck." Eliot said, getting annoyed, which was a tactic both Sophie and Kaira taught her. "Okay, already. Welcome to Rockford." The guard said.
Kaira and Hardison smiled on the inside of Eliot's grift. "Thank you." Eliot said, acting like he was glad he got in. "The guard will stay. Yo, Ford..." The guard said. Nate hummed in acknowledgment. "Clear out." The guard ordered Nate. "Yeah, um.. in one minute." Nate said, knowing he had to get information to Eliot. "Hi Billy. It's Dr. Abernathy. I'm going to be taking a look at you." Eliot said, staying in cover and shaking Billy's hand. "If you do exactly what I say, I'm gonna get you home...alive, okay?" Eliot whispered to Billy, breaking cover. "Thanks." Billy whispered back, getting the idea Eliot was giving. "Okay." Eliot said out loud. "Ford, come on. Let's go." The guard said, getting impatient. "Yeah, Just, uh-" Nate was about to get ready to leave when Eliot stopped him. "I need to talk to you." Eliot whispered to Nate.
Nate understood and started walking as Eliot put on a doctor's coat. Nate then yelled in pain, acting like he had a toothache. Eliot walked over, staying in cover. "You all right? What did you do? Did you do something?" Eliot asked the guard and Nate. The guard got defensive and stepped back as Eliot grabbed Nate. "No, I got-" Nate mumbled. "What happened?" Eliot asked Nate. "Your tooth? Your mouth?" Eliot questioned Nate, still in cover. "No, it's like shooting pain through my..." Nate explained, still acting like he was in pain. "Let me see this real quick." Eliot said, shining his light in Nate's mouth. "Whoa, hold up. Yeah, that's infected." Eliot said, turning off the light. "It's just a shooting -" Nate said, demonstrating the idea. "You know I can take you down to dental. I can take care of this right now, and you give me one second. We'll be right back." Eliot said, going to escort Nate so they could talk. "I have to go with you." The guard said. "You have to go with us? Well, come on." Eliot started chuckling as he walked with Nate, who was still acting. "Make sure you got your earplugs, though, because I'm gonna be sawing through some bone, and the "ZZZ" is really loud. And your, uh, and the burning flesh and stuff, So, I'll try to have- or we can just - well, you know what? It's fine. Just sit right in here, sir. And please have seat." Eliot said, causing the guard to get disgusted, letting them in peace as Eliot brought Nate in to the dental room and sat him on the chair.
Eliot whirred the chair back as Nate just looked confused and annoyed. "It's just in case the guards come in." Eliot said. Eliot then put the restraints that were on the chair on Nate's wrists. "Restraints." Eliot said, causing Nate to chuckle, being quiet. "Here's an infirmary manual." Eliot said He turned on the dentist's light and the light shown in Nate's face, but Eliot adjusted it to hit his mouth. Nate was getting slightly anxious. Then Eliot started the drill, and Eliot brought the chair up slightly. Nate laughed uncomfortably. "That's, uh, for the - for the guards, right?" Nate asked, worried Eliot was gonna drill him, and not the sexy kind of drilling (Thank you Dean Winchester for the quote). "You know what I usually do, Nate, to people that run a con on their own team? Almost get people killed 'cause they're out of control?" Eliot asked, kinda sending mixed signals about what he wanted to do. Hardison and Kaira were still talking with the warden, and Sophie and Parker were about ready to start their run. "Are we okay, Eliot?" Nate asked, worried. Eliot stopped the drill and put it down on the side table, showing while he wasn't happy with what Nate did, he understood why Nate did what he did, as he pulled a USB out of his pocket and plugged it into the USB dock on the keyboard of the computer. On the screen was all the information Hardison and Kaira found. "Adam Worth the fourth. Harvard business school. Old money political dynasty in this state. His daddy was a governor, his uncle was an Attorney General, and his brother is the congressman. Adam here even took a couple of early runs at office, but couldn't get elected as a dogcatcher. That's why he got into business. Hardison and Kaira are working him." Eliot informed Nate. "Okay, first we have to figure out how to nail the warden on whatever scam he's running here. Second, we got to get Billy out of here in case things go bad." Nate said, giving the plan. "Told you - this place is escape proof." Eliot said. He tapped some keys on the keyboard, remembering what Hardison taught him. "21st century prison, fewer guards, more tech - infrared cameras, motion sensors, lockdown doors." Eliot explained why the prison was escape proof. "Okay. Does Parker or Kaira have any ideas?" Nate asked, knowing the thieves had to have thought of something. "Parker's working with..." Eliot said, but stopped himself, as he was about to say something he couldn't say. Nate looked at the hitter curiously. "..Sophie." Eliot said, getting the grifter's name right. "What was that?" Nate asked, knowing something was up. "I - I didn't - I-" Eliot stumbled, trying to play it off. "A little pause there." Nate pointed out. "Sophie told us her real name. I'm not allowed to say it in front of you." Eliot revealed. "Seriously?" Nate asked. Eliot confirmed the idea. "Her and Parker - they're running the judge." Eliot told Nate.
Back at the courthouse, Sophie and Parker pretended to be arguing about a case, acting as attorneys as they lifted some things from the judge, pretending to bump into him, and acted apologetic as he left his chambers. They walked in and looked around. Sophie walked behind the desk and Parker was across from her. Sophie pulled out the judge's keycard and checkbook. "Key card and checkbook." Sophie showed Parker, proud of herself. "Keys and appointment book." Parker said, revealing her items. Sophie glared at Parker as she held a specific key. "Ooh, and this? Safe deposit box key." Parker said. Sophie looked impressed. "Ooh, I love a secret." Sophie said. She tossed the keycard on the desk and sat down as Parker went behind the desk to look at the files to see if she could find anything. Sophie grabbed the phone and dialed the bank. "Yes, yes, this is Mrs. Melvoy. I'm - I'm calling about my account." Sophie said in a slightly different accent than her own. "Ooh, yeah, account number... 0018345." Sophie said as Parker cracked the safe, smiling at herself. "Yes, I got a call about my safe deposit box, that a payment was due." Sophie said as Parker looked at the files in the office. "Billy Epping... and more - a lot more -all sent to Rockford Correctional." Parker said, piquing Sophie's interest. Sophie and Parker wrapped as Parker copied the files for Hardison and Sophie finished her phone call. Kaira and Hardison wrapped up the meeting with the warden, and Eliot listened to the briefing at the prison, as he had to keep an eye on Billy, just in case. Nate sat in his cell, listening as well.
Hardison was at the screen as the women gathered at the table. Hardison pulled up the files Parker copied. "Two years ago, Judge Melvoy got a safe deposit box right around the time he started sending people down for hard time. And I'm talking citizens, not, you know, people like us." Hardison said as the files flew by, showing the large amount. "Well, Judge Melvoy's not the only one. Four judges opened safe deposit boxes at the same time." Parker said, starting to look at the files she copied. "There - I mean, there are hundreds of cases here, and these are just the ones we found." Sophie said, sitting at the table as well as Parker and Kaira looked through the files. Hardison scoffed as he pulled up more information. "Records I pulled off of Worth's computer show that each time an inmate checks in at Rockford, their judge gets an e-mail. Now, it looks coded. I'm thinking Cayman Islands bank account." Hardison said.
Nate was playing with a chess piece in his cell. "Hardison, private prisons have a contract with the state just like any company that provides a service. Now, do they have to maintain a head count?" Nate said, quietly.
"Mh-hmm. Yeah. See, Rockford can't drop below 70 percent occupancy. If they do, they lose their state funding. No state money, they close. And they came very close two years ago." Hardison said, pulling up that info. "That's the same time the judges opened the safe deposit boxes." Kaira pointed out, starting to see the connections.
"So, private prisons are like the hotel business. They live and die on occupancy, headcount. Now, Worth wasn't gonna lose 100 million in profit just cause he didn't have enough hard-cases to fill the prison." Nate said before Kaira caught on to what he was saying.
"He gets a few judges to bribe to send inmates with minor offenses and nonviolent offenders to his prison. They're easy to manage." Kaira realized. Nate smiled a little, proud of Kaira. Parker looked at Kaira confused. "Yeah, but why these people?" Parker asked. Just then, Eliot revealed himself from behind the corkboard, stopping to take off his glasses. "Because they're citizens. Cause they're honest, middle-class citizens. These are the people - they don't want to cause any trouble. They can't afford a lawyer, so if some judge sends them away, well, yes, sir. They were taught to trust the courts. They believe in the system." Eliot said, getting a bit heated. Kaira looked at her husband sympathetically. Eliot was still pissed Nate took the fall. Because Nate was an honest man. And the system failed him. Eliot and Kaira were thieves. They knew what they were doing. They would've gladly gone to prison if it meant Nate could be the honest man they know. One look from Eliot confirmed she was thinking correctly. And the other team members had a similar idea. "So, Nate, what you got?" Sophie asked Nate, already knowing he had something in mind.
"Well, Worth makes money sending innocent people to prison. I have just the thing." Nate said, pleased with himself.
He told the team the plan. Sophie was gonna pretend to be a campaign manager to grift Worth into thinking he could run for Senate. Kaira and Hardison were still their covers, Eliot as well, and Parker, Hardison, and Kaira helped Nate plan a breakout.
Sophie left to talk to Worth. Sophie showed Worth some photos, which Hardison photoshopped after a photoshoot with Parker, who after some direction from both Kaira and Sophie, ended up getting naked right in front of them, causing Hardison to get really uncomfortable and Kaira looking away and Sophie scolding Parker, but letting it go to get the photos done. She hooked Worth on the idea that he could be a United States Senator, which he revealed he was thinking about running, also using her leggy outfit to get him to like her.
Hardison, Parker, and Kaira were back at the office, listening and looking at blueprints for the prison to plan a breakout. "Worth's on the hook. Now, I got to give it to you, Nate, nobody can read a mark quite like you. Except maybe Kaira." Hardison said, looking at the women behind the table. Kaira gave Hardison a grateful smile, which was reciprocated. "Oh, come on, he tried to run twice and failed. That had to have been eating away at him. Now, find me a way out of this place." Nate said, walking through the prison corridors.
Eliot was with Billy at the infirmary. "Billy showed me where he found the first dead gang member. Blind spot - no cameras." Eliot reported.
"Nice coincidence." Nate and Kaira said at the same time, causing a slight chuckle from the boys.
"Yeah, and Hardison checked the incident reports. All of them happened in camera blind spots - places convicts wouldn't know existed." Eliot added, slightly amused by his wife.
"Guards." Nate said, coming down the prison stairs.
"They killed him, accident, whatever, they let Billy here find him, wouldn't be the first time." Eliot said.
"Can we use the blind spots?" Nate asked. "I really want a back door out of this place." Nate said.
"No, Nate, I can't access those cameras from here. They're dumb. They run straight to the servers." Hardison reported. "Yeah, and they could have upgraded the motion sensors and infrareds since these plans." Parker said. "You'll have to map it old school, Nathan." Kaira reported, getting off the table with Parker.
It took a few hours but with Eliot and Nate's help, Hardison, Parker, and Kaira were able to make a map of all the lockdown bolts, sensors, and cameras using different colored dots to represent the different problems. The trio at the apartment grabbed hands to celebrate until they put the last problem up on the board. "Nate, if you could see this, you would not be encouraged." Hardison said. It was true. Every room had some sort of sensor.
Nate was in the dining hall, using chess pieces to help get the visual. "Yeah, I see it. Yeah. I hope Sophie has more luck with the warden." Nate said.
"Who's Sophie?" Parker asked. Kaira groaned. "You remember, we're not supposed to use her real name with, uh..." Hardison filled in the blank. "Right, Nate hasn't earned it yet. Forgot." Parker said, starting to chuckle. Kaira glared at Parker. Parker ignored her and kept repeating Sophie to get it in her head.
Nate was still brainstorming an idea, while Sophie still worked the grift with Worth, hitting a slight snag with the money.
At the end of the day, Eliot returned to help the team plan the breakout. Eliot and Hardison were standing up, looking at the screen, Kaira beside Eliot, and Parker on the table. "All right, we cut that wire." Eliot said, pointing to a camera. "No. No, look, once a lockdown is called, all these sensors go hot and those door bolts drop into place." Hardison said. "I got it!" Parker said, playing with a remote control and sitting up. "The furnace room. There's no sensors because it's too hot. They crawl straight down along the heating pipes until they reach the sewage system. Ha ha!" Parker said as she walked to the board and looked at the team.
"Now, Parker, it's a 150 degrees in there." Nate pointed out, sitting at a table.
"The average human can withstand that for 27 seconds." Parker said. Eliot, Hardison, and Kaira looked away, not liking it. "What? Come on." Parker said, knowing her plan would work. Kaira did too, but it was risky. Sophie walked in from her meeting with Worth. "Worth is on the hook, but with 250 of ours as a buy in." Sophie said.
"Ouch." Nate said.
"Oh, did I say ours? I meant what's left of your life savings. Yeah, we took it out of your account." Sophie said, joining the others at the table. "Any - any luck here?" Sophie asked the team, noticing the board. "No." The team said.
"Yeah, yeah. Got it. B corridor, through the kitchen, into the freezer, into the freezer air exchange, into the machine tunnels, which will lead me to the roof or the parking lot." Nate said as Hardison walked to the screens.
"You got to beat the lockdown door to the corridor. There's a thousand pounds of pressure on that bolt." Hardison said. "There's motion sensors in the kitchen." Eliot said, walking up to Hardison. "And infrared in the machine corridor." Parker said, also joining the boys. Kaira walked up to Eliot as Sophie walked beside Hardison. "All to get up to the roof, or the parking lot, where you'll be trapped and probably brutally gunned down." Sophie said. "Nathan, you better have a way out of that, or I swear to God." Kaira said, half warning, half hoping.
"I'm working on it." Nate said, looking at the things in front of him.
The next day, the team got ready to execute the plan. Kaira and Hardison waited in the office for Worth to come in. Eliot was at the infirmary, and Parker and Sophie was going to guide Nate through the breakout at Hardison's new van. Worth came into his office and hung up his dry cleaning. "Ah, Mr. Barrington-Jones... and Miss Jones. Welcome back." Adam said as Hardison and Kaira stood up to shake his hand. "Thanks for seeing us again. We fly out tonight, but my shareholders had a few more questions." Hardison said. Just then, the phone rang and Adam went behind his desk to answer it. Hardison and Kaira carefully watched Worth's expressions. He seemed concerned about something. Kaira picked up on it. He excused himself, and Kaira tried to persuade him to stay, but he left. Hardison went behind the computer on the desk as Worth was out of site and Kaira watched for him. "Nate, the cameras just went down." Hardison reported. "What?" Kaira questioned, shooting a concerned look at the hacker.
"Okay, where?" Nate asked.
"The whole system. They faked a reboot. It's down for five minutes." Hardison said. Kaira knew what Nate was thinking as he got ready. "Babe, get ready, you're about to have incoming for Billy." Kaira quickly reported as she still checked for Worth.
"Parker, please tell me you're at Hardison's new van." Nate said, walking to get to the infirmary to back Eliot up.
"Yeah, it's really nice." Parker said. leaning against the back of the black van.
"Did you bring it?" Nate asked.
"Wait, are we doing that now?" Parker asked.
"Yeah, we're gonna break out right now." Nate said, thinking of his next move.
"Yes!" Parker exclaimed as she opened up the van to grab the RC helicopter to distract the guards.
"Sophie, I need you to help guide me through it." Nate said, grabbing the paper.
"We're on the count. Nate, when they call lockdown, every door in the prison seals tight." Sophie said as she was at the apartment.
Two guard went to go after Billy, who was getting on his uniform, but Eliot fought them off, with Nate arriving just as Eliot took care of the guards and escaped with Billy as Eliot left.
Kaira and Hardison listened as Nate got Billy past the lockdown bolt and Sophie sent Worth to the bank. She reported the information to the team as Worth went into his office.
"Oh, Mr. Barrington Jones, Miss Jones, I,uh - have to go." Worth said, going to his computer. An alarm was heard, signaling that lockdown had begun. "What is that alarm?" Hardison asked Worth. "A lockdown." Worth said as he dialed and picked up the phone. He asked a guy named Bellows what was happening. He hung up the phone and grabbed his coat to leave. "Look, I don't have time for this. Call me tomorrow, and we'll reschedule, please." Worth said. Hardison tried to stop him. Worth walked out. "Don't forget your dry cleaning." Hardison said. Worth grabbed his dry cleaning and left. Kaira and Hardison left soon behind as Sophie guided Nate through the breakout.
Parker flew the RC drone, making it seem as if it was an actual helicopter on the cameras. Kaira went in a separate vehicle with Eliot as the guards surrounded the van Nate and "Epping" went in, they opened the van, and Parker and Hardison acted as if they were in the middle of knocking boots in the van. Nate escaped at the bank and wore a suit, which Kaira had switched when Lockdown was first called. Hardison pretended to be Epping, and changed. Bonanno luckily arrived at the prison and set things straight and arrested Worth. With the bank account that Sophie set up, which she put Nate's money in as from the party, they set Worth up that he helped Nate escape.
They all arrived at the apartment, waiting on Nate. Hardison was cleaning up as Nate walked in. "What have you done to my apartment?" Nate asked, looking around, noticing the changes Hardison made. "I'm the landlord, and this place was vacant. We needed an office." Hardison said. Kaira hugged Nate quickly, glad he was back. The team gathered up their things as Hardison gave them all tickets. "Now, I got staggered flights on air France. Nate, I put you on a train to New York, The you fly out on air Uruguay." Hardison said, walking away. "Air Uruguay? What are you talk-" Nate asked, wondering what was happening. "Yeah, your passport as you as Juan Ford, coffee merchant." Hardison said. "Now, look, we all rendezvous in Paris and..." Hardison said as he opened the door and stopped abruptly.
Men with guns were at the door. Eliot went to go after them, but Nate and Kaira grabbed his arms, holding him back as Kaira dropped her bag, the team on edge. "Buona Sera, Signore Ford." An Italian female voice came from behind. The team turned around and saw a brown haired Italian woman walking down Nate's stairs. They left to talk business.
Nate returned and sat with the team at the table and informed the team of their new target/problem. The Italian wanted the team to take down Damien Moreau. That name sent shivers down Kaira's spine. She had heard of this guy from various parties. She did not like him at all. "Damien Moreau? Are you out of your mind? Nobody touched Moreau!" Sophie exclaimed, not very pleased with the idea of taking out a heavy target. "Nate, Moreau finances the Sicilians, the Russian Mafia, the Columbian Cartels." Hardison said, not happy. "Yeah, he moves money for the North Koreas, stolen artifacts for Iraq, nuclear materials for Iran." Eliot said, not happy. "Moreau is the big bad." Hardison said. "Nathan, he's got his fingers everywhere, how do you expect to take him down?" Kaira asked Nate, not happy. "N-Nate, these files are CIA, FBI, Mossad, Japanese security." Parker pointed out. "So... who is this woman?" Sophie asked, asking the question everyone was thinking.
Nate informed the team that she wasn't police or anyone in government, just a woman who wants Moreau taken down.
"She wants to hire us to go after Moreau?" Sophie asked. The team started objected, all talking at once. "Guys, guys, guys!" Nate exclaimed, getting the team to be quiet. "Just wait a second. This is not a job." Nate said.
He informed the team that she had dirt on the team and could set them free. Or kill the team and lock Nate away if they failed.
"She's blackmailing us?" Sophie questioned. "This just keeps getting better and better." Kaira groaned, not happy at all with this development. "She's - she's - sort of." Nate said, starting to stammer. With looks from the team and admitted she was blackmailing them. "Yeah, yeah." Nate said, sipping bourbon. "Sucks to be on the wrong side of that, finally." Parker said. "Right now, they have the leverage, so what we have to do is we have to get it back." Nate said, comforting the team some with a plan. Eliot and Kaira looked at each other, thinking. "We can't go straight at a guy like Moreau. They'll vaporize us." Eliot pointed out a plan. "Right, so what we do is we do like we've always done in the past, is we do jobs that help people. Only this time, some of them are gonna lead us right to Moreau." Nate said. The team was still uneasy, but still worried. "Okay. I mean, I do have a pretty big client list waiting for us to check out." Hardison said. He pointed at Parker, who smiled at him, causing the team to be a bit more comforted at the fact that they were back. "Oh, we back in business." Hardison said, chuckling along with Kaira.
The team left, glad to be back to work as Sophie stayed behind. Nate was sipping a glass of alcohol. "So... how's that going for you?" Sophie asked Nate. "This? Uh, thanks for asking. Yeah, it's, um, good. You know, what I realized is, is that I tried being a drunk honest man. a sober thief, so I'm gonna try being a drunk thief, you know? Try that for a little while." Nate said. Sophie didn't respond, just thought of what Nate said. "You're not going to try to save me, are you?" Nate asked. Sophie sat on the table and grabbed Nate's glass and drank from his glass. "You're a thief now. You can save yourself." Sophie said. She got off the table and kept walking. "Whatever you say, Dominique." Nate said. Sophie looked back as Nate kept guessing at her name. Sophie eventually just left.
Meanwhile, the team was thinking of the task at hand. They had six months to take down Moreau. This was going to be their toughest challenge yet. Little did they know, Eliot and Kaira were silently hoping they could put off a secret they both held for so long.