Hardison, Eliot, and Kaira were walking out onto the sidewalk where a woman was being chased by two men who looked like FBI. The woman ran into Hardison as she fell and Hardison caught her and helped her up, asking if she was okay as Kaira went over and helped her up as well. Just then, the men chasing her flashed FBI badges at them. It was obvious they were fake.
"FBI, sir. That young lady is in our custody." The guy said.
"Hardison and Kaira chuckled. "Oh, see, you made two mistakes, Bro. First, you flashed that fake-ass FBI badge at me. Second, you spilled his coffee." Hardison said, pointing to Eliot.
Kaira looked at Eliot. He was holding his coffee cup and had coffee down the front of his white shirt, getting pissed.
"See, he has a bit of a temper when it comes to his coffee." Kaira warned as Eliot tossed his coffee up and went after the two guys, beating the crap out of them as Hardison held the poor woman, covering her face from the brutal sight of Eliot beating the ever-loving shit out of the fake FBI guys. Kaira turned away.
"See, I - I got your back." Hardison said, looking back at Eliot.
Once Eliot was satisfied, he zipped up his blue hoodie and Kaira ordered him a new coffee and met Nate back at the bar to get the girl's story.
Eliot went back up to his and Kaira's apartment, getting changed out of his bloody and coffee stained white shirt
Nate sat beside Kaira, and across was Hardison on his laptop and the woman, who introduced herself as Ashley Moore. She explained her story. "My sister was part of the drug trial for a new medication called HT1. A week into the trial, she suffered acute liver failure and died." Ashley explained.
"Did the drug company offer a settlement?" Nate asked.
"JRP Pharmaceuticals, the company sponsoring the trial, they sent a very attractive man in a suit to our said nobody else had any side effects and it was a freak accident. He sat at our kitchen table and he wrote a number on a piece of paper, sitting at the kitchen table where she used to eat pancakes." Ashley said. Ashley started tearing up as Hardison side hugged her.
Kaira offered her hand for Ashley, knowing how she felt.
"So your parents declined any kind of settlement, right?" Nate asked.
"I convinced them not to. I gave them a great speech about how Lisa's life couldn't be bought. How I'd make the people who killed her take responsibility." Ashley said, calming down some.
"Yeah, but that never happened." Nate said, thinking about his son.
"Yeah." Kaira said, knowing how Nate was feeling.
"It sounds like you've been there." Ashley said, sympathetic.
"Close enough." Nate said.
"Me too." Kaira said, trying to keep herself calm.
Hardison understood.
"We sued, but JRP claimed Lisa had a preexisting condition. We lost." Ashley continued her story.
"Yeah, causation is the hardest thing to prove in these cases." Nate said.
"We couldn't find a lawyer who would take our appeal. I've spent three years looking for any new evidence. And I found nothing until Dr. Roberts contacted me. And now he's gone." Ashley said, thinking her one lead was gone.
"Well, we'll - we'll find him. Just, we're happy that you're ok." Nate said.
"Thanks to Alec." Ashley said, grabbing Hardison's arm in comfort. "I don't know what would have happened if he hadn't been there." Ashley said, acting like Hardison was a knight in shining armor.
Kaira caught Parker looking at Hardison and Ashley, looking sad. Kaira immediately knew why.
"Now before Dr. Roberts disappeared, did he leave you anything?" Nate asked.
"Anything that'll help us pick up where he left off." Kaira said, ignoring Parker temporarily.
Ashley dug in her bag, pulling out a napkin. "Just this." Ashley said, handing the napkin to Nate and Kaira.
Nate and Kaira looked at it. "Arcadia and a bunch of names. I don't know, here." Nate said.
Hardison pulled up Arcadia. "Ok. Arcadia's a town about 30 miles from here. But I got nothing on the names." Hardison said.
"None of these are linked to Arcadia?" Nate asked.
"No, like nothing, nothing. No school records, no addresses, no birth certificates. They've been erased." Hardison explained.
Kaira was confused. "That's odd." Kaira said, trying to think.
"But I did find Dr. Roberts." Hardison said. He flipped his laptop to show it to Nate and Kaira. It was a series of pictures of Dr. Roberts.
"Wow! You found that while we were sitting here?" Ashley questioned, amazed.
"Oh, yeah. It's nothing." Hardison said, like it wasn't a big deal.
"It's amazing. I've always wanted to do that." Ashley said, looking at Hardison.
"Well, I-I could show you some stuff, as soon as I get your refill." Hardison said
Kaira eyed Hardison walking to the bar when Parker interrupted. Kaira listened as she looked at the information with Nate.
"Hey, what do we know about her? Did you do a background check?" Parker asked Hardison, clearly something off about her.
"She's a nice girl who needs our help." Hardison said, grabbing the filled drink.
"Yeah, she could be a spy or a terrorist. She looks kind of like a terrorist." Parker said.
Hardison dismissed it. "Yeah, I'm going to keep my eye on her. Kaira, too." Hardison said, walking back to the table.
"Yeah." Parker said. She walked over and pulled a chair over. Parker leaned back in the chair and stared Ashley down.
Nate saw Parker was there and told Hardison what he found. "Yeah, according to this, uh, up until eight months ago, Dr. Roberts worked for JRP Pharmaceuticals." Nate said, looking at Parker while he was speaking, with Parker telling him to keep going.
"That's the company that made HT1." Ashley said, now knowing why Dr. Roberts knew about the trial.
"Ok, now JRP Pharmaceuticals was bought by Pallagen Laboratories." Hardison explained, looking at the laptop."Dr. Roberts and all the other researchers were let go." Hardison explained.
"All right, maybe - maybe we should maybe take this to the, uh-" Nate whispered, giving the hint.
"Poker room?" Hardison filled in, knowing the drill
"Yep. Kaira, where's your husband?" Nate asked Kaira, noticing he wasn't there.
"Eliot had to change his shirt. Got coffee on it, blood and some teeth from the guys he beat up." Kaira explained, awkward slightly.
"Uh, yeah, ok. But why don't you call him and, uh, tell him to go to Dr. Roberts' home address, Kaira you go with him. And Parker, you and Sophie will do things the old-fashioned way. Knock on some doors in Arcadi - Parker." Nate said, noticing Parker was zoned out.
Parker hummed, hearing Nate.
"You want to go knock on some doors in Arcadia." Nate said, handing the napkin to Parker.
"Right, got it." Parker said. She looked at Hardison like she was mad and left to go get Sophie.
"All right." Nate said.
Hardison pointed to leave and they did.
Kaira made a note to talk to Parker at some point. Kaira walked into her and Eliot's apartment and went into the bedroom. "Babe! Nate wants us to check out an address. You ready?" Kaira called out to Eliot.
"Just a second, sweetheart." Eliot said.
Kaira was about to get up but then Eliot came out of the bathroom. He put on a different pair of jeans and a red wine-colored polo. He had his black hair up in a half ponytail
Kaira smiled as she walked over to him. "Like the shirt, babe." Kaira teased, holding Eliot.
Eliot smiled. "Well, better than having blood and coffee on it." Eliot quipped as he leaned in to Kaira.
Kaira pecked his lips and let go. She quickly grabbed a hair tie and put her hair up in a ponytail. Just then her phone vibrated. Kaira looked at it. "Got the address." Kaira said. "Ready to go?" Kaira asked.
"Yeah. Let's go." Eliot said. Eliot drove to the address that Hardison sent Kaira.
Soon, they arrived. Kaira and Eliot put on gloves and Eliot had his black faux leather jacket with the white stripe on the sleeves, and Kaira had on a blue zip up hoodie, her black shirt peaking out the top and her black gloves on.
Eliot knocked on the door. No answer. Kaira tried the doorknob as Eliot knocked again. The door was locked.
"The door's locked and nobody's answering." Eliot reported.
Back at the bar, Hardison finished his set up as Nate watched.
"All right, well, see if you can break-in, but be subtle." Nate ordered as Hardison went to his laptop and Ashley was next to him.
"Yeah, yeah." Eliot growled. He kicked the door in just as Kaira was about to get her lockpicks out of her pocket. Eliot made sure the door didn't bang everywhere, putting his hand up to stop the door.
"Not subtle." Nate retorted, hearing the bang.
"Babe. Subtle." Kaira said, giving a bitch face to Eliot.
Eliot ignored her.
"Dr. Roberts?" Kaira called out, wondering if he was hiding.
The couple looked around a bit, finding what clues they could. Eliot found car keys on the table, keys that went to a BMW. "Pretty small apartment to be driving a BMW." Eliot said.
"Hardison?" Kaira said, knowing the question for Hardison to answer.
"He doesn't drive a BMW. He drives a moped." Hardison filled in.
Kaira and Eliot looked at the keys. Eliot pulled the top of the car key, revealing a flash drive insert.
"It's a flashdrive." Kaira said.
"Okay, well, plug it into your phone." Hardison said.
"Really?" Eliot questioned, annoyed. He plugged the drive-in and held the phone in between him and Kaira. The data was transferring to Hardison. "You getting this?" Eliot asked.
Hardison pulled up the data on his laptop and looked through it. "Ok. According to these files, Dr. Roberts was meeting with a Darren Hoffman. And Hoffman was trying to buy something from him for 200,000 dollars." Hardison realized, not liking the information
"It sounds like a bribe." Nate said.
"No, no, no. There's nothing in his account that shows up that big. If it wasn't a bribe, he didn't take it." Hardison said.
"All right, well, we've got to figure out who this, uh, Hoffman guy is." Nate said.
Hardison started typing on his laptop. "Give me a second. Cross-referencing Dr. Roberts' cell records with this file, and - ok." Hardison pulled up a website for a new drug. "Hoffman is the CEO of Pallagen Laboratories." Hardison said.
"Pallagen is the company that brought JRP Pharmaceuticals." Ashley said, making the connection.
"Hm." Nate hummed.
Hardison pulled up more information. "Whoa! It-it shows that Hoffman doesn't have a background in medicine or science. He's a career executive. He started with finance, went to telecom, jumped to software, and then he jumped to the top spot in Pallagen a year ago." Hardison explained.
"Yeah. I know his type." Nate said, standing up. "Yeah, well, he's chasing the CEO chair. He's moving from company to company, juicing their profits, and using the publicity to move on to the next corporation." Nate walked over to the bar and poured a drink. "No loyalty." Nate said.
"But what could Hoffman want from Dr. Roberts that's worth 200,000 dollars?" Hardison asked.
"Well -" Nate said, pouring the drink in his glass.
"We found your Dr. Roberts." Eliot reported. Dr. Roberts was dead, laying on his couch.
"They made it look like a heart attack." Kaira filled in.
"What do you mean, made it look?" Nate asked. The trio at the poker room getting anxious.
"Well, there's nine places a professional will use to deliver an injection." Eliot said, looking at the face, then the hands, pulling up the stiff arm and unscrunging the fingers. "They went under the fingernail." Eliot said, putting the arm back.
"Dr. Roberts was murdered." Kaira said, feeling bad that they lost that lead.
The trio in the poker room looked at each other, knowing the stakes were higher now.
"Nate, we found the people in Arcadia." Sophie said at the cemetery, looking at the gravestone.
"Tiffany Helen, Michelle Coratola, Nicholas Paxton." Parker said.
"Ok, who have you talked to so far?" Nate asked.
"Well, that's not really an option." Sophie said, taking off her sunglasses. "They're all dead." Sophie revealed.
This was not good.
Later that night, the team met back up at HQ.
Sophie was filling in Nate what she found in a newspaper. "All right. Here it is. 15 people from Arcadia participated in the HT1 drug trial. 10 of them died of liver failure." Sophie filled in.
"Ashley's sister was not the only victim of HT1. See Hoffman, what he - oh, come on!" Nate tried to use the clicker but kept getting other screens. "Damn it, Hardison. You know, he keeps changing the settings." Nate said, still clicking the remote.
"Where is he? Where is Hardison?" Sophie asked.
"He's downstairs in the poker room. He's looking after Ashley. Parker's helping." Nate said, still playing with the clicker.
"Parker's helping?" Sophie questioned, knowing that wasn't good.
"Mn, mn." hummed. He finally got the clicker to work. "There! Okay, so after Pallagen buys JRP Pharmaceuticals, Hoffman has all the online records of Arcadia erased. Now luckily, his reach doesn't extend to the Acadia Public Library." Nate said.
"Mn, hm. So Roberts finds the connection between Hoffman and HT1. Hoffman offers him the 200 grand to silence him." Sophie realized.
"But Roberts doesn't take the bribe, so Hoffman has him erased." Nate realized.
Sophie chuckled, thinking of the perfect con to use. "I'm thinking the Swedish Rail con." Sophie said, looking at Nate.
"Eh, Cairo Flyer." Nate suggested.
"Oh. no way. I'm not wearing that dress again." Sophie said, dismissing the idea.
Then Nate and Sophie had the same idea. "The Double-Blind." Sophie and Nate said at the same time. Nate and Sophie gathered up the team and gave them the plan in the poker room.
"All right, so Parker and Kaira, you break into Hoffman's office, find out what Roberts had on him." Nate told Parker and Kaira.
"Yeah. A lot of pharmaceutical reps are hot out of cheerleading programs. Now you, Lori Sprang, you attended University of Iowa, where you were a cheerleader graduate with a 2.9 GPA, and you were also second runner up for the Miss Iowa Beauty Pageant." Hardison explained Parkers cover.
"A beauty queen?" Parker questioned.
"Oh, yeah. It's a nice touch, right? It was Ashley's idea." Hardison said, handing the passes to Ashley and Parker. "Pound it." Hardison told Ashley, and the fistbumped. "Kaira, you will be Alicia Winters, cheerleader at Iowa State along with Lori, 3.7 GPA, and third runner up at the Miss Iowa Beauty Pageant. And very good friends with Lori, who you met during cheer practice." Hardison explained Kaira's cover and handed her a badge.
Kaira took it and showed she liked her cover. "Meanwhile, uh, Sophie is going to establish a relationship with Hoffman, so that when we rattle his cage with your intel he's going to run to Sophie." Nate continued the plan.
"That's going to be tough for Sophie to make contact this week. His whole schedule is filled with this drug launch thing." Hardison explained.
"So get somebody else's appointment, like, how about her?" Nate suggested.
"Jennifer Pearson, FDA." Hardison explained, pulling up a picture of the woman.
"Uh, I'm sorry. How do you keep the real Jennifer Pearson from showing up?" Ashley asked.
"Eliot can distract her." Kaira suggested.
Nate went along with the plan.
Later that day, the team got covers ready and went into the building.
Parker and Kaira got ready to go into the office, and Eliot walked up to Pearson, who was getting her badge. "Miss Pearson." Eliot introduced himself.
"Hi." Jennifer said as she shook hands with Eliot.
"How are you? Phil, part of Mr. Hoffman's team. He's asked me to show you around." Eliot said.
"Oh, that's ok. I'm just here to sign some papers for the Vioplex launch. It's just a formality." Pearson said.
"Yes, ma'am. But see, here at Pallagen, we like to make sure that everyone we work with is part of the family. Ok?" Eliot said, flirting a bit to get Pearsons attention.
"All right." Pearson gave in.
"So do me the honor." Eliot said, still flirting.
"Sure, fine." Pearson said, confirming it was okay.
"Thank you so much. That way I get to keep my job." Eliot said, smiling as he escorted her away from the desk, putting his arm around her neck to hand the card to Sophie.
Sophie walked into Hoffman's office. "Mr. Hoffman, I'm-" Sophie was about to introduce herself.
"Jennifer Pearson, FDA, more red tape." Hoffman said, not even looking at Sophie. "Uh, we prefer to call them safety measures." Sophie said. She got Hoffman's attention, giving smiles.
Hoffman got up. "Of course, we take safety very seriously here at Pallagen." Hoffman said.
Sophie acted like she was starstruck. "I'm sorry, I've just - I've heard so many amazing things about this company and - and the man that runs it." Sophie said, softening her voice.
"Well, you know, you can't believe everything you hear." Hoffman said, grabbing papers for Sophie.
"I'm sure in this case I can. I know that you must be very busy, but I was hoping you might show me around. I'd love to discuss the possibility of doing some consulting for you." Sophie said.
"I'd be honored." Hoffman said.
Nate was back at HQ in the poker room, listening to everything. "Consulting is code for bribe." Nate said, looking at Hardison and Ashley, who were looking at the monitors. "Doctors who review rugs for the FDA are allowed by law to take consulting fees from the drug companies." Nate explained.
"Mm, hm. See, it's 50,000 to each doctor on the FDA panel, 200,000 to the Director of the New York Medical School To speak at the Pain Awareness Institute. And then 25,000 to each celebrity that attends the annual dinner at the Institute." Hardison explained, looking at his laptop.
"What's the Pain Awareness Institute?" Ashley asked.
"Uh, it's a foundation set up by Hoffman and Pallagen to legally funnel bribes." Nate explained.
"This is legal?" Ashley asked.
"We're in the wrong business, man." Hardison said.
"Parker, Kaira, Sophie's cleaning out Hoffman. Get in position." Nate ordered the girls.
"Let me, um, show you around our humble facility." Hoffman suggested, going to escort Sophie out.
"Ha, ha. I'm sure it's not humble at all." Sophie said. She exited the room, putting a magnet on the lock to keep the door unlocked. "I'm clear." Sophie whispered.
"Parker, Kaira, you're up." Nate ordered.
Parker didn't move and Kaira cleared her throat to get Parker's attention.
"Parker!" Nate repeated, causing Parker to stand up.
"Oh, and we have a volunteer. Thank you Lori." The woman said, excited, and moved Parker towards the front.
"Uh, she wasn't volunteering." Kaira pointed out.
"I just had to use the little girl's room." Parker whispered to try and get out of it.
The woman tried to get Parker to volunteer, and Parker wasn't having it, so she got up.
"Sorry, it really is an emergency." Kaira grabbed Parker, and quickly got her of the room, much to the objection of the woman in charge.
"Parker and Kaira walked to Hoffman's office. Parker walked in, as Kaira kept watch. Kaira quickly shut the blinds as Parker got to work copying the files on Hoffman's computer. The files loaded up on the monitor on Hardison's system.
"Locked file on a locked workstation, I smell secrets." Hardison said. He started decrypting the file. "Aw, 256 bit AES encryption, how adorable." Hardison said as more files popped up.
"Wait, hold on." Nate said, noticing something. "This right here. Make that bigger." Nate said, pointing to the picture of the chemical formula for Vioplex. Nate grabbed the picture of HT1 he had in front of him and walked to the monitor. He looked at both images and compared them. "It's identical." Nate said.
"It's HT1." Ashley pointed out. She stood up. "I've spent three years learning everything I could about the drug that killed my sister. That is HT1." Ashley said.
"Ok, so I thought Roberts made a connection between HT1 and Hoffman. Now it's between HT1 and Vioplex." Nate said.
Sophie was still walking with Hoffman, not liking the news.
"Hoffman is going to release HT1 as Vioplex. Nathan, a lot of people are gonna die if we fail." Kaira pointed out, not liking the stakes.
A few moments later, Hardison and Ashley were looking at the picture again. "Vioplex is HT1. I mean, here, they just added a time-released protein inhibitor. It'll delay the liver failure, or hide the symptoms. Instead of dying in months, it could take years." Ashley explained.
"Let me see the bribes again." Nate said, pacing behind the duo.
Hardison pulled them up.
"Ok, so those are all people you would pay off if you were trying to push through a toxic drug." Nate said.
"Oh, he can't get away with this. No." Hardison said, not liking the stakes.
"Listen, the FDA, they get 500,000 complaints every year about bad side effects. By the time anyone figures out what's going on, Hoffman will be long gone into his next CEO gig." Nate explained.
"And he'll never be held accountable for the people he killed?" Ashley questioned.
"That's right. We need physical evidence that HT1 and Vioplex are the same thing. We need the HT1 vials." Nate realized.
"You think they still have them?" Ashley asked.
"Yeah. Drug companies keep samples of everything." Nate said.
"They still got vials of smallpox in over a dozen countries." Hardison said.
"Do I want to know which countries?" Ashley asked.
"Parker, Kaira, I need you to look around Hoffman's office for anything that tells us where he keeps the samples." Nate ordered, exiting the poker room. "We need to get the FDA to crack down on Vioplex. Eliot, don't lose Jennier Pearson, all right. We're going to get the vials to her before the launch. She is now part of the con." Nate ordered standing at the bar.
"Dude, she's on a flight in two hours." Eliot said, still keeping Pearson distracted.
"Well, do not let her get on the plane." Nate said.
Eliot tried to convince Pearson to stay by flirting with her.
Kaira immediately went to the bookshelf beside the desk, which Kaira moved a couple of the notebooks when Parker came over. "We found a safe." Kaira reported.
Eliot finally flirted his way to get Pearson to stay, saying she had to make a phone call.
"Nice work, babe." Kaira complimented as Parker very easily found the safe combination, which was Hoffman's birthday. "You okay with me flirting?" Eliot whispered.
"Yeah. As long as you come back to me at the end of the night, so we can share the bed later." Kaira said, teasing Eliot as he tried to recover to take Pearson on a tour of the city.
Parker opened the safe and pulled out documents with Pallagens label on it. The third folder Parker looked at had something. She showed Kaira what it is. "Ok, I got something." Parker said. She used her phone and scanned the pages, which got sent to Hardison back at the poker room.
"All right. Now that, that right there, that is so-" Hardison said. Just then, his laptop started beeping. "-not good. Parker, Kaira, security is on their way to Hoffman's office right now. You got to get out. " Hardison said.
"No, no. No, Parker, Kaira, you don't get out. You stay right where you are until we got what we need." Nate said, at the bar drinking.
Hardison didn't like that. "How much time do we have?" Parker asked.
"60 seconds?" Kaira questioned.
"No, 40. Uh, 35. No, now 20." Hardison said, leaving the poker room to find Nate.
"No, you got 19. You're gonna stay where you are." Nate ordered as Parker and Karia quickly tried to find something.
Hardison walked up to Nate in the bar. "Nate, look, security is literally seconds away from Hoffman's office." Hardison told Nate.
"We need those vials." Nate said.
"We also need Parker and Kaira." Hardison told Nate off when Parker put everything back and they left, grabbing the magnet to lock the door.
Later that night, everyone was in HQ as Nate was in the bar and Sophie walked in, in a huff. "Oh, good. Listen, I need you to go to-" Nate was about to say to Sophie, walking up to him when Sophie interrupted.
"What the hell was that? You pushed Parker and Kaira way past the red line in that office today." Sophie said, not happy.
"Well, I made the call." Nate argued.
"Because it was a medical company? Because anything that reminds you of your son." Sophie argued.
"Now, listen, since when do you question what-" Nate was about to ask when Sophie answered.
"Since you went off the rails and we had to pull you out of prison, and ended up getting blackmailed, thank you, very much." Sophie argued.
"Fair enough." Nate said, realizing Sophie had a point.
"Look, you still run this group. But you're a thief now, just like me. And that means I can call you out any time I think you're out of control." Sophie argued.
Nate took a breath. "And if I say no?" Nate asked.
"I'll walk." Sophie said, causing Nate to scoff. "And remember Nate, I'm the only one who actually likes you. Besides Kaira." Sophie said, walking away.
At HQ, Eliot and Kaira were sitting at the table, Eliot's head was down, and Kaira was rubbing his neck and back to help his muscles. Hardison was at the other chair.
"Little Jennifer Pearson's wearing you out, ain't she?" Hardison questioned, amused.
"Dude, we walked the Freedom Trail twice." Eliot groaned out.
"Nice." Hardison said.
Eliot lifted his head up. "No, man. The actual Freedom Trail. We took paddle boats to the public garden, shopped on Newbury Street. I went to something called the Boston Duck Tour." Eliot groaned, still not happy.
Hardison chuckled.
"Hey, you won't be chuckling once you got to deal with his grumpy ass." Kaira retorted, giving Hardison the death stare, knowing she was gonna have to listen to Eliot's whining later.
Eliot groaned in response. Hardison backed off. Nate walked in.
"Yo, the information I got from Hoffman's office confirms that he's still got vials of HT1 in Pallagen storage. Thing is, the vials are stored in a case amongst hundreds of other cases in one of 10 storage facilities. Now if I do my math, that means this case-" Hardison explained as Nate sat down at his desk and Eliot started banging his head off the table, with Kaira still massaging his neck.
"It's gonna be hard to find." Eliot groaned, keeping his head down.
"I believe I was making that point." Hardison said.
Eliot groaned some more.
"Well, we are going to get Hoffman to lead us to the vials. We'll use Sophie's friendship with him to get information. Then I'll enter the game to push." Nate said.
Eliot perked up hearing that part. "You realize the last guy that pushed Hoffman ended up dead?" Eliot questioned.
"Yeah, well, let him take his best shot, I'll see who walks away this time." Nate said.
Eliot, Hardison, and Kaira looked at each other. "Prison's changed him." Hardison said, worried for Nate.
"Better or worse?" Eliot asked.
"Still not sure." Kaira said.
Eliot laid his head back down.
"Come on, Cowboy. Let's go home and get some eucalyptus oil on your muscles." Kaira said, standing up.
Hardison chuckled more as Kaira helped Eliot walk into the bedroom.
Eliot started taking his shirt off as Kaira grabbed the lotion she had from the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. She walked back into the bedroom and Eliot sat on the edge of the bed, smiling at Kaira as she got behind Eliot on the bed. She put the lotion on her hands and rubbed it on Eliot's shoulder. Eliot winced at the coldness of the lotion. "Oh, sorry. Should've warned you, Eliot." Kaira said, feeling bad.
"It's okay." Eliot said.
Kaira finished and went to go put the lotion back and wash her hands. Kaira came back, and was about to start changing into pajamas when Eliot grabbed her hand, pulling her towards him, causing Kaira to yip and chuckle as she landed in Eliot's lap.
"Thank you." Eliot smiled at Kaira.
Kaira put her arms around Eliot's neck. "For what?" Kaira asked softly.
"For taking care of me." Eliot said, causing smiles to appear on both of their faces. "I'm your wife, Eliot. It's my job." Kaira said.
"Yeah, but you always put up with all my shit, whether it was before we dated, or even after we got married. You put up with a lot from me. I appreciate it." Eliot said, a sense of sincerity in his voice.
Kaira smiled back at him. "That's also under the whole, being your partner clause." Kaira joked, causing chuckles from the couple. "Seriously though, Eliot, I don't mind stitching you up or rubbing lotion into your muscles because you overdid it, or even cleaning blood from your clothes. It's just a small thing to deal with when it comes to being married to you. I know that. I accepted that I was gonna have to deal with your grumpy ass when I met you and I saw a future with you. Question is, do you accept that fact that someone wants to take care of you?" Kaira looked at Eliot.
Eliot took a breath, a moment to speak truthfully. "Yes. I know I don't always take care of myself, which is why I'm glad I have you. You take care of me when I don't." Eliot answered.
Kaira smiled. "And you take care of me. You make sure I'm not hurt, you cook and make sure I eat. And it does feel does to have someone care about you, and feel loved." Kaira smiled at Eliot.
"C'mere." Eliot said softly as he held Kaira's neck and gently pulled her face to his, kissing her lips softly as their eyes were closed. They let go and Kaira chuckled and got up to get changed for bed.
Kaira changed and went to bed with Eliot.
The next day, Sophie and Hoffman met for brunch, drinking martini's and Sophie planted a button cam on Hoffman's jacket, with Nate approaching Hoffman, saying he had the vials and wanted money for them. As to the plan, Hoffman went to the storage facility to check where the vials were.
At the poker room, Nate, Hardison, Parker, Ashley, and Kaira watched the feed for Hardison's laptop.
"Thank you, Mr. Hoffman." Nate said.
"GPS enabled, hi-def button cam." Hardison said.
"Now Parker, look. We have the location, all right. Got the access codes and we have a case number. All you have to do is go pick the lock on the cage. Now I'm going to compare Hoffman's path with yours, and, uh, lead you to the right room." Hardison said, handing Parker the button cam.
"Good luck." Ashley said as she was all smiles.
"Luck?" Parker said, dismissive. "Do I look like I need luck, huh?" Parker asked, knowing her job was gonna be easy.
Hardison put an arm on her shoulder. "Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa, Parker. She just meant, like, you know?" Hardison said, calming Parker down.
Nate handed Parker the case. "Go do your magic." Nate ordered.
Parker walked with Kaira following. They exited the poker room. "Parker, what's your deal?" Kaira asked.
"What, what deal?" Parker asked, dismissing Kaira.
Kaira stopped Parker. "Ever since you laid eyes on Ashley, you've been off. What's going on?" Kaira repeated.
"Nothing." Parker dismissed it.
"Parker. You know why I was so scared to tell Eliot I loved him when we first met?" Kaira asked.
Parker seemed to show some vulnerability. "Why?" Parker asked.
"Because I was scared Eliot didn't feel the same. I always saw him flirting with other girls, and I was jealous of the girls because he was at first choosing them... instead of me. And I mean, I can't blame him, I never said anything. But you know what happened once I did?" Kaira said, close to her point.
"You got married?" Parker said, causing Kaira to chuckle.
"Yes, but that's not the point. I became okay with Eliot flirting to get the job done. Because I know, at the end of the day, I'm his and he is mine. So, if you love someone, you should tell them. You'll both feel better once you do." Kaira told Parker.
Parker shook her head and left.
Soon, Sophie came on comms, having entered the building. "I'm in." Sophie said. She waved to Hoffman, up on the balcony on the phone. "Hoffman's up to something. Hardison, are we tracking his phone?" Sophie said.
Kaira walked back into the poker room with Hardison, Ashley, and Nate.
"I've got a signal, I just don't have a connection point." Hardison said. Just then, Nate's phone rang. "And now I have my connection point." Hardison said.
Nate answered the phone. "Well, I've been expecting your call." Nate said.
"I know a good deal when I see one. You get your money, I get your silence." Hoffman said.
"Well, that's the deal." Nate said.
"But, I like to do these things in person. It eliminates the room for error. So you're gonna come to me for your payment." Hoffman said.
"Nate, don't." Kaira warned, not liking the sound of the deal.
"Say, Pallagen in 20 minutes." Hoffman said as Hardison and Kaira both warned against it.
"I'll be there." Nate said. He hung up the phone as Hardison and Kaira both showed they weren't happy. "What were you saying?" Nate asked, sarcastically.
"Nathan, it's a goddamn trap!" Kaira yelled.
"Do you want to end up like Dr. Roberts? All Hoffman has to do is send his goons out in the crowd to brush past you with a syringe." Sophie pointed out, not liking the deal.
"She's right, man. It's a suicide mission." Hardison objected.
All right, now, listen, listen. If I don't do it, it's gonna tip Hoffman off, and this whole thing will fall apart." Nate said, putting on his jacket. "So I guess the rest of you are just gonna have to get it done before they manage to kill me." Nate said.
Sophie began walking up to Hoffman as Kaira followed Nate out the door. "Nathan, what the hell!" Kaira exclaimed quietly at Nate as they left.
"Kaira, don't you start too." Nate warned.
"Or what? I'm coming anyways because I gotta watch your ass." Kaira took a breath in. "Nathan, I know why you're doing this." Kaira said.
Nate turned back and looked at Kaira. "Really?" Nate questioned.
"Yes, actually. I.Y.S wasn't the only company my parents turned to to help Kasey. There was a drug company that offered to give Kasey a drug as part of an experiment after Blackpoole denied the claim. The experimental drug was what killed her, Nathan. Not the cancer." Kaira said, getting a bit heated.
Nate exhaled, feeling bad for his daughter. "I didn't know-" Nate was about to say when Kaira cut him off.
"Just... stop. I don't need the sympathy talk from you. Not now. I get you want to take Hoffman down because you're thinking of Sam, and I'm not gonna pretend I know what's it's like to lose a kid, Nathan, but I do know what it's like to lose someone. And I guess going into the army was probably like suicide at the time, but I got a reason to fight now, Nathan. You gave me a reason to fight! Now, I'm gonna protect you at the launch, cause you're the closest thing to a father that I have, and it's my job, dammit. After this, you have to fight for us, or you're gonna lose us." Kaira said, getting emotional.
Nate just stared at her, dumbfounded and in shock.
Kaira huffed and left out the door, Nate close behind.
20 minutes later, Nate and Kaira arrived at the conference. "I'm in." Nate said.
"I'm in." Kaira said.
"Does anyone see anything suspicious?" Nate asked.
Kaira made her way to the top of the deck, slowly scanning everyone. She spotted Eliot in the crowd.
"No, but that's kind of the point. They're gonna try to blend in. Look for guys who've got a couple of inches on everybody else here, and hands in their pocket, shoes that lace up a little too high." Eliot said.
"Copy, babe. Security guys always wear shoes to run in." Kaira added, still scanning the crowd.
"Narrows it down." Nate said.
"Don't you think?" Pearson walked up to Eliot.
"Yeah, sure." Eliot kind of brushed off.
"Were you even listening to me?" Pearson asked Eliot.
"Uh-" Eliot tried to play it off.
Kaira was amused slightly.
"You know, I've dated a lot of you drug company guys. You're all the same. You're nice, you're handsome and married to the job." Pearson said.
Eliot scanned the crowd.
"Look, I really enjoyed our time together, I'm just looking for someone whose a little less settled." Pearson said.
Eliot tried to talk but stumbled.
"It's not a criticism. You are a great guy. I'm just not looking for someone who sits behind a desk all day. I want someone who travels the world and takes risks. Somebody a little more dangerous." Pearson said.
"Right." Eliot tried to brush it off.
"I'm sorry." Pearson said, thinking she hurt Eliot's feelings, kissing his cheek.
"Uh, well, wait, uh, you're going to wait 'til after the launch to - sign the papers though, right?" Eliot asked Pearson.
Pearson went to put her hair up as Kaira was slightly amused. "Sure." Pearsons said.
"Ok." Eliot said.
"We can hang out, still be friends." Pearson said.
"We can still be friends." Eliot said, getting quiet.
"You alright, Eliot or you need time to shake it off?" Nate asked, amused slightly.
Kaira chuckled.
"Shut up. Let's get this show over with." Eliot growled.
"Don't worry, babe. Know that your southern charm works on me. And be glad to know that Pearson's missing out on a whole lot of adventure and danger, and that I get to see it all. Including that perky little ass of yours." Kaira teased, looking at Eliot's ass.
Eliot turned around quickly. "Damnit Kaira, not now." Eliot growled.
"Kiddo, not now." Nate warned, not wanting to deal with that right now.
"Alright." Kaira said, giving up.
"Hardison, how we doing on this vials?" Nate asked, leaning against the bar.
Hardison and Ashley were looking at the GPS from Parker's button cam. "Parker's two minutes out." Hardison reported.
Parker was walking through a hallway, holding the case.
Hardison saw Parker was going the wrong way. "Wait, wait. Stop, Parker, you're going the wrong way. Turn around." Hardison said.
Parker stopped and turned around and kept walking.
"All right, now make a right. There's a security camera over your right shoulder." Hardison reported
Parker saw the camera. "Got it." Parker said. She timed it right and walked over to the keypad. "What's the code?" Parker asked.
"What's the code?" Hardison asked Ashley.
"What? I-" Ashley said.
They quickly realized they didn't have the code, and it was a scramble as Hardison went through the footage and overlapped each other trying to figure out the code.
"Too many voices, okay? Too many voices. Too many voices!" Parker kept repeating trying to get them to shut up and tell her the code.
"Ok. It's, hold on, it's 511993." Hardison said.
Parker typed in the code and unlocked the door. "I'm in." Parker said. She opened the door and went in.
"Ok. Good, good, good." Hardison said.
Parker walked in to the vault.
Kaira watched as Nate accidentally picked the wrong guy, thinking his pen was a syringe.
"I triggered the motion sensors. The HT1 vials are in the cage. How long til security's here?" Parker asked.
"15 seconds." Hardison said.
"Plus or minus?" Parker asked.
"Plus or minus none. Get out of there now." Hardison said.
Sophie chatted up Hoffman, suggesting he mingle with the crowd below.
"Parker has tripped the alarm. We should clear before Hoffman starts putting the pieces together." Nate said.
Sophie excused herself.
Nate left the bar.
Hoffman left
Parker saw the security entered the cage. She was on the roof, jumped down, and locked them in the cage, and ran, sliding to knock down goon and left.
"Parker, Sophie, you clear?" Nate asked.
"HT1 vials are still in the cage. Security's on top of them." Parker said. She left the room.
"Get out Nate, now." Sophie ordered.
Nate was walking towards the exit.
Kaira saw the guy following Nate, holding the syringe. "Nate, behind you!" Kaira called out, quietly to alert Nate, but not blow her cover.
Nate grabbed the guy's arm and hit it against the cardboard that was up. Nate held the guy's hand against the cardboard as guys grabbed him, leaving the syringe in the cardboard.
The goons took Nate to Hoffman's office, where Nate was being held.
Kaira waited for Eliot and they were headed up to get Nate
"So glad you could join us." Hoffman said.
Nate adjusted his position in his seat. "What's going on?" Nate asked.
"The deal has changed." Hoffman said.
"Look, I don't - I - I - I would have thought a businessman like you would know how to keep a deal." Nate said.
"We had a deal, when you said you had the vials. But you were bluffing. Nice getting me to lead you to the storage facility. To bad the hack you hired to steal the cases got caught." Hoffman said.
"Mn, she didn't get caught." Nate said.
"She left empty-handed." Hoffman said. A guy came in with the case. "See, now I have the vials, and I have you." Hoffman said. The goon left, shutting the door behind him as Hoffman at his glass of champagne and the case on the table with himself. "I think we need a new deal." Hoffman turned to his goons. "Wait outside, don't let anyone in." Hoffman ordered his security. They left.
Eliot and Kaira rounded the corner, seeing the goons. "Hey, can I get you guys some coffee?" Eliot asked the security guards. Eliot and Kaira got to work taking the goons out.
"Uh, as far as I'm concerned, the old deal works. You give me the money, and no one finds out that Vioplex is identical to HT1, right? So, ok, all right, listen. I'll lower the price for you. 2 million dollars." Nate negotiated.
"Still negotiating, huh? Well, I got to admire your persistence." Hoffman said. He took a sip of champagne.
"Well, you know, the truth is going to come out once people start dying." Nate said.
"Well, sure. But by then, Vioplex will have made this company billions of dollars. And I'll have turned that success into a penthouse office and a Fortune 500. I think I'll try oil next." Hoffman said.
"Hm." Nate hummed, thinking.
Eliot and Kaira were done with the goons. "Door's clear." Eliot reported. Eliot and Kaira dragged the bodies away to hide them.
"It's a great idea. It's a great plan. But there is one little snag." Nate said.
"What's that?" Hoffman asked, setting down his champagne.
"We stole the vials." Nate said.
"Then what's this?" Hoffman asked.
"That's an empty box. Yeah, we have the vi - well, we had the vials." Nate said.
"You had the vials? Where are they now?" Hoffman asked, taking a sip of his champagne.
"Well, now they're in the champagne that you're-" Nate said, mining the motion to drink.
Hoffman opened the case, revealing it was empty.
"Kaira remembered Parker switching the cases and Hardison activating the motion sensors and Parker setting them off.
Hoffman was silently freaking out.
"You know, I got to tell you, it was a pretty concentrated dose, so your liver will fail in the next few hours, mm, two days tops. You should be experiencing nausea, followed by this intense, profound fatigue, loss of appetite." Nate said.
"Now, stop it. I know you couldn't have drugged the champagne. I've been watching you since you got here." Hoffman said.
"Well, I'm not working alone. So-" Nate said.
Just then, the real Jennifer Pearson entered the office. "Excuse me, Mr. Hoffman?" Pearson said.
"Who are you? How did you even get in my office?" Hoffman asked.
"Jennifer Pearson, FDA rep. Your assistant said you were ready for me." Pearson said.
"My assistant?" Hoffman questioned.
After Eliot and Kaira had cleared the floor, Sophie approached Pearson, telling her she was Hoffman's assistant and that he was ready for her.
"No. I've met the FDA rep." Hoffman said.
Like I said, Mr. Hoffman, I'm not working alone." Nate said, walking behind the desk, showing Sophie on the security feed.
Hoffman stormed out.
Pearson walked over to Nate. "What's going on?" Pearson asked Nate.
"What's going - oh, uh, you - you want to stay with him, ok. He'll explain everything. But come here, first." Nate said. He locked the case and handed it to Pearson. "You're gonna want to take this. Run along." Nate said.
Jennifer left with the case.
Hoffman started knocking the glasses over, saying the champagne was poisoned. Then the screen started to display the molecular structure of HT1 and Vioplex, which Pearson didn't like. Then she opened the case after Hoffman said the vials weren't there, revealing the vials were indeed there.
Kaira remembered the trick case that Hardison used.
Sophie walked over to Nate and leaned against the railing. "50 high profile doctors, two dozen medical journalists, and an FDA rep." Sophie said, seeing the people there.
"Yeah, that should do it." Nate said.
"You do realize that that stunt you pulled, defines out of control?" Sophie questioned.
"Well, I - I just wanted you to see that I would never put any of you at risk if I wasn't willing to take the same chances myself." Nate said.
"I love how you think that's comforting." Sophie said.
Later that night, they met back up at the bar. Kaira sat by Parker and Sophie, drinking, watching Hardison and Ashley talk about what happens next for Ashley, giving her a check because the FDA rewards whistleblowers a percentage of the fine, which was a nice amount.
"I'm glad she finally got closure." Sophie said.
Parker was holding her bottle. "Who?" Parker asked, blank-faced.
"Ashley." Sophie said.
Parker broke the bottle, sending shards on the bar.
"You need to talk to him." Sophie said.
"Who?" Parker asked again.
"Hardison." Kaira said, causing Parker to break the damn bottle again.
"You don't like it when he talks to other women." Sophie pointed out the obvious.
"I don't care who he talks to." Parker said.
Sophie looked at Parker and held up a glass shard.
"Parker, you're feeling jealousy." Kaira pointed out.
Parker started laughing and snorted. "I'm not jealous, no. No, I'm not jealous. Nope. It's just that when I see them together, I don't like it." Parker said.
"That's jealousy, Parker." Kaira whispered to Parker. She picked up her beer and went upstairs to see Eliot.
Sophie was still at the bar with Parker. "You need to tell him how you feel." Sophie said.
Ashley got up and said goodbye to Hardison. Hardison walked over to the bar and saw the glass on the bar. "What happened here?" Hardison asked.
"Uh, nothing. I had a cheap glass." Parker said.
Sophie exhaled, knowing she needed to give them space. "I'm tired. I'll see you later." Sophie said, leaving.
"Hardison went and stood beside Parker.
"So, Ashley. Nice girl." Parker said.
"Yeah. Ashley seems pretty cool." Hardison said.
"Strange teeth." Parker pointed out.
"I hadn't noticed." Hardison said.
"Really?" Parker asked.
"No." Hardison said.
"Oh." Parker breathed. Parker took a breath in. "So I have to tell you something." Parker said.
"Ok." Hardison said. He got closer to Parker and sat on the barstool. "Did - did you want to talk now?" Hardison asked.
"Yeah, ok. So the thing is, I think that maybe I might be having feelings. Like weird, weird feelings for - pretzels." Parker said, close to telling the truth.
Hardison chuckled. "Pretzels." Hardison pointed to the bowl of pretzels. "Ok." Hardison brought the bowl over. "Well, they're right here when you want them." Hardison said, telling Parker he felt the same.
Parker looked at the pretzels and back at Hardison.
Meanwhile, Kaira and Eliot were laying in bed, winding down. "Eliot, what were you trying to tell Pearson before she interrupted you?" Kaira asked Eliot, laying on his shoulder.
"That I wasn't actually looking for anything serious because I am married." Eliot smiled at his wife.
Kaira chuckled. "Of course."
The couple went silent a moment. "Kaira, are you happy?" Eliot asked.
""Yeah. I am. I'm married to the most handsome, gentle, sweet, loyal, kind, dangerous man I know. While it may be unconventional, I love my job, and I love where we live. What's not to love?" Kaira smiled back at Eliot.
He pulled her into a kiss. "I love you, you know that right?" Eliot whispered to Kaira.
"I know, Cowboy." Kaira whispered back.
The couple kissed each other good night. While it may be unconventional, Kaira and Eliot didn't want any other life. Parker and Hardison were close to telling each other how they feel, and Nate is realizing he's lost control again. But if there's one thing each member of this unconventional family realized is that they were better together, and made a good team.
A/N Please let me know if there are any spelling or grammar errors I made so I can fix them, please. Thank you all for reading!