Nate, Kaira, Sophie, and Hardison met up with their client. A Russian man named Andrei, who was blackmailed into doing something, and given a red phone. He told his story. Someone had threatened him, and his children, wanting him to do one thing. He pulled the phone out of his pocket. "Answer this phone." Andrei said, continuing his story, handing it to Nate, who handed it to Hardison.
"What are you supposed to do when they call you?" Sophie asked.
"I do whatever they ask. Then destroy the phone and tell no one, or they'll kill my children." Andrei revealed.
Whoever these guys were broke one of Kaira's rules. And she showed it on her face.
"You, uh, install and repair telephone lines for a living?" Nate asked Andrei.
"For 10 years. I have three major contracts right now. If I'm arrested, it all goes away." Andrei answered.
"And you have no idea why you were targeted?" Kaira asked, feeling bad for the guy.
"No. I'm not perfect, but I try to be a good man. My parents came to Boston to get away from this kind of thing - Russians hurting Russians." Andrei said.
Kaira gave a hint of a smile in comfort, silently telling Andrei she believed him and that she felt bad.
"And if you contacted the police?" Nate asked.
"The Russians will know. They say they're watching. This bar, I've been here before. It's probably safe. And you... you're no cop." Andrei said, looking at Nate and Kaira.
Kaira and Nate smiled at each other. "No. I'm no cop." Nate lightly chuckled.
"Yeah. Not a cop." Kaira said quietly, amused at herself.
Just then, Hardison's laptop started beeping. "Cloned." Hardison said, handing the phone back to Nate.
"This phone rings, I want you to answer it." Nate said, handing the phone back then Andrei. "We'll contact you." Nate said.
Andrei stood up. "Thank you, Mr. Ford." Andrei said, grateful he got the help he needed, shaking Nate's hand.
Kaira stood up and looked at Andrei. "I promise, we're not gonna let anything bad happen to your family." Kaira promised, grabbing a card out of her pocket and handed it to Andrei. "If you think these guys are about to go after your family, call me and I'll do what I can." Kaira offered, giving a smile.
Andrei thanked her and left.
Kaira sat back down.
"Okay, now, I put a tap on the phone, so if that thing rings, we'll know it." Hardison informed the team.
"All right, good. What else?" Nate questioned.
"There's one incoming call. These guys were thorough. They wanted to make sure if they called, Andei would answer." Hardison explained.
"Yeah, they, uh, they call it once to test it." Nate realized.
"Exactly. So if we just call... them... back..." Hardison said, using his laptop to dial the number and run a trace. "Marco." Hardison said, flipping his laptop around.
"Polo." Kaira smiled, glad they got a location.
"All right. Kaira, call Eliot and Parker, tell them to head over to the address." Nate ordered.
The team got up and got ready to do their tasks.
Kaira got Eliot and Parker and they drove to the warehouse address Hardison sent them. Eliot and Parker arrived, hugging the corner near the entrance.
"You sure this is the place?" Eliot asked.
Hardison was back at HQ, offended. "I'm sorry, am - am I - am I sure? Eliot, what is that Russian carrying? It's called a smartphone, okay? Smartphones read e-mails, they have GPS maps, they link to an atomic clock on this little thing called the internet. You ever heard of it? Come on, man. Look, a smartphone has an operating system. If it has an operating system, you know I can hack it." Hardison started ranting.
Kaira chuckled lightly at herself at the boy's rant.
Just then, Hardison's laptop beeped, so he walked over and looked at it, starting to chuckle. "Okay. I think I may have I.D'd our bad guy. His name is Pieter Volokh. He and his crew, they used to belong to the M-45s, ex-military hitters turned mafia boys." Hardison explained when Kaira cut him off.
"Oh, so they're the opposite of me." Kaira retorted, smiling at herself.
"I guess, kinda. Anyway, now, they took a big hit in a bust last month." Hardison explained, whistling as he looked at news footage of the bust. "They lost 20 million dollars in merchandise to the police. That's gotta hurt. Okay, so - so now look. We know what they're after. They're looking for a big-payout job so that they can get on their feet. Now, I've I.D'd the perp, I know what they want, and I know why. What did you do with your afternoon?" Hardison finally finished ranting.
"I'll tell you what I'm gonna do when I get back there." Eliot growled as they approached the entrance to the garage part of the warehouse.
Eliot guided them in and they hugged the pipes, the loud machine muffling their footsteps. There was a guy counting money and had tattoos Eliot recognized.
"Think he's involved?" Parker asked Eliot.
"It's Russian mafia. They wear their tattoos like a résumé." Eliot explained. "See that cathedral on his neck? Three spires, three tours in prison. The stars on his arm means he's a captain." Eliot finished explaining.
"So he's the boss?" Hardison asked.
"I don't know. Probably. I ran into some of these cats in Petrozavodsk. They blackmail innocent people like Andrei into committing crimes and dropping off money. Then those guys get picked up by the cops or they end up dead. It's brutal." Eliot explained, not liking the situation.
"Want me to taser him?" Parker asked.
Eliot gave Parker a look.
Meanwhile, Nate, Sophie, and Kaira were following Pieter, looking like a couple and their daughter. "No tasering, Parker. Not yet, anyway." Nate ordered.
"We need him for information." Kaira informed the duo at the warehouse.
"Are they still in sight?" Hardison asked.
"I hate this kind of criminal." Sophie said, not liking who these guys were.
"What exactly were you doing when I chased you?" Nate asked Sophie.
"I stole art from rich people who could afford it. These guys? They terrorize their victims, they harm families and the worst part? They make innocent people commit crimes." Sophie said.
"Oh, that's the worst part?" Nate questioned.
"You blackmail an innocent man into breaking the law, the rest of his life he's gonna feel shame over how you made him feel helpless, or guilt over what you made him do." Sophie argued her point.
"We chose crime, Nathan. Andrei didn't have a choice." Kaira finished, eyeing Nate.
Parker was looking through the back of the van that was parked in the back as Eliot kept watch. "Hurry up!" Eliot quietly exclaimed to Parker.
Parker poked her head out. "I hurried! Then I hurried again! I checked it three times. It's clean." Parker pointed out.
"Check it again." Eliot said.
The noise caused the guy to hear them and grab a crowbar as he walked to Eliot. "Hey! What are you doing?" The guy asked.
"Sh... well... uh..." Eliot stumbled, trying to think of an excuse, and said, "screw it" and fought the guy, throwing him on the ground. Eliot backed near the van and Parker got his attention and threw a crowbar, hitting Eliot in the head. Eliot growled as he picked up the crowbar and fought the guy, using the crowbar to block and disarm the guy as Parker looked through the van. Eliot got him on the ground again.
"You don't throw crowbars at people!" Eliot scolded Parker, not happy.
"Sorry!" Parker said, going back in the van as Eliot continued to fight the guy. "You don't throw crowbars at people." Parker mocked as she kept looking. "Could have just tasered him." Parker said.
Kaira was silently groaning as Nate, Sophie, and herself kept following the goon.
"Promise me we're gonna take these guys down hard." Sophie said.
"I promise. Where are they going?" Nate said.
"I want this to be dramatic and satisfying-" Sophie said, stopping at the corner.
"Well, it's already exciting. Look where they stopped." Nate said.
The group of guys walked into the back room of McRory's bar. Right into their backyard.
"Hardison, we're blown! They reversed the tap." Kaira said, starting to panic.
"They're gonna kill Hardison." Sophie pointed out.
"They're gonna kill who? No, they ain't!" Hardison exclaimed, panicking as well, getting up. "I bet you they ain't! Nate, you better stall!" Hardison exclaimed.
Meanwhile, Eliot and the guy were fighting, locking their crowbars together, turning this fight into a tug of war. Eliot grabbed the fork of the crowbar and used it to pull the guy to him and punch him, knocking him down again.
Hardison started to realize something. "Look, my only way out is the front door. Are they coming through the front door?" Hardison asked.
"I don't know." Nate said as Sophie went to get a better look and they followed.
"What do you mean, you don't know? You better say something. I swear on my mama, I will blow a hole through your bedroom and Spider-man out the side of this building. Tell me something." Hardison said, pacing to the steps.
The trio saw the guys heading in through the poker room doors.
"In a second, Hardison. We're going through the back door." Kaira whispered.
Sophie shushed them as she opened the door and Sophie looked inside and then back to Nate, not liking what she saw.
"What?" Nate asked.
"You're not gonna like this." Sophie said as they walked in.
"What?" Kaira questioned as they walked in.
There was plans everywhere. "Somebody's been eating our porridge." Sophie said.
Nate looked out at the bar, and Kaira followed, knowing Nate could use some backup. Sophie followed behind. They stopped at the doorway and looked at the group at the bar. "Nate?" Hardison questioned, worried about the silence.
"Hold on, Hardison. They're not here for you." Nate informed the hacker.
Hardison was relieved. "Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I knew it. I mean, nobody can reverse my phone taps. Come on, man. I don't see why you were getting all excited." Hardison said, walking back to his laptop.
Meanwhile, Eliot and Parker were staring down the guy that was down.
"All right. I'll do whatever you say. I still have the phone! What else do you want from me?" The guy exclaimed, scared, pulling out the red phone.
"The red phone again." Parker pointed out.
"Nate, this guy is not our boss. He's another blackmail victim." Eliot pointed out.
"Yes, I know. I'm about to meet their boss." Nate said.
He told Sophie and Kaira to go, but Kaira stayed and followed Nate. Nate looked back and groaned a bit, but didn't argue. They walked up to where an older guy was talking to the Russian mafia.
"Hello, dad." Nate said, causing the older guy to turn back.
Kaira kept a straight face to play the part, but inside, Kaira was confused and shocked. Nate's dad, which Kaira figured was Jimmy, motioned for the duo to sit down at the bar. They got drinks.
"Nathan." Jimmy said, almost shocked to see his son. He turned to his Russian associate. "Give me a moment. I want a word with my son. And his associate. Go on." Jimmy told the goon.
The goon left, leaving Nate and Kaira alone with Jimmy. "I got out a while ago." Jimmy said.
"Yeah, I-I know. I knew you were out." Nate said.
There definitely was a sense of betrayal in the estrangement between Nate and Jimmy.
"I didn't see you at the prison gates waiting to pick me up." Jimmy pointed out.
"Yeah, I was, uh, visiting mom's grave." Nate said.
Kaira looked at both men. "I'm sorry." Kaira said, treading lightly.
"So, uh, what's - what's a washed-up bookie like yourself doing with a Russian blackmailing crew?" Nate asked Jimmy.
"I went to prison cause I took the fall for the three families. I did my time for them like a stand-up guy. You heard what happened." Jimmy answered.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was on the news. Yeah, I heard what happened. Artie Van, he turns state's evidence." Nate said before he kept saying, "blah."
"Turned state's evidence..." Jimmy said, stopping Nate. "...gave up his ledger. 20 years of payoffs- The McTeague's, the O'Hares, the Donnelly's - all the big families are going down by law. Now, once upon a time, they would take care of someone who's gone inside for them. I went to jail for nothing. I want to get my piece." Jimmy revealed his motive.
"With these guys? These guys that - that threaten children? What?" Nate questioned, hearing his father sigh.
"Geez, you always thought you were smarter than me, brighter, better than me. Everybody in the neighborhood always treated me with respect, but my own son-" Jimmy said when Nate interrupted.
"What did you do to respect, exactly?" Nate asked.
"My son, my altar boy son. Well, hey, listen to you. Never broke the law, you never broke a rule. Look at you now. You're a thief. You've done time. Even got yourself a protégé in Newton's grandaughter." Jimmy said, revealing he knew who Kaira was.
Kaira perked up. "First, I'm more like Nate's adopted daughter. Second, how the hell do you know my family?" Kaira asked, worried.
"I did business with your grandfather when you were all of 5 years old. How are they, anyway?" Jimmy asked Kaira.
"I don't know. Haven't spoken to them in a long time. I got out of that life. Nate found me, took me in. Gave me a purpose." Kaira said, careful of her wording.
"If you know where I've been, then you know that this is mine and my daughter's town now. And I don't want you running game in it." Nate said.
"Neither do I." Kaira said, backing Nate.
"All your life you thought you were better than me. Now you're trying to be me? You can't be me. You don't have the stones for that. You're not tough enough. You're not ruthless enough. You don't have what it takes." Jimmy said, almost taunting Nate.
"And why would Nate want to be you? And you know what? He is better than you. Know why? Nathan went to prison so I didn't have to. It was me that busted him out. And Nathan hasn't asked a single damn thing in return from me. In fact, he was pissed I wanted to get him out in the first place. But he's never asked for anything from me. That is what makes him better than you, Jimmy." Kaira said, getting upset at the way Jimmy was belittling Nate.
Nate looked at Kaira, signaling her to calm down.
"You know, Kaira, you could've had all the power. But you left because you wanted to serve. Maybe you're not ruthless enough, either, to be me." Jimmy taunted Kaira.
Kaira snickered a bit. "No. I don't want to be you. And I didn't want the power, because I saw what it did to people. I like my life now. I am not changing to fulfill some role I was destined to play. I'm changing so I can be a better person. And, dammit, Nathan is too. Why do you think he took me in? He saw something in me and wanted to help me. So, he did. And I am so damn grateful he did. So I am not gonna sit here and let you talk down on your own son." Kaira said, getting in Jimmy's face.
Nate silently warning her to back off. Jimmy was amused by Kaira but kept talking to Nate.
"You remember the first time I brought you into my office?" Jimmy addressed Nate.
Nate seemed to be thinking of that moment.
"You weren't good enough to know what I was doing then and you ain't good enough to know what I'm doing now. By the way, I'm setting up, uh, in my old workshop in the back there. I'll be out by this weekend, so don't worry about it." Jimmy said, leaving.
Kaira breathed out, relieved this conversation was over. "Nate, you know what has to happen next." Kaira said, feeling bad.
"I know." Nate said, grabbing Kaira's shoulder.
"Are you gonna be able to do it?" Kaira asked.
"Absolutely." Nate said an angry look on his face as he left to go up to the apartment.
Nate grabbed a coffee as Kaira joined the group at the table and Hardison pulled up the briefing. "Okay. Run it." Nate ordered, coming to the table.
The room was silent as Nate sipped his coffee. He sat down on his desk. "Go ahead. Run it." Nate ordered, not knowing what the deal was.
"You-you know what? Maybe we should just discuss first." Hardison said, sugar coating the actual reason he was stalling.
"They feel weird going after your dad." Parker revealed.
"Well, I don't. Come on. Run it. Jimmy Ford. Hardison, tell us about Jimmy Ford." Nate insisted.
Hardison grabbed the remote. "All right." He said, clicking the monitors up. "Uh. Jimmy. Jimmy, Jimmy Ford. Jimmy - your Pop. He - he wore a lot of criminal hats, man. But, uh, he was, well known in the neighborhood. I think people liked him. He, uh, helped some people get some money." Hardison tried to continue sugar-coating it awkwardly as Nate was fed up.
"Forget it. No, no." Nate said, going up to the board. "Come on, you can't sugarcoat it. Come on. It's all right. It's all right." Nate insisted.
"All right." Hardison said, handing the remote to Nate as he walked to the table.
"You got to tell it like it is, all right? Jimmy Ford - he was, uh - he started off as a bookie who worked for the McTeague's, all right? He ran every bet this side of Atlantic City. Once he had a fair amount of honest citizens in his debt, well, he made the transition into being a loan shark. Now, he used those contacts to become a fixer. So what'd do is he'd take a bad guy that needed a job and a boss who needed a henchmen, match them together. That - That's Jimmy Ford at his peak. King of the neighborhood." Nate explained, turning to the board.
"And apparently knew my family." Kaira added.
The team didn't seem to react to that knowledge.
"I don't know how this ties in with the whole cellphone/blackmail thing." Sophie said.
"Well, we've got multiple victims. There's Andrei, the telephone repair guy. Then there's Eliot's friend Simakov." Hardison explained.
"What does he do?" Kaira asked, trying to get the plan together along with Nate.
"Shipping. Industrial clothing, uniforms. Nothing remarkable. Then, following Pieter's phone, we found a third red phone." Hardison continued explaining.
"That's a dead end. We don't know who this guy is or what he does or why the Russians want him. And he's not gonna talk to us cause Pieter's boys already put the fear of God in him." Eliot said.
"What is Jimmy's game?" Nate asked, almost to himself.
"Well, I imagine he has a chessboard set up in the back room. Looks a lot like yours." Eliot said.
"No, Dad doesn't like chess. No, his game is three-card monte." Nate explained.
"Trick is to keep the cards moving, and don't reveal the Queen unless you want them to see the Queen." Kaira realized, realizing this got more complicated.
"All right, so, we don't have enough information to run a con on this guy. Not yet, anyway. So, um, why don't we just sit this one out?" Sophie said, standing up.
"Oh, no, no. No, no, we're gonna keep at this. We're gonna gather information." Nate insisted.
"Let me be a bit clearer - why don't you sit this one out?" Sophie corrected herself.
"Look, you want us to go after the bad guys, we're gonna go after the bad guys! And we're gonna go after them hard!" Nate exclaimed, walking over to the clear board that had Jimmy's face on it.
"Yeah, right. I said, "Let's go after the bad guys." But not Jimmy Ford." Sophie said, walking up to Nate, Kaira in tow. "You honestly think that you can put your own father behind bars?" Sophie asked Nate.
"You got to stop looking at him as my father. He's a mark like any other mark. He's hurting people. We can do this. It's what we do. It's our job to go after the bad guys." Nate said, straight faced.
"Nathan, it's not your job to take down your father." Kaira said, trying to not flip on Nate.
"No. It's my pleasure." Nate said, shocking Kaira and Sophie.
The monitor beeped. "Hey, guys, Andrei, our first victim - he just got a call." Hardison reported.
"Okay. Let's go." Nate said, leaving.
The team stayed behind a bit, conflicted on this job. Kaira waited until Nate left and Kaira stood by Eliot, holding his hand in comfort as she spoke.
"Guys, listen. I know we're talking about Nate's father, here, but we can't let him blackmail people. Let's do this as we would any other job." Kaira said, the team all in agreement.
They met Nate at the van and drove to the location Hardison got from Andrei. They arrived at the police precinct and grabbed what they needed out of the van. Eliot and Hardison had on police badges and Sophie was in a leopard print dress, and Kaira had something similar. They got out and started walking to the entrance.
"All right, Andrei's scared, but he's told us what they've asked him to do. He's been tapped because of his access. Now, he's supposed to get into the precinct, on one of his routine maintenance calls and install a black box. With that, the Russians can spoof phone calls off the hardwired phone trunk." Hardison explained, upfront with Nate and Parker as Kaira, Eliot, and Sophie were behind.
"Can you turn it off remotely?" Parker asked.
"No, the system's too antiquated for a digital hack." Hardison explained.
"So Jimmy can control which alarms go to the precinct and which don't." Eliot pointed out.
"Like silent alarms? From banks?" Sophie asked.
"Or any building with a high-security system." Hardison pointed out.
"So if we can't hack it, how do we stop him, then?" Parker asked.
They stopped at the gate.
"Parker, we can't stop him, or we tip of Jimmy and the Russians. We'd be putting Andrei's family in danger." Kaira pointed out.
"All right, so." Nate cleared his throat. "We don't stop him. We help him." Nate said. Nate walked away and Sophie sighed, knowing what was happening next.
She pulled out a set of cuffs and handed them to Hardison and Kaira pulled out a set and both ladies took of their jackets. Eliot snatched the cuffs from Kaira, groaning as he put them on her. Hardison did the same, and they escorted the women into the precinct as Parker left to do her thing. Sophie and Kaira acted drunk as they approached the desk.
"What?" Sophie said, putting on a Boston accent.
"Come on, it was only one drink." Kaira moaned, putting a Boston accent as well.
"Hey, hey, hey bartender! Get me a drink!" Sophie exclaimed.
Kaira giggled.
"Quiet down." Eliot growled at the women as they got to the desk. "Hey. Detective Moffat. This is Detective Davies. We're here with District eight." Eliot introduced himself, getting the older cops, Gordon's, attention.
"What do you got?" Gordon asked.
"Oh-ho. Who the hell are you, cupcake? Huh? Huh?" Sophie questioned, still acting drunk.
Kaira went along with it. "Yeah, baby, we weren't causing any trouble." Kaira said, rubbing her head against Eliot's chest like she was drunkenly flirting with him.
"You want to know who we are? I'm Viola! Viola Dagostino." Sophie said in a singsong voice.
"Yeah, and I'm her sister Clara Dagostino." Kaira said, also singsongy.
"Of the Dagostinos." Hardison explained, implying the pair came from a high-class family.
"We got Viola's husband, we got a brother, and both of her uncles up at eight. Got these two on a drunk and disorderly, Heaven knows that's not gonna keep them away for long, so we got to store them somewhere away from the press." Eliot explained, fighting with Kaira, who was still putting on the drunk act.
"Yeah, I got you. Let me call it in." Gordon agreed, dialing the phone.
"All right." Eliot said.
"You're cute, you know that?" Kaira flirted drunkenly with Eliot, causing him to blush some as he tried to play tough.
Meanwhile, Parker was plugging in the control center for the alarms. "Nate, incoming." Parker warned. Parker dialed the number and Nate got the call on his phone.
"Eighth district here." Nate put on a Boston accent. Gordon told Nate about Kaira and Sophie. "Ah, yes, yes. They're a handful." Nate said.
"Come on, baby, one little drink?" Kaira whined, leaning up against Eliot again, who growled.
Gordon hung up the phone. "Okay, you're good. Just take them downstairs to the drunk tank. It's empty." Gordon said.
Eliot started walking away from the desk, Kaira, and Sophie in tow. "Gotcha." Eliot said.
They got down to the drunk tank and let go as Hardison got the black box installed. The only problem was Sophie and Kaira were still in cuffs.
"Eliot! Come on!" Sophie scoffed as Eliot pulled the key out. "Make it snappy! Being handcuffed in a police station is a recurring bloody nightmare of mine." Sophie exclaimed as Eliot out the key in the cuffs and got them off.
"Hmm. We obviously don't have the same dreams." Kaira said as Eliot walked over.
Just as he went to pick the cuff, Kaira turned to face Eliot and held up the cuff, causing a slight smile from Eliot and a grin from Kaira.
"I had the key, sweetheart." Eliot pointed out, holding the key.
"What's the fun in a key when you can pick 'em, baby? Plus I don't mind cuffs." Kaira said, smirking a bit as she put the cuffs back.
Eliot just shook his head as he kissed her cheek.
"How do we look?" Eliot asked Hardison.
"This baby's a lot more sensitive than what Andrei has access to. See..." Hardison clicked the box into place."We can block alarms, we can trigger alarms, but most importantly, we can track alarms. It should be synchronized. Nate?" Hardison said, starting to power up the box.
"All right, we're good." Nate said.
"Let's get the hell out of here, then. Sophie, sweetheart?" Eliot said, knowing the cuffs had to go back on.
Sophie declined. "My exit is with Parker. See you on the outside, cupcakes." Sophie said, leaving.
Kaira changed into her cop outfit and got out with Eliot and Hardison. They ran to where Hardison parker Lucille, where they were supposed to meet Nate. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Where's he at?" Eliot asked.
"Nate!" Kaira called out, wondering where he was.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Hardison said, not liking that his prized van was gone as Parker and Sophie joined them.
"Nate's gone. Dammit! I'm his backup! Why the hell didn't he let me go with him?" Kaira asked, upset.
"He's off comms." Parker reported.
"He's off the reservation." Sophie pointed out.
Eliot and Kaira took a couple of steps forward, knowing what Nate was gonna do.
"I know what he's up to." Eliot said.
They got back to the bar. Kaira knew they were in the back room, so she burst in and immediately got guns pointed at her.
Nate and Jimmy stopped talking.
"Nathan, you were supposed to contact me when you were about to hit the precint!" Kaira exclaimed, still staying in her cover, not caring about the guns pointed at her.
Nate gave her a look. "I didn't want to get you any more involved, Kiddo." Nate tried to argue.
"Like hell, Nathan." Kaira argued as Jimmy walked up to her.
"This is another unexpected gift, Kaira." Jimmy turned back to Nate."You've taught her well." Jimmy complimented Nate.
"Not well enough, apparently." Nate looked at Kaira, not happy she came.
"I'm sure Nathan already told you, but if you want to pull a job like this in our city, we want in." Kaira said.
Jimmy stared her down Kaira, who moved beside Nate.
Just then Pieter pointed his gun at Nate. "He's setting us up for the cops." Pieter argued.
"I just got out of prison." Nate defended himself.
"You escaped. And yet, you do not run. Why is this? Huh? Because you are, how do you say, a narc." Pieter said, obviously not trusting Nate.
"If you'd done your homework, you'd know that we set up a warden, brought him down, and got myself a free pass at the same time." Nate argued.
"Nobody could do this." Pieter argued.
"Nathan did from inside a prison." Kaira argued.
"Now, if I can do that, think what we could do for you. Or to you." Nate said.
"Well, carrot in one hand, stick on the other. That's a hard way to come at them." Jimmy complimented.
"Well, I learned from the best." Nate said.
"I learned from the best." Kaira argued.
Jimmy thought a moment and lowered Pieter's gun hand. "They're in." Jimmy told Pieter.
"Okay. What's the plan?" Nate asked as the other Russians lowered their guns.
Jimmy started moseying his way to the board as Nate and Kaira made their way beside the Russians.
"All right. Pay attention." Jimmy said, getting the board set up.
"I don't like you." Pieter said to Nate.
"Gee, does that mean I can't come to your birthday party and ride the pony?" Nate asked sarcastically.
Jimmy flipped the board, revealing several reconnaissance photos and a map of Boston with three red targets and a blue one.
Kaira and Nate took a mental snapshot of the locations and reported them to the rest of the team back at Nate's apartment.
He put up the locations on the screen. "First Boston Independent, State Street branch off the Boston bank, Commonwealth Loan and Securities. Now..." Nate walked over to the table and Parker went up to the screen.
"First Independent's got a Glenn-Reader alarm system, series F-900. Two guards in the front, one guard in the back." Parker started laughing. "Cameras record - not monitored. Daily turnover - 2 million. State street - mostly commercial papers and loans, but they do have bearer bonds in the basement lockdown room. Just takes a key and a retina scanner. Commonwealth - they -" Parker started laughing again. "Their alarm system's a Holdover from the '70s, but -" Parker started laughing again, not realizing the team was looking at her. "But it's... What?" Parker questioned, finally realizing the team was looking at her weird. "What do you guys do on your weekends?" Parker asked. Parker went back to the table.
"There's something wrong with you." Eliot said.
"So, which one's he gonna hit?" Sophie asked.
"None of them." Kaira revealed.
"What?" Eliot asked.
"Since Jimmy has control of the black box, he wants to set off the silent alarms for all three banks. The cops will think it's Armageddon. With all the cops going crazy and stretched thin, it'll leave this blue target vulnerable, and the cops away from it." Kaira continued explaining.
"Away from what?" Sophie asked.
"We don't know. He won't tell me. Yet. He won't tell me yet." Nate pointed out.
"You realize how many banks there are south of the precinct?" Eliot asked.
"67." Parker said.
The team looked at her.
Nate thought a moment, and Kaira knew he was on to something. "Okay, guys, it's three-card monte, see? We got to find the red queen. Right now, we got too many cards in play." Nate said.
"There's still the third phone." Hardison said.
"That's for you and Eliot. You're gonna find the guy, get his story, all right? Sophie, downstairs - that equipment in the back is used for the job. Get us a look." Nate got most of the plan out.
"Okay. I'll take Parker. What are you two gonna do?" Sophie asked.
"Me? I'm gonna go get my father to, uh, trust me enough to tell me the whole plan. I'm gonna help him plan a bank robbery." Nate said. Nate was about to leave when Kaira followed him. "Kiddo, no, stay here." Nate ordered Kaira.
"No. I'm your backup in case you do something stupid again." Kaira argued.
Nate stopped Kaira. "Kaira, no." Nate argued again.
"No, Nathan. It's my job to protect you, so I'm gonna do it. Stop arguing." Kaira argued as she walked out the door.
Nate followed and set a meet. Nate planned to meet Jimmy at a restaurant and drove Kaira and himself to it.
The trio waited outside as Jimmy told him the target, who had just paid for his food. "That's George Pimsleur - works at Hancock Alarm Security, and in that briefcase is a binder with all the schematics and codes of all the alarms systems they installed, including the alarm system on our real target." Jimmy explained as they saw the target leave the restaurant.
"Which is what?" Nate asked.
"Oh, my boys kick his teeth in, they take his wallet, his briefcase, watch, maybe...and over in five minutes." Jimmy said as they watched the target walking across the street into a parking lot.
"Eh, well, we could. Or we could, uh, take what we want, and the mark never knows he's been hit." Nate suggested.
Kaira caught on to the plan.
"How many men?" Jimmy asked. "Two, and one woman. You, me, and my daughter." Nate said. Nate walked away, Kaira not far behind.
Jimmy followed behind, laughing.
They got in the parking lot. "What - what are we doing?" Jimmy asked.
Kaira pulled a thing of mints out of her pocket that was in a pill bottle.
"Okay, you got to - you got to limp." Nate instructed Jimmy.
"Which leg?" Jimmy asked.
"Your left leg. All right. We're gonna do the pill scam." Nate said.
Kaira handed Jimmy the pill bottle. "Here you go." Kaira said.
Nate got the attention of the target.
"Sorry to bother you." Kaira said apologetically.
"Do you have change for a 20? Uh, the machine's broke over here. I got to get my car out. Got to get my dad to dialysis." Nate said.
Kaira put on the innocent granddaughter's act as the guy went to get out his wallet.
Just then, Jimmy spilled the pills. "Oh!" Jimmy said, acting like he felt bad as Nate, Kaira, and the target bent down and started gathering the pills.
"Oh, dad. Oh, dear." Nate egged on, distracting the target so Jimmy could grab the codes.
"Dad, why didn't you just hand grandpa the pill instead of making him hold the damn bottle! You know he's clumsy." Kaira argued.
"I thought he could handle it." Nate argued back.
"These pills are expensive too, dammit." Kaira said.
"My mom's got heart trouble. These damn pills cost a fortune, I know." The target said, sympathetic.
They finished gathering up the few pills left and put them back in the bottle, just as Jimmy grabbed the codes.
They stood up. "You all right, grandpa?" Kaira asked.
"Yeah, yeah, feel just fine." Jimmy said.
Nate finished up the interaction and left.
"That's not bad." Jimmy complimented.
"Oh, well, thank you." Nate said.
"Easy, no muss, no fuss." Kaira said, knowing the plan had worked.
"It worked out. didn't it?" Nate questioned, proud of himself.
"My little boy. And his protégé." Jimmy said.
Kaira actually smiled as they got back in the car and drove back to the bar.
Meanwhile, Sophie and Parker were getting ready to grift Pieter. They were standing a few yards away from the door to the back room. Parker got a message on her phone.
"Oh, Hardison got background on Pieter. Okay, ex-Soviet army, three counts armed robbery." Parker said as the duo started walking to the Poker room.
"No, no, no. I want the good stuff. Give it to me." Sophie said.
Parker handed Sophie the phone. "All right. He's from Lipetsk. That is close to Penza. And his mother's name is Rada." Sophie gathered, handing the phone back to Parker as they stopped at the doorway.
"Okay, so what are we thinking? The Berlin Shuffle?" Parker asked.
"Unh-unh. Little Orphan Annie." Sophie said as a waitress came in between them, excusing herself, as Parker lifted her apron.
"Need this?" Parker asked.
"Thanks, Parker." Sophie said.
"Yeah." Parker muffled out, proud of herself as Sophie got in character. She walked in with a tray of drinks as Parker kept watch for timing.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! You cannot come in here!" Pieter said.
"Oh! Sorry. Sorry." Sophie said, apologetically, putting on a Boston accent. She went to leave and dropped the glass on the floor, bending down to pick it up as Pieter came over and she cursed (I'm guessing) in Russian.
"Vy Russkaya?" Pieter asked Sophie.
"Huh?" Sophie questioned, picking up the glass.
"You're Russian?" Pieter asked.
"Oh, no, no, no." Sophie said, laughing.
"Nuh-unh. No. That was, uh, something my father used to say. Is it bad?" Sophie started as Parker sneaked in and looked underneath the tarp.
"No, it's not so bad." Pieter said.
Sophie chuckled.
"Your parents are Russian?" Pieter questioned.
"Yeah, from, um - oh, uh... Penzo? I..." Sophie said, acting like she had to think of it.
"Penza! I'm from Lipetsk. What is your name?" Pieter said, getting excited.
Parker took some photos and Sophie introduced herself, and distracted Pieter enough, faking a Russian lesson as Parker left.
In another part of Boston, Eliot and Hardison tracked down the third red cell phone. They walked up to a coffee vendor across the street, selling a lot of cop's coffee. Hardison showed Eliot his phone, which had the tracking still up.
"Yeah, next red phone is right ahead. We just got to figure out who has it." Hardison said as they crossed the street.
Eliot and Hardison were recognized by Eliot's alias from earlier.
"Hey, Moffat!" Gordon from the station earlier called out, causing the hitter and hacker to stop.
They said hey and walked up to them, laughing.
"How you doing?" Eliot asked Gordon.
"What are you guys doing back in our district?" Gordon asked the duo.
"Oh, uh, I think you guys are holding a gun that was tagged in a case we caught." Eliot said, hoping to get some information.
"Hey, let me get you one here. This is the best coffee this side of town." Gordon said, paying for the coffee.
"All right." Eliot accepted.
"You know, you want to get in there before the shift changes. Yeah. Cause that evidence - that ships out to Holyoke first thing tomorrow morning. And that is a drive you do not want to make." Gordon said as Hardison got a bunch of beeping from his phone.
They left and thanked him and walked away.
"You sure that's the same red phone?" Eliot asked Hardison.
"Yeah. Look, is it me or does this make less sense every time we find something out?" Hardison asked.
"Pretty much." Eliot said, leaving.
Meanwhile, Nate, Kaira, and Jimmy were laughing, coming back in the back room. Pieter leaped out of his seat, furious.
"You were supposed to call us!" Pieter exclaimed.
"Huh?" Jimmy questioned.
"To hit the alarm man." Pieter reiterated.
"Ah, yeah, well, Nathan and his protégé here - they took care of it with a little soft touch." Jimmy put the plans he got in Pieter's hand.
Jimmy grabbed three glasses and put then on a side table and Nate and Kaira grabbed one.
"It's good work." Pieter complimented as Jimmy poured the drinks.
"Here you go, Sonny boy. And Ms. Newton." Jimmy said.
Nate and Kaira toasted and were about to take a sip when a gun was heard being cocked.
"You can go." Pieter ordered Nate.
"No, actually, I'm not going anywhere. He says I'm in, I'm in." Nate argued.
"Then you can go." Pieter ordered Kaira, who tossed her drink back, feeling the cold steel against her back.
"Your boss says that I'm in." Kaira argued, turning around.
"I'm so sick of this idea about you -" Pieter argued when Nate turned and cocked him in the face and Kaira grabbed the gun, taking the magazine out and disarming it, sending him back towards his guy as Kaira held Nate.
"Stop waving that gun in our faces. You're so tough, prove it." Nate said.
Pieter punched Nate, sending him into Jimmy, who said he had Nate's back. Kaira also cold-cocked Pieter, punching him back into his guys.
"We warned you." Kaira said as she got punched.
Nate held her. Nate was face to face with Pieter.
"Come on. We don't have to do this. It's all right." Nate said. He headbutted Pieter, which caused a brawl between Nate and Kaira and Pieter and his boys.
Once the fighting was done, they headed to the bar and Kaira held an ice pack on Nate's head. Jimmy moved a couple of glasses down.
"Stop waving that gun in our faces and prove it." Jimmy quoted Nate, causing a chuckle.
"Yeah, well, I had to have it out with the guy. I mean, I'd rather he punch me in the face than shoot me in the back." Nate argued, moving Kaira's hand to remove the ice pack, but Kaira still held it, brushing him off.
"Me too." Kaira agreed with Nate.
"No, no. You two really went at it back there." Jimmy said, pointing back to the poker room, which was a mess.
"What was it you used to always say to me? You're too much of a thinker, Nathan. You need to, uh, be - be more of a scrapper to survive." Nate said.
"Well, I taught you some fighting moves." Kaira said, not happy Nate got hurt.
"Yeah, well, I'm never wrong." Jimmy said.
"That, too, you used to always say." Nate said as Kaira removed the ice and the trio took a shot and chuckled.
"Well, I gotta tell you, I doubted your intentions when you came to join this lot." Jimmy said.
"Join this lot? No. Joining you. You." Nate said.
"I just follow Nathan around." Kaira said, brushing it off as Jimmy seemed taken back some.
"These guys, they're a dime a dozen, Pop. I mean..." Nate said, hoping Jimmy would reveal more.
"Yeah, but that dime a dozen is getting tougher every year, ain't it?" Jimmy said.
"What do you hope you get out of this, uh, plan you're cooking up?" Nate asked Jimmy.
"Without giving you any particulars, I plan to make a small fortune out of this, Nathan." Jimmy revealed.
"Wait, wait, wait. So one last job?" Nate asked.
"If there's enough money in it, yeah." Jimmy revealed.
"Okay. And then?" Nate asked, wondering if his dad was serious.
"Get on a boat. Go back to where your grandfather came from. You know, uh, you still got some pretty cousins back there, you know." Jimmy revealed.
"So - all right, so... This - this - this big last score, and the great Jimmy Ford, what goes to Ireland to retire? That..." Nate tried to piece it together.
"That's quite a picture." Jimmy said, hopeful in a way.
"You ever wish ma was joining you?" Nate asked, solemn.
Kaira felt bad. For the three years since she met Nate, she never once asked Nate about his childhood. She told the team most of her story, and Kaira got most of the stories from her found family, but she never got Nate's. Kaira pursed her lips and took a drink, keeping silent.
"She didn't really understand me, Nathan. But she loved me. That's more important." Jimmy said.
Nate and Kaira did some thinking and left soon after.
The next morning, Nate walked down the stairs and was met with Sophie. "You were up late." Sophie said to Nate as he grabbed his coat.
"Yeah, I was out trying to get information from my dad." Nate said, putting his coat on.
"Oh, good. So you know what bank he's gonna hit, then. Today's the day." Sophie said.
Nate grabbed his earbud from the inside pocket. "I know." Nate said, walking away as Sophie stood up and he put his earbud in.
"Nate, this would be hard on anyone. You don't have to do this." Sophie said, stopping Nate.
"Yes, I do. I'm the only one who can." Nate said.
He walked out and went into the back room, thinking his dad was there, but wasn't. The room had been cleared out. Nate also realized that the remote wasn't in his coat pocket, and that Jimmy lifted it when he grabbed Nate during his and Kaira's fight with the Russians.
Nate called the team in the room. Hardison was first and Kaira was behind as Nate was leaning against a center table, mad.
"Nate, what's the deal?" Hardison asked.
"He cleared out. They're on the job and we have no idea what the job is." Nate said.
"Dammit!" Kaira exclaimed, not happy, but trying to think.
"We got the warehouse guy and the coffee guy..." Hardison tried to argue when Nate cut him off.
"No, no, we have no idea what he's doing." Nate said.
"Already in play." Hardison finished.
Sophie walked in with a scrolled up big piece of paper. "Look what I found in the alley." Sophie said, laying the map of Boston with the circles on the table.
"Oh, great. A map that we've seen before." Nate argued, getting upset with Sophie.
"Hey, this is not her fault. You're the one who let your dad walk out of here." Eliot said, walking in and joining Kaira with Parker coming in behind him.
"Oh, good, we got our room back." Parker said, joining everyone at the table.
"Nate, the plans you got were from the Hancock Alarm Company. We just need Hardison to figure out how many banks in this radius have got Hancock Alarms." Sophie said.
"23." Parker answered.
"Assuming it is a bank. Cause I don't know what you would be doing with one of these in a bank." Hardison said, pulling out a scanner. "It's the same one that Parker saw in Pieter's bag. A bar-code scanner. It scans a bar-code label and compares it to a remote database. But what are they doing with it?" Hardison said.
"We still got the coffee guy in play. What's he up to?" Eliot asked.
"It's a lot of cops, man. Uh, maybe he's drugging them. Slows down response time." Hardison said.
Kaira and Nate were thinking.
"That's a good idea. He could have drugged them. You think he'd drug the whole precinct? Come on!" Eliot argued with Hardison as Kaira flashed back to her own uncle teaching her three-card monte. The many times she missed the trick.
Then it hit Nate and Kaira. "Guys, I know where he's going." Nate revealed, looking at Kaira. He paced around Hardison and to Kaira and looked at her. "Kiddo, what's the trick to three-card monte?" Nate asked her.
Kaira smiled. "The queen is never on the table." Kaira answered. Nate continued pacing.
"It's not a bank. Hardison, where do police keep evidence, I mean the really valuable stuff?" Nate asked Hardison.
Kaira remembered what Eliot had told her.
"In the district, then they transfer it out." Nate said, still pacing. Kaira realized what Nate was getting at.
"The Russians. Guys, the Russians are trying to get what was taken in the bust last month." Kaira realized.
Nate made it all around to where he originally was.
"They got to get drugs, guns, and 20 million dollars." Nate said.
"It's on the move. Today." Eliot said.
"That's correct." Nate said. Kaira realized the plan.
"Jimmy's gonna use the remote to trigger the three silent alarms at the banks, then use the confusion and drugged cops to get inside the precinct. He's gonna use the uniforms to blend in, cause in the confusion, nobody's gonna care about some cops going into evidence transfer. They go in, scan the boxes, find their guns, drugs, and money, and they're out." Kaira realized what Jimmy's plan was.
The team chuckled, realizing Nate was rubbing off on Kaira, maybe a bit too much.
They made a plan and went into Lucille and went to the precinct.
"All right, you know the plan." Nate said.
"Run and hack at the same time - sure." Hardison said, standing beside Nate.
"All right, wait - wait a second. Let's go over this, all right? Stop." Eliot stopped Nate. "Why don't you just tell the cops everything?" Eliot asked Nate.
"The Russians could start shooting." Nate revealed.
"Still, there's enough cops to handle it." Parker tried to argue.
"All right, we stick to the plan, the Russians will go down." Nate said.
"And your father." Sophie said.
Nate turned around to face her. "Oh, I've got him. I want to look him dead in the eye when I put him down." Nate said, a man on a mission.
Nate walked into the precinct as Hardison started hacking. Parker was on her way to evidence lockup. Sophie and Nate went up to the desk, Sophie in her cover from when they installed the black box. Nate used his Jimmy Popodokolos lawyer cover and got in. He followed Jimmy up to the Organized crime division office, which had all the evidence against the families Jimmy went down for. Nate revealed himself, holding a gun down.
"It's gonna end right here, dad." Nate said. He cocked the gun and pointed it at his dad. "You ready?" Nate asked.
Jimmy was surprised, yet calm. "How'd you know?" Jimmy asked Nate.
"Oh, you'd never take the money and run." Nate said.
"Five million dollar's a lot of money, Nathan." Jimmy argued.
"For you, it's never about the money. I knew that growing up, watching you. It was about respect for you." Nate said.
Jimmy held up the ledger. "Artie Van's Ledger." Jimmy said.
"Yeah, they made copies." Nate said.
"Oh, you know that won't hold up. The original disappears, the case against the families goes away, and who do they owe? Jimmy Ford, the biggest fixer in town. Let's join up. You and your protégé. Together, we can run this town." Jimmy offered.
Nate uncocked the gun and put it down. "It's too late." Nate said.
"What do you mean?" Jimmy asked.
"My people are gonna take down the Russians, and any minute now, the cops are gonna come through that door." Nate said.
"I'm not going back to prison." Jimmy said.
"All right." Nate cocked the gun again and pointed it at Jimmy. "Right here." Nate said, staring right at Jimmy.
"You can't do this. I could, but... you're your mother's son." Jimmy said.
Nate held the gun for a moment before telling Jimmy to go and put the gun down. Jimmy left and Parker came down once JImmy was gone. Nate was shaking, sitting in his seat.
Meanwhile, Eliot and Kaira were clearing the way. Eliot and Kaira sneaked up to the armored truck and knocked, yelling to open up in Russian. The guy opened the door and Kaira cracked him in the balls, sending him to his knees screaming and Eliot knocked him out and put him in the truck, and ran, Kaira in tow.
Meanwhile, at evidence lockup, Hardison was tricking the label reader, making the Russians think cookware was in the boxes, not what they were after.
Parker opened up the vents and just stood, looking at Nate, who was emotional.
"You let him go." Parker said.
"Yeah. I had to." Nate said.
"I know." Parker said.
She threw the rope down and Nate got up and went into the vent.
Hardison locked them in the evidence lockup. Hardison watched as they banged on the gate. "Age of the geek, baby. Stay strong." Hardison left.
Just at sunset, after the Russians were arrested. Nate met with Jimmy at a marina.
"Yeah, I called each of the families. I told them you were the one who stole the evidence against them. They were grateful. Until I laid out the deal." Nate said, walking to his father.
Jimmy walked to Nate. "You blackmailed them?" Jimmy asked.
"No. You blackmailed them." Nate said.
"They almost killed me." Jimmy pointed out, realizing what Nate had done.
"Of course they did. Yeah, you've got a price on your head that's bigger than most of my team's scores." Nate said.
Kaira came around the corner. "Including me." Kaira said, causing Nate to turn. "Who wouldn't want that kind of money?" Kaira asked, revealing she knew what Nate did.
"You want me killed then?" Jimmy asked Nate.
Nate swallowed hard. "See that boat behind you?" Nate asked.
Jimmy looked back at the ship and realized what Nate was doing.
"You're running me out of town? My own son?" Jimmy asked.
"Cheap passage booked under Jimmy Logue. You'll be in Galway in two weeks." Nate said.
Jimmy understood the reference. "Logue. Your mother's maiden name. How sweet of you." Jimmy said, taunting Nate.
"Oh, you better hurry up. A man with no suitcase is likely to look suspicious, so try to act natural." Nate said.
"You betrayed your own father. You're more ruthless than me. Crueler than me. Yeah. Maybe you are better than me, huh?" Jimmy said, looking at Nate proudly. "I'm proud of you, son." Jimmy said. He turned to Kaira. "He's done well teaching you, Newton." Jimmy complimented.
"Yes, he did. Actually, I don't go by Kaira Newton anymore. I'm Kaira Spencer now." Kaira revealed, bittersweetly.
Jimmy smiled. "How nice. You're all grown up." Jimmy said. He pulled Kaira in and kissed her forehead. "Keep an eye out on my son, huh?"Jimmy said.
"I always do." Kaira said, grabbing Nate's arm.
"Hey, enjoy your retirement." Nate called out.
Jimmy waved back and got on the boat.
He turned and saw the team. He walked as Kaira let go of Nate's arm and grabbed Eliot's arm and they followed him.
"That was... kind, what you did." Sophie pointed out.
Parker and Hardison stood beside each other. "So, uh, is Nate gonna be nice now?" Parker asked.
"Don't count on it." Hardison said. Eliot chuckled a tad as they left the marina.
They headed back to the bar. Nate was sitting at the bar, thinking of what had happened, when Kaira sat next to him, but didn't say a word.
"I'm sorry." Nate said.
"For what, Nathan?" Kaira asked.
"I'm sorry that I wasn't a better man, a better mentor." Nate paused a moment to take a drink welled up in both of them. "A better father." Nate finished.
Kaira also took a sip of her drink, trying to calm herself. "Nathan, you're the second-best thing that's happened to me." Kaira revealed.
"Who's first?" Nate asked, causing Kaira to chuckle, and Nate to chuckle.
"Eliot will always be the best thing to happen to me. But you will always be the second-best thing to happen to me. Because if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have gotten the third best thing." Kaira revealed.
"Which is?" Nate asked.
"The team. Nathan, you gave me a family, and that's never something I can repay." Kaira said, smiling through the tears at Nate.
"I don't know why, but I remember chasing you and Eliot for the first time." Nate said. Kaira knew the memory.
"Moscow." Kaira said.
"I saw a lot of myself in you. You may not know or remember, but I saw you there. I saw your file, and I felt bad for you." Nate said, revealing he knew Kaira's story.
Kaira put her glass down. "What? You knew about Kasey?" Kaira questioned.
"And your parents. I was investigating the claim on the insurance. I said to allow it, but Blackpoole said to decline it. I'm sorry. If I tried-" Nate tried to argue, but Kaira stopped him.
"No. Nathan, you can't do that. It wasn't your fault. You were going through your own stuff, and Blackpoole was a bastard. Okay? Don't go putting that on yourself." Kaira calmed Nate down.
Nate hugged her and Kaira hugged him back. "I am proud of you, kiddo." Nate whispered to Kaira.
"I learned from the best." Kaira whispered back.
They let go and the father and daughter duo finished their drinks. Nate let go off the guilt he had with Kasey and Kaira. And Kaira knew she was rubbing off on Nate a bit.