Nate jolted awake to the shrill sound of his phone ringing. His hand fumbled across the hotel nightstand, knocking over several small whiskey bottles. He opened the phone. Recognizing the number, he answered: "Yeah?"
The sounds of Dubenich yelling: "You screwed me!" effectively drove away any remnants of sleep but also caused his hangover to come to Nate's direct attention. "The designs never got to me!" Dubenich continued.
Nate struggled to sit up in the bed. "No. I watched them go out,"
"I don't know what you saw, but I received nothing!"
"Look," Nate sighed. "I told you that you couldn't trust 'em,"
"It is not my job to trust anybody that is what you were here for. I am freezing the payments," he said frantically. "I am freezing all the payments."
"All right, look." Nate began calmly. "Look, I will come over there right now, we'll straighten this out."
Dubenich entered his office, calmly taking a sip of his coffee despite his frenzied voice. "No, no, no do not come here. My company has an old aircraft facility outside the city and I will text you the address and you be there, in one hour." Nate dropped his head against the headboard, dejectedly closing his phone.
-O-
Nate slowly entered into an abandoned warehouse, warily checking his surroundings. A peculiar sinking sensation in his stomach worsened as he tread further into the space. He walked past several iron containers, avoiding a water leak dripping from the ceiling. Every sound in the echoing box-like building seemed to be amplified. He didn't care when his clothes from the previous night brushed against a rusty canister. His head wrenched to the side when he heard Hardison's voice followed by a gun cocking. He continued to the entrance of large, empty room.
"You mind telling me what happened to the designs?" the young hacker said, pointing a gun squarely at Eliot's chest.
"What makes you think I know what happened?" Eliot questioned, his hands casually jutting out of his pockets. He tilted his head, grousing to no one in particular "Stupid,"
"Look, forget you, man. You did it when we were coming down from the elevator," he accused, unable to believe it himself.
Eliot narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, that makes sense doesn't it?" he made a vague motion. "You had the file every second."
"Hold up Kujo." Hardison shifted on his feet, his eyes darting to different corners of the room, ready to jump at any sound he didn't like. "I did my part, I transferred the files."
"You better get that gun out of my face…" Eliot said quietly.
"What you gon' do about it?"
"Or else I'm gonna feed it to ya," he continued, not stopping as Hardison interrupted.
Nate had heard enough, his temper flared as he marched into the room. "Hey!" he yelled.
The men turned, and Hardison pointed the gun at Nate. "Did you do it?" Eliot asked keenly, ignoring the way Hardison returned his aim to Eliot's chest."You're the only one who had ever played both sides."
Nate shrugged, nonchalant. "You seem pretty calm for a guy with a gun pointed at him,"
Eliot cast a wayward glance at the weapon. "Safety's on,"
Hardison's expression turned incredulous. "Like Imma believe that,"
"Uh, no. No. Actually, he's right. Safety is on," Nate said. Hardison turned the gun to check, and Nate grabbed it. Giving Hardison a reproachful glare, he asked Eliot: "Are you armed?"
Eliot shifted on his feet. "No," he said quietly before answering more loudly. "I don't like guns." Nate believed him.
Behind them, another gun clicked. Nate spun around, seeing Parker stride toward them, gun in her hand. Nate raised his stolen weapon, pointing it at the unhinged woman. "My money's not in my account." She came to stand in between Eliot and Hardison. "That makes me cry inside my special angry place."
"Ok, Parker." Nate cautiously pulled the gun from Parker's grip. She let him. "Now, did you come here to get paid?"
"Hell, Nah, man," Hardison replied. "Transfer of funds, man. Global economy,"
"Supposed to be a walkaway," Eliot said. "I'm never supposed to see you again,"
Nate looked around, suddenly coming to a dangerous realization. "And the only reason you guys are here is because you didn't get paid-" Nate started laughing. "And you're pissed off!" his laughter took on a nearly hysterical edge. Hardison crossed his arms skeptically while Eliot was quickly becoming annoyed. "Matter of fact, the only way to get us all in the same place at the same time is to tell us that we're not getting paid." his laughter began to subside as he talked more slowly and definitively.
The four looked amongst themselves before they began running toward a common exit. They darted up the stairs. Eliot dragged Hardison by his jacket when the younger man's foot caught against the last step. Nate glanced behind them as a ball of fire began to take form in the middle of the room they just escaped. The roar of an explosion would soon follow, he knew. They slid underneath the loading dock door. They had scarcely made it ten yards from the building when the shock wave of the explosion threw them all to the ground. The echoes of sirens and crackling of flames filled Nate's ears as his vision went black.
-O-
In his opinion, Nate's return to consciousness was completely regrettable. His head pounded, both from a hangover and what he felt to be a concussion from hitting the ground. His body jerked. He looked down when one of his hands was restricted. Handcuffs, he realized. "Oh," he sighed.
Eliot sat in the corner of the room, amused by Nate's despair despite being handcuffed himself. "You don't like hospitals,"
Nate tried to push himself up, his eyes darting from place to place. "No, not much," he replied. He yanked at the handcuffs again before he heard another voice through the connecting air vent.
"It's about time," Parker said.
Nate looked up to the vent. "What the-"
Parker paced through the room she shared with Hardison, who sat cross-legged on his own bed. Parker twirled her handcuffs, tossing them from hand to hand. "Cops and firemen got there just as we were waking up,"
"Where are we?" Nate asked.
Hardison propped his head on one of his hands. "County hospital," he answered. "Local cops- they responded to the explosion." Hardison lifted his chained wrist, motioning for Parker to assist him. She pointedly ignored him.
"Have we been processed?" Nate turned to Eliot, who lifted his ink-stained fingers in the answer. Nate examined his own inked fingers.
"They faxed our prints to the state police," Eliot said.
"Yo, if the staties run us, man, we're screwed," Hardison announced.
Parker finally acknowledged Hardison. "How long?"
Hardison tilted his head. "Oh, thirty..thirty-five minutes depending on the software,"
"They printed us twenty minutes ago." Parker shared an antsy glance with Hardison while Eliot spoke. "So unless we get out of here in the next ten minutes we all go to jail,"
Nate rolled his neck. "Yeah, alright, ...I, uh,"
"I can take these cops," Eliot offered.
From the opposite room, Nate heard: "Don't you dare," Parker warned. "You kill anyone, you screw up my getaway,"
"Hold up," Hardison interrupted. "I'm still handcuffed here. I can't even go to the bathroom. I gotta go,"
"Parker!" Nate said. "Get me a phone. What we're going to do is, we're going to get out of here together."
"This was a one time deal," Eliot snapped.
"Look, guys, here's your problem." The three thieves quieted. Parker crossed her arms while Hardison rubbed his temples, feeling a headache approaching. "You all know what you can do, I know what ALL you can do, so that gives me the edge, gives me the plan."
Parker shook her head. "I don't trust these guys," She told Nate.
Nate stilled before quietly questioning: "Do you trust me?"
Eliot's lips curved into an ironic smile. "Of course. You're an honest man,"
"Parker. Phone," Nate said.
Parker dropped her crossed arms, rolling her eyes. "This is gonna suck." She forced her fingers down her throat, bending over, throwing up.
Hardison's head whipped to the side. "Oh-" he grabbed the table, pulling himself further away. "Hell, nah!"
Pulling together whatever willpower he possessed, Hardison forced himself not to throw up while a doctor and two nurses helped Parker back to her bed. An officer placed the handcuffs back on her wrist. The doctor stuck a thermometer into Parker's mouth. He waited a few seconds after it beeped before pulling it out. Parker pulled a pitiable expression that forced Hardison to cover a knowing smile behind his hands.
"Nausea could mean a concussion," the doctor said; he gave the thermometer to the nurse, a middle-aged woman with a caring face. Parker glanced sharply at Hardison when the doctor looked away for a moment. Hardison's eyes were drawn to the cell phone in the nurse's pocket. "If you feel any more effects or blurred vision, tell the policeman right away,"
After checking Parker's restraints, the police officer followed the doctor and nurse out the door. When the door closed, Parker swung her legs over the bedside. The triumphant hacker and thief each held up the phones they had snatched. They tossed the devices, switching phones. Parker held up the handcuff keys, rattling them before tossing them to Hardison as well. Parker climbed on top of the bed, whispering into the vent. "Hey, Nate?" she pushed the small white phone into the vent.
Nate reached for it. "Ok, I got it." He turned around, throwing the phone to Eliot. "The trick is to give them what they want. They're expecting a phone call, right?"
Outside Parker's door, she heard the nurse fetch the police officer, telling him he had a phone call on line two. Hardison used the phone's camera to snap a picture of himself before going to work on the phone's keyboard. Eliot relaxed in his chair as he waited on the hospital's hold line.
"This is Deputy Burns," the officer's voice answered on the other side of the line.
Eliot's voice changed as he began to speak with the officer, his Oklahoma drawl lessening. "This is Detective Lieutenant Carden with the Illinois State Police. We got those prints that you sent us," he said. "The problem I have is, they're sending up all kinds of red flags. And I've got somebody on the phone for you from the FBI down there in Washington. Can ya hold, son?"
"Yes, sir," the trooper replied.
In the next room, Hardison typed information into the necessary fields on the e-fax website. "Come on," he murmured before smiling as the file sent.
Eliot tossed the phone to Nate. "Yeah, Deputy Burns, this is Deputy-Director McCumber, FBI. Yes, is our man alright?" Nate asked.
Nate was glad to hear the confusion in the officer's voice. "I'm sorry? I don't follow-"
"Deputy, listen to me the man that you have inside there is ours actually." Nate lied smoothly, leaving Eliot with the silent question of if Nathan Ford really was an honest man. "He's been in deep cover for three years."
"Seriously?" the officer said incredulously.
"That's correct. In fact, you should be receiving a fax any moment now confirming what I'm telling you." Nate waited for another officer to bring the counterfeit fax to the trooper to whom he was speaking. "Most of what I've told you is classified. I need to know I can trust you. Can I?" Nate waited for the trooper to fall into his honeytrap; he soon wasn't disappointed.
"Yes, sir,"
Snapping the phone shut, Nate smiled.
-O-
Hardison led Eliot to a conveniently provided police car outside the hospital's emergency room entrance. Parker and Nate waited inside the squad car. Hardison put his hand on top of Eliot's head, attempting to push the other man into the backseat, effectively ramming Eliot's head into the roof of the car. Eliot straightened, turning to glare at the hacker. "Walk it off. Walk…" Hardison said, enjoying himself while Eliot allowed himself to be guided into the backseat. "get inside. Get inside." he closed the door before pivoting to face the two officers. Hardison saluted the two officers, who enthusiastically returned the sentiment. "Men, it fills my heart with tears of joy, what you guys do. It does." Hardison retrieved the patrol keys from his pocket, sliding into the driver's seat.
In the rearview mirror, he watched a nurse walk up behind the officers, saying: "There's a call for you, State Police."
Hardison pulled the car into drive, stomping on the accelerator, disappearing.
-O-
After switching cars, Hardison drove to an affluent apartment complex in the downtown area. They rode the elevator to the penthouse floor in complete silence before Hardison erupted into a conversation when they reached the apartment entrance. "Four first class tickets to anywhere but here, coming up." He strode into the open space. Parker looked around, following closely behind Hardison. Exposed wood and brick decorated exterior walls while the high vantage point allowed an excellent view of the cityscape. A pool table set on the raised platform, separating the dining and living room.
"Whose place is this?" Parker asked.
Hardison flashed a boyish smile. "It's mine,"
Eliot turned into the living room area, an untargeted stare landing on the flat screen mounted on the wall. "I'm gonna beat Dubenich so bad that even the people who look like him are gonna bleed."
Parker leaned against a wooden pillar, crossing her arms. "You won't get within 100 yards. He knows your face. He knows all our faces,"
"He tried to kill us," he said irritably.
"More importantly, he didn't pay us," Parker replied.
Eliot motioned with his hand, his expression twisting in disbelief. "How is that more important?"
Parker replied airily: "I take that personally,"
He sat down on the back of the couch. "There's something wrong with you,"
At the other end of the room, Hardison sat behind his armory of computer monitors. He motioned for Nate. "Heads up, heads up. Look. Dubenich's story is 90 percent true." An article on Bering aerospace was displayed on one of the monitors. Nate glanced over his shoulder. "He is the head of Bering Aerospace- big rival to Pierson-, but, check out what my little web crawlers coughed up." On the opposite monitor, a video of a Pierson Aviation representative speaking to a CNN reporter began to play.
"We've lost research that we've been working on for over five years." The representative said. "Our servers have been sabotaged. Now we're going to pursue these perpetrators to the full extent of the law and with all the resources we have at our disposal."
Nate came to stand behind Hardison. "Could be a cover story,"
He typed a few commands on the keyboard. A list of data rolled across the screen. "Here's a log of last night's rip. Internal timestamps on the project –" He said, looking at monitors. "2003, 2004, they're way, way down in the code. There's no reason to fake those man." he returned his gaze to Nate.
"So we didn't steal the plans back?" Eliot surmised.
"No," Parker said. "We were just stealin' them,"
"Why would Dubenich lie to us?" Hardison asked.
" 'Cause you're thieves," Nate answered. "If he hired you for a straight-up crime, you'd know he's a bad guy like you. You'd be suspicious. This way you just saw another citizen in over his head and that's why you didn't see the double cross coming,"
Parker quirked a brow. "Why didn't you see it coming?"
"Because I'm not a thief," Nate replied.
Eliot pushed himself from the couch, quickly tiring of Nate's self-righteous attitude. "You know what? Maybe that was the problem. If you-"
Hardison intercepted Eliot before he reached Nate. Hardison gave papers to Eliot and Parker. "Hey, hey, hey. I bought tickets to London, Rome, Paris, and Sao Paulo all matching the IDs that you gave me,"
Nate walked over to Hardison's monitors knowingly. "You're running,"
Eliot stuffed the paper into his jacket pocket. "Yes, sir. You got a better idea?"
Nate leaned onto the table, propping his hand onto the desk, zeroing into the photograph of Dubenich displayed. "No, no," he began speaking to the picture of Dubenich. He wore a wily expression. "You're running. Now that was a high-risk play. You got your balls tied to the stock price like a cinder block, shareholder meeting coming up." he didn't turn around when he spoke to the three behind him. "We can't let this guy have any time to cool down,"
"You wanna run a game on this guy?" Eliot said with a measured skepticism. "You?"
"Yeah. I mean, how do you think I got most of my stolen merchandise back?" he said turning to Eliot, Hardison, and Parker. He motioned to the monitors. "I mean, this guy he's greedy, he thinks he's smart, he's the best kind of mark,"
"He does think he got rid of us," Parker allowed, catching onto Nate's intended action, smiling.
Hardison smirked. "Element of surprise,"
"What's in it for me?" Eliot asked.
"Payback, and, if it goes right, a lot of money," Nate answered.
Parker stepped forward, questioning: "What's in it for me?"
"A lot of money, and if it goes right, payback," he said, tailoring his response to the order Parker wanted to hear. While Parker's lips curved into a smile, Nate asked: "Hardison?"
Hardison grinned. "I was just gonna send a thousand porno magazines to his office, but, uh,.. hell yeah, man. Let's kick him up." he paused. "What do we need?"
An unknown twinkle entered Nate's eyes. "We need the Third Man,"
A fraction of Hardison's enthusiasm gave way to confusion. Sharing a glance with Parker, who offered a shrug, he asked: "What? Like the movie? I mean I guess-"
"No," Nate said, pulling a clean cell phone from his coat pocket. "I'll take care of that,"
"What's in it for you?" Eliot asked.
Nate's chin dropped, his jaw clenching and his brow knitting together. His voice lowered. "He used my son." He cleared his throat, his voice returning to normal. "Alright." He brushed past Parker and Eliot, dialing a familiar number. "Let's go get Sophie," he said, walking back through the living room and the next hall, lifting the cell phone to his ear. His voice became quieter as he went farther away from Parker, Hardison, and Eliot. "Hey,..no, no, no. No, I'm ok. Are you still in the city? I need a favor,"
Parker and Hardison followed Nate while Eliot stayed behind, asking no one in particular, "The hell's a Sophie?"
Author's note: Hey, guys! I seriously can't believe people actually took time to read my story. I am on absolute cloud nine! :-) I know the OC still hasn't been "introduced" but we did get a subtle mention at the end of the story. Did anyone get the 'Third Man' hint? (;-D I'm sure everyone did, but I have this delusion that I am a clever person, lol. ) I know we're taking a little longer to get to the OC than other stories, but I didn't want this to feel forced. Leverage was such an amazing show with such diverse characters and an amazing storyline. I just want to humbly honor the writers' creation. Xx
ann. ryce : I hope you don't think that my responding to your comment is weird, but I just wanted to say a huge thank you. Thank you so much for reading the first chapter AND for even taking time to comment. Best wishes!
