Nate sat in an uncomfortable and incredibly expensive, iron, cafe chair as he waited for Dubenich's car to arrive. Hardison was seated across from Nate. Nate pointedly ignored Hardison's comment about how reading a newspaper while surveilling was a stereotype he would never submit to. The sound of a car engine stopping behind him had Nate's head turning. Dressed in a dark suit, Dubenich stepped out of the car, removing his sunglasses as he examined the building to which his driver had brought him. He moved onto the sidewalk while Nate returned his attention to the newspaper he held.

"Sophie, he's on site," Nate said when Dubenich pushed through the revolving glass doors.

-O-

On the tenth floor, Sophie glanced to Liza, a vague sense alarm gleaming in her dark eyes. Both women were dressed in business attire while Liza's glasses had disappeared, replaced by contacts. Liza looked at the men inside the conference room, who conversed among themselves, paying no attention to the woman outside. Sophie reached up to her ear. "What? No, we're not ready,"

-O-

Nate leaned forward in his seat. "If you don't meet him right now in the lobby, he's going to go to the building directory and look for the office number." His voice grew louder as he continued. "Guys, we are not in the building directory," Nate observed as Dubenich checked his wristwatch impatiently.

Going up one of the building's emergency stairwells, Eliot halted. He adjusted his grip on the toolbag and sign clutched in either of his hands. "And why aren't we in the directory?" he demanded.

Hardison folded his arms across his chest. "Oh, I don't know," he answered, sarcasm dripping from his tone. "Maybe because they're fake offices,"

-O-

Sophie ran to the elevators as quickly as her high heels would allow her. She looked over her shoulder, saying to Liza: "Stay here, and help Eliot." the other woman nodded while Sophie repeatedly hit the elevator button, groaning when nothing happened. "There's no elevator,"

Liza began to pace, the black pencil skirt not allowing for a very long gait.

-O-

Nate's fingertips rubbed against his forehead. Nate pushed himself to his feet, picking up a quick stride. Hardison jumped from his own seat, following the older man. "All right I'll distract him," Nate said decisively.

-O-

Liza stopped suddenly. "Parker, do you have an extra harness?" She heard a dubious reply of 'yes' from the blonde.

Over the comms, Liza heard: "Good," Nate continued where Liza left off. "Because you've got fifteen seconds to get Sophie to the lobby,"

Parker opened the emergency stairwell door in the hallway adjacent to where Sophie waited. "Sophie!" Parker hissed. Sophie jogged over the thief, turning the next corner and catching the black harness Parker tossed.

"What's going on?" Sophie questioned. She looked down to the harness.

"Put that on," Parker ordered.

"What's it for?" Sophie asked, continuing toward Parker more hesitantly.

"Speed," Parker said, looking only slightly unhinged when she yanked Sophie into the stairwell. Eliot brushed past them as he exited the stairwell, running down the hall. Liza met him at the connecting wall. He set down his equipment, letting the sign lean against the wall.

-O-

Nate continued down the sidewalk until he stood directly across from the office building entrance. He retrieved a retractable baton from his coat pocket. When Hardison saw the weapon, he pivoted on his heel, ducking his head and whistling in an innocuous way. With a powerful flick of his wrist, the baton in Nate's hand lengthened. He stepped into the street, glancing around for a moment before he turned to the car next to him. Using his weight and strength to his advantage, he lunged, bashing in the driver's side window. The car's alarm roared to life.

Inside the building lobby, Dubenich paused only briefly, looking over his shoulder before continuing in the direction of the building directory.

Nate moved onto the next car in his path. He brought his arm back, slamming the baton into the car window, the glass shattering with a satisfying clamor. He sprinted to the minivan parked in front of him. With a new proficiency, he wrenched the baton down onto the glass. Nate looked at the chaos he wrought with a mild satisfaction before disappearing into the crowd.

By this time, all of the lobby-let alone Dubenich- had gathered near the windows to see what had caused the commotion. Security guards rushed past him, running outside the building to investigate. The incident retained Dubenich's attention for a few seconds. He turned his head. Seeing the electronic directory, he crossed the remaining distance.

-O-

Parker shoved the next door open. Parker attached Sophie's harness to her grappling apparatus while Sophie felt faint when she looked over the railing to the many floors below. Her dark eyes widened, her stomach tying itself in knots. She looked at Parker in shock, silently thinking: 'Oh, no man is bloody worth this.' Parker attached her own harness, and Sophie took a step back.

In the hall, Eliot and Liza silently worked. She retrieved the extra drill from the bag, screwing the sides to the wall while Eliot worked on the opposite edges. They heard Sophie scream. Liza assumed Parker had insisted on jumping over the railing. Liza dusted off sheetrock dust from the sign's top.

-O-

Sophie stumbled out into the lobby on unsteady legs, looking thoroughly ruffled. She hurried to where Dubenich stood. She leaned in front of him. He stopped typing, his finger stilling overtop the 'enter' button. She smiled, attempting to control her labored breathing. "Oh, ah, our offices are on the tenth floor," she said, moving away from the machine, causing Dubenich to turn away from it.

Dubenich's chuckle was bashful. "You're, uh," he made a motion with his hand. "you have a glow,"

"Just...excited," she said, leading him to the elevator. She fell into her South African facade seamlessly. She was somewhat perturbed when the elevator's doors immediately opened when she prompted. They stepped into the cart. When the doors closed, Sophie said: "One thing. The gentleman bringing you this opportunity to work with their government, they'll, um-" she looked at him for a moment. "compensation. Not a bribe, of course,"

Dubenich's brow rose as he realized what she meant. "A finder's fee, you mean,"

Sophie feigned a mild delight. "Exactly,"

"I thought your job was to eliminate graft and stealing," he said.

Sophie shook her head. "No. My job is to keep it manageable,"

-O-

Eliot checked to ensure the sign's security while Liza shoved the tools back into the duffel. With both hands, she lifted the bag. "Looks good to me," she commented. "Ok, time to go,"

Eliot pointed to the side of her head. "You got some-"

She handed the bag to him before reaching to her hair. Her fingers brought back a dusty white residue. "Are you freakin'-" she bit out while brushing the sheetrock from her hair. Much to Liza's relief, Eliot disappeared down the hall just as the elevator containing Sophie and Dubenich opened. Liza put on her best smile, holding her clipboard closely to her side. Sophie exited the elevator first. She motioned to Liza.

"Mr. Dubenich, this is Amy Porter. She works as my secretary while I'm in the US,"

Liza shook his hand. "Very nice to meet you, Mr. Dubenich,"

Dubenich offered a tight smile. "Mutual,"

The three approached the conference room. Liza opened the door, and Dubenich along with Sophie filed through the entrance. The Nigerian officials seated around the table stood when the newcomers entered. The man, who had sat at the head of the table, approached Dubenich. Babatunde Ogunjimi- as he had introduced himself to Liza- shook hands with Bering Aerospace VP.

"Good afternoon. Mr. Dubenich, we are honored by your presence," Mr. Ogunjimi told him.

Dubenich shook his head. "No, no, the honor is entirely all mine." Dubenich looked to the other men around the table. "Getting in on the ground floor of something like this is a wonderful opportunity,"

-O-

Nate's foot pushed against the table leg, listening as Sophie finished reining in Dubenich. Parker sat down on the chair opposite Hardison, immediately propping her feet atop the table, disregarding the disapproving stare from the older woman at the next table. Glancing to Parker, Nate commented: "Nice job on the zip line,"

Parker grinned widely, giving a laugh. "Totally thought she was going to break a leg." she thought back to the memorable event gleefully. "Not bad for a first time,"

Through the comms, they heard Dubenich say: "So what do you think?"

Nate folded his hands in his lap. "They're closing it up,"

-O-

Dubenich and Sophie sat at one end of the table while Liza stood behind Sophie. Mr. Ogunjimi spoke from his place at the opposite end of the room. "Yes, absolutely. We can definitely repurpose those factories,"

"Great," Dubenich said.

Mr. Ogunjimi smiled. "I believe we will be able to do a lot of business together, sir,"

Sophie ran her fingers across the tabletop. "About the...other matter," she reminded, meeting Mr. Ogunjimi's gaze.

Mr. Ogunjimi's smile dropped as he leaned back, nodding as he did. "Of course,"

Sophie looked back to Liza. "Amy, if you wouldn't mind," she prompted while Mr. Dubenich propped his head on his hand.

Liza dipped her head once. She walked across the room and waited patiently while the man withdrew an envelope from his pocket. Mr. Ogunjimi slid the item across the table. Liza picked it up, holding it by her side as she returned to her place. Her heel caught against the carpet, and she toppled sideways. Her hand flashed out, catching the top of Sophie's chair. Her cheeks turned red as some of the Nigerian businessmen and Mr. Dubenich asked if she was alright.

"Yes, I'm so sorry," Liza said. "I'm horribly embarrassed." She handed the envelope to Mr. Dubenich, who smiled at her sympathetically. He took what she offered, holding it in his lap as he opened it. The 1,000,000 dollar sum written across the paper inside caught his eye.

As Liza returned to her position near the corner of the room, Sophie asked Dubenich: "Is it agreeable?"

Pleased, he replied with guile, sliding the envelope into his coat pocket: "Oh, I think we can work something out,"

Liza hid a smile while Sophie lightly clapped her hands together. "Excellent,"

-O-

Nate hid behind one of the office building pillars while Sophie and Liza bid Dubenich goodbye. Dubenich slid into the backseat, ordering the driver back to his own office. Sophie slid her hands into her pants' pockets while Liza placed her hands on her hips. Liza let a sigh, laughing lightly.

"Well, that was something new," she said to Sophie, scuffing her shoes against the ground.

Nate emerged from behind the pillar. Eliot followed while Hardison and Parker joined the rest of the team from opposite directions. "You got him?" Nate asked. Sophie smirked.

"We own him," she replied.

Nate took a quick stride. The remaining five began after him, following him down the sidewalk. "Okay gang, let's go," Nate prompted. "We got a busy day tomorrow,"

Sophie increased her speed, coming to walk next to Nate. "This is going to work, right?"

His reply was instantaneous. "I guarantee it,"

-O-

Bering Aerospace

One hour later...

Dubenich's head engineer followed his boss into his inner office. The young man spoke in hushed tones as Dubenich determinedly led him to his desk. "This is insane. We are risking everything!"

Dubenich nodded before putting his finger to his lips, motioning for the young man to be quiet. Dubenich yanked on the engineer's arm, pulling the man to join him on his hands and knees.

While Dubenich fished a small flashlight from his pants' pocket, the engineer continued his proverbial freak out: "We already took a chance by—" the young man stopped mid-ramble when he finally took note of the red-flashing transmitter underneath Dubenich's desk. Dubenich crooked his index finger, motioning for the engineer to follow him. The two men stood, exiting the inner office. Dubenich closed the door.

"What is that?" the young man asked.

"It's a transmitter, and they've been listening to everything I've been saying," Dubenich explained.

He crossed his arms, his brow cinching together. "Who are 'they'?"

"Who do you think?" Dubenich retrieved a folded surveillance photo from his jacket pocket. He pulled it open, revealing a photograph of Nate and Sophie talking with Liza listening in the background. "Also," he re-folded the picture, shoving it back into his pocket. "Also, I've checked. There's no office for the African Commercial Trade Initiative anywhere in the city. They've been hustling me and I know exactly what they're doing," he said irritably. "Tomorrow, it stops. Get the FBI on the phone,"

He nodded. "Yes, sir,"

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Author's Note: Hey, guys! So Dubenich thinks he's onto the team. As far as bad guys go, Dubenich is pretty smart. Do any of you have a favorite bad guy from Leverage? Thanks for reading, and as always, I'm definitely up for comments and messages!

-Oracle