A/N: OMGWTF a new chapter :D Let's all thank mac that she found a spot in her schedule to allow for betaing \o/ Okay, so, without further ado, here you go :)


Five

If he wouldn't look so… exasperated, it would almost be funny, she decides. Because she really can't remember ever having seen Eliot so… irate over something ever before. He's sitting at the kitchen table, looking at the screen of Hardison's laptop, scrolling up and down, constantly shaking his head and scowling at the screen, muttering a single, "You've gotta be kidding me," once.

Not really daring to approach him – he has this kind of scowl on his face that he only wears when someone is refusing to give up and apparently just begging for another round of… punishment – she clears her throat and leans over to the man next to her. "Nate," she says, careful not to raise her voice too much, "what exactly is he doing there?"

Nate just cocks his head to the side and regards Eliot with a curious look. Then he decides on, "Damned if I know." Yes, of course. Uh-huh.

Does he really think she believes him? She tries one of her patented "You can fool everyone but me." looks and for a moment, Nate manages to resist. Impressive, she thinks. Prison must have taught him more than he admits. But well… in the end he breaks down, just like always. He heaves a sigh and admits, "Look, I really have no idea. How about… we ask him?"

She's tempted to say 'How about you ask him?' but she never liked playing the bitch when she was grifting and she dislikes being it in real life even more, so she just walks up to Eliot and braces herself to ask, "Did you find something interesting?"

Eliot's first reaction… is not to be startled, and that somehow startled her, even though she really should be used to Eliot never being startled by now. His second reaction is deepening his scowl and shaking his head. "Interesting is one way to describe it."

That… sounds promising, doesn't it? Nate at least seems to think so as well, because he just came up after her and adds, "Care to share it with the class, Eliot?"

"Nah, he doesn't," Hardison's voice comes from the corner in the living room where he and Parker are sitting hunched over another laptop, two cell phones on the coffee table In front them.

"He didn't want to share with us, anyway," Parker helpfully supplies and then goes back to tinkering with one of the cell phones. Does she see a pout on her face?

Eliot, however, doesn't look up from the screen but growls into the general direction of Hardison and Parker, "That's because you two were busy prank calling the DOD."

At that, Nate doesn't say anything – and she doesn't either. They just look at Hardison, both with basically the same expression – raised eyebrows and a kind of… parental curiosity – and she finds that a little… disconcerting. However, it's really worth the absolutely flustered look on Hardison's face. "I… ah… we didn't… I mean, it wasn't prank calling."

Parker grins. "Yes, it was."

Oh, and this is where it starts to become really interesting. So interesting, in fact that Hardison doesn't only say, "You… ah… Parker! I only said 'call them and see who answers' not 'call them and moan into the receiver' or something!" but Eliot also finally stops staring at the screen and instead stares at Parker now.

"Please tell me you didn't…"

"Nah, didn't moan." There's a collective silent sigh going through the apartment… well, until Parker says, "Just told them there was some suspicious truck opposite their front door." At this, everyone stares at Parker but she looks like she doesn't have a clue what's the matter. "What? What's the problem?"

Instead of an answer, Nate just takes up the remote and switches on the telly, a pointed look on his face. And yeah… there's CNN running, showing live footage from the Pentagon, with the announcer telling the audience that after a bomb threat via phone they cordoned off a wide area around the building and are conducting a large scale search. Parker's only reaction is a wide grin that tells them very clearly that she knows exactly what's the problem.

As much as she knows she should scold Parker… she just can't. It's too nice to see that expression of glee on her face, the eyes blazing and the grin bright. It's interesting, she thinks that no one has mentioned that there's something wrong with Parker yet as well. Instead, after a shocked second, there's amusement all around; almost hidden in Nate's and Eliot's case, openly in Hardison's.

In the end, it's Nate who clears his throat and says, "Alright, was there any good reason at all as to why you two had to call the DOD?"

"Uh, yeah, actually, there was. See, the Captain had two cell phones in her bag. First one… trivial. Friends, family, fellow soldiers… boring as hell." Mh, it's starting to become interesting. She takes a seat on the couch, pointedly not paying any attention at Nate who's sitting down beside her, even though she can see him gesture towards Hardison to go on from the corner of her eyes. "But the second one is a reeeal beauty. She played a little hard to get but she was pretty talkative in the end."

Did she just hear Eliot mumble "Get to the fucking point," from his place at the kitchen table? Hardison, however, either hasn't heard it or chose to ignore it because he continues, "See, all the numbers on speed dial have ordinary names assigned to them… but I checked them. None of them add up. Most people here don't even exist and those that do have other numbers."

"So you decided to try a few?" she asks and Hardison nods.

"Yeah. And guess what we got so far? The DOD, NORAD… and some number I thought where they were prank calling us. Homeworld Security. They've gotta be kidding us." She frowns. Isn't it Homeland Security?

Nate seems to be thinking the same and fawns his hand. "Did you find anything on this Homeworld Security thing?"

Hardison shakes his head. "Nah. We were working on that when you came in. But I think Eliot found something interesting."

On that cue, everyone turns around to Eliot who doesn't look exactly happy but still closes the laptop and comes over. He hands it to Hardison. Without a word, their hacker connects the laptop with the telly and moments later a mass of documents appears on the screen.

At first it looks just like a gaggle of letters and numbers but then Eliot rearranges them and starts to explain, "See the big one in the middle?" Nate and she nod. "That's the Captain's latest account balance. She's spending a lot on wedding planners and other wedding stuff but aside from that… not many expenses. And even despite the wedding stuff she's got almost a seven figure amount of money on there." Yes, she can see that.

A quick overview tells her that it's going to be a very big wedding and she starts to become interested in this woman. Not in her money or her rank or whatever secret government… thing she is part of. Just in the person and she starts hoping that they won't ask her to grift her because that would keep her from actually getting to know the Captain.

"Since most of that income comes from the DOD, I asked Hardison to get me her paychecks." Another document appears, again full of numbers and acronyms that make no sense to her. "That one's from before they got back stateside. This one here's so called base pay. It's what every officer of her rank and time in service makes. Not much, as you can see. And it's not the interesting part, anyway. That's in the additional payments." She thinks she's starting to understand what this is about… and why it's so strange. "No allowances as far as I can see… but look at this: hazardous duty pay. Those figures? Totally off the chart."

He pulls up another document, this time a table full of numbers. He points to one of them, labeled 'HDIP (Parachute, Flight Deck, Demolitions & Others)'. "See, that's the hazard pay a Captain usually gets. And this is what Captain Cadman-Lorne makes." With that, there's the Captain's paycheck again and… yes, that is a lot more than it says on the chart. "And it's the same with Hostile Fire Pay and Sea Pay. There's also something called 'Out of Area Pay' and I've never heard of that before. Usually, HDIP, HFP and Sea Pay cover everything deployment related." Okay… Eliot just lost her in acronym land, she's sure of that. "Seriously, wherever they're deployed to… it must be off this planet because there's no country on Earth that could warrant that much of 'Out of Area Pay'." He shakes his head again… and then adds as an afterthought a muttered, "Okay, maybe North Korea. But that's really the only one."

It's quiet for a moment as everyone seems to try and digest what Eliot just told them. But all she can come up with is that it doesn't make any sense at all and that they could be onto something big here. Something… that could be dangerous. As in 'life threatening they can make you disappear and no one will remember you ever existed' dangerous.

She wants to say something in that direction but Nate beats her to it. "Alright, so we have a cell phone with obscure numbers on speed dial and a Captain in the Marine Corps who makes some real money from her job." He pauses and shakes his head. "I'm not sure what's the weirder thing here." Then he clears his throat and slips back into mastermind mode. "Alright… Eliot, you and Parker also went to their place, didn't you?"

Eliot nods but it's Parker who speaks up, "Yeah and it's a phony place." Nate just raises his eyebrow and she feels compelled to go on. "They have furniture and everything but you can see they don't live in it. Almost no personal items, nothing in the drawers or wardrobes… and lots of dust. Definitely not their living place."

This becomes stranger by the minute. Add it to the things she found out with Nate in Washington… she clears her throat. "I think… we might want to consider pulling out."

At this… they all suddenly stare at her as if she just arrived from Mars. What, she wants to ask and stare back equally uncomprehending but suddenly Eliot's cell rings. He takes the call and listens for a moment, then simply says, "Stay where you are," and gets up. To them, he just frowns and almost growls, "Williamson's in trouble." And with that, he's out of the apartment, leaving them behind almost gaping.

Alright… obviously pulling out will have to wait just for a moment longer. Nate apparently seems to think the same because after another shocked second, he turns back to the remaining rest of the team and says, "So… about what Sophie and I found out… Eliot, listen because you'll need it…"