Nine
"No, Nate, we should pull…" he hears Spencer say but the moment the Ford's team realizes that they're back in the room, everyone turns to them again. And despite still being pissed at Charlie for being much more stupid than he ever thought his brother-in-law could be, he tries to focus on the task at hand.
He clears his throat and everyone looks at him, the discussion Ford's team obviously just had, silenced. "Okay, we're in."
Another moment of silence, Ford's team looks at each other again… and then suddenly everyone's talking at the same time, or so it seems.
"What do you mean, you're in, Hot Shots? Nate, man, what does he mean?"
"I can't recall anyone having invited you."
"People, slow down…"
"This is a bad idea, Nate, seriously…"
"This is gonna be more fun than prank-calling the DOD…"
"People, hey, I said…"
"Man, hey, the damn servers fried my system and I'm very attached to my system…"
There's the very, very strong urge to just shout at them like he would shout at a gaggle of Marines who just blew up a jumper but a look from Laura reminds him that this is not a military operation and those people are not Marines that would actually applaud him for giving them a good shouting.
And wait, did that hacker guy just call him Hot Shots? Judging by the snorts he just heard left and right from him… he did. Just one more thing that doesn't actually serve to make him like the team of crooks better on the rapidly growing list.
But at least finally the buzz died down again and Ford seems to have gotten some order into the unruly mob. "Okay, Major, as you can see, we aren't quite sure what you meant when you said you're in. Could you please, you know, explain that a little bit further?"
As if that really needed explaining. But yeah, right now, they're on Ford's turf and he should probably at least try to be nice. Even if it's starting to become increasingly hard, seeing as he still doesn't know where that team stands and what their agenda is. "We're pretty sure that Charlie… Major Williamson was set up by someone and Laura, that is, Captain Cadman-Lorne and I decided that we," sure as hell won't leave him to deal alone with a band of con men… and women, he wants to say but decides that it's not a good idea, judging by what he'd seen of Spencer's fighting skills, "want to lend a hand in helping him to get out of this mess."
He looks at Ford but it's Spencer that speaks up first, "Set up? How did you figure that one out?"
A short exchange with Laura tells him that this time she wants him to do the explaining but something tells him that she's just doing it to humor him. Yeah, he thinks, you better, Buttercup. Just for not letting me check that you're okay alone. Seriously, seeing that guy in the alley with his hands around Laura's throat… not something he looks forward to seeing in the nightmares that still haunt him from time to time. But yeah, explaining.
As he tells them about Charlie's new boss – with a few helpful interventions by both Charlie and Laura – he has time for observing the team's reactions. Ford's face doesn't tell him much but he has a feeling that the man is listening very intently. The obviously British woman that called herself a grifter – he doesn't recall ever having heard that term before – tries to look mildly interested but he isn't quite sure if he doesn't detect signs of… anxiousness in her behavior.
The hacker guy tries very hard to look skeptical but he's pretty sure he can see his interest growing, he probably just managed to tickle his ambition. The blond thief is grinning and for some reason that feels a little, uh, disconcerting. Like something in her head makes her way too happy for his likening… Wait, he knows that grin, at least in a slightly milder version. It looks like Laura with a remote detonator in her hand. Damn, he should have taken that in account. If Laura ever gets over the – understandable – initial animosity towards that girl, they're doomed. Okay, he makes a mental note, must prevent this from happening. At any cost.
He slowly reaches the end of their explanation and he takes a good look at Spencer again. If he hadn't seen him a fight before, he'd never peg him for a fighter… probably mostly because of the hair. He wonders why he keeps it that way because he just can't imagine that being practical. There's a reason why Laura keeps her beautiful long hair pinned up tight on missions and it's not just because of regulations. On the other hand, there's a certain kind of vigilance in his whole bearing, like he's ready to strike out at any moment. Like he's the one charged with the protection of the team. Which would make sense, given the fighting skills he'd seen. That guy's dangerous.
When he finally finishes his explanation, he exchanges another short look with Laura. He jerks his head with a minute movement in Spencer's direction and she nods almost unnoticeably. Yeah, she confirms his judgment and he can see that she tries to look relaxed but he knows her well enough to see that she's taut like a steel rope, waiting to burst at the first sign of trouble.
There's a moment of silence… that's only interrupted by the sound of fingers hacking away on a keyboard and he can see that the hacker is on a roll. Uh, oh. "So, basically, you think someone wants to get rid of your brother in law there and you think you need to be a part of our operation?" Ford still doesn't look convinced.
He nods. "Yeah, that's about it."
Ford reaches up to rub his chin and then says in a very casual – well, superficially casual – tone, "Yeah, well, see. That's not how we work. Our clients aren't part of the job. They come to us – or we come to them – they give us information and a way in and maybe act as bait but all the planning and the dressing up and hitting people, that's our job. And I think we'll keep to that here. We're pretty well equipped and I think we can solve this on our own."
Frustrated he shakes his head and he can see that Laura's just this short of saying something herself. Not this time, he thinks. Let me handle this, Laura, please. "No, I don't think you can."
The hacker snorts. "Watch me, Hot Shots." Dammit. He's never gonna get rid of that stupid nickname now. Next time hacker boy calls him that, he'll show him how Air Force pilots take care of people giving out call signs if they don't have the authorization to do that.
Now, however, he has to protect Atlantis and the SGC from a clueless band of crooks, and a clueless band of crooks from themselves. "You don't know what you're dealing with."
Nonchalantly, Ford shrugs. "Well, we're about to find out."
Not if he can do something against it. "No, you're about to get busted. I mean it. Call off your hacker, Mr. Ford."
That makes said hacker join the conversation again. "Hey, no one tells Alec Hardison what to do."
"Alec Hardison will be dead meat by tomorrow if he doesn't back off right now." Dammit, Laura. But, okay, she's right and he couldn't have said it better anyway. He probably just wouldn't have been this drastic.
Then again, it seems to have helped because the hacker – Hardison – immediately takes his hands off the keyboard. "Okay, you convinced Alec Hardison."
And Spencer throws Laura a strange glance. Well, another one and it really starts to unnerve him. It's like Spencer somehow knows her but that's impossible because she would have told him about someone like that. Right?
Yes, right, because he trusts Laura and because she seems to be just as unnerved as he is by Spencer's strange looks, like she has no idea where they're coming from. Thank God Laura's as open as a book. To him, anyway. Okay, and since she could convince Hardison to keep his fingers off trying to hack anything remotely connected to the SGC, he nods and says, "Good. Now… give me a moment. I'm gonna call in reinforcements."
"Wait, what do you mean by reinforcements?" Yeah, of course Spencer would jump at that.
And for some reason, he feels like getting back at Ford's gang, just a bit. So he just grins at Spencer and says, "Oh, you're gonna like him."
However, Ford doesn't seem to find it amusing because he starts to lose a considerable amount of his composure. "You certainly will not bring in even more people. This is our…"
But he isn't inclined to give them any more leeway. Too much is at stake now so he puts his best CO voice on the table. "I'll only say this one more time. You. Don't. Know. What. You're. Dealing with. Trust me, this could get very ugly very fast and we'll need that guy on our side then." Before his inner eye, he already sees the drama unfolding and the number of people and organizations that could get involved takes on an alarming rate. Suddenly… the wedding really isn't their biggest problem anymore. Dammit.
Also, apparently, he managed to impress them enough, that for a moment, everyone is silent. That is, until Spencer raises his eyebrow and gives them a pointed look. "Oh yeah? What's he got, an F-22 at his private disposal?"
Pfft, F-22. Who needs an F-22 when he can have Thomas Moore? He grins back. "Better. Black Ops experience. We are gonna need him." And with that, he excuses himself by taking out his cell and signaling them he'll be right back. Well then, let's see if Tom's up for a little challenge.
