The con was on.

"So, Mr…"

"Ah, it's Brody. Aaron Brody." Eliot was making his way through his final interview. This had to have been one of the easiest personas he'd ever gotten to slide into. Hardison had basically just downgraded his military record and changed some dates (and erased others.) At least, that's what Eliot had understood of his techno-babble. He'd already passed the physical part of the interview, now it was just a matter of charming his way past one more bureaucrat in the food chain and he was in.

"It says here, Mr. Brody, that you spent eight years training with the Army Rangers, and had additional training as a hostage negotiator?"

"Yessir, and unfortunately I had to use that training several times. All interactions I worked on wound up being successful though."

"I see." The man's face betrayed no emotion. "Why did you leave the military? If you'd stuck it out another year you could have doubled your benefits."

Eliot took a deep breath. It shouldn't have surprised him that they asked this question. But it did. He told himself the sting of the memory was only there because being near Sasha had called the painful thoughts to the present. But that was a lie.

"I lost one of my best buds out there. Friendly fire. Kinda fell off the beaten path for a little while."

Yet another lie.

"That much is obvious." The interviewer said, glaring at Eliot's hair that was clearly not regulation with a very distinctive stare. Eliot tensed as the man sighed. "But we need more guys working with our clients, and you passed the combat tests with some of the highest marks we've ever seen." The former FBI agent closed the file he'd been staring at with Eliot's alias's name on it and reached out his hand.

"Welcome to the Premium Security Team, Mr. Brody. Let me get you into our system and assigned to a client." Eliot stood with the man and took his hand, pumping it up and down once very quickly with a smile.

"Thank you so much sir. You have no idea how much this means to me."

The interviewer snorted. "No, I think I have a pretty good idea. You'll be sent a client dossier as soon as you're assigned. You start tomorrow at 0800 hours. Good luck."

"Again, thank you so much sir." The hitter turned and left the room.

Now all Eliot had to do was hope that Hardison could work his magic and get him assigned to Marissa's alias.

.0.o.0.o.0.

"Thank you so much for meeting with me, Mr. Rottfield."

"It is not a problem, Ms. Verant. And please, call me Jeff."

"Well then, Jeff," Marissa said, sitting on the couch he indicated in the laid back conference area. "Call me Callie. Only reporters call me Ms. Verant."

The mark chuckled as he sat in the armchair opposite her. Nate cleared his throat.

"Oh, forgive me," Marissa gave a little laugh as she slid more firmly into her southern belle accent. "My manners are absolutely atrocious!" she motioned to Nate as he sat beside her. "This is my manager, Bob Gibson." Rottfield reached out and shook the faux-manager's hand.

"Pleased to meet you." Nate's voice was gruffer than normal, taking on the rhythms of speech he'd used for the fiddle game the team had run on the former head of Kirkwood Records.

"The lovely lady behind him is in charge of my PR. Kristy Connoly." Sophie stepped forward to take Rottfield's re-extended hand.

"Charmed." She said, smiling, glancing back and forth from her PDA. "Sorry, Callie, love, I have to take this. Is there someplace I can speak privately?"

The ever chivalrous Rottfield motioned her to a door behind him. "Use my office Ms. Connoly, there shouldn't be anybody there right now."

"Thank you ever so." Sophie ducked through the open doorway.

"Callie here has been having some issues with one of her fans." Nate said as he reached into his jacket pocket. He pulled out a rather thick file, handing it to Rottfield.

"This fan is named James Kirsch, and he's got a history of these sorts of crimes." Rottfield opened the file, and there was a photo of Hardison with crazy hair and a lazy eye. Marissa failed to completely smother a snort of laughter. When the Premium VP looked at her though, she had a cover ready to go.

"I'm sorry Jeff, it's just every time I see that man I get chills."

"Mr. Kirsch is generally non-violent according to his jacket, but just two days ago he attempted to break into Callie's house." Rottfield looked up, one eyebrow raised.

"That's very serious, Mr. Gibson. I suppose we should get Callie here our very best, shouldn't we?" Marissa rolled her eyes at the condescending tone as the security manager rose and turned to a computer terminal. "Well, would you look here?" Jeff Rottfield's voice sounded surprised. "Looks like we just got a new hire today, highest score ever in our defensive tests."

Marissa and Nate just looked at each other. There was only one person that could be.

"His name is Aaron Brody, and he's new, but his resume says he has combat experience and numerous recommendations. I'd say he's the best we've got." Nate and Marissa looked at each other, then responded in unison.

"He's perfect."