A/N: Hi!... Here's Chapter 3 for your reading pleasure... I went out on a limb writing this one with a lot of technical details that i am not very comfortable writing... so please please please review and tell me whether i managed to make you believe even a single bit of it... :)

Chapter 03

The soft sound of Parker's breathing and the buzzing sound generated by the clamp sliding across the zipline were the only sounds the rest of the team heard for the next few seconds. There was a slight grunt as Parker landed smoothly on the rooftop of the Carter building and she was back in contact with them

"Okay guys... I am on the roof. Hardison, whet next?"

"Sophie you're up next... I am gonna need you to get that RF ID card and swipe it through the reader that I gave you..."

"On it... Just give me a second here."

They all heard Sophie schmooze their mark for a couple of minutes before Hardison heard the swish of the card being swiped through the reader.

"Okay mama... I am gonna need you to put your phone near the lock so that i can open up that roof access... It's some 5 meters to the right of you."

After following Hardison's instructions, Parker heard the electronic door open with a slight snick, letting her slip in quietly. She placed a small rubber stick-on jamb at the bottom edge of the door so that it wouldn't lock behind her again but would stay stuck where it was, minimizing any noise. Once she was inside the building, Parker started to whisper her comments

"Okay guys... door prepped for exit. Now Hardison..."

"Yeah.. go down the staircase, to the elevators... take the middle one down to the 36th floor... that's four floors down. got that?"

"Okay... any lasers or motion detectors?"

"Yeah... a motion detector on the fifth step from the top, and a couple of lasers down the hallway... Nothing you and I can't get through..."

"Roger that... will get back to you guys when I am through the laser fields."

There was another minute of radio silence, only serving to increase Eliot's already high tension level. Hardison and Eliot watched in tense silence from Lucille as the small thief picked her way through a maze of static lasers without managing to trigger an alarm. The first field was quite easy, the second one just a little tougher, but nothing the master thief couldn't get through with ease. The fact that Eliot couldn't react in any way for possibility of revealing his emotions and betraying the trust Parker had put in him made it even worse for the hitter. Finally, Parker got back to them

"That was almost ridiculously easy... okay...next... the elevators."

The team didn't think to respond to that comment but Eliot thought he heard a little bit of doubt seeping into Parker's voice and he knew that both he and the thief were thinking the same thing. This was almost too easy... too good to be true.

For the next minute, they heard some annoying elevator music as Parker took the elevator down to the executive floor where the CEO of Carter Consultants, a man going by the name of Pierce Carter, had his offices.

"Hardison, are you sure you have it under control?... something about this seems off to me."

"Why would you say that Eliot?" asked Nate from his vantage position in a cafe in front of the Carter building.

"It's jus... I guess..."

"Spit it out Eliot..." Nate was getting a little irritated at the doom and gloom that Eliot was carrying with him on this job

"It's jus' too easy man... There's no problem re-routing security cameras, there are no guards, jus' a coupla lasers, one motion detector, not enough man... It all jus' feels too easy... too perfect. Somethin' jus' feels wrong"

The agitation Eliot was feeling was showing on his accent as he continued to rake slightly shaky fingers through his hair as he contemplated this feeling.

"Nate... I think we should get Parker out of there. Or atleast let me go in after her. I have this feeling and it's... it's almost never wrong."

There was a bit of silence from everyone as they contemplated the hitter's statement.

"Nate... I don't wanna make you rethink this but I am going to have to agree with Eliot on this. Think about it guys... This is supposed to be a world famous security firm. I don't think it should be this easy to be able to rob them..."

"What you are saying is correct Parker... It should be tough... very tough... nearly impossible for anyone to rob these guys. And it will be... for anyone that's not us. We are all very good at what we do and we're working together. I am not saying that we are the best at doing this but this time, we have a plan, nothing's gone wrong yet and we are going to stick to the plan until and unless we have a problem... Is that clear?..."

At the whispered affirmative from the rest of the team, Nate continued

"Okay... now that we are clear on this, I suggest we focus on getting the job done and clearing out as soon as possible... Parker, you get into the office yet?"

"Yes... I am in. The safe is a Norwegian make, I've cracked this one before, it's gonna take me some time to get this done... can't really rush the process."

"We get it... How much?"

"How much what?"

"He's asking how much time you're going to need Parker..." she heard Eliot growl out. His tension and agitation were clearly heard in his voice

"I'll need 4 minutes 20 seconds... and I'll also need Mr. Grumpy-pants here to stop growling in my ear..."

She felt bad commenting about Eliot when she knew that he was worried about her but for the sake of appearences, she had to make that comment or Sophie atleast would become suspicious by the time the team finished the job. Also, she knew that while Eliot was a thorough professional, he worried a lot about her and the rest of their dysfunctional family and while she loved them all, she didn't quite want to let them know about her and Eliot yet. So her comment was as much for Eliot's benefit as for the rest of the team's... She was reminding him that he had to keep his emotions under wraps for at least some more time.

"Okay guys... I am gonna start working on the safe and I am gonna need some silence for a couple of minutes.. got that?"

The next minutes of radio silence were probably the longest four minutes of Eliot Spencer's life. It didn't help that Hardison was keeping up a continuous chatter of inane stuff inside the van that was grating on Eliot's already frayed nerves. Had he not been so irritated with Hardison and the whole stiuation, he might've noticed it earlier. As it stood Eliot failed to notice the fact that the vibration sensitive system, that was a part of the patented Carter security technology, was disabled on the roof, where Parker had entered through. At least he didn't notice it until it was too late.

"Parker... listen..."

"Sh... Shhh... I'm almost there..."

"Parker wait... this is important... Isn't the Carter system supposed to function based on vibration sensors?... Why weren't we setting off any alarms by breaking in through the roof?"

Eliot almost heard the 'duh' in her voice before she responded, but he was distracted by the dawning look of comprehension and horror on Hardison's face.

"Duh... because Hardison disabled them before I got on the roof Eliot... Where have you been in the last few minutes?"

"That's the thing hun... I've been right here and I know that Hardison did not disable any vibration sensors on the roof or in the roof access..."

There was a second's silence before the truth sunk in collectively into the brains of the team. They had been set up. They didn't know if their client had set them up or if the mark had become aware of their plans... but Eliot wasn't focusing on any of that now. He dimly heard Nate telling Parker to get out of there... and saying that Sophie and he were also abandoning their posts to return to the van in two minutes.

Eliot was focusing on listening to what was happening on the executive floors while he prepared himself for what he knew would be a long and dirty fight if he had to get into the building to rescue Parker.

A/N: Hope you guys liked this one... review and tell me guys... I've never written much technical stuff or angst before and I need the feedback to write further chapters...

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Macybear