"Arthur?"

"Hmm? What? Sorry!" Arthur looked up quickly at Kiku, "What was the question?"

"What would you like us to do now?" Kiku repeated, his tone patient.

"Right! Um, what to do?" Arthur forced his brain to turn thoughts into words, the shock of the North's conversation and the mole comment was startling, but exhilarating, "Please contact the normal police and request their cooperation in an investigation on Thursday. Alfred, go find a trained profiler and-"

"Antonio profiles." Gilbert pipped up, his tone cheery and for once it didn't annoy Arthur. Arthur could practically feel the adrenaline racing through his veins; if the Vargas storage units had been a lucky break, then this was a gold mine.

"Good, can you talk to him and get him to try to get a profile on the five guys in the North?"

"I'll talk to him, but-"

"Good! Vash, try to get any sort of wave or transmission information you can and find an id code or some information on that earpiece- radio thing!" Arthur shot over to his desk and started riffling through it, his words came spilling out of him and his excitement was barley contained, "Kiku, try and get as many police units available for Thursday. Alfred, I want you to-No! Never mind, I'll do it. Alfred and Gilbert continue on with the other case and Vash contact Antonio or find a profiler or something!" Arthur grabbed a stack of papers and whisked out of the room.

This was great! This was so great! Wait. He needed to get Vladimir back. Arthur spun and poked his head back into the office.

"Hey, Gilbert, if you had just forgotten your jacket after running from the police when you had been trying to sell out a group of professional thieves, where would you go?" Arthur asked, eyes locked on the albino.

"Home." Gilbert said immediately, then scowled, "Wait! Why did you ask me?"

"You used to be a delinquent, right?" Arthur called as he turned and started off again.

"I'm a little offended!" Gilbert yelled down the hall after him, but Arthur ignored it.

Arthur turned into another set of offices and beamed at the very surprised looking Ivan, "Ivan! You seemed pretty familiar with that kid, where does he live?"

"Um. What?" Ivan said in confusion, "Kid?"

"That high schooler you scared off, Vladimir!" Arthur said and pulled a piece of paper out of his stack and offered it to Ivan, "Gilbert and I stopped him at the high school and he told us the aliases of four of the North and that ear piece is really a radio and-"

"Arthur, you are talking too fast to be understood." Ivan said and carefully took the piece of paper.

"I'm not sure I've ever heard your grammar so bad, aru." Yao said from behind his team leader, the rest of Ivan's team looking on with mild distress.

"Take a breather, man!" Sadiq laughed and Toris nodded sympathetically.

Arthur nodded quickly, he had always liked Ivan's team much more than Francis's. He took a deep breath and tried to get his brain to slow down a minute. There was so much to do and only two days to do it! Oh, wait! One day to do it! Today was Tuesday, and Thursday was right after Wednesday which was tomorrow!

"I need to talk to Vladimir!" Arthur said, forcing himself to speak slower, but with difficultly, "I need to know where he got that earpiece from and the identities of the North."

"It says you paid him for his last information." Ivan said, not looking up from the report, "How did Gilbert know he was attending that high school? You could just ask him where Vladimir lives or go to the high school and ask."

"So you don't know? That's all I needed to know, thanks!" Arthur snatched the report and shot out of the offices.

"Did I say I didn't know?" Ivan asked no one in particular, "I don't recall saying that."

Mathias sat back in his chair and smiled at the other people sitting around the kitchen table. Emil let out a small sigh and relaxed. They were at Berwald's house and the entire kitchen was filled with computer and radio parts. The table had chips and CB parts scattered all over it, and each of the North had an earpiece with the voice distorter attached to it.

Emil tossed his script onto the table and turned around to look at the video feed on a computer screen set up next to the stove. It showed the Kirkland Team's office with their desk arranged against the walls. Alfred and Gilbert sat together talking quietly while Vash messed with his computer. Kiku sat at his own desk talking on the phone with the local police and Arthur had just rushed out.

Emil turned and looked at the others. Mathias had stood and was rummaging through Berwald's fridge and Tino was fiddling with his voice distorter.

"I think it worked!" Tino laughed, "He thinks he has the upper hand and that we're total idiots who can't work together!"

"They can't track us, can they?" Lukas asked, his eyes glued to the screen. Berwald shook his head.

"Stop asking that! Berwald is the best! There is no way Vash will be able to find us from that transmission!" Mathias laughed, "This is great!"

"That mole comment sure shook them up, huh?" Finland looked up at the screen again and smiled, "That was almost too easy."

"I'm not so sure, they haven't addressed it yet." Lukas said, his voice monotone.

Emil turned around again. The sound was on low so they could hear the detectives, but no one was talking. Kiku had plopped down in a chair and was massaging his temples. Suddenly, Arthur re-entered with the same stack of papers.

Emil couldn't help but smile. The plan was to shake up Arthur some, throw him off his game and let him think he was running the show. He wasn't. They had this under control and would be orchestrating it till the very end. Then again, it was the North's mistakes that had gotten the detectives further on the case. It was the North's mistakes, and now this should make up for it. This was what it meant to be going on the offensive.

"How long do you think it will take for Gilbert to contact you?" Lukas asked and Mathias shrugged.

"I don't know or care. Gilbert hasn't contacted me since I gave him the video chip back." Mathias sat down again with a bag of licorice and started eating them, "I haven't seen a need. He can take care of himself."

"To survive in the black market, he'd have to be!" Tino said and reached crossed the table to grab a licorice, "He will think we' re betraying him, but he's a little paranoid like that."

Lukas leaned forward and propped his elbows on the table, "What are we going to do about Vlad?"

Emil stood and snatched the bag from Mathias, "Don't worry about Vlad, he won't talk because he doesn't know anything."

"Are you sure?" Lukas's eyes turned from the screen for the first time to look at Emil, "The police think that he stole it from Denmark in a bar last night."

"What's the problem with that?" Mathias picked up one of the scripts and waved it at Lukas, "That's exactly what we wanted them to think."

"But Vlad told the police he would tell them who Iceland is." Lukas said, "The story doesn't match up."

"Iceland giving it to him and getting him to agree while he was drunk at a bar isn't that much of a difference." Emil said and popped a piece of licorice into his mouth.

"Still, Vlad said he would identify Iceland, not Denmark."

Emil shrugged, "I'll talk to him."

"You'd better do it soon." Tino said, pointing to the screen, "I think that Arthur found out where Vlad lives. If they talk to him before you straighten out his story, then this whole set up will look fishy."

All eyes turned to the screen, Emil reached forward and turned up the sound.

"Kiku! With me! We're going to the school and will be back after we talk to Vlad." Arthur was saying, "We'll bring him in if we have to."

"The school is going to demand a warrant." Vash said without looking up, "It's regulation."

Arthur sighed dramatically, "Gilbert! Stop sitting around and go request a warrant to access school files! Kiku and I will be waiting at the school, call me when you have it!"

Arthur grabbed his coat and swept out of the room. The rest of the room was silent a moment before Kiku hurried after him and Gilbert sighed.

"I don't have his number." Gilbert said, "Plus, I hate asking for warrants."

"I'll do it." Alfred said, "But only if you finish up with this paperwork."

Gilbert frowned, "Of two evils, I guess I'll stick to the one I have. I'll go after that warrant."

The North watched Gilbert stand and leave.

"Why are you all so concerned? I have Vlad's number." Emil said, suppressing a sigh and forcing the panic down. He couldn't show them how scared he was. They were so close! Everything was going great and they had already messed up again! Why hadn't he told Vlad to say he would ID Denmark? Stupid Emil!

Emil pulled out his phone as quickly as he could while still appearing casual. He pulled up Vladimir's number and hit send.

The phone rang once.

"I did it! Okay? Leave me alone!" Vlad snapped, his voice high pitched with stress.

"Hi Vlad." Emil said calmly, "I just wanted to let you know that the police are going to the school with a warrant to get your address."

"What the hell!"

"You're pretty popular all the sudden." Emil said, "Listen, when they question you, they will believe that you stole the earpiece from Denmark and will want to know why you were going to ID Iceland."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Vlad's voice hit higher peaks and cracked, "Do you have any idea what you're doing to me?"

"I want you to tell them you stole it off Denmark and that you are more afraid of Denmark than Iceland, so you were willing to sell Ice out for the right price. However, those are the only two that you know the identity of."

The other end of the line was silent. Emil could hear Vlad breathing quickly and felt his own heart grow quicker. Vlad had to cooperate.

"What would you do if I really sold you out?" Vlad spoke softly now and Emil could tell that he was weighing his options. Vlad had a lot to loose if the police went digging in his life, he didn't know what he would loose if he made an enemy of the North, but fear of the more potent criminals was all that had kept him quiet so far.

Emil looked at the four faces around the table, suddenly wishing he had put the phone on speaker. Lukas and Berwald watched Emil blankly while Tino fidgeted nervously and Mathias was back to digging around in Berwald's fridge. Emil swallowed. He had everything to loose if the police caught them. He would probably go to a juvenile detention center while Lukas and the others were locked up. Tino might escape since the police only recently proved he existed, but the Santa case had been brought before the agency and given to Ivan's team. Tino would end up in jail along with the rest of them. That left Emil alone.

"You and everyone you care about will die." Emil said. To his surprise, he had no trouble keeping his tone level and calm. In a choice between destroying Vlad's life or his own, Emil barley hesitated. Besides, there was no guarantee that the police would bother Vlad after they talked to him about the North.

"Yeah right." Vlad said, his voice devoid of emotion, "You're professional thieves, not assassins."

"Some of us have darker histories than others." Emil said, turning his eyes to the table and tracing the wood grain with a finger. He didn't want to look at the others, "Is that really a gamble you want to take?"

Vlad was silent. Emil heard him sigh, then hang up. Emil lowered the phone, but he didn't look up, "I think we're okay."

"Did he threaten to sell us out?" Mathias asked.

Emil nodded.

"We can stand behind your threat." Tino said, his voice kind, "But I'd rather not have to."

"That would be crossing a line." Berwald said.

"Don't worry about it." Tino said, "I'll take care of it if it comes to that."

The calm and happiness Emil had felt after finishing the fake radio conversation was gone. That emptiness had returned. Spying was crossing a line and they had done it. It seemed to be helping them, but that cold in the pit of Emil's stomach returned. They were so close! Now they had messed up again! Why hadn't he told Vlad to say he would identify Denmark? Why hadn't they changed the script to fit Vlad's story? So close! One word might destroy them!

Emil's finger ran over the grain of the wood and traced it back. He picked up his script for the conversation and stared at it without reading it.

"It's going to be okay." Mathias said, "Arthur is a pretty smart guy, he isn't going to just take Vlad's word for gospel. We still have the job on Thursday."

"Let's move it to Friday." Lukas said.

"No. Thursday it is and we will go through with the plan." Mathias said, "When we walk away Thursday night, Arthur will be back to nothing and will have lost the faith of the normal police. We need this case to be reassigned and Thursday will do that for us."

"Jeez, Emil! You sure sounded scary!" Tino laughed, "I didn't know you could sound so much like Lukas!"

Emil looked up and glared at Tino, "I don not sound like Lukas! I'm nothing like him!"

Tino and Mathias laughed. Emil went back to glaring at the table. Why were they taking this so lightheartedly? The North had made another mistake and it could be the end of them! Why were they still going through with the plan for Thursday?

Emil pulled out his phone again and hit Vladimir's number. It rang till it got to voice mail and Emil hung up.

I hope you liked this chapter! I wanted to give a special shout out to all of my continued reviewers! Thank you so much! I really appreciate your support!