Something's Fishy

The briefing seemed to be going on forever. Hardison was explaining money transfer issues in excruciating detail that made Eliot want to bang his head against the table top. Even Sophie had gotten up at one point and made popcorn. When Nate jumped in to tweak the finer points of time-zone applications to the monetary base Eliot started cataloging how many different ways the items within reach could be used as weapons. He was just up to using an orange to suffocate Hardison, Nate, or maybe even himself, when his phone rang.

"Yeah."

Nate paused in his diatribe to look at him.

"Hi, it's Michi. Are you still interested in learning from Sempai."

"Uh, yeah. Sure."

"It's going to happen tonight at 6:30 at Bakauma. Can you make it? He's only going to work with six people."

Eliot checked his watch. Looking up he saw Nate glaring at him. "I'll be there." He disconnected the call and looked at Hardison and Nate. "Is this going to go on much longer?"

"It's very complicated." Hardison waved backwards toward the display behind him.

"You grab his money, you move it overseas, where it won't show up until the markets open the next day, then you send the info to the SEC, and a copy to the Wall Street Journal and the New York times, where it all hits the fan in time for the morning stock market." Eliot summed up succinctly.

"Well, yeah, easy to say, but not so easy to do."

"Okay, but you don't need me to do it, right?"

"What's up, Eliot?" Nate took a step closer. Annoyance mixed with concern clearly visible on his face.

"Just something I got to do in New York."

"New York?" There was more concern than annoyance this time. "Do you need help with anything?"

"No, it's good. I can get a flight out and be back in the morning, well, afternoon." Knowing full well a night in New York with Michi wasn't going to end at any reasonable time.

Sophie weighed in. "Eliot, are you in some kind of trouble? Do you need back up?"

"No. No!" Eliot nearly laughed. "It's just a … just," he sighed. He dropped his chin to his chest for just a moment before taking a deep breath, raising his head, then squared his shoulders. As part of a team it was important to share with each other, but as a loner it went against his very nature. "It's an opportunity to learn a new skill, one that takes years to learn. I can get a lesson from a master . So, you don't need me, right?"

Nate was already nodding. "We're good for a few days, but I need to know if this is connected to anything we are working on."

"Nope. I can't think of any way it would be."

Nate followed him to the door. "Just give me one word, one, that tells me you're okay." Concern had won out.

Eliot thought it over, words like 'Fine' and 'Good' coming to his tongue, but not past his lips. Finally Eliot gave a half smile and patted Nate on the shoulder. "Fugu."

"What does that mean?" Nate frowned and watched the door close. "Hardison. Google Fugu!"

"Oh, I know what that is," Parker helped. "That's a puffer fish. Are we going to poison someone?"

January 2012