"Are you sure they should be here?" Cassidy asked, eyeing off both of the teenagers as the five of them sat around the kitchen in Sterling's household. They had made their way into the kitchen, prepared to discuss the potential disaster that was facing them.
Eliot stood domineeringly near the door, his arms spread out wide on the island as he lent forward. Olivia quietly observed, but was not in any way pensive; she was ready to shout at a moment's notice. Agent Fleming stood skittishly at the kitchen side of the bench, Vance helped himself to a glass of juice from the fridge and Abby sat on a stool next to her uncle.
"You try and keep them out of this," he joked. "And besides, they come in handy," Abigail grinned. "Occasionally," he added, seeing the smug grin on his niece's face.
Cassidy shrugged and turned her attention to Olivia. "How are you doing Liv?" she asked compassionately; the two had met several times through her father.
"Where's my dad?" Olivia asked, ignoring the woman's sympathy.
"Well the good news is, we think he's okay," Cassidy explained, redirecting her attention to everyone else in the room.
"But you don't know where he is?"
"Not precisely." She gave a small, unconsoling smile. "But I wouldn't worry, James has a unique way of handling his cases."
Eliot and Abby smirked. "Is that so?" Eliot asked.
"That's right." There was a confused look on Cassidy's face. "He once hid in the boot of a car for three days to crack a case." It was evident she was utterly enamoured with the Brit.
"Is that what he told you?" Eliot laughed again.
"Yes," Cassidy said quite seriously, then shook her head and turned her attention back to the issue at hand. "So De La Court has been on the NSA's," she said looking at Vance, "and Interpol's radar for years but we can't locate or determine any specific allegiances, or have been able to make a move on him."
"Look, I've been trying to nail De La Court for years," she began and the hitter raised his eyebrows in slight surprise. The woman didn't look nearly old enough to have been searching (no, hunting, Eliot decided for she was certainly too involved) for several years. "But last week, Interpol, um, transferred me off the case," Cassidy continued and for the first time her body language shifted and she appeared timid and exposed. "It got handed off to James and, for whatever bloody reason he decided to go after him straight away."
"Why'd they transfer you?" Abby asked. Once again, Fleming grew rigid and intense.
"They thought I was getting too involved," she explained and Vance snorted, spitting his juice on the bench in front of him.
"Too involved?" He looked around for a cloth. "You stormed into the director's office demanding unquestionable leeway and when he wouldn't give it to you, you did it anyway."
"Like your method is any different," she spat angrily as Olivia walked over to the sink and pulled out a wash cloth.
That wasn't entirely false. Vance's methods usually involved gathering a less than legitimate team, engaging in less than legitimate actions to achieve partially legitimate results. The difference was, unlike Cassidy, Vance did it very under the radar.
"His method involves not asking for permission and then not getting caught," Eliot explained as Olivia tossed the sponge at Vance's chest. Water from the cloth spattered out and onto his chest and face. He ignored the moisture and began to clean up his mess.
"And why'd Sterling make a move?" Vance asked, trying to wrap his head around the strange character he was meant to be rescuing.
"Personal gain," Eliot said crassly. "Sterling'll take any chance he gets to take a win. 'Specially a big one."
"You really think he went after De La Court to, what, pad out his resume?" Vance scoffed in disbelief, looking at the others to laugh at the joke as well.
"I think he would," Abby confessed quietly, absent mindedly swinging from side to side in the bar stool.
"She's right," Olivia confessed, trying somewhat to mask the disappointment in her voice. Eliot had about to say the same thing, but had hesitated, not wanting to alienate the girl any further than he'd sure Sterling had already done. "My dad likes to win."
"That, and we were running out of time," Agent Fleming confirmed. The silence pressed her to elaborate her purposefully vague statement. "De La Court's slowly moving his business elsewhere so another Interpol sector is coming in to take over."
"Why is it so important that you be the one to take him down?" Eliot asked quietly, not entirely convinced about Cassidy's motives.
"I've worked too hard for this," she said meekly, then grew strong again as continued to discuss the issue at hand. "Look, we think we have a location on James but his last communiqué was… confusing at the least." She pulled the phone out of her back pocket and placed it forcefully on the table, trying clearly to shift the focus anywhere away from her. It spun a little bit before she steadied it with her hand. "He sent a voice message; 'Knight to H5, Rook to C53, Pawns to H5."
After a moment of silence all eyes turned to Olivia. "What? Because it's chess I must know the answer," she whined sarcastically then let out a disgruntled huff. "Well, C53 isn't even on the chess board but the rook is referring to you." She looked at Eliot. "Rook, crook," she explained at his questioning look.
"Crook?" Cassidy asked concernedly, but she was promptly ignored. Vance let out a small laugh.
"I've no idea what the C53 is," Olivia confessed.
"C53 was a military coup orchestrated by the Brits and by the CIA to overthrow the government of Iran back in Fifty-three," Eliot explained.
"Sterling's in Iran?" Abigail asked in disbelief.
"Or the missile, or De La Court," he replied, without looking her in the eye. He doubted that the idea that going overseas to disarm a long range missile was going to go down well.
"Well, what about the Knight to H5?" Vance asked, pulling his phone from his jacket pocket and texting a few of his men to prepare a charter to Middle East.
"That one is a chess move," Olivia. "And that's referring to Dad. He was always the knight."
"Modest, I'n't he?" Eliot muttered under his breath.
"And the H5?" Cassidy questioned, ignoring Eliot's clear bitterness towards Sterling.
"It's probably referring to a place," she guessed. "I, I don't know where." She seemed upset with herself.
"Then who are the pawns?" Abby asked.
Olivia looked at Cassidy. "You, probably."
"Well then what does all that mean?" the agent asked and Olivia rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm not exactly a chess player," was her reply to Olivia's subtle cheek.
"It means," Olivia began, "he's gone to H5, wherever that is, he wants Eliot to go Iran to take down the missile or whatever of De La Court's stuff, then he wants you," she looked at Cassidy, "to swoop in to wherever he his, help him and probably arrest De La Court."
"That's simple," Abby joked.
"It's doable," Cassidy stated.
"Iran eh?" Vance stated, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. "Haven't been there since oh-eight. That job with the tagine-"
"And Shelley's backhand," Eliot laughed.
"Are you quite finished gentlemen?" Cassidy asked, raising her brow at them both.
In frustration, Vance pursed his lip and Eliot ran his tongue along the inside of his teeth. "Looks like we're going to Iran," Vance finally spoke up. "If you're sure you can figure out where Sterling is," he added to Cassidy.
"There's nothing you can trace?" Eliot asked; Cassidy seemed to green to him to get the job done. "Phones? Beepers?"
The female agent shook her head. "His phone's turned off and this isn't the 90's anymore, people don't use beepers anymore." There was a smugness to her voice.
Eliot returned with a haughty laugh. "Does Interpol know they can trace a phone when it's off."
Vance joined in the laughter, directing his amusement at Eliot. "What? You're doing tech now. You?"
Eliot ignored the second dig in less than a minute at him, and pulled out his phone. "Hardison," he greeted then cleared his throat.
"Eliot? I thought we were meant to be going dark for 6 weeks?"
"I'll keep it short. I need you to trace a phone number for me."
"Uh, sure," Eliot heard shuffling as he pulled out his laptop. "Anything wrong?"
"Nothing I can't handle. It's switched off, won't be a problem will it?" He shot a smug glance at Cassidy, who looked down, disappointed with herself.
"You're kiddin' me right? Who do you think I am, the FBI?"
Vance, standing next to Eliot, could easily hear the phone call and, at the line, chuckled.
"Uh, okay, ready when you are."
"Okay, the number is," Eliot pulled the speaker side of the phone and looked to Olivia.
"5626 3189," she said after clearing her throat.
"You catch that?" the hitter confirmed but he could already here Hardison tapping away at keys.
"I did indeed and do you want to tell me why I'm tracing Sterling's phone?" The owner details had come up as he was trying to switch the phone back on and start a trace.
"Not really," he replied.
"Okay, got a trace. Valley Hunt Club, down in Pasadena."
"Great, thanks Hardison," Eliot hung up the phone and slid it back into his pocket. "Valley Hunt Club, ring any bells?" He looked at Cassidy, then Olivia for longer for answers.
"Uh, yeah," Olivia replied, somewhat surprised. "When I was a kid, we used to go up to this golf course in Pasadena," Olivia began, her hands explaining alongside her words. "Whenever I got the ball in I would always try and give my dad a high five but I could never say it, so it just used to sound like hi-fi-"
"H Five," Abby concluded and Olivia nodded. "But why would you're dad be at a golf course?"
"He used to do business there with rich clients, no reason for him to do any different now."
'"I'll head over there with a team," Cassidy said with determination in her voice as she gathered herself to leave.
"Plane's set to leave in an hour and a half," Vance added.
"I'll meet you at the airport okay?" Eliot stated, flicking a glance at Olivia and Abby.
"Got it," Vance agreed, then turned to Cassidy. "Don' screw this up," he said to her bluntly. Cassidy turned in a huff and left. Vance grinned and rapped on the kitchen bench with his knuckles. "See you at the airport."
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- of course she will and of course she is! you clearly know what's up
Crisdin- glad you liked it! and there's plenty more to come