The Nigerian Job

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Danielle Joubert had tried her entire adult life to lead an honest life. She had been a teacher, a cop, a waitress, a paramedic. Pretty much anything you could think of. But what she really wanted to do in life was to help people. The little people that were being bullied and abused by the big rich people, by the ones who steal their last economy just because. The first few times she had tried to go after the big rich people, she had barely got anything from them. Sure, her clients had gotten their revenge. But she didn't feel as though she was doing a difference. Their companies were still standing and she had barely made a dent. After those few times, she decided she would go only after those she could actually bring down. She had a better chance to succeed. And at least, she knew that once she took care of them, there wasn't a chance for them to do the same to other people.

She went after individuals. She grift, steal, and punished them by putting them in the same predicament in which they had left their victims. Or used their deepest fears against themselves. Those jobs and her skills had put her directly on Victor Dubenich's radar. He hand-picked her to do a job for him. He needed her to steal back his plane designs from Pierson Aviation.

"I'm sorry I cannot help you with that," Danielle said as she stood up from her seat.

"I spent the last five years of my life on this project," Dubenich said. "Five years. And they took everything from me. It's not just the project but my life. I don't show anything in that board meeting and I can say goodbye to everything I have." Danielle looked at him. "That's what you do. You help people in need."

"I do." Danielle nodded. "But you have to understand, this is not the kind of people I usually go after. I go after individuals, not companies. This is not my field. Plus, I do more than just stealing."

"I know but all I want are my designs." Dubenich nodded. "I've hired the best people to work with you." Dubenich presented her with a file.

"Those are people that usually play solo." Danielle went through the file quickly. "Just like me."

"They have changed their minds. For $300,000 each." Dubenich said.

"$300,000?" Danielle considered it. Helping people and going after bad guys did not exactly pay the rent. She let out a deep breath. "Alright, we have a deal."


Dubenich had reunited the bests on the market. Seeing their names, she wondered why would he even need her. She was none of those guys. She knew her skills didn't equal theirs. Nevertheless, he came to her and she wasn't about to turn her back on someone in need and on good money. When night came, she met up with her partners for the job. She was to work with Retrieval specialist, Eliot Spencer; renowned thief, Parker, and hacker, Alec Hardison. All four of them were to work under the supervision of Former insurance investigator, Nathan Ford.

She had worked briefly in the same insurance company as Mr. Ford. She didn't know him very well but she was wondering why he would work with the people he used to hunt for a living. Apart from him, Danielle had only heard of them by name. She knew they existed but she had not really crossed paths with them. And she had never wished to.

Tonight, she would have to make an exception, though. Dubenich was clearly desperate to have hired them all. Desperate times—


"It's a bone-conduction earpiece mic." Hardison handed around their comms. "It works off the vibrations in your jaw." Danielle skeptically put her earpiece in. "You can hear everything."

She didn't like it. She didn't have a choice, she would have to get used to it. After all, it was a one-time thing. This would be the first and last time, she would work with those people.

"You're not as useless as you look," Eliot commented.

"I don't even know what you do." Hardison shook his head.

Danielle let out a long breath and put her red curls in a bun and put on her beanie. Blond hair suddenly appeared in her vision. "Can I have one?" It was Parker.

"You can have the whole box." Hardison flirted back, handing the box to her. And she swung back up.

"What are you gonna do when she finds out you live with your mom?" Eliot said.

"Age of the geek, baby," Hardison said back. "We run the world."

"You keep telling yourself that." Eliot retorted.

Danielle remained quiet as Parker helped her into a repelling gear. She observed all three of them. They were strange people and clearly, none of them trusted each other. How were they supposed to pull this off?

"You're quiet." Parker looked down at her. "Why?"

"I don't have anything to say," Danielle said.

"Is it because you're nervous?"

"No." Danielle shook her head slowly.

"You're nervous."

She was about to jump off of a building. Sure, she was secured by a repelling gear but she would have to jump nonetheless. Of course, she was nervous. She just didn't want them to know. It was the first time she was working with them, and hopefully, it would also be the last.

"Last time, I used this rig, Paris, 2003," Parker said as she stroked her own gear lovingly.

"Is this thing safe?" Eliot said.

"You're talking about the Caravaggio. You stole that?" Nate asked Parker.

"Yeah, it's completely safe." Hardison assured him, although— "It's just, you know, you've experienced nausea, weakness on your right side, stroke, strokiness."

"You're precisely why I work alone." Eliot glared at the guy.

"Guys, listen up." Nate brought the focus back on their job. "We're gonna on my count, not a second sooner. Parker no freelancing."

"Relax, we know what we're doing," Eliot told him.

"And on the count of five, four—"

"Aww, he doesn't want to be our pal."

"We're on the count of five, four, three—"

Parker grabbed Danielle's elbow and pulled the redhead behind her as they both ran to the edge. And before she knew it Danielle was falling with Parker. She screamed at the top of her lungs as they fell while Parker screamed with glee. They suddenly stopped in front of an office window. Hanging upside down, Danielle looked to Parker.

"A little warning next time," Danielle muttered, trying to catch her breath.

"Vibrations detectors are on," Parker said after she scanned the office.

"No cutting Parker," Nate instructed over the comms. "Use the binary."

Parker pulled out a cutting agent and began cutting the glass. Once it was done, The blonde took the suction cup from her belt, attached it to the glass, and pulled it away. Letting it drop to the ground. She reached into the hole and set a remote on the table and she turned to Danielle.

"You can do a handstand, right?"

"Yeah, I've worked in a circus before," Danielle said quickly.

"Really?" Parker asked guiding Danielle's hands through the hole and clicked the remote, it released them from the gears that were keeping them in the air. They went from being on their hands to standing on their feet, on the desk, in a quick motion.

"Yeah, really." Danielle took a deep breath.

"Fun right?" Parker giggled, flipping off the desk gracefully.

Danielle snorted and followed her by doing the same motion. A pencil nearly rolled over the desk's edge, but she caught it before it hit the ground.

"You're a natural, Danielle." Parker complimenting her, grinning and slapping her shoulder.

"Thanks." Danielle smiled following the girl out of the office.

They both walked into a room with "Danger, High Voltage" written on the door. As soon as they got in, Parker went to work on the wires of the elevator while Danielle set up their materials. They had access to the security cameras and had a good view of the security guards.

"You know, girls, anytime you want—" Eliot said on the comms. But he was cut off as the elevator started moving.

Parker sat next to Danielle. "Boys are on their way."

"What are you getting with security?" Nate asked. "You see security?"

"They don't see a thing," Danielle answered.

On their screens, the elevator had reached its destination. "Door's open," Parker said.

"All right guys, showtime." Nate said. "Here we go."

Danielle and Parker followed Hardison and Eliot on their screens. They ran down a hallway to the server room. Hardison began working on the security code while Eliot watched for any guards.

"Okay, you got any chatter on their frequencies?" Nate asked them.

"No. Why?" Parker asked him.

"There's eight listed on the dusty roster, there's only four at the guard post," Nate answered.

Both girls looked over the footage. "I can't even tell how many guys are in the room. How can you tell who's who?" Parker asked.

"The haircuts. You need to count the haircuts." Danielle said after she had counted them herself.

"I would have missed that." Parker quietly said next to her.

"Problem?" Eliot said over the comms.

"Uh—maybe." Nate hesitated. "Run the cameras."

Danielle's fingers flew over the small keyboards. The images rolled over their screen one by one until they caught sight of the guards.

"That's not good," Danielle commented.

"They're doing their walkthrough an hour early, why the f—" Parker said.

"Because it's the playoffs," Nate replied. "Game 5 of the playoffs. They're doing their rounds an hour early so they can watch the playoffs. Where are they?"

"They're at the stairwell," Parker informed him. It was a matter of time before they found the open door.

"Okay, guys, here's what we gotta do." Nate started. "We gotta squelch them." Danielle disrupted their radio frequencies, this way they could not contact each other. "Eliot, what I want you to do is clear the zone and use Hardison as bait."

Eliot took off his jacket and disappeared around the corner. "Bait? Wait! Hold up, hold up! Wait a minute!" Hardison started to protest. "I know you ain't talking about me, I ain't nobody's bait."

"This isn't good," Danielle commented as the guards were getting closer to Hardison.

"Hardison they're almost there," Parker warned him.

A few more minutes and the guards were onto him. Hardison had let go of his device and was about to run before they cut him off. Guns pointed at him. Hardison raised his arms in the arm as Eliot walked behind the guards. Hardison dropped the bag and in the time it took for it to touch the ground, Eliot quickly took out the guards. Swift. It almost looked easy to Danielle, as she watched impressed.

"That's what I do." She heard Eliot say over the comms.

"Guys, guys, you gotta talk to me, okay?" Nate called. "Cause I don't know what's going on."

"Security is no longer a problem and the boys are in," Danielle replied.

"It's all good. I'm stripping the drives right now." Hardison added. "Got all the designs, got all the backups. I'm leaving this cupboard bare."

"Drop the spike," Nate ordered him.

"Would you look at that?" Danielle said she saw that the alarms had been reset for the two floors of the building.

"Problem," Parker warned the boys. "Those guards you ganked? They reset all the alarms on the roof and the floors above us. We can't go up."

"Every man for himself then." Eliot voted.

"Go ahead, I'm the one with the merchandise." Hardison reminded.

"Yeah, well, I'm the one with an exit." Parker snapped.

"I just want to get paid," Danielle complained.

"And I'm the one with a plan." Nate put an end to their fights. "Now, I know you children don't play well with others but I need you to hold it together for exactly seven more minutes. Now, I need you to go to the elevator and head down." Nate ordered. "Danielle, we're going to the burn scam."

"Burn scam it is," Danielle smirked. She jumped to her feet and pulled Parker up with her. "You're going to love it."

"Going to Plan B?" Hardison asked.

"Technically that would be Plan G." Nate corrected.

During this short conversation, Parker and Danielle had made their way to the elevator. The doors opened to reveal Hardison and Eliot in business suits. Danielle and Parker jumped in and undressed as fast as they could.

"How many plans do we have?" Hardison asked as Danielle put on her dark green blouse. "Is there like a plan M?"

"Yeah, Hardison dies in Plan M." Nate revealed.

"I like Plan M." Eliot commented.

Danielle crouched down and pulled out her make-up kit and threw a leg brace at Eliot. She pulled a skin prosthetic and applied it to Parker's right cheek. She blended it with some foundation that matched Parker's skin tone. It wasn't bad but it wasn't great. It's all she could do within minutes. She pushed Parker's hair behind her ear.

"Alright, we're good."

Danielle packed up everything, Hardison handed Parker the crutch. Danielle added a few more details to her disguise. She put on a black wig and glasses before they walked out of the elevator. A guard was on the other side, he stared at the four of them and focused on Parker's face.

"Nice." Eliot snapped. "Why don't you stare a little more?"

"Sorry." The guard apologized.

"You gotta be kidding me." Eliot continued. Danielle put her hand on Parker's waist and held her arm.

"No, Tom it's okay." Parker waved his comment off. "I understand."

"It's alright, baby." Danielle rubbed Parker's back.

The guard apologized profusely on their way to the door as Eliot kept on scolding him. They got through the revolving door. Nate was already waiting for them at the front. They kept on the masquerade. As soon as the guard was out of sight, they dropped the charade and quickly made their way to the car. And they drove off.

"Come on, come on, it's only taking you all night," Nate complained as they all stood around Hardison.


Danielle had dropped the wig and the glasses. Her red curls were now loose under a green beanie. The cold biting at her face, her hands buried in her pockets.

"I got a couple of Wi-Fi networks with some crappy bandwidth," Hardison explained as he kept typing on his laptop. "There you go. The designs are sent."

"Alright, alright, the money will be in all your accounts later today," Nate informed them, ready to leave.

"Anybody else notices how hard we rocked last night?" Alec brought up, looking at the small circle.

"Yeah, well, one show only." Eliot reminded him. "No encores."

"I already forgot your names," Parker said.

"And I, your faces." Danielle took a step back.

"It was kind of cool, being on the same side," Hardison noted with a smile.

"No. We are not on the same side." Nate rebuked. "I'm not a thief."

"You are now," Parker told him. "Come on, Nathan, tell the truth. You had a little bit of fun playing the Black King instead of the White Knight. Just this once."

Nathan did not give her an answer as he turned around and walked away. The rest of them followed his example and parted ways. Walking off in a different direction.


Danielle sprang up in her bed, waking up to her phone ringing. Groggy, still half asleep. She picked up. On the other end was a furious Dubenich. He claimed his designs never got to him and for that, it would freeze the payments. Danielle had wanted to go to him, to his office. He refused immediately. Instead, he wanted her to meet him in one of his company's aircraft facilities.

The drive there was short and at the same time long. She did not understand what had happened. Everything had gone well, Hardison had gotten the designs and had sent them. So what had happened? Hardison was the only one who had his hands on the data unless—


She walked into the warehouse, it was empty and dark. As she walked further into the facility, a feeling of uneasiness washed over her. She didn't like this place. She hated that Dubenich had asked her to come here. Anything could happen.

"Did you do it?" Eliot asked her as he walked up to her.

"No," Danielle answered. "I didn't. Did you?"

"No." Eliot shook his head.

"Do either one of you mind telling me what happened to the designs?" Hardison asked pointing a gun at Eliot and Danielle.

"Is this really necessary?" Danielle asked.

"Yes, it is." Hardison directed his gun towards her. Danielle took a step back and raised her hands.

"What makes you think I know what happened?" Eliot said redirecting Hardison's attention to him. He was barely fazed by the situation. "It's stupid."

"No, no, forget you, man." Hardison retorted. "You did it, okay? When we were coming down from the elevator."

"Yeah, that makes sense, doesn't it? You had the files every second."

"Yeah, who's to say you didn't do it?" Danielle accused him.

"Hold up, Freckleface! I did my part. I transferred the files." Hardison said his gun was still under Eliot's nose. "What did you do?"

"You better get that gun out of my face, or else I'm gonna feed it to you." Eliot threatened under his breath.

"Hey!" Someone yelled making Danielle jumped out of her skin. It was Nate.

"Did you do it?" Eliot asked him. "You're the only one that has ever played both sides."

"Yeah, you seem pretty relaxed for a guy pointed at him," Nate remarked.

"Safety's on," Eliot said.

"Like, I'mma fall for that." Hardison scoffed.

"Uh, no, no, actually, he's right." Nate nodded. "The safety is on."

Hardison looked at the gun to check if it really was on. But quickly the gun was pulled out of his hand.

"Are you armed?" Nate asked Eliot.

He shook his head. "I don't like guns."

"You?" Nate looked at her.

"No. I don't know how to use 'em." Danielle shrugged.

There was a click, Nate turned around pointing his gun at the blond who was walking up behind him. A gun pointed at them.

"My money is not on my account," Parker said. She walked around them and stopped next to Danielle. "That makes me cry inside in my special angry place."

"Okay, Parker?" Nate leaned forward to lower the gun. "Now, did you come here to get paid?"

"Hell, no!" Hardison said. "Transfer of funds, man. Global economy."

"It's supposed to be a walk away," Eliot grumbled. "I'm never supposed to see you again."

"And the only reason you guys are here is because you didn't get paid—" Nate started laughing hysterically. "And you're pissed off." He laughed louder. "As a matter of fact, the only way to get us all in the same place at the same time is to tell we're not—getting—paid."

Had she heard this right? They were not getting paid. So, why—? She glanced around as it dawned on her. They were not getting paid. With the rest of the group, they immediately took off to the nearest exit. As soon as they made it out, the building behind them exploded, throwing her to the ground, knocking her unconscious.


She woke up at the sounds of sirens nearby. She sat up, there was smoke everywhere, the building was on fire. And her partners were all lying on the ground around her. She realized that the sirens were getting closer. She got to her feet, her body groaned. She couldn't stay here. She had to move before the cops could get here. And that could be anytime soon. She rushed away from the building, leaving them all behind.

How could Dubenich do this? Was this his plan all along? Get them to steal for him and then get rid of them? This guy was gonna pay for this. The problem was: how was she to do that alone? He knew what she did for a living, he knew how she did it. He had a file on her. This revenge would require other skills. Skills that she lacked. She would need help. And the few people who may hate Dubenich as much as she did at this moment, were being taken away by the county police.


The hospital was busy, the nurse, charts in her hands was looking for her patients. She bumped into two doctors on her way to their rooms. Two deputies had been placed in front of their hospital rooms. She walked past them, gave a small smile and stepped into the room.

"She didn't run away," Nate said as she closed the door behind her.

"You, guys, alright?" She asked them. Nate was sitting on the bed where he was handcuffed, Eliot was handcuffed on a chair by the window.

"Took you long enough," Nate replied.

"Well, I came here as fast as I could." Danielle shrugged. "Have you guys been processed yet?"

"We have ten minutes before they figure out who we are." She heard Parker said through the vents.

"What do you need me to do?" She turned to Nate.

"Phones. I need phones." Nate said.

She pulled out two phones. "Way ahead of you." She threw one of them at Nathan.

"Get this to Hardison," Nate instructed her.

She walked out of the room. Smiled to the officer sitting in front of the room. And moved to the second room. Smiled to the second officer and walked in. She dropped the phone with Hardison. And walked out again. It was up to them now.


"Five first-class tickets to anywhere but here, coming up." Hardison clapped his hands' wand walked over to a desk with a computer.

Parker whistled. "Who's place is this?"

"It's mine," Hardison answered.

The place he had taken them to, was large and luxurious. This uptown loft was ten times larger than her crappy apartment. It was well lit, spacious almost empty but not really. Danielle was starting to think that she may be living her life the wrong way.

"I'm gonna beat Dubenich so bad even the people that look like me are gonna bleed," Eliot said, flexing his fingers into a fist.

"You won't get within a hundred yards," Parker told him. "He knows your face. He knows all our faces."

"He tried to kill us." Eliot reminded her.

"And more importantly he didn't pay us." Parker retorted.

That made Danielle pause. She looked at Parker. "How is that more important?"

"I take that personally." She said with a small smile, although she sounded hurt.

"There's something wrong with you." Eliot leaned against the back of the couch.

"Definitely," Danielle commented standing behind Hardison.

"Heads up, heads up." Hardison called them. "Dubenich's story is ninety percent true. He is the head of Bering Aerospace, big rival of Pierson. But check out what my little web crawlers coughed up." Hardison pulled up footage of an interview given by the head of Pierson Aviation.

"We've lost research that we've been working on for over five years. Our servers have been sabotaged. Now, we're gonna pursue these perpetrators to the full extent of the law and with all the resources we have at our disposal."

"Could be a cover story." Nate suggested.

"Here's the log of last night's rip. Internal time stamps on the project, 2003, 2004." Hardison showed them. "They're way, way down in the code. There's no reason to fake those, man."

"So, we didn't steal the plans back?" Eliot asked.

"No, we were just stealing them." Parker clarified.

"Son of a bitch." Danielle cussed.

"Why would Dubenich lie to us?" Hardison turned to them.

"Cause you're thieves. If he hired you for a straight-up crime, you'd know he was a bad guy like you. You'd be suspicious." Nate explained.

"Hold on, I'm not exactly a thief." Danielle protested.

"Only when it's necessary." Nate turned to her. "You just wanted to help. That's what you do. Like them, you saw just another citizen in over his head, and that's why you didn't see the double-cross coming."

"Then why didn't you see it coming?" Parker asked him.

"Because I'm not a thief." Nate answered.

"You know what, maybe that was the problem. If you—" Eliot bolted up, marching onto Nate.

"Hey, hey." Hardison put himself between Eliot and Nate. "I have five tickets to London, Rome, Paris, Madrid and to Sao Paulo, all matching the IDs that you gave me." He shoved a ticket in Danielle's hands. She looked at it, frowning.

"You're running." Nate stated.

"Yes, sir. You got a better idea?" Eliot challenged her.

"No, no. You're running." He turned to the screen. "Now, that was a high-risk play. You got your balls tied to the stock price like a cinderblock. Shareholder meeting coming up. We can't let this guy have any time to cool down."

"What do you have in mind?" Danielle smirked in excitement.

"You want to run a game on this guy?" Eliot asked, looking at both of them. "You?"

"Yeah, I mean, how do you think I got most of my stolen merchandise back?" Nate retorted. "I mean, this guy, he's greedy, thinks he's smart, he's the best kind of mark."

"He does think he got rid of us." Parker added.

"Element of surprise." Hardison smirked.

"Yes, that's what I'm talking about." Danielle grinned.

"What's in it for me?" Eliot asked.

"Payback. And if it goes right, a lot of money." Nate answered.

"What's in it for me?" Parker asked.

"A lot of money. And if it goes right, Payback." Nate turned to Hardison. "Hardison?"

"I was just gonna send a thousand porno magazines to his office, but, hell yeah, man, let's kick him up." Hardison agreed.

Nate then turned to Danielle. "That's why I came to get you. Didn't think I could get him alone." She told him.

"What's in it for you?" Eliot asked Nathan.

"He used my son." Nate answered.

It went quiet. Danielle just wanted to get back at the man for screwing her over. And now for lying to her. But this—this was really low. She could not believe that he went that far.

"All right. Let's go get Sophie." Nate said walking out of the loft.

As Danielle followed him, she heard Eliot exclaim. "What the hell's a Sophie?"


"Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts." The said Sophie was on stage. She was Lady McBeth. "Unsex me here and fill me from the crown to the toe." She laid down on the floor. "Topful of direst—"

Danielle's mouth was hanging open in horror. Sophie was a terrible actress. In fact, she didn't think there was a word strong enough to describe what she was watching.

"She's very awful." Hardison said.

"Is she injured? In the head?" Parker asked.

"This is—this—oh my god!" Danielle stammered.

"Seriously, man, this is the worst actress I've ever seen." Eliot said next to her.

"This is not her stage." Nate replied.

"No, no." Eliot shook his head. "I vote no."

"I can throw on some make up, make my face look different." Danielle suggested.

"Parker's right. Dubenich knows us." Nate reminded them. "And we need a fresh face." Nate clapped drawing Sophie's attention. "I thought you were great."

"My only fan." Sophie walked up to him. "I'm a citizen now. Honest."

"I'm not." He replied.

"You're playing my side?" She asked him. "I always thought you had it in you."

"Are you in?" He asked slightly flustered.

She nodded. "I wouldn't miss this."

"All right, let's go break the law just one more time."


The day after, they were all sitting in Hardison's loft. Danielle sat cross-legged on the couch next to Hardison as he gave them details about Victor Dubenich.

"Victor. Now, when was the last time you met a Victor?" Nate asked.

"Vietnam. A town called Ban Houei Xai." Eliot answered.

"Chinese border." Sophie turned to him.

"That's an odd thing for you to know." Eliot noted.

"That's an odd place for you to be." Sophie countered.

"Now, Bering is in charge of all the big fat government contracts, some Department of Defense research. Very classified stuff." Hardison said.

"Can we use that?" Parker asked.

"No." Danielle shook her head. "Dubenich is in charge of their commercial airline business."

"All right, Hardison. I know when you sent Dubenich's designs," Nate turned to the Hacker. "You weren't supposed to make any copies."

"No, I promised. And that would be very wrong." Hardison replied, bringing his hand to his chest.

"Show me your copies."

Hardison chuckled and pulled out the blueprints of the airplane designs. "It's an airplane." Eliot said.

"We can see that, Captain Obvious." Danielle blurted out.

"It's a short-haul domestic airliner." Nate started. "Yeah, usually one-hour flights. It's the fastest-growing segment of the industry. Very fuel efficient, high tech, very nice carbon nose. It's got the titanium wrap, three to one." All heads turned to him. "You know, you pick up things here and there."

"You pick up a lot of stuff." Hardison commented. And Parker barked out a laughter. "Now, Dubenich and Pierson, they were head to head for five years trying to grab the lead in an industry that's worth like eleventy billion dollars."

"So, Pierson got there first, Dubenich took the shortcut." Parker said.

"So, he's got a rival." Nate said. "He's got a rival that pisses him off so much, he hired us to steal his designs. This is good."

"What are you thinking, Nate?" Sophie asked him.

"I'm thinking Nigerians." Nate replied. "Yeah. Nigerians will do nicely."

Nathan walked out of the room and this time, all heads turned to Sophie. "Well, he hasn't changed a bit."


Danielle had stayed behind with Hardison and Nate at the loft. They already had all the main players on site. Sophie was to keep Dubenich away from his office, Eliot was to distract the secretary and Parker was to get into his office. Hardison plopped down on the seat next to her and opened the comms.

"Here comes a mountain of suck." Hardison said, probably still thinking of Sophie's terrible performance.

"You government?" Dubenich asked her.

"No, no." Sophie answered in South African accent. "Private business consortium. We are looking to encourage infrastructure development. And economic renewal."

"I have no idea what that means in English. What does it mean?" Dubenich asked her.

"We create jobs and trade in Africa, keep the graft and the stealing manageable." Sophie explained.

"But she's not awful." Hardison noted.

"She's actually amazing." Danielle added.

"This is her stage." Nate said. "Sophie Devereaux is the finest actress you've ever seen, when she's breaking the law."

"Keep graft and stealing manageable in Africa." Dubenich repeated. "Good luck, I don't think I can help. I don't think any human being on earth can help you with that. Sorry."

"Come on. Let's go and talk somewhere a little less formal, eh?"

"No, no, no, I—Look, Miss—"

It sounded as though as Sophie had succeeded in dragging him away from his office. "Okay. And now." Nate instructed.

Hardison typed a few keys and hacked into the secretary's computer. He put up a blue warning screen, making the computer looked as though it had crashed. Causing the secretary to call IT.

"Hello, IT." Parker answered the phone.

"Yeah, this is Victor Dubenich's office." The secretary said. "My computer just completely crashed."

"Oh, well, I'm sorry to hear about that. Have you tried turning it on and off again?" Parker asked.

"That's a computer thing. I told her to say that." Hardison turned to Nate and Danielle.

"Well done." Nate praised him.

"We've got someone on your floor already." Parker informed her.

Barely a few seconds passed before they heard Eliot on the comms. "Somebody called IT?"

They tuned into Sophie's conversation. Danielle could only picture Sophie and their mark walking outside of the building.

"I represent a group of investors who are looking to start an airline for short-haul flights in Africa." Sophie said.

"Out of Johannesburg?" Dubenich replied.

"Okay, he's testing you. You want Bloemfontein." Nate told her.

"Keep away from the hubs, revitalize the regional airports." Sophie kept on. "In South Africa, Bloemfontein, for example. But really, it's Nigeria we're focused on."

"Yeah, perfect."

"She's impressive." Danielle commented leaning back in her chair.

"I believe new airplanes will make people feel comfortable, while we renew our runways."

"Uh-huh, I don't recall saying anything about new airplanes." Dubenich said.

"Victor, both you and your chief engineer are scheduled to speak at your shareholders' meeting."

"I think you know more about my business than I do."

"I've done my homework. I find you fascinating."

She would have never been able to pull this off on her own. She could do many things on her own, but she would have never been able to do this alone. Also, she could grift but she had nothing on Sophie. Sophie was definitely a wonderful actress. She still had a lot to learn, it seemed.

"Uh, is it—sorry, is it Gunshot? I'm sorry." Dubenich asked.

"Gonstadt." Sophie reminded him.

"Gondstadt." Dubenich repeated. "I'm really sorry."

"Anna." Sophie offered.

"Anna. Thank you. How's this?" Dubenich started. "If we announce a new product, then you can order as many as your little heart desires."

"Okay, you know what to do. Hit him." Nate said.

"We'd also like to build the planes." Sophie informed him. "More jobs. Build them in Africa, fly them in Africa, sell the rest around the world."

"That's very ambitious. You have the manufacturing facilities to do all that?" Dubenich asked her.

"Ah, we can easily raise the money to build the facilities, if we know for certain we're going to get the contracts."

"Atta girl."

"Anna, I'm really sorry, but I can't help you." Dubenich said.

"That was a nice try, man." Hardison said defeated.

Danielle let her head fall, her eyes falling shut. She was as defeated as Hardison. "Wait for it." Nate said.

"And I really do have—"

"I understand." Sophie said. "I'll take it to Pierson." Danielle's head went up and she glanced at Hardison.

"Pierson? No, Pierson's a great company. Sure, go ahead." Dubenich replied. "I don't think they can help you, but—"

"Oh, they have a reputation for long-term investment. You don't." Sophie went on. "They're innovators. Yeah. It's probably a better fit."

"I know. I'm aware that you're manipulating me, Anna." Danielle grabbed Hardison's arm in anticipation of what was coming next.

"I should hope so." Sophie chuckled. "Hundreds of millions of dollars in new contracts, a lot of good press, all at your door."

"Okay, I give up. I'll take the meeting." Dubenich yielded after a few minutes.

"I'll have my office call you."

"What? Yeah."

"Day after tomorrow?"

"Uh, yeah, sure. Look forward to doing business with you."

"She did it." Danielle laughed. She fist-bumped Hardison.


Dubenich had taken the bait. Although, there were still a lot to do. Danielle knew they would get him. She trusted Nate. So far, he hadn't been wrong. So far, he was one step ahead of Dubenich.

"Sophie, he's on site." Nate said over the comms.

Danielle and Eliot were climbing the stairs together to the tenth floor, on their way to switch up the office signs.

"What? No, I'm not ready." Sophie replied.

"Okay, if you don't meet him right now in the lobby, he's gonna go to the building directory and look for the office number." Nate said back. "Guys, we are not in the building directory."

"And why aren't we in the directory?" Eliot asked them.

"I don't know, maybe because they're fake offices." Hardison pointed out.

"Obviously." Danielle rolled her eyes. She exchanged a look with Eliot and the two of them, continued their climb.

"There's no elevator." Sophie frantically said.

"All right, I'll distract him. Parker, you got ten seconds to get Sophie to the lobby." Nate instructed them.

Eliot and Danielle reached the tenth floor, Parker and Sophie brushing past them. They rushed to the fa?ade of the office and started to work on the switch. Sophie had met up with Dubenich in the lobby, just in time and they were now in the elevator on their way up to the tenth floor. They finished their work and walked past the elevator just as the door dinged open. The game was on. All they had to do now was to wait.


"We got him?" Nate asked as they all reunited in front of the building.

"We own him." Sophie answered.

"Okay, gang, let's go. We got a busy day tomorrow."

"This is gonna work, right?" Sophie asked Nate.

"I guarantee it."


The day after found the team packing up everything they needed before the final confrontation. Dubenich had found the bug in his office and he now thought that he had the upper hand. He was right where they wanted him to be. He walked right into it. It was only a matter of time. Sophie and the Nigerians officials were at the shareholders meeting. While the rest of them joined the FBI at Bering Aerospace. Seizing every files he owned and his computers. Sophie joined them within minutes. Dubenich's assistant was destroying all of his files. The gang now in their FBI attires walked out of the building, carrying boxes but most importantly—they had stolen back the plane designs. And just like that Dubenich was finished.


"What is it with women and shoes?" Parker asked as they were all meeting up with Nate.

"There's something wrong with you." Sophie said earning a snort from Danielle.

"That's what I said." Eliot said, glad that someone felt the same about Parker.

Hardison handed them envelopes. In which there were their paychecks. Danielle opened hers and was baffled by the amount of money she received.

"That's—what?" Danielle exclaimed.

"Job well—whoa." Nate was as shocked as she was.

"There was an overlap in the London stock market." Hardison explained. "Valuation carried over to NASDAQ, and then—" He trailed off. "I'm just very good at what I do."

"This is the score." Parker said in disbelief. "The score."

"Age of the geek, baby."

"Somebody kiss this man so I don't have to." Eliot laughed.

"So, we're out, uh?" Hardison asked. "I mean, we're out, this is retirement money. Go-legit-and-buy-an-island money."

"Yeah. Uh, pleasure working with you." Nate said. Oddly, Danielle felt a little sad. She did not want to stop this. They all worked well together.

"Yeah, well, one show only." Eliot reminded him. "No encores."

"I already forgot your names." Parker said.

"And I, your faces." Danielle took a step back.

And they all took off in different directions. Danielle walked away before she turned around to catch up with Nate. She understood it was a walk away but she really thought that all of them together made for an incredible team.

"—Can't retire." Parker finished saying as she joined them. Hardison was already there.

"I usually work alone and—"

"Danielle."

"Let's be honest, I don't usually do well alone." She said. "But all of us together, we're amazing. And I can learn a lot from you."

"You want to know what I think?" Eliot asked stepping next to Danielle.

"Not really."

"How long before you fall apart again?"

"I'm touched."

"Yeah, well, a guy like you can't be out of the game, all right?" Nate's phone rang in his pocket. "That's why you were wrecked. You need the chase."

"Yeah, I'll manage." Nate picked up the phone. "Yeah?"

Sophie was sitting on the bench in front of, she was the one on the other end of the line. Nate groaned. Sophie walked up to him.

"You pick the jobs." Sophie told him.

"My job is helping people. I find bad guys." Nate reminded her.

"Well, go find some bad guys." Sophie retorted. "Bad guys have money. Black king, white knight."


"People like that, corporations like that, they have all the money, they have all the power, and they use it to make people like you go away. Right now, you're suffering under and enormous weight. We provide-Leverage."