Episode 1:01 - The Nigerian Job

Scene: Nate is drinking at bar. Bartender brings him a drink.

Bartender: I checked. Airport shuttle's in 15 minutes.

Onscreen Text: Nathan Ford: Ex-Insurance Investigator.

Victor Dubenich approaches Nate hesitantly.

Dubenich: I'm sorry Mr. Ford, sorry, I know who you are I've … excuse me … I've read all about you. I know for example that … that when you found that stolen Monet painting in Florence you probably saved your Insurance Company what 20-25 million dollars. Then there was that identity theft thing and you saved your insurance company I don't even know how many millions of dollars but I just know that when you needed them …what happened to your family is the kind of thing …

Nate: You know that part of the conversation where I punch you in the neck nine or ten times? We're coming up on that pretty quick.

Dubenich: I just want to offer you a job.

Nate: What do you got?

Dubenich: Do you know anything about airplane design?

Nate: I could give it a shot, you know, you give me a pencil and one of those little rulers.

Dubenich: Somebody stole my airplane designs.

Nate: Oh, I see and you'd like me to find them right?

Dubenich: No. I know where they are. I want you to steal them back.

Cue Title accompanied by Thiefy Bass Music

Scene cut: Pierson Aviation building.

Eliot, Parker, Hardison and Nate meet in front of building. Thieves walk towards building while Nate heads in the opposite direction.

Scene cut: Nate's lookout.

Shots of table, laptop, surveillance and headsets being set up.

Scene cut: Bar

Nate: You're sure Pierson stole your designs?

Dubenich: Look, my engineer goes missing, he disappears with all my files and one week later Pierson announces an identical project. Come on.

Nate: I don't know. Stealing them back, it seems like a stupid risk, there are other ways …

Dubenich: Listen. Listen to me. At the end of this month I have a shareholder's meeting Mr. Ford. I've spent, already, five years, 100 million dollars on R&D. If I go to that meeting with nothing to show for it then I am dead.

Nate sighs and starts to leave. Dubenich opens a folder to show him.

Dubenich: Look, I'm serious. Look, look at the people I've already hired. Do you recognize any of these names?

Nate: Uh, yeah, I've chased all of them at one time. Parker? You have Parker?

Dubenich: Is there somebody better?

Nate: No, but Parker is insane.

Dubenich: Which is why I need you.

Nate: (Nate laughs) No. I'm not a thief.

Dubenich: Thieves I got. What I need is one honest man to watch them.

Scene cut: Nate's lookout.

Nate continues to set up his projector which scrolls through blueprints of the Pierson Aviation building.

Scene cut: Bar

Dubenich: Are you in?

Nate: It's not going to work, these people you've hired they all have the same rep. They work alone, they always work alone, there's no exceptions and there's no way they're going to work for you.

Dubenich: No, they will, they will. For $300,000 each, and for you, for running it, it's double that. And it's off the books, completely off the books. Look at me, I'm desperate here. And that's just the salary, there is a bonus. Pierson is insured by IYS, your old bosses, it's a 50 million dollar intellectual property rights policy. Mr. Ford, how badly do you want to screw the insurance company that let your son die?

Scene cut: Nate's lookout

Nate: Okay, clear comms.

Scene cut: Roof

Hardison picks up the headsets Nate has provided them with and looks disgusted.

Hardison: No, no, no, no. No hell no. This equipment is total VH1 bro, it's best of the 80's. I got something nicer.

On-Screen Text: Alec Hardison: Internet and Computer Fraud

Nate: No surprises now.

Hardison: I been doing this since high school, bro, I'm Captain Discipline.

Scene cut: Hotel.

On-Screen Text: New York City. Five Years Ago.

Hotel Manager: They came straight from the airport and up to their room.

Hotel Security: So you never actually saw any of them then.

Hotel Manager: No, but the credit card numbers checked out.

Hotel Security: Break it down!

Security opens the doors. Hardison is sitting on a couch drinking orange soda while three beautiful women dressed as Princess Leia fight with lightsabers.

Hotel Security: Does that look like Mick Jagger to you?

Hardison: (Doing jedi-mind trick impression) This is not the room you're looking for.

Scene cut: Roof

Hardison: It's a bone-conduction earpiece mic. Works off the vibrations in your jaw. (Hands it to Eliot who places it in his ear) (In whisper) You can hear everything.

Eliot: You're not as useless as you look.

Hardison: (Scoffs) I don't even know what you do.

On-Screen Text: Eliot Spencer: Retrieval Specialist

Scene cut: A bar.

Eliot, drinking tea and wearing glasses, approaches a table of men. The main man has a scar across his eye.

On-Screen Text: Belgrade, Serbia. 3 Years Ago

Eliot: I'm here to collect the merchandise.

A dozen men pull guns. Eliot takes a long sip of tea.

Scene cut: Outside view of bar. Gunshots and muzzle flashes go off inside the bar. The sound of a body hitting the ground.

Scene cut: Inside bar.

Crickets chirp as Eliot takes another sip of tea. Smoke rises from the dead bodies on the ground. The man with the eye scar is the only one left unscatched. He places 'the merchandise' on the table for Eliot. It is a Mickey Mantle rookie card. Eliot smiles.

Scene cut: Roof

Parker drops down between Eliot and Hardison, hanging upside down from her rig.

Parker: Can I have one?

Hardison: You can have the whole box.

Parker takes one and pulls herself back up.

Eliot: What are you going to do when she finds out you live with your mom?

Hardison: Age of the geek, baby, we run the world.

Eliot: You keep telling yourself that.

Camera pans up to Parker, smiling atop her repelling rig.

On-Screen Text: Parker: Security Circum. Infiltration and Alter. Thief.

Scene cut: Interior House

On-Screen Text: Kansas City. 19 Years Ago.

A ten year old Parker stands expressionless. There is a sound of a slap. Parker's father turns to her angrily, shaking a stuffed bunny. Parker's mother stands in the background, crying.

You thought I wouldn't find this? You don't get bunny until you do what I say. So be a good girl or, I don't know, a better thief.

Parker's mom: Bill!

Scene cut: Outside of house.

Ten year old Parker closes the front door and walks away. The house explodes behind her. She smiles, hugs the stuffed bunny.

Scene cut: Roof

Parker is adjusting her repelling gear.

Parker: Last time I used this rig, Paris, 2003.

Eliot: (Eliot's blows on his earpiece experimentally. Holds it out to Hardison) Is this thing safe?

Nate: (To Parker) You talking about the Caravaggio? You stole that?

Hardison: (To Eliot) Yeah, it's completely safe, it's just, you know, you might experience nausea, weakness in your right side, stroke, strokeyness.

Eliot: (Inserting earpiece) You're precisely why I work alone.

Nate: Guys listen up, we're going to go on my count, not a second sooner. Parker, no freelancing.

Eliot: Hey, relax, we know what we're doing.

Nate: And on the count of five!

Hardison: Oh, he doesn't want to be our pal.

Nate: We're on the count. Five, four …

Parker runs behind Eliot and Hardison. A zip line is heard unwinding.

Nate: Three

Eliot: She's gone.

Nate: Sonuva …

Parker jumps off the roof of the building. The zipline unwinds.

Parker: Yeehaaaa!!

Eliot and Hardison run to the edge and watch her fall.

Eliot: That's twenty pounds of crazy in a five pound bag.

Parker is hanging upside down in front of the office window inspecting the alarm system.

Parker: Vibration detectors are on.

Nate: No cutting Parker, use the binary.

Scene cut: Roof

Eliot and Hardison grab their supplies and head down into the building through an access stairwell.

Scene cut: Side of building

Parker uses a tube of binary agent to melt a hole in the glass. When the hole is complete she uses a lever to pull the glass away, which she then drops to the ground below. Reaching inside the hole, she places a remote on the table. When she is halfway inside she presses the button which releases her zipline. She does an ultra cool flip over the desk and catches a pencil before it hits the ground.

Scene cut: Hallway

Parker sneaks out of the office she broke into and goes into a room marked "Danger: High Voltage" that is filled with electrical equipment. She sets up her monitors and crosses some wires.

Scene cut: Elevator

Hardison and Eliot land on the roof of an inactive elevator and wait.

Eliot: You know Parker anytime you're ready.

The elevator suddenly descends.

Hardison: Whoa!

Parker: Boys are on their way.

Nate: What are you getting with security? You see security?

Parker checks the surveillance footage of the security room.

Parker: They don't see a thing.

Scene cut: The Security Center

Close up of a monitor, showing that as far as security knows none of the elevators are moving, even though Eliot and Hardison are using one to get to the 30th floor at the moment.

Parker: Doors open.

Nate: All right guys, show time. Here we go.

Eliot: (Handing Hardison the encryption breaker from the bag he's carrying) Here.

Hardison: Got it.

Hardison plugs the device into the card swiper on the door marked Research and Development.

Nate: Okay, you got any chatter on their frequencies?

Parker: No. Why?

Nate: There's eight listed on the duty roster, there's only four at the guard post.

Parker: I can't even tell how many guys are in the room. How can you tell who's who?

Nate: Haircuts Parker. Count the haircuts.

Parker: I would have missed that.

Nate: What?

Parker: Nothing.

Eliot: Problem?

Nate: Uh, maybe. Run the cameras.

Hardison: (Hardison's device starts to decode the doorpad) Ten digit password. I salute you sir.

Parker runs through each camera in the building until she finds the missing security guards.

Parker: Got 'em. They're doing their walk-through an hour early, why the f…

Nate: Because it's the playoffs.

Camera zooms in on a TV screen in the security booth where the guards are watching basketball.

Nate: Yeah, game 5 of the playoffs. They're doing their rounds an hour early so they can watch the playoffs. All right, where are they?

Parker: They're at the stairwell.

Scene cut: Stairwell

The guards walk by the stairwell Hardison and Eliot used to get inside and notice the door open.

Security guard1: Hey!

Security Guard2: We've got a security breach. Get them on the radio upstairs.

Security Guard 3: Let's go. Go!

Nate: Okay, guys here's what we gotta do. We gotta squelch 'em.

Parker types into her mini computer. A high pitched sound is heard. The guards running down the hallway shake their radios in frustration. No transmissions can get through to the rest of security.

Nate: Eliot, what I want you to do is clear the zone and use Hardison as bait.

Eliot shucks off his jacket and disappears around a corner.

Hardison: Bait? What? Hold up. Wait a minute. I know you ain't talking about me, I ain't nobody's bait. (urges his lockbreaker to work faster) Come on baby, work for me baby, come on.

Scene cut: Hallway with guards

The guards are still trying to reach the rest of security over their radios. All frequencies are blocked.

Security Guard1: Base come in. Does anyone copy? (squelching sounds) Ah!

Scene cut: Research and Development Door

Hardison is still waiting for his device to unlock the door.

Parker: Hardison, they're almost there.

Hardison: (To device) Come on baby, come on, just come on man. (shakes his head, give up, grabs his bag) Forget it.

Hardison turns to leave. Four guards have appeared with guns aimed at him.

Guard 1: Hold it right there.

Hardison sighs and puts his hands up unhappily. Thiefy bass music plays as Eliot casually strolls out behind the guards. Hardison lets the bag he's holding drop. Eliot disarms and knocks out all four guards in an awesome display of fast strikes and athleticism. By the time the bag hits the ground all four men are down and Eliot is the only one left standing.

Eliot: (Clears the clip from a gun) That's what I do.

Hardison looks impressed. His machine finally unlocks the door. Eliot and Hardison walk into a huge room filled with green servers. Eliot looks unhappy. Hardison laughs.

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

Eliot is tying up the unconscious security guards while Hardison downloads information from the servers.

Hardison: It's all good, I'm stripping the drives right now. Come on baby. Got all the designs, got all the back ups. I'm leaving this cupboard bare.

Nate: Drop the spike.

The monitor gives the Windows Screen of Death and blacks out.

Eliot: Did you give them a virus?

Hardison: Dude, I gave them more than one virus.

They start to leave, head into the hallway.

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

Eliot: Every man for himself then.

Hardison: Go ahead I'm the one with the merchandise.

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

Nate: And I'm the one with a plan. 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 get to the elevator and head down. We're going to the burn scam.

Hardison and Eliot rush into an elevator and immediately begin to change their clothes.

Hardison: Going to Plan B.

Nate: Technically that would be Plan G.

Elevator doors open. Parker rushes in between Eliot and Hardison who are half-way changed into business suits. Parker pulls her top over her head. From the back we can see she's not wearing a bra. Both guys look intrigued but turn away.

Hardison: How many plans do we have? Is there like a Plan M?

Nate: Yeah, Hardison dies in Plan M.

Eliot: I like Plan M.

Scene cut: Lobby

The elevator pings. A security guard looks up in surprise.

Guard: I thought we locked down those elevators.

He walks around the booth to check it out.

Scene cut: Elevator

The team is fully dressed in business outfits. Eliot is attaching a brace to Parker's leg while Hardison applies a latex make-up prosthetic to make her face look burned.

Hardison: Stay still, stay still. Don't move.

Scene cut: Lobby

The guard is approaching the elevator with his hand on his gun. The doors open to reveal Parker walking with a cane, sporting bandages and being helped by Hardison and Eliot. The guard covers his gun up immediately.

Eliot: (Spotting the guard staring) Nice. Why don't you stare a little more?

Guard: Sorry.

Eliot: You gotta be kidding me.

Parker: No Tom, it's okay.

Hardison: No, it's not.

Guard: Sorry, sorry.

Parker: (through fake tears) I understand.

Outside, Nate pulls up to the building in a car to pick them up.

Guard: I'm sorry.

Eliot: Get the door, come on.

Guard: Again, sorry.

The team leaves the building. As soon as they are a few feet away they drop the act. Parker throws her cane to Hardison. They all get in the car with Nate and drive off.

Scene cut: A Park. Very early morning.

The team is standing around, chilly, while Hardison works on a handheld computer.

Nate: Come on, come on, it's only taking all night. Come on.

Hardison: I got a couple of wi-fi networks with some crappy bandwidth. There you go. The designs are sent.

Nate: All right, all right. The money will be in all your accounts later today.

Hardison: Anybody else notice how hard we rocked last night?

Eliot: Yeah, well, one show only, no encores.

Parker: I already forgot your names.

Hardison: It was kind of cool, being on the same side.

Nate: No, we are not on the same side. I am not a thief.

Parker: You are now. Come on Nathan, tell the truth. Didn't you have a little bit of fun playing the Black King instead of the White Knight, just this once?

Cut to thiefy bass music.

Nate smiles. The now-classic aerial shot of all four walking away in separate directions.

Scene cut: Apartment interior.

Nate is asleep on a bed in his clothes. Several empty liquor bottles are on the table beside the bed along with his phone which is ringing. Nate knocks over the liquor bottles to answer it.

Nate: Yeah.

Dubenich: (Walking through his office) You screwed me! The designs never got to me.

Nate: No, I watched them go out.

Dubenich: I don't know what you think you saw but I received nothing!

Nate: Look, I told you, you couldn't trust 'em.

Dubenich: It is not my job to trust anybody that is what you were here for. I am freezing the payments. I am freezing ALL the payments.

Nate: All right, look. Look, I will come over there right now, we'll straighten this out.

Dubenich: No, no, no do not come here. My company has an old aircraft facility outside the city and I will text you the address and you be there, in one hour.

Dubenich hangs up and sips his tea. Nate hangs up and looks tired.

Scene cut: Interior. Aircraft facility.

Nate walks slowly down a hallway. Voices can he heard from ahead.

Hardison: You mind telling me what happened to the designs?

Eliot: What makes you think I know what happened? Stupid.

Hardison: You know what, forget you man. You did it when we were coming down from the elevator.

Nate walks around the corner to see Hardison has a gun pulled on Eliot who looks very relaxed.

Eliot: Yeah, that makes sense doesn't it? You had the file every second.

Hardison: Hold up Kujo, I did my part, I transferred the files …

Eliot: You better get that gun out of my face.

Hardison: What did you do?

Eliot: Or else I'm gonna feed it to you.

Nate: Hey!

Eliot and Hardison turn. Hardison doesn't put the gun down.

Eliot: Did you do it? You're the only one that's ever played both sides.

Nate: Yeah, you seem pretty relaxed for a guy with a gun pointed at him.

Eliot: Safety's on.

Hardison: Like I'm gonna fall for that.

Nate: No, no, actually he's right, the safety is on.

Hardison checks. Nate grabs the gun.

Nate: (to Eliot) You armed?

Eliot: (shakes head) I don't like guns.

Parker appears behind the group, also armed.

Parker: My money's not in my account. That makes me cry inside in my special, angry place.

Nate slowly reaches to take Parker's gun.

Nate: Okay, Parker. Now did you come here to get paid?

Hardison: Hell no. Transfer of funds man. Global economy.

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

Nate: Then the only reason you guys are here is because you didn't get paid. (laughs in an unsettling way) And you're pissed off. As a matter of fact the only way to get us all in the same place at the same time is to tell us that we're not getting paid.

Everyone shares a look of realization and then starts to run. Nate leads the way to a large garage-like door that leads outside. Hardison trips on the stairs. Eliot grabs him by the shirt and hauls him to his feet.

Nate: Come on, come on, get up. Let's go, hustle. Go.

Nate is the last one left inside. He turns and his face reflects the approaching fire. Scene changes to the team running from the building and flying through the air as the building explodes behind them.

Scene cut: Interior. Hospital room.

Nate wakes up with a start in a hospital bed. He sees he is handcuffed to one bedpost and groans. Eliot is in a chair across the room, covered in ash and also handcuffed.

Eliot: You don't like hospitals.

Nate: Not much.

Parker's voice comes from seemingly nowhere.

Parker: It's about time.

Nate: (looking towards tiny air vent where her voice is coming from) What?

Parker and Hardison are in the room next door, also covered in soot. Parker is walking around, tossing her handcuffs up and down. Hardison is still handcuffed to his bed.

Parker: Cops and firemen got there just as we were waking up.

Nate: Where are we?

Hardison: County hospital. Local cops, they responded to the explosion.

Hardison motions towards his handcuffs like he'd like Parker to get him out. She ignores him.

Nate: Have we been processed?

Eliot waves at him to show his fingers are covered in ink. They have all been fingerprinted.

Eliot: They faxed our prints to the State Police.

Hardison: Yo, if the staties run us man, we're screwed.

Parker: How long?

Hardison: Thirty, thirty-five minutes depending on the software.

Eliot: They printed us twenty minutes ago. So unless we get out of here in the next ten minutes we all go to jail.

Nate: Yeah, all right. I uh …

Eliot: (looks towards door) I can take these cops.

Parker: Don't you dare. You kill anyone you screw up my getaway.

Hardison: Hold up. I'm still handcuffed here. I can't even go to the bathroom. I gotta go.

Nate: Parker! Get me a phone. What we're going to do is, we're going to get out of here together.

Eliot: This was a one time deal.

Nate: Look guys, here's your problem. You all know what you can do, I know what all you can do, so that gives me the edge which gives me the plan.

Parker: I don't trust these guys.

Nate: Do you trust me?

Eliot: Of course. You're an honest man.

Nate: Parker. Phone.

Parker: This is gonna suck.

Parker sticks her fingers down her throat to make herself puke. Hardison looks devastated and tries to turn away.

Hardison: Oh. Hell no!

Scene lapse. Parker is now lying in her hospital bed, handcuffed. A doctor is checking her temperature.

Doctor: Nausea could mean a concussion. If you feel any more effects or blurred vision, tell the policeman right away.

The doctor, nurse and cop all leave. Parker and Hardison look at each other and reveal they have both stolen a phone. They look down and realize they both have the wrong kind of phone and switch with each other. Parker then holds up the handcuff key she swiped. She tosses it to Hardison and stands up on her bed to pass the smaller phone through the vent to Nate in the next room.

Parker: Nate.

Nate: (Reaching up to vent) Yeah, I got it. So the trick is to give them what they want. They're expecting a phone call, right? (tosses phone to Eliot)

Scene cut: Hallway in hospital

Nurse: (to Deputy Burns) There's an outside call for you. Line 2.

Deputy Burns gets up to take call.

Scene cut: Parker and Hardison's room.

Hardison is using the camera on the phone he stole to take his own picture.

Hardison: Okay.

Scene cut: Hallway

Deputy Burns picks up phone

Deputy Burns: This is Deputy Burns.

The voice on the other end of the line is Eliot with a much deeper southern accent than usual.

Eliot: This is Detective Lieutenant Carden with the Illinois State Police. About those prints that you sent us. The problem I have is that they're sending up red flags all over the place and I've got somebody on the phone for you from the FBI down there in Washington. Can you hold son?

Deputy Burns: (straightening) Yes, sir.

Scene cut: Hardison's room.

Hardison: Come on. There it goes.

Hardison is using the phone to send a fax, over the internet, to which he has attached the photo he just took.

Scene cut: Eliot and Nate's room.

Eliot tosses the phone to Nate.

Nate: Yeah, Deputy Burns, this is Deputy-Director McCumber, FBI. Yes, is our man all right?

Deputy Burns: Uh, I'm sorry, I don't follow …

Nate: Deputy, listen to me the man that you have inside there is ours actually. He's been in deep cover for three years.

Burns: Seriously?

Nate: That's correct. In fact you should be receiving a fax any moment now confirming what I'm telling you.

A young cop rushes down the hallway holding a fax. He hands it to Deputy Burns. It is marked "Classified" and has Hardison's face on it.

Nate: Most of what I've told you is classified. I need to know I can trust you. Can I?

Deputy Burns: Yes sir.

Nate hangs up. Cue thiefy bass music.

Scene cut: Outside hospital

The local police are watching as Hardison loads Eliot into a police cruiser. Nate and Parker are already inside the car. As Hardison leads Eliot into the backseat Eliot hits his head on the top of the door frame. He turns and growls at Hardison.

Hardison: Walk it off. Walk … get inside. Get inside.

Hardison turns to the cops and salutes them.

Hardison: Men, it fills my heart with tears of joy, what you guys do. It does.

The nurse comes out of the hospital.

Nurse: (to Deputy Burns) There's a call for you. State police.

In the car, Hardison smiles and drives off.

Scene cut: Hardison's loft.

Hardison: Four first class tickets to anywhere but here, coming up.

Parker: (whistling) Whose place is this?

Hardison: It's mine.

Eliot: I'm gonna beat Dubenich so bad that even the people who look like him are gonna bleed.

Parker: You won't get within 100 yards. He knows your face. He knows all our faces.

Eliot: He tried to kill us.

Parker: More importantly he didn't pay us.

Eliot: How is that more important?

Parker: I take that personally.

Eliot: There's something wrong with you.

Hardison: (at his computer) Heads up, heads up look. Dubenich's story is 90 percent true. He is the head of Bering Aerospace big rival to Pierson, but, check out what my little web crawlers coughed up.

Hardison brings up a video on one of his monitors from a news broadcast.

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

Nate: Could be a cover story.

Hardison: Here's a log of last night's rip. Internal timestamps on the project - 2003, 2004, they're way, way down in the code. There's no reason to fake those man.

Eliot: So we didn't steal the plans back?

Parker: No, we were just stealing them.

Hardison: Why would Dubenich lie to us?

Nate: 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. This way you just saw another citizen in over his head and that's why you didn't see the double cross coming.

Parker: Why didn't you see it coming?

Nate: Because I'm not a thief.

Eliot: (standing) You know what, maybe that was the problem. If you …

Hardison: Hey, hey hey. I bought tickets to London, Rome, Paris and Sao Paulo all matching the IDs that you gave me.

Nate: (looking at the story about Dubenich on Hardison's monitor) You're running.

Eliot: Yes sir. You got a better idea?

Nate: No, no. (indicates Dubenich) You're running. Now that was a high-risk play. You got your balls tied to the stock price like a cinder block, shareholder meeting coming up. We can't let this guy have any time to cool down.

Eliot: You want to run a game on this guy? You?

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

Parker: He does think he got rid of us.

Hardison: Element of surprise.

Eliot: What's in it for me?

Nate: Payback, and if it goes right a lot of money.

Parker: What's in it for me?

Nate: A lot of money, and if it goes right, payback. Hardison?

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

Eliot: What's in it for you?

Nate: He used my son. (long pause) All right. Let's go get Sophie.

Nate leaves. Parker and Hardison follows. Eliot lingers, confused.

Eliot: What the hell's a Sophie?

Scene cut: Interior, sparsely filled theatre.

Sophie traipses on stage dressed as Lady MacBeth, doing a terribly overdramatic, fake soliloquy.

Sophie: Come, you spirits

That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,

And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full

Of direst …! make thick my blood;

The camera pans across the team as she performs. Eliot, Sophie and Hardison are in shock of how awful she is. Nate is enthralled.

Sophie: Stop up the access and passage to remorse,

That nooooooo (she forgets her line) That noooo compunctious visitings of nature

Hardison: She is very awful.

Parker: Is she injured? In the head?

Eliot: Seriously man, this is the worst actress I've ever seen.

Nate: This is not her stage.

Scene cut: Alley outside of theatre

Sophie walks out the backstage door. Nate, Hardison, Eliot and Parker are waiting for her by a car.

Eliot: No. No, I vote no.

Nate: Parker's right, Dubenich knows us and we need a fresh face. (Nate claps as Sophie approaches) I thought you were great.

Sophie: My only fan.

On-Screen Text: Sophie Devereaux. Grifter.

Scene cut: Hotel Room.

On-Screen Text: Paris. Seven Years Ago.

Sophie is cutting a painting out of a frame. There are several empty frames already littering the floor. Suddenly the door burst open and Nate enters with a gun.

Nate: Freeze.

Sophie grabs a gun of her own and shoots Nate in the shoulder. He is shocked but doesn't fall. He shoots Sophie in the back. She gasps in pained surprise while he clutches his shoulder.

Sophie: You wanker.

Scene cut: Alley.

Sophie: I'm a citizen now. Honest.

Nate: I'm not.

Sophie: You're playing my side. I always thought you had it in you.

Nate: Um, are you in?

Sophie: (nods) I wouldn't miss this.

Nate: (mildly flustered, turns to team) All right. All right, let's break the law just one more time.

The team gets into the car and drive away.

Scene cut: Hardison's loft

Hardison displays pictures of Dubenich on his massive television. The team is sitting on the couches listening.

Hardison: Victor Dubenich, executive vice-president in charge of new technology development over at Bering Aerospace. (Eliot enters with popcorn and kicks Hardison's legs out of his way, yet steps over Parker's) Rich daddy, trust fund, Yale MBA. Blah, blah blah.

Nate: Victor? Now when was the last time you met a Victor?

Eliot: Vietnam. Town called Banho Zay.

Sophie: Chinese border.

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

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

Hardison: Now Bering is in charge of a lot of big fat government contracts. Some, Department of Defense research. Very classified stuff.

Parker: Can we use that?

Hardison: No, I don't think so. Dubenich is in charge of their commercial airline business.

Nate: I know when you sent Dubenich his designs you weren't supposed to make any copies.

Hardison: No, I promise. That would be very wrong.

Nate: Show me your copies.

Hardison nods and brings the blueprints up on the TV.

Eliot: It's an airplane.

Nate: It's a short alt domestic airliner, yeah, usually one hour flights, it's the fastest growing segment of the industry. Very fuel efficient. (the team looks at him in confused awe as he explains. Eliot removes his glasses) High tech. Very nice carbon nose, it's got the titanium wrap. 3 to 1. You know, you pick up things here and there.

Hardison: You pick up a lot of stuff.

Parker: Ha!

Hardison: Check this out. 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.

Parker: So Pierson got there first, Dubenich took a short cut.

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

Sophie: What are you thinking, Nate?

Nate: I'm thinking Nigerians. Yeah, Nigerians will do nicely.

Nate walks away with no further explanation. The 'kids' look to Sophie to translate.

Sophie: Well he hasn't changed a bit.

Scene cut: Dubenich's office

Dubenich walks past his secretary towards his office. She stops him.

Secretary: Your 9 o'clock is here.

Dubenich: My …?

Camera pans to show Sophie looking fantastic in a business suit waiting for him.

Sophie: (In South African accent) Mr. Dubenich, Anna Gunschtot, African Commercial Transport and Trade Initiative.

Scene cut: Hardison's loft.

Hardison sits down at his computer with Nate behind him listening over Sophie's com line.

Hardison: Here comes the mountain of suck.

Dubenich: You government?

Sophie: No, no. Private business consortium. We are looking to encourage infrastructure development and economic renewal.

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

Sophie: We create jobs and trade in Africa. Keep the graft and the stealing manageable.

Hardison: She's not awful.

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

Dubenich: Keep graft and stealing manageable in Africa, good luck but I don't think I can help. I don't think any human being on Earth can help you with that. Sorry.

Sophie: (laughs) Come on. Let's go and talk somewhere a little less formal, eh?

Dubenich: Uh, no, no, no. Look, I, Ms. .. uh.

Sophie leaves the office. Dubenich tries to stumble out that he can't but ends up following her anyway. They pass his secretary who looks confused.

Nate: Okay, and now.

Hardison remote accesses into the Secretary's computer to make it look like her computer has completely crashed.

Secretary: No. No, no. No, no, no please. (she taps keys furiously trying to fix it. It beeps. She gives up)

Scene cut: Parker is in a vent somewhere having tapped into the phone line in the building. The phone she's holding rings.

Parker: Hello IT.

Secretary: Yeah, this is Victor Dubenich's office, my computer just completely crashed.

Parker: Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Did you try turning it on and off again?

Hardison: That's a computer thing. I told her to say that.

Nate: Well done.

Parker: We've got someone on your floor already.

Secretary: Thank you.

Eliot appears almost instantly, dressed very dorky.

Eliot: Somebody call IT?

Scene cut: Outside

Sophie and Dubenich are walking in front of the building.

Sophie: I represent a group of investors who are looking to start an airline for short tour flights in Africa.

Dubenich: Of Johannesburg?

Nate: Okay, he's testing you. You want Bloemfontein.

Sophie: Keep away from the hubs. Revitalize the regional airports. In South Africa Bloemfontein for example. Patrilli. It's Nigeria we're focused on.

Nate: Yeah, perfect.

Dubenich: Most of their airport runways are a mess.

Sophie: I believe new airplanes will make people more comfortable while we renew old runways.

Dubenich: Uh huh. I don't recall saying anything about new airplanes.

Sophie: Victor. Both you and your engineer are scheduled to speak at your shareholder's meeting.

Dubenich: I think you know more about my business than I do.

Sophie: I've done my homework. I find you fascinating.

Scene cut: Dubenich's office

Parker pulls the panel away from the vent over Dubenich's office and drops inside while Eliot flirts with the secretary to distract her.

Secretary: It's good. It's good to have a passion, you know. (She starts to swing her chair and Eliot stops her)

Eliot: Let me show you how to uh reconnect with the network.

Hardison: Now, shouldn't I be playing the computer guy?

Nate: No, I want you to actually be the computer guy.

Parker goes to Dubenich's computer, turns it on and inserts a flash drive. Then places the listening device with the red light on it under Dubenich's desk.

Eliot continues to distract the secretary.

Eliot: All right. (takes the mouse from the secretary) No. No, no. And reboot. Voila.

Secretary: You are strong for a computer guy.

Eliot: Why thank you. I like to work out and try to stay big cause I love dressing up like a klingon and going to all the conventions, you know. Bacla! Sorry.

Secretary: It's okay. Bacla!

Eliot: Oh! Don't you tease me.

Hardison: Oh, hold up man, that is not … that is not cool. That is not cool. We gonna have a strong talk when you get back.

Parker removes flash drives and jumps back up into the ceiling vents.

Eliot: (to secretary) You've got unbelievably blue eyes.

Secretary: Thank you.

Eliot: They're stunning. Just breathtakingly blue.

Scene cut: Outside

Dubenich and Sophie have strolled to a wharf.

Dubenich: Uh, sorry is it Gunshot? I'm sorry.

Sophie: (laughs) Gunschtot.

Dubenich: I'm sorry. Really sorry.

Sophie: Anna.

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

Nate: Okay, you know what to do. Hit him.

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

Dubenich: Well, that's very ambitious. You have the manufacturing facilities to do all that?

Sophie: (waves off the idea) Ah! We can easily raise the money to build the facilities if we know for certain we're going to get the contracts.

Nate: Thatta girl.

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

Hardison: It was a nice try man.

Nate: Wait for it.

Sophie: I understand.

Dubenich: And I really do have …

Sophie: I'll take it to Pierson.

Dubenich: Pierson? Uh, sure, go ahead, Pierson's a great company, I don't think they can help you, but …

Sophie: Oh, they have a reputation for long-term investment, you don't. They're innovators. Yeah, it's probably a better fit.

Dubenich: I know … I'm aware that you're manipulating me, Anna.

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

Dubenich: Okay, I give up, I'll take the meeting. (goes to shake her hand, she walks away)

Sophie: I'll have my office call you.

Dubenich: What? Yeah.

Sophie: Day after tomorrow?

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

Nate slaps Hardison on the shoulder happily and laughs. They shake hands in congratulations.

Scene cut: Hardison's loft.

Time lapse. It is night. Hardison is in front of his double monitors, Eliot is in the background playing pool.

Hardison: Yo, Nate. (Nate comes over from the kitchen) I got all his financials off his harddrive and all his passwords.

Nate: Yeah. (Looks pleased, walks away to the pool table)

Eliot: (hands him a beer) Your shot.

Nate: No thanks. (picks up pool cue) Five corner. (takes shot)

Eliot: You look better, than when we started.

Nate: Yeah.

Eliot: Yeah. And that bothers you, huh.

Nate: I uh, well this isn't supposed to feel …

Eliot: Good? (Eliot chuckles) It's not that hard to figure out. Dubenich screwed ya. He cheated by stealing from that other company and your good guy brain sees him as the bad guy. Your conscience is clear.

Nate: You want to take your shot?

Eliot: (nods, take a swig of beer) Listen, I'm sorry about your kid.

Nate: You don't know anything about that.

Eliot: Everybody knows. A guy like you goes off the street a lot of people notice. And it was a bad story too. How did they justify that, huh? The insurance company just not paying for his treatment?

Scene cut: Flashback. Hospital.

Nate, with slicked back hair, watches through a glass door as doctors monitor and treat his son, Sam, who is very pale and unconscious.

Nurse: BP's dropping.

Nate starts gasping as he watches Sam slip away.

Scene cut: Hardison's loft. Present time.

Nate: They claimed it was experimental.

Eliot: (scoffs) Should have kept one of those Monets you found. You fence that …

Nate: (cuts him off) Eliot, you and I are not friends.

Eliot: Right. Right. Because you have so many of them. (points to Sophie approaching from the kitchen) Incoming.

Eliot walks away as Sophie goes to Nate.

Sophie: Hey, can you help me with this earpiece?

Nate: Uh, yeah, why don't you ask Hardison …

Sophie: Nate, come on (holds out earpiece to him)

Nate takes it, places it gently in her ear and then fixes her hair back in place.

Sophie: Thanks. So, uh, this time you really are inside my head.

She walks away. Hardison pushes his computer chair across the room and points between Nate and Sophie.

Hardison: Oooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh.

Scene cut: Fake Office Building

Dubenich's car pulls up in front of the building. He takes off his sunglasses and gets out then heads inside. Nate and Hardison are seen in the background, watching from a table at a cafι.

Nate: Sophie, he's on-site.

Scene cut: Interior office building

Sophie is in front of a glass office filled with men in suits.

Sophie: What? No, I'm not ready.

Dubenich goes through the doors downstairs and checks out the lobby.

Nate: If you don't meet him right now in the lobby he's going to go to the building directory and look for the office number. Guys we are not in the building directory.

Eliot is going up a staircase in the building with a bag and a cardboard sign.

Eliot: And why aren't we in the directory?

Hardison: I don't know, maybe because they're fake offices.

Sophie: (looks panicked and heads for elevators) Oh god. (she hits the button. None of them are responding)

Downstairs Dubenich looks at his watch.

Sophie: There's no elevator.

Nate: (standing up) All right I'll distract him. Parker you got ten seconds to get Sophie to the lobby.

Parker appears in the stairwell by the elevators.

Parker: Sophie!

Sophie: What's going on?

Parker: Put this on. (throws her a harness)

Sophie: What for?

Parker: Speed.

They disappear into the stairwell as Eliot runs past them and into the elevator bank to put up the signs he brought.

Outside Nate pulls out a retractable baton from his coat. He heads towards the building, considering his options, then decides to bust out the windows of the car next to him. The car alarm goes off.

Inside, Dubenich only barely notices.

Nate breaks the windows on two more cars.

In the building many people run to the door to see what is happening. Dubenich checks it out only briefly.

In the stairwell Parker attaches her and Sophie's harnesses to a prepared zip line. Sophie looks over the edge - they are many floors up.

In the lobby Dubenich approaches the building directory.

Upstairs Eliot is just finishing putting up the signs.

Parker and Sophie get tied in together and jump. Sophie screams.

Dubenich approaches the directory and starts to type in Africa just as Sophie appears from the stairwell, mildly flustered. She gets his attention.

Sophie: Our offices are on the tenth floor.

Dubenich: Oh. You're uh, you have a glow.

Sophie: Just … excited.

She leads the way. They get into an elevator together.

Sophie: One thing. The gentleman bringing you this opportunity to work with their government, they'll expect some … compensation. Not a bribe of course.

Dubenich: A finder's fee.

Sophie: Exactly.

Dubenich: I thought your job was to eliminate graft and stealing.

Sophie: No. My job is to keep it manageable.

Upstairs, Eliot has finished putting up the last sign. It reads: African Commercial Transport and Trade Initiative. As he walks away the elevator opens to reveal Sophie and Dubenich.

Sophie leads Dubenich into an office filled with Nigerian officials.

Nigerian 1: Good afternoon. Mr. Dubenich, we are honored by your presence.

Dubenich: No, the honor is entirely all mine, getting in on the ground floor of something like this is a wonderful opportunity.

Scene cut: Outside office building.

Nate and Hardison are back at their table at the cafι. Parker joins them and puts her feet up.

Nate: Nice job on the zipline.

Parker: (laughing) Totally thought she was going to break a leg. Not bad for a first time.

Dubenich: (heard over com) So what do you think?

Nate: She's closing it up.

Nigerian 1: Yes, absolutely. We can definitely repurpose those factories.

Dubenich: Great.

Nigerian1: I believe we will be able to do a lot of business together, sir.

Sophie: About the … the other matter.

Nigerian1: (takes a moment. Nods) Of course.

Sophie stands up and walks to the other end of the table. Takes envelope Nigerian1 passes to her and brings it to Dubenich. Dubenich opens it under the table. It says $1,000,000. This will be the Nigerian's 'finder's fee'.

Sophie: Is it agreeable?

Dubenich: Oh, I think we can work something out.

Sophie: Excellent.

Scene cut: Outside office building

Dubenich is getting back in his car. Sophie is on the sidewalk. When Dubenich drives away the rest of the team emerges from behind a pillar.

Nate: We got him?

Sophie: We own him.

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

Sophie: This is going to work, right?

Nate: I guarantee it.

Scene cut: Dubenich's office

Dubenich brings his engineer into his office with him.

Engineer: This is insane. We are risking everything.

Dubenich hushes him. And pulls him to the floor to look under the desk.

Engineer: We already took a chance by … (shuts up when he sees the transmitter under Dubenich's desk)

They walk back out of the office.

Engineer: What is that?

Dubenich: It's a transmitter and they've been listening to everything I've been saying.

Engineer: Who are 'they'?

Dubenich pulls out a picture of Nate and Sophie talking.

Dubenich: Who do you think? Also, I've checked, there's no office for the African Commercial Trade Initiative anywhere in the city. They've been hustling me and I know exactly what they're doing. Tomorrow, it stops. Get the FBI on the phone.

Engineer: Yes, sir.

Scene cut: Shareholder's Meeting

Dubenich and his engineer are walking around the party area as things are being set up.

Engineer: Are you sure you know what you're doing?

Dubenich: Yeah, they're pissed, I get that. They want to make me pay. I mean, an opportunity like this, the same week as the Shareholder's Meeting. The bug, the fake offices, cash bribes, Nigerians for god's sake! Nigerians! I mean, it's like those email scams with Nigerian bank fraud letters. Who the hell do they think I am? Some dog they can just lead around? They're going to find out exactly how wrong they are.

Scene cut: Hardison's Loft

The supplies for the job are laid out on the pool table. The team each grabs a bag and heads out the door.

Scene cut: Shareholder's Meeting

Dubenich is presenting their new project to the Shareholders.

Scene cut: Hardison's Loft

The team heads down the stairs. Nate holds the door for Sophie, they share a brief moment.

Scene cut: The Nigerians are driving to the meeting

Scene cut: The Shareholders clap for Dubenich at the meeting

Scene cut: Sophie meets the Nigerians outside. Shakes hands with Nigerian1.

Scene cut: Shareholder's party.

Dubenich is talking to one of the Shareholders.

Shareholder1: All I know is, good day for you.

Dubenich: It's a good day for all of us. Stock's gone up 15 points since the announcement.

Shareholder1: Really?

Sophie approaches Dubenich.

Dubenich: You didn't know?

Shareholder1: No. I'll pass it around. (walks away)

Sophie: Well, aren't you the cat that ate the canary?

Dubenich: Does it show?

Sophie: You've got a terrible poker-face.

Dubenich: Guilty. (he spots the Nigerian officials in the background) Why don't we get this done?

Sophie: Now?

Dubenich: Yeah.

Sophie: You have the whole payment?

Dubenich: Absolutely, I think we should make the deal. I want to make the announcement, get even bigger headlines. I'll take them into a conference room away from all this. Go, go, go let's do it.

Sophie: I'll be right back. (Goes to the Nigerians and talks to them quietly as Dubenich watches).

Scene cut: Interior - Bering

Dubenich leads Sophie and the Nigerians into a conference room

Dubenich: Gentlemen, now everybody come in, relax, make yourselves comfortable.

Nigerian1: Thank you.

Dubenich: Sure.

The Nigerians sit while Sophie remains in the doorway.

Nigerian1: I assume we all understand the terms of this agreement.

Dubenich: Well I'll tell you, the exact terms of the agreement, are these. (he presses a button on his phone)

Several men in FBI coats appear and enter the room

FBI 1: FBI, don't move.

Higgins: You all right, sir?

Dubenich: Oh, I'm fine.

Nigerian1: Yes, of course.

Dubenich: I'm fine, thanks for asking, everything's perfectly … (two of the FBI agents uncross his arms and take hold of him) What? What are you …? Wait a minute, wait a minute, let go of me, please. (pulls free calmly) What are you looking at me for, the criminals are sitting right over there, look at them. Look, I spoke to Special Agent Higgins, if you call him on the phone.

Higgins: (holding up his badge) I'm Special Agent Higgins. Victor Dubenich you are under arrest for soliciting a bribe from these Nigerian Government officials.

Dubenich: I'm not … soliciting … these aren't even Nigerians.

Nigerian1: (taking out his passport) Of course we are.

Dubenich: No. No, no.

Nigerian1: Your woman knew that when she contacted us last week.

Dubenich: My … woman? Anna? Anna?

Dubenich looks around. Sophie is gone.

Dubenich: Anna! (he raises his hands in surrender) Um, Special Agent Higgins, Anna Gunschtot works for them.

Nigerian1: Ridiculous. She contacted us on your behalf.

Nigerian2: She told us she worked directly under you now.

Scene cut: Flashback to fake offices

Sophie meets the Nigerians for the first time.

Sophie: Anna Gunschtot from Bering Aerospace, directly under Victor Dubenich.

Scene cut: Present

Dubenich: But … she took me. She took me to their office.

Nigerian1: No, we do not have an office in this city.

Dubenich: Exactly.

Nigerian1: We met her at your other office.

Scene Cut: Flashback to fake offices

Eliot is putting up the original sign - it reads: Bering. Bering Consulting. Victor Dubenich.

The camera pans to the original meeting with the Nigerians again.

Sophie: Anna Gunschtot, from Bering Aerospace.

Scene Cut: Present

Dubenich looks stunned as he pieces out how he was tricked. He has a sudden terrible realization.

Dubenich: The shareholders! The shareholders!

Dubenich runs out of the room.

Outside, police cars and lots of FBI agents arrive.

Shareholder1: What in god's name.

The shareholders watch the FBI agents rush the building and surround them, making sure no one leaves. Dubenich rushes back into the party.

Dubenich: No, no, no. Uh, everybody, could I have your attention? It's just, it's just a permit problem.

Shareholder1: Victor, what's going on?

Dubenich: I can explain.

Higgins: Anybody else here involved in the bribe?

Shareholder1: Bribe?

Dubenich: There's no bribe.

Nigerian1: I handed this man an envelope containing a cashier's cheque for $200,000.

Dubenich: No. No, no. Nobody … I wasn't handed any … (pauses as he remembers)

Scene cut: Flashback - Meeting with Dubenich and the Nigerians

Nigerian1 places a cheque in an envelope and puts it in his pocket.

Later in the meeting, Sophie takes the envelope with the cashier's cheque and switches it with a different envelope before she passes it to Dubenich.

Scene cut: Present. At party.

Higgins: This will look a lot better for you if you did not deposit that cheque. Do you still have it?

Dubenich: I didn't get a cheque.

FBI 2: (to Higgins) Sir, we got people searching the lab, seizing the files and computers.

Higgins: Good job.

Shareholder1: Victor, news crews. If they find out.

Dubenich: Higgins! Higgins you can't do that! You can't take my computer.

Higgins: (scoffs) This company has government defense contracts. There are very serious rules regarding contact with foreign nationals. The Patriot Act applies here my friend. Sir, I can take your underpants.

Dubenich: Okay, it's getting a little aggressive. I'm sorry, Bobatumbai, this is Tom Bailey. These gentlemen are from Nigeria. Everybody just take it easy, relax, I'll be back and explain everything.

Shareholder1: Where are you going? Victor! Victor!

Scene cut: Shredding Room

Men are desperately shredding documents. Victor's engineer enters, panicked.

Engineer: Guys, we gotta get rid of this stuff. Keep shredding, keep shredding. (he pours shredded documents out the window) Help me!

Scene cut: Outside Building

FBI agents are still entering in a shower of shredded confetti. The team, all dressed in FBI coats, emerge from inside with boxes.

Scene cut: Shredding room

FBI agents burst in while they are still shredding

FBI 3: FBI!

The shredders all raise their hands and stop shredding.

The team walks away victorious.

Scene cut: Empty Office

Mr. Pierson is waiting, alone by a window. Nate approaches carrying a hard drive.

Pierson: I came alone.

Nate: Yes, I know, thank you Mr. Pierson. Now I understand your research was completely wiped out. I have complete copies right on these hard drives along with absolute proof that they were on Bering Aerospace computers, that should be good for a couple of lawsuits, right?

Pierson: I drop the investigation of all parties involved with the 'original' theft.

Nate: That seems fair. You get your property back.

Pierson: Agreed. No charges. Nothing on you, or your people.

Nate gives him the hard drives and walks away.

Pierson: Don't you want money?

Nate: This particular project has a different revenue stream.

Scene cut: Dubenich's office

The FBI is sorting through Dubenich's office while he sits in a chair watching the news, mortified.

CNN Reporter: In a massive sell-off sparked by multiple federal investigations of Bering Aerospace the stock plummeted 33 percent before trading was halted.

Dubenich's phone rings.

Dubenich: Yeah?

Scene cut: Nate walking through a park on his phone

Nate: Yeah, you should have just paid us.

Dubenich: I found the transmitter.

Nate: Oh, you found the transmitter with the blinking light, yeah, we wanted you to figure some of it out. Then we just gave you what you were expecting.

Dubenich: I am Victor Dubenich, I am going to beat this.

Nate: Aren't you forgetting about the bribe?

Dubenich: Who cares? You can't prove anything, I didn't get any money.

FBI 4: (from behind Dubenich) Bingo.

The FBI has found stacks of cash in Dubenich's safe.

Nate: No, it doesn't account for all of it, Sophie kept a little to buy a truly impressive number of shoes.

Scene cut: Sophie and the kids walking a street down from Nate

Parker: What is it with woman and shoes?

Sophie: There's something wrong with you.

Eliot: That's what I said.

Nate: See if a company's stock price falls ten, fifteen percent in one day and you see it coming, you sell short, you make a lot of money. If it's going to fall thirty percent you can make shattering amounts of money. We didn't need the FBI to show up and take you to jail, we just needed them to show up and take boxes out of your office, all day long in front of TV cameras, scaring your investors. You going to jail is just a bonus. I wouldn't say anything about us to the Feds. Next time we won't be so nice.

Scene cut: Dubenich's office

FBI 4: Who was that?

Dubenich hangs up, defeated.

Dubenich: Nobody.

Scene cut: Park

Hardison hands out envelopes with cheques in them to each member of the team. They all open them with shock. Sophie gasps.

Nate: (taking his) Job well … whoa!

They all look at Hardison.

Hardison: There was an overlap in the London stock market. Valuation carried over to NASDAQ and … I'm just very good at what I do.

Parker: This is THE score. The score.

Hardison: Age of the geek, baby.

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

Hardison: So, we're out, huh? I mean this is retirement money. This is go legit and buy an island money.

Nate: Uh, yeah. Pleasure working with you.

Eliot: One show only. No encores.

Parker: I already forgot your names.

They are all hesitant, but nod and disperse. Classic aerial shot of them all leaving in separate directions.

Scene lapse.

Nate is walking alone down a walkway. Hardison appears next to him.

Hardison: You know I never had that cool a time on a job.

Nate: It's a walkaway.

Hardison: And I got focus issues, brother you kept me right on.

Parker appears from Nate's other side.

Parker: I'm really good at one thing, only one thing that's it, but you, you know other things and I … I can't stop doing my one thing, can't retire …

Eliot appears as well.

Eliot: You want to know what I think?

Nate: Not really.

Eliot: How long until you fall apart again?

Nate: Oh I'm touched.

Eliot: Well a guy like you can't be out of the game, that's why you were a wreck, you need the chase.

Nate: Yeah, I'll manage. (His cell rings. He answers) Yeah.

He looks to his right. Camera pans to Sophie sitting on a bench a few feet away, on her phone. They both hang up.

Sophie: You pick the jobs.

Nate: My job is helping people. I help find bad guys.

Sophie: Then go find some bad guys. Bad guys have money. Black king, white knight.

Nate smiles, likes the idea.

Scene cut: Interior of a house

There is an older couple on a couch in front of the team. The mother is crying quite profusely.

Mother: I'm sorry.

Father: No, no, no.

Sophie: Please, take your time.

Mother: She … she was 17.

Sophie: I know.

Mother: They killed her. They said it was an accident but that company killed her. I want them hurt.

Father: We can't pay you.

Sophie: We work on an alternative revenue stream.

Father: I don't understand. The judge said we couldn't appeal. What are you gonna do?

Nate: 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 an enormous weight. We provide, Leverage.

End.

Archived at Fulcrum, a Leverage fan reference and resource site.
transcripts | episodes