That's What I Do - Chapter 11

I am grateful to borrow Leverage from the creators and writers to write this story. Only the words here are mine, nothing else. Warning for Rated-R language.

"Agent Haggen, is your partner ok?" McSweeten touched Parker on the elbow. He'd already checked with Taggert who was leaning against the hallway holding his head in one hand.

"He's fine. Just a bit shaken."

"Who is that?" The real FBI agent looked askance at Eliot. The man was bleeding on one arm and his hair had come out of the elastic band. He looked a mess.

"He doesn't exist," Parker mock whispered. "He's a confidential informant. He can't show up in any report so we're leaving him up here."

"Now wait a minute Pa—um Agent Haggen. Umm Stone here needs to get to a hospital. I'll escort him." Hardison moved to Eliot's right side to make sure he didn't jostle his wounded arm. "Come on," he said out of the side of his mouth.

The two men went down the stairs with Hardison leading. Another agent came up and Hardison stopped him from approaching. "I got this." He leaned in. "Informant and we need to sneak him out so the gang members don't see him."

"Right this way Agent Thomas." The Fed led them to a side door which led out into the alleyway.

"Nate?" Hardison spoke softly. "We're coming out on the north side."

Sophie and Nate had followed all the action through their coms. "We're coming." In a short time, Nate pulled up and Eliot got into the back. Sophie turned around and asked, "Do you need to go to the hospital?"

"Eventually, but not right now." Eliot had checked and while the bleeding had stopped, a careless movement would open up the slice again. More stitches.

Both Nate and Sophie trusted that Eliot knew enough to make that call. He was conscious this time. All three settled in to listen to the mopping up.

Back in the warehouse, Parker and Hardison stood back and watched as the other agents cuffed all the gang members and Avalos.

The latter was shouting and fighting being arrested. "These aren't my drugs!"

Hardison saw an agent enter the warehouse with a satisfied grin. The Fed came up to Avalos and spoke. "If they're not yours, then why are there bags that are taped exactly like these in the air vent at your house?"

"What?! I don't…"

"You asshole. You told me that you didn't…" Raul became incoherent as he tried to reach Avalos and struggled before being subdued by several agents.

"Consorting with criminals. Dealing drugs. What else might we find?" Alec was enjoying this. It had been a piece of cake for him and Sophie to stash the drugs Parker had stolen in Avalos' house.

Back in the car, Nate said, "Two down. One final con. Sophie?"

Picking up her phone, Sophie made the call.

Macias looked up as police entered his office. "Can I help you?" What the hell? Why were they here? he wondered.

Ignoring him, the officer in charge went to the wall and pulled off the artwork that had once had the bug. He compared it to a photo that he pulled out of his breast pocket. "This is it."

"This is what?" Macias was getting pissed off. How dare they?

"This was reported stolen this morning. Supposedly it had been lost in a fire but apparently not. How did you come into possession of this painting?"

"It's mine fair and square. I can show you the provenance." Macias went over to his filing cabinet and pulled out a single file folder. "Here." He said smugly as he handed it over.

The officer opened the file and rifled through the various papers. When he found the one that was connected to the art piece, he pulled it out. Looking at it, even he could tell that there was something hinky. The signature at the bottom verifying the sale was blurry and looked to have been added in. It was a very poor forgery. Turning to the two officers behind him, he said, "Cuff him."

"No! Wait! Let me see that!" Macias examined the paper that the officer showed him. "That's not what I was given!" Macias felt the blood drain from his face. How had this happened?

"Unless you have a different copy of the provenance, I'm going to have to arrest you for stolen art. And we'll examine all the other pieces that you have here."

The three police escorted Macias out of his office as he was read his rights.

All of the team smiled as they listened to Macias being taken down. It had been easy for Nate to break in and switch out the real provenance for a forged copy. He'd had to fight Sophie on that. She'd wanted them to switch paintings so she could have the real one and he'd be arrested for owning a forged copy. Nate pointed out that they could get him more time if he owned a piece reported as stolen. Hardison had found a museum that had had several pieces of its collection destroyed in a fire. He'd added the painting to the inventory. All that had been needed was for Sophie to make her call.

"And that's three. Time to close this down. We'll meet you all back at the hotel once Eliot gets some more stitches."

Hours later Macias sat in his cell after speaking to the public defender. He was unable to make bail since he had no money in his accounts. Any of them. Staring at the police station's wall, he wondered what had happened. When had it all gone wrong?

Back in their office, Nate shook hands with their clients. He handed them a cashier's check. Mr. Pena did a double take as he read the amount. "But this is more…"

Nate cut him off. "We added for pain and suffering. Your retirement finances are strong once again. I would suggest you put the money into a high yield FRA rather than gamble on any…"

Mrs. Pena snatched the check out of her husband's hand. She's been against the investing since the start. "We will." She led her sheepish husband out of the office once they'd both expressed their sincere gratitude.

Nate topped off his glass from the bottle of scotch and sat down at the conference table once again. Sophie joined him after she shifted the bottle out of his reach. He ignored her attempt since he had another bottle in his own office. The two chatted as they waited for the others.

Parker was in her office. She shifted the plant so she could reach the box stored underneath it. She pulled out a wad of bills from her jacket and dumped them there. She'd been able to filch them when she was moving the duffle bag around in the warehouse. She would take them to her home and add them to her stash. Setting her plant back on top, she went towards the kitchen. She stopped in the dark hallway when she heard Eliot and Hardison talking.

"Yo man. I just want to say thank you. For everything. You saved my life." Alec had already expressed his gratitude back in St. Louis, but he wanted Eliot to understand that Hardison really trusted him now.

Hardison had entered the kitchen and come up behind Eliot who had his head stuck in a cabinet. The hacker had shuffled his feet so that he wouldn't startle the man. Sidestepping around Eliot, Hardison opened the fridge and took out a six pack of beer. He'd seen Eliot drink the lager before and had bought it as a small peace offering. He lifted it up in silent question.

Eliot understood what Hardison was really trying to say. He was glad. If he left the team, he wanted it to be by his decision, not because his team mates were terrified of him. The younger man trusted that Eliot would do his job no matter what it took. Each was a part of what was becoming a well-oiled machine. There were plenty of other people out there that needed their help.

Finding a bag of chips and salsa, Eliot gestured for Hardison to precede him.

Soon all five were watching the latest game on Hardison's wall of TVs sharing a beer, food, and camaraderie.

Leaning back in his chair, Eliot scratched at his healing wound. Looking at the others surreptitiously, he reaffirmed his goal that he would do whatever to keep them safe. After all, that's what he did.

Thus concludes this story. I cannot apologize enough for not finishing this story sooner. I hope those of you who really wanted it to conclude are satisfied with the results. Thank you.