The Arch-nemesis Job, part 1/3 (for bigbangjob)
Sorry for flooding your friend pages - I'm completely lost in posting with multiple links - if I knew how to hide this and post only master post, I would :/
Title: The Arch-nemesis Job
Characters: the Team
Fandom: Leverage
Spoilers: Season 5 - hiatus between Japan and The Rundown Job
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: I do not own blah blah blah
Author's note: This one will be number five or six in 'The Texas Mountain Laurel' series
***
Nothing indicated that that day would be any different than a usual post-job day.
They gathered pretty late, around lunch, because Hardison insisted on watching that old zombie movie the night before, in spite of everybody’s jet lag and tiredness. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea, Nate had to admit, because popcorn, a funny movie and rest relaxed everybody, and cleared their minds from the Japan Job.
Amy’s presence was something unusual. They hadn’t had anybody so close to their work since Florence McCoy, and maybe that reminder was the cause of Eliot’s bad mood. He didn’t say a word through the entire movie, except when he found out that his notes about the proper care of George, written for Parker, were still in closed the envelope where he had left them before they’d left. The plant, however, simply didn’t have enough time to die or wither in their short absence, so he calmed down after checking the water and adjusting the light.
The Japan Job had been unnerving and stressful for all of them - well, differently stressful - and slowly adjusting to the familiar vibes was welcomed.
The post-job briefing was postponed and no time was set, yet everybody gathered around the same time. Hardison and Parker climbed down from their apartment - Parker insisting on the rope slide to the big chair set up for her - and Eliot and Sophie came together, still debating about the sapphire, turquoise or aquamarine eyes on the golden monkey. It seemed that the issue would stretch on for eternity, because their arguments had gone into an alchemist-metaphysical-mythology driven fight. Simply having the jewels analyzed to determine their form was so beyond their present state that Nate decided not to mention it until absolutely necessary.
They all settled at the big table with Parker in front of them, in the chair - she turned upside down, putting her legs on the backrest, so she could see them above her. She was vibrating with accumulated energy, eagerly waiting to hear everything about the job for which all of them agreed she better not knowing anything about. Nate had no idea how Hardison managed to avoid all her questions about it, but judging by his tired features, he kept up a good battle.
There was, really, no use in disturbing Parker with Hardison’s last moment escape from a firing squad, Eliot’s sword fight that could have easily ended with him coming home in two separate boxes, and Sophie’s accidentally pushing Japan into a war with North Korea during that diplomatic dinner… Well, after that dinner, they all knew a few more things: Emperor Akihito had a heart condition, and he should not be disturbed, for the sake of the world peace… it was possible to be accused of treason on behalf of a nonexistent Micronesian country… yes, the Emperor’s granddaughter, slender and beautiful, did have a sex change operation, and saké didn’t mix well with poisoned cherries.
Sometimes, Nate wondered if his headache was a permanent state, or he had just ceased to notice its ups and downs anymore.
However, Parker ought to know nothing about that fiasco that almost got them all killed, repeatedly. Do not disturb the patient, was the collective mantra. Or the patient will disturb them all - that was an addition he was sure all of them repeated silently.
He was damn tired. That job started with a simple Plan A, and ended not with the better part of alphabet, no, that would've been too easy… the plans changed so fast that the letters started to form words.
He put his elbows on the table, enjoying his coffee, listening to Hardison trying not to coo while bringing Parker her pills, but it didn’t brighten his day like it used to do in the past few months. They all needed a rest.
“Have you been listening to me at all the last ten minutes, or did you just repeat sapphire, sapphire, sapphire in your head so you couldn’t hear a word I say?” Sophie’s voice rose into high pinch of irritation. “Of course I know that bloody turquoise is not faceted, I was talking about the nuance! Once and for all - turquoise hued aquamarine, Eliot, not greenish sapphire. And what the hell should be ‘slightly greenish’? Have you seen the Dom Pedro aquamarine? Well, that isn’t turquoise hue.”
“Do you want it?” Parker asked before Eliot could form the words behind the smoke and fire coming out of his nose.
“Do I want what?” Sophie turned to her, surprised.
“Dom Pedro. It’s in the National Museum of Natural History. I planned to get it, it would be perfect for my table in the warehouse with light behind it, but, it’s funny, I got bored searching for the appropriate bag for it - that kind of obelisk you can’t carry out under your arm, right - and then I got distracted with emeralds in New York.”
“No, Parker, I don’t want the Dom Pedro aquamarine,” Sophie stated softly.
“Maybe we can plan to see it when we go to Washington the next time?” Parker looked at him with anticipation. “We will be going to Washington?”
“Not if I… No, Parker, I doubt it.” Nate slowly exhaled. “And even if we go, we certainly won’t go chasing sapph”-he squinted, whipped by Sophie’s glare-“aquamarines. Of whatever hue.”
“I miss jewels,” she said sadly, and sank lower in the chair. “The National Museum of Natural History- oh, Eliot, the Hall sapphire and diamond necklace is also there, we should really go and - I mean, you could see those sapphires and then decide if they really are the same that you saw, or-”
Eliot had one hand over his eyes since Parker asked about Dom Pedro, but now he covered his face with the other one too. “Parker, no. No trips to Washington. No diamonds in Washington. Ever.”
“Four hundred and thirty five diamonds in one necklace,” she whispered, her eyes completely glazed over.
Hardison stopped his hand that was stretched with his palm up, pills on it, took one pill away, and gave them to her with a tired sigh.
“And now, Japan,” Parker shifted in her seat in to get more comfortable - comfortable by her standards, anyway - position, and smiled gleefully. “Tell me everything.”
Dead silence fell in the room. Nate noticed the quick glance that Sophie and Eliot exchanged, and started to question their fight from the beginning.
“We destroyed everything that should have been destroyed,” Hardison started slowly. “We saved all the monkeys, in all different shapes and different hued eyes, that could have been saved, and Eliot fought many Japanese.” He looked at the hitter. “They are smaller, are they counted as one person, or three Japanese are about two big guys, or-”
Nate took a sip of coffee, watching the fight going on inside the hitter, the fight between the annoyance that Hardison’s babbling automatically provoked, and accepting that as a useful distraction for Parker. Much to his surprise, the advantages of distraction prevailed.
“It depends if they are unarmed or not. Nine small guards are like dominoes… push one and all the rest follow in line, but those guys with swords can’t be counted as smaller… in their case, they are quicker and more dangerous, speed is the most important.”
“Emperor’s granddaughter was small too, I remember,” Sophie stated innocently, and Eliot flinched.
Parker’s eyes narrowed slightly. Nate watched her, not sure if that was only the effect of the pills, or she saw through their stalling, but Eliot skipped her questions.
“Going to check on lunch. Or breakfast, whatever. Be back in the-” His phone rang right at the moment he stood up, and he sighed in relief - the phone call would remove him from the conversation and direct Parker’s attention to others, and he didn’t have to run away to the kitchen with his tail between his legs. Damn, that granddaughter was beautiful, even Nate had to admit that.
Eliot waited one second before accepting the call. “Parker, ask her about the sapphires,” he motioned to Sophie with an evil grin, and turned around before the grifter could answer. “Hi, Shelley, what’s up? Back in the States, or still pacing some jungle?” He walked away and lowered his voice, the perfect trick that threw him out of the conversation, while in fact he was only a few meters away and able to hear them.
Parker didn’t need any directing. “Okay, I get it… you won’t tell me any details, because it was more complicated than it should be, right?”
“Nah, I wouldn't call it complicated,” Hardison smiled. Of course it wasn't complicated, it was deadly. “We had a few pretty intense moments, but all the jobs are the same… boring preparations and intense execution. In fact, the most important part is my notes about how the speakers performed, and Nate, you have to hear it.” Hardison widened his eyes for a second, shooting him significant stare.
“Of course, I’m all ears,” he smiled and stopped his hand that was going to press his temples; the word speakers brought back very unpleasant memories, and suddenly almost present sounds of street riots… Jesus, they were only a few minutes from launching The Sixth Fleet into Pacific. If Eliot’s opponent’s sword hadn't broken, and they used it to… he stopped his thoughts as well as his hand, smiled at Hardison again, and nodded him to continue.
“I upgraded the internal power supply. Its layout had been revised and the quality of the components improved; it now includes thingies such as Vishay metal film resistors and Murata capacitors, yet electrostatics tend to excel at midrange. I noticed that when we used it with the Kanack case.”
“And the point is…?”
“There’s a touch of excess richness around the bass and a slight lack of brilliance to the treble,” Hardison said solemnly.
They all stared at him.
“Wait a sec, Shelley.” Eliot turned to them, lowering his phone, and stared at Hardison too. “A slight lack of brilliance to the treble? Seriously?”
“Hey, man, don’t shoot the messenger,” Hardison spread his arms. “It's a serious problem, and I’ll have to work on it for days.”
Eliot rolled his eyes and started to pace the room again, lowering his voice as he continued the conversation.
Hardison darted a stare at the hitter’s boots. “Let’s imagine, for example, that his boots don’t make any sound - I know it’s hard to imagine that, he stomps - to reproduce exactly that dull, irritating sound, I’ll have to work on a measured yet precise approach to rhythm replay and enough bass weight…”
“Hardison, the speakers worked perfectly,” Sophie jumped in, giving him a cue when he stopped in search of inspiration, studying Parker’s unimpressed face.
“They worked now. Maybe the next time we’ll need very subtle control of-”
Sophie sighed and waved her hand. “Look, I’m tired. I really don’t want to listen to speaker specifications. And I’m hungry. Parker, what’s on the menu today?” She obviously decided to try a different approach; his wasn’t working.
Hardison squeaked and in just one second they were drawn into a debate about what was more important, life-saving speakers, or food for the brain that could work on the life-saving speakers - and to Nate’s surprise, that worked because Parker took Sophie’s side. He wasn’t sure how distracted from Japan she really was, but they were on a good path.
They continued for a few more minutes, and Sophie managed to hoist Parker from the chair and they went to the kitchen. The silence was welcome, broken only by Hardison’s sigh of relief.
Silence?
Nate glanced at Eliot who was still pacing up and down, but there was no sound of his boots to hear anymore. He even checked if he had them on still - yep, they were on his feet. He just stopped making noise. And from what he could see, he did it without knowing it, still concentrating on his conversation with Shelley.
Hardison went to help the girls, and immediately returned with more coffee.
“That’s not a location, Shelley.” Nate listened to Eliot’s voice - completely normal, maybe even slightly amused. “You’re describing 500 square miles. Location is, like… this barn, this village, that hill… not a place the size of a small state.” Nothing showed that something unusual was happening, yet his suddenly soundless steps made his pacing light, swift, deadly graceful. “Yeah, yeah, I know. Okay, give me a call when you get back, gotta go now. Yes, I will.” Eliot ended the call and joined them at the table, taking his coffee. “Shelley sends regards, he’ll be back in the States in month or two so he plans to drop by.”
“Where is he now?” Hardison asked.
“He didn’t say, and I didn’t ask,” Eliot smiled. “Working.”
“And he called you from a secret mission just to say hi?” Nate said.
“He was lonely,” Eliot smiled again. “We sometimes exchange news,” he added as an afterthought and grimaced at Hardison. “So, speakers? You should go with describing that horticultural exhibition with the performances - they had better security than the Palace.”
“And add rare seeds to her wish list, along with diamonds? No man, the point was to distract her from Japan, not to make her interested.”
The hitter sighed and elbowed the table. “This is gonna be a fucking long day, and I’m tired already.” He spent a few seconds staring at the table, as if contemplating thumping his forehead on it, then sighed again. “We don’t have to be here, right? Nate? There’s no job waiting for us, and we all need a rest from that Japan shit.”
“I have a few potential clients, but no, nothing in the next couple of days,” he replied, leaning back in his seat so he could see both of them better. “Besides, we are out a thief, remember?”
“You’re not planning to skip and leave us to answer her questions, right?” Hardison shot Eliot a disapproving look.
“No, I plan to take you with me, and leave two of them with Parker. You owe me a fishing trip, remember? Is there a better time for that than now? Even better, we’ll find some good rapids so you can paddle along with fishing, and be in nature for few days.”
Hardison choked. “Me, paddle? You mean, like in a boat? With banjos?”
“Canoe, Hardison. What, you sit all day, so you can sit in a canoe for a change. Only difference is that you don’t use only your fingers, but arms. Paddling is not so demanding.”
Surprisingly, Hardison looked as if he was thinking about it for a moment.
“Freezing cold water, rapids, mosquitoes, wild animals, piranhas, alligators?” he finally asked. “Grizzlies, perhaps, too?”
“Yes, and at least three kangaroos.” This time Eliot did bump his head on the table, and stayed there. “You’re an idiot.”
“No, I just don’t want to leave Parker when she’s hurt, after I just returned from another continent. If you wait couple of weeks, I might reconsider that, that… gruesome thing.”
“Nope, I’m going, with or without you.”
“Fine.”
“Fine!” Eliot grumbled.
“Fine!!”
“Maybe we could send Parker with Eliot,” Nate jumped in before they continued, and got two identical aghast looks.
“What? She can sit, right?” he added innocently. “The whole day in a canoe, resting her leg, while you paddle endlessly and answer her questions…”
“I’ll go check that food,” Eliot jumped to his feet. “And then I’m offline, off track, off earbuds, off the phone… finally alone.”
Nate just smirked, because Hardison expected him to do so, but he followed the hitter with his eyes over the cup of coffee.
His steps were still soundless.
***
Nobody mentioned Japan while they ate. Parker didn’t mention anything she was doing, either, but nobody seemed to notice that, not even Hardison.
When they returned to the back room, Eliot made Hardison search for rapids, canoeing and fishing arrangements across the entire state, until he was satisfied with ten final destinations, scattered all over the US, one even in Canada. Besides that, he didn’t show any intentions of moving anywhere, he nursed his beer, occupying Parker’s chair. He chased Parker away pretty mercilessly, but the thief didn’t sit at the table with the rest of them, she hung herself and hovered on the rope at eye level, but above Eliot’s head, slightly swinging. Nate was wondering not if, but when, she would decide to tap on his head with her foot.
Hardison gave up when Eliot pulled up four different documentary films about canoeing and wild rapids fishing, explaining him all beauties of nature and hard work, so he gathered Parker and shooed her in the apartment with him, to rest.
Sophie had plans for the afternoon, plans that included him, walking and visiting a few places he wasn’t very eager to see, but as time went by and Nate just continued to sit there, she got the message. Nate could sense her tentacles checking the atmosphere to see what was happening - she might catch something unusual, but she surely couldn’t figure out what.
After her question, neutrally formed, about afternoon plans, which Nate answered as if they didn’t have any at all, she said she would call him later and left, leaving him to continue with whatever he was doing.
Well, he wasn’t sure what he was doing either… not completely sure, to be precise.
He took his glass and the bottle, brought a smaller chair to the giant one in which Eliot was still sitting, and sat beside him.
“Good distraction with the aquamarines. It almost worked.”
“It worked, but not long enough. And the monkey’s eyes were sapphires, Nate.”
“Since when are you an expert on jewels?”
“I’m not. But I put them in the statue myself a few years ago.”
“Ah, The Gutman job? Or should I say, one of the Gutman’s jobs?”
“Yep. I couldn’t take the monkey the first time I tried, so I made sure the replica I brought with me was stated as the original. The eyes were the first thing they looked at, and without any other reference, they declared the sapphire-eyed monkey the original, because of its worth. I expected the real one to be removed and put away somewhere with less security.”
“You put two priceless jewels in it, ten times the worth of the statue, just to finish the job?”
“Well, I didn’t finish it, right?” he smiled. “That place ‘with less security’ happened to be North Korea. Shit happens.”
Nate said nothing. He waited.
It took three sips of the beer before Eliot finally turned the screens off and turned in the chair to face him.
“We need to talk,” Eliot said slowly. At a quick glance it could have been mistaken for hesitation.
Nate swirled his drink. “We don’t have any immediate job on our hands right now, and though Parker’s six weeks of immobility are nearly done, she won’t be able to do everything like usual,” Nate said. “I planned to give everybody a few days off. But I don’t think that three or four days will be enough for you. I presume you need six to nine, right?”
There was still chance that Nate was talking about fishing, he could clearly see that thought in Eliot’s eyes, that cautious weighing, so he continued. “What would you do if Hardison said he would go fishing with you? That was a good way to calm his eventual future suspicions, but it was risky.”
Well, that ended his weighing, and a quick smile flew over the hitter’s face. He didn’t look worried, Nate noticed, and it was a good sign. Eliot looked… almost speeded up, in spite of his relaxed composure and calm smile.
“I’d find a fishing spot near some SF convention or weirdo geek gathering, and after a fight let him skip away and go to it, pretending I found a woman who would keep me busy for the next few days,” Eliot answered, then sighed and shook his head. “Alright, how?”
“You were very careful not to show that Shelley’s news disturbed you, but it did. It’s something connected to the military, probably your past, and it’s also not in the USA. If it’s somewhere near, I do believe you would tell us, and ask for our help,” he paused and pinned him with his eyes. “Would you, Eliot?”
He thought for a few seconds, then nodded. “Yeah, I would. If it was here, I would tell you. But it isn’t, and I have to go.”
“How long?”
“Six days, minimum.”
“You won’t tell me where and what’s going on?”
“I won’t tell you where, it’s better if you don’t know…” Eliot hesitated, then went on. “It’s one debt I have to pay - not because I have to, but because I want to. In fact, I don’t want any of you to know what I’ll do. It’s something… personal. Close to home.”
“Which home, Eliot?” he asked.
He pursed his lips in a thin line for a moment. He exhaled slowly. “This home.”
So, it wasn’t something from his past, it was something from their present - all at once, hundreds of potential troubles went through his head, most of them connected to Boston.
“No, nothing like that,” Eliot smiled, knowing where his mind went. “It’s just slightly connected with the team - more likely, it’s connected to one of our jobs. Some debts to some people are still due. I was waiting all this time for a chance to settle it, that’s all.”
Yes, but Shelley brought the news. Shelley who wasn’t very connected to their work, except for that night in Boston, the night that later triggered more mess. Nate dearly hoped that Eliot wasn’t lying to him. He looked for the signs of lies, or faking the truth, but none were there - Eliot simply told him as much as he wanted to tell him. He respected that, but privacy and solitary decisions were overrated, especially in their line of work. The last few months in Boston taught them all that, not in a pleasant way.
“What are the chances for you to return?” he asked calmly.
“What a strange way to form that question,” Eliot arched an eyebrow at him, and smiled easily. “I don’t know. I don’t know the situation and what’s waiting for me, don’t even know what I'll have to do. That’s why I need six days at least - intel will take up most of it. It won’t be any worse than the things I’ve done before.”
“You’re sure your chances wouldn’t go up if we were there with you?”
“Sure - not your playground. Besides, I don’t want you there, I’ve already told you I don’t want anybody to know about this. When I come back, consider that it didn’t happen at all, okay? Try to keep Hardison off my back if he starts to suspect something - I won’t be within reach most of the time, maybe not at all.”
Well, that certainly excluded his offer of back up and contact from here to wherever he was going, so he just skipped that question. “What if it goes south?”
“If I don’t return, well, it went south. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
“Try again.”
Eliot sighed. “Okay,” he said gruffly. “If it goes south, I’ll try to find some way to let you know. But I can’t promise that.”
“Fair enough.”
And that was it, nothing more to say. Nate poured one more drink, Eliot brought one more bottle, and they watched the rest of the Pecos fishing trail in comfortable silence.
It was Friday, he remembered later.
***
Saturday was dedicated to helping Hardison write down the most innocent version of their Japan Job; the hacker took the matter very seriously, and handed them both a first draft to read when they came in the office the next morning.
Sophie didn’t ask anything when they met in the evening and went to dinner.
The street riots were scratched out and the new explanation said: after a long, pleasant walk through the streets of Tokyo, surrounding the park by the Emperor’s Palace, we managed to learn everything about cultural diversity, and watch the live parade in honor of Japanese martial arts. Some of us even took a place in the parade, closely connecting with the local people, exchanging the knowledge and good vibes. The torches and fireworks were beautiful.
Sophie almost choked on her coffee. Hardison didn’t take her laughing well.
The firing squad issue was translated into: as a military attaché, highly decorated and well known in his country (he avoided mentioning which country, in case Parker was listening the news) Hardison got into a slight dispute with his colleagues on the Japanese side, who misunderstood the data they were given, and wrongly accused him of actions against their dignified profession. After some clearance from both sides, the issues solved themselves, by themselves, completely naturally, and everything continued in a pleasant and friendly manner.
The diplomatic dinner with the attempted assassination of Emperor Akihito, spiked with poisoned cherries, that ended with their saving their bare lives, fighting and retreating through the huge Palace full of people trying to kill them was explained as: a little, cozy evening meal with the friendly Japanese diplomatic core (Nate flinched at that, remembering that small Foreign Minister, dressed in the traditional kimono, who tried to kill him with her hair pin). The dinner was, again, full of demonstrations of the Japanese culture, including funny going through numerous Japanese paper walls (there, Nate flinched again, remembering Hardison destroying antique art). The cheerful gathering ended with traditional swimming in the lake surrounding the Palace, including the jump from the defense walls. Along with more fireworks, swords, samurai thingies and very traditional screaming.
“And you seriously expect us to learn this crap, and actually repeat it if Parker asks us?” Sophie asked, stopping on the first page. Hardison nudged her to look at other three.
“Okay, the first one for now,” he sighed. “It’s important we have our stories straight - she will smell any lies.”
“Smell lies? Hardison, this stinks, for god’s sake, she’ll know we're hiding things from her.”
“She already knows, and she’ll find out everything… but with this crap, we bought ourselves a little time. She’ll be amused with this, because it is obviously crap, it was meant to look that way!”
“Oh, okay… that even might work,” Sophie admitted after thinking again. “Maybe we should really send her with Eliot,” she ended with a sigh.
“I’ve sent this to him, too, but he left his phone here. Chicken. He’ll hear about this fleeing when he returns. By the way, when did he say he’d return?”
“Six days,” Nate answered shortly.
“And he left everything that I could use to find him if necessary, for whatever reason?” Hardison tilted his head, looking at him. “That doesn’t sound like a ‘paranoid to the bone and proud of it’ hitter, Nate. Is everything okay?”
“Maybe he predicted this,” Nate pointed to the papers. “Can’t say I blame him.”
Hardison smirked but let it go.
Sophie said nothing; and when Sophie wasn’t talking, that meant she was settling all the info in her head. Not a good sign.
Nate just sighed. This was going to be a very interesting week.
***
Sunday was free. Sophie and Nate spent it on his boat enjoying a few warm days in a row, hoping a rain won’t ruin the plans - though, to be honest, to be stuck in the cabin with Sophie, on the boat under the rain, with fine wine and finally enough time to relax, wasn’t completely a disastrous scenario. Especially when he found out she packed the silk kimono she wore in Japan, which he admired.
He wasn’t worried. He didn’t like Eliot being far away without backup, without help, doing something dangerous…nope, scratch that. He wasn’t afraid, but he was a little worried.
The thing that made him curious was hitter’s refusal to tell him where he was going, and what he was doing. Eliot knew he could count on his discretion, and that he wouldn’t spread it to the team. Nate’s knowing what was going on might have been a crucial thing if something happened. A few hours of delay, if they were trying to find out where he was, might mean the difference between life and death for Eliot.
The crucial thing here was why Eliot wanted to hide his target, getting close to recklessness.
He knew Sophie could feel his worry, as she always did, and he knew even better she needed only one minute to connect the strange vibes from their Friday meeting, Eliot’s sudden fishing, and his tension, and he was grateful for her patience.
She only mentioned fishing from his boat twice, letting the bait sway in front of him, but when he didn’t respond, she let it go. Telling her everything he knew wouldn’t reveal anything that Eliot didn’t want to be revealed, and he knew he could do that, particularly because she was aware of the plot, but he decided to stay silent. Sharing a problem with Sophie often meant analyzing it, and he had a feeling that speaking about that fishing trip would just make it more worrying, and give them reasons to get more unnerved with every passing day.
He dearly hoped Eliot wasn’t in Boston, dealing with unknown leftovers of the mess they made and left behind.
***
Monday was ‘meet a potential client’ day, and Nate could swear that destiny was starting to play with his little gang of thieves, because the first word the client said was ‘diamonds’. He wasn’t surprised at all when the rest of the client’s story revealed that those particular diamonds were connected to Washington, DC. He waited to see if the conclusion would bring the National Museum of Natural History into play, but it didn’t happen, thank god. Yet, the damage was done, the Hall diamond and sapphire necklace was embroidered in his mind when he said to client that they would see what they could do, sparkling in all its priceless beauty, coloring his entire day.
The worst part of that potential job - and he wasn’t sure yet if he should play by destiny’s rules and accept it, or refuse the bait - was that they would be balancing on the very edge of utter crime against the art world. Yet, on the other side was an orphanage, robbed of its donation by a greedy politician and businessman who kept the diamonds for himself.
The good thing was, nobody mentioned Japan for the entire morning.
PART TWO
Title: The Arch-nemesis Job
Characters: the Team
Fandom: Leverage
Spoilers: Season 5 - hiatus between Japan and The Rundown Job
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: I do not own blah blah blah
Author's note: This one will be number five or six in 'The Texas Mountain Laurel' series
***
Nothing indicated that that day would be any different than a usual post-job day.
They gathered pretty late, around lunch, because Hardison insisted on watching that old zombie movie the night before, in spite of everybody’s jet lag and tiredness. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea, Nate had to admit, because popcorn, a funny movie and rest relaxed everybody, and cleared their minds from the Japan Job.
Amy’s presence was something unusual. They hadn’t had anybody so close to their work since Florence McCoy, and maybe that reminder was the cause of Eliot’s bad mood. He didn’t say a word through the entire movie, except when he found out that his notes about the proper care of George, written for Parker, were still in closed the envelope where he had left them before they’d left. The plant, however, simply didn’t have enough time to die or wither in their short absence, so he calmed down after checking the water and adjusting the light.
The Japan Job had been unnerving and stressful for all of them - well, differently stressful - and slowly adjusting to the familiar vibes was welcomed.
The post-job briefing was postponed and no time was set, yet everybody gathered around the same time. Hardison and Parker climbed down from their apartment - Parker insisting on the rope slide to the big chair set up for her - and Eliot and Sophie came together, still debating about the sapphire, turquoise or aquamarine eyes on the golden monkey. It seemed that the issue would stretch on for eternity, because their arguments had gone into an alchemist-metaphysical-mythology driven fight. Simply having the jewels analyzed to determine their form was so beyond their present state that Nate decided not to mention it until absolutely necessary.
They all settled at the big table with Parker in front of them, in the chair - she turned upside down, putting her legs on the backrest, so she could see them above her. She was vibrating with accumulated energy, eagerly waiting to hear everything about the job for which all of them agreed she better not knowing anything about. Nate had no idea how Hardison managed to avoid all her questions about it, but judging by his tired features, he kept up a good battle.
There was, really, no use in disturbing Parker with Hardison’s last moment escape from a firing squad, Eliot’s sword fight that could have easily ended with him coming home in two separate boxes, and Sophie’s accidentally pushing Japan into a war with North Korea during that diplomatic dinner… Well, after that dinner, they all knew a few more things: Emperor Akihito had a heart condition, and he should not be disturbed, for the sake of the world peace… it was possible to be accused of treason on behalf of a nonexistent Micronesian country… yes, the Emperor’s granddaughter, slender and beautiful, did have a sex change operation, and saké didn’t mix well with poisoned cherries.
Sometimes, Nate wondered if his headache was a permanent state, or he had just ceased to notice its ups and downs anymore.
However, Parker ought to know nothing about that fiasco that almost got them all killed, repeatedly. Do not disturb the patient, was the collective mantra. Or the patient will disturb them all - that was an addition he was sure all of them repeated silently.
He was damn tired. That job started with a simple Plan A, and ended not with the better part of alphabet, no, that would've been too easy… the plans changed so fast that the letters started to form words.
He put his elbows on the table, enjoying his coffee, listening to Hardison trying not to coo while bringing Parker her pills, but it didn’t brighten his day like it used to do in the past few months. They all needed a rest.
“Have you been listening to me at all the last ten minutes, or did you just repeat sapphire, sapphire, sapphire in your head so you couldn’t hear a word I say?” Sophie’s voice rose into high pinch of irritation. “Of course I know that bloody turquoise is not faceted, I was talking about the nuance! Once and for all - turquoise hued aquamarine, Eliot, not greenish sapphire. And what the hell should be ‘slightly greenish’? Have you seen the Dom Pedro aquamarine? Well, that isn’t turquoise hue.”
“Do you want it?” Parker asked before Eliot could form the words behind the smoke and fire coming out of his nose.
“Do I want what?” Sophie turned to her, surprised.
“Dom Pedro. It’s in the National Museum of Natural History. I planned to get it, it would be perfect for my table in the warehouse with light behind it, but, it’s funny, I got bored searching for the appropriate bag for it - that kind of obelisk you can’t carry out under your arm, right - and then I got distracted with emeralds in New York.”
“No, Parker, I don’t want the Dom Pedro aquamarine,” Sophie stated softly.
“Maybe we can plan to see it when we go to Washington the next time?” Parker looked at him with anticipation. “We will be going to Washington?”
“Not if I… No, Parker, I doubt it.” Nate slowly exhaled. “And even if we go, we certainly won’t go chasing sapph”-he squinted, whipped by Sophie’s glare-“aquamarines. Of whatever hue.”
“I miss jewels,” she said sadly, and sank lower in the chair. “The National Museum of Natural History- oh, Eliot, the Hall sapphire and diamond necklace is also there, we should really go and - I mean, you could see those sapphires and then decide if they really are the same that you saw, or-”
Eliot had one hand over his eyes since Parker asked about Dom Pedro, but now he covered his face with the other one too. “Parker, no. No trips to Washington. No diamonds in Washington. Ever.”
“Four hundred and thirty five diamonds in one necklace,” she whispered, her eyes completely glazed over.
Hardison stopped his hand that was stretched with his palm up, pills on it, took one pill away, and gave them to her with a tired sigh.
“And now, Japan,” Parker shifted in her seat in to get more comfortable - comfortable by her standards, anyway - position, and smiled gleefully. “Tell me everything.”
Dead silence fell in the room. Nate noticed the quick glance that Sophie and Eliot exchanged, and started to question their fight from the beginning.
“We destroyed everything that should have been destroyed,” Hardison started slowly. “We saved all the monkeys, in all different shapes and different hued eyes, that could have been saved, and Eliot fought many Japanese.” He looked at the hitter. “They are smaller, are they counted as one person, or three Japanese are about two big guys, or-”
Nate took a sip of coffee, watching the fight going on inside the hitter, the fight between the annoyance that Hardison’s babbling automatically provoked, and accepting that as a useful distraction for Parker. Much to his surprise, the advantages of distraction prevailed.
“It depends if they are unarmed or not. Nine small guards are like dominoes… push one and all the rest follow in line, but those guys with swords can’t be counted as smaller… in their case, they are quicker and more dangerous, speed is the most important.”
“Emperor’s granddaughter was small too, I remember,” Sophie stated innocently, and Eliot flinched.
Parker’s eyes narrowed slightly. Nate watched her, not sure if that was only the effect of the pills, or she saw through their stalling, but Eliot skipped her questions.
“Going to check on lunch. Or breakfast, whatever. Be back in the-” His phone rang right at the moment he stood up, and he sighed in relief - the phone call would remove him from the conversation and direct Parker’s attention to others, and he didn’t have to run away to the kitchen with his tail between his legs. Damn, that granddaughter was beautiful, even Nate had to admit that.
Eliot waited one second before accepting the call. “Parker, ask her about the sapphires,” he motioned to Sophie with an evil grin, and turned around before the grifter could answer. “Hi, Shelley, what’s up? Back in the States, or still pacing some jungle?” He walked away and lowered his voice, the perfect trick that threw him out of the conversation, while in fact he was only a few meters away and able to hear them.
Parker didn’t need any directing. “Okay, I get it… you won’t tell me any details, because it was more complicated than it should be, right?”
“Nah, I wouldn't call it complicated,” Hardison smiled. Of course it wasn't complicated, it was deadly. “We had a few pretty intense moments, but all the jobs are the same… boring preparations and intense execution. In fact, the most important part is my notes about how the speakers performed, and Nate, you have to hear it.” Hardison widened his eyes for a second, shooting him significant stare.
“Of course, I’m all ears,” he smiled and stopped his hand that was going to press his temples; the word speakers brought back very unpleasant memories, and suddenly almost present sounds of street riots… Jesus, they were only a few minutes from launching The Sixth Fleet into Pacific. If Eliot’s opponent’s sword hadn't broken, and they used it to… he stopped his thoughts as well as his hand, smiled at Hardison again, and nodded him to continue.
“I upgraded the internal power supply. Its layout had been revised and the quality of the components improved; it now includes thingies such as Vishay metal film resistors and Murata capacitors, yet electrostatics tend to excel at midrange. I noticed that when we used it with the Kanack case.”
“And the point is…?”
“There’s a touch of excess richness around the bass and a slight lack of brilliance to the treble,” Hardison said solemnly.
They all stared at him.
“Wait a sec, Shelley.” Eliot turned to them, lowering his phone, and stared at Hardison too. “A slight lack of brilliance to the treble? Seriously?”
“Hey, man, don’t shoot the messenger,” Hardison spread his arms. “It's a serious problem, and I’ll have to work on it for days.”
Eliot rolled his eyes and started to pace the room again, lowering his voice as he continued the conversation.
Hardison darted a stare at the hitter’s boots. “Let’s imagine, for example, that his boots don’t make any sound - I know it’s hard to imagine that, he stomps - to reproduce exactly that dull, irritating sound, I’ll have to work on a measured yet precise approach to rhythm replay and enough bass weight…”
“Hardison, the speakers worked perfectly,” Sophie jumped in, giving him a cue when he stopped in search of inspiration, studying Parker’s unimpressed face.
“They worked now. Maybe the next time we’ll need very subtle control of-”
Sophie sighed and waved her hand. “Look, I’m tired. I really don’t want to listen to speaker specifications. And I’m hungry. Parker, what’s on the menu today?” She obviously decided to try a different approach; his wasn’t working.
Hardison squeaked and in just one second they were drawn into a debate about what was more important, life-saving speakers, or food for the brain that could work on the life-saving speakers - and to Nate’s surprise, that worked because Parker took Sophie’s side. He wasn’t sure how distracted from Japan she really was, but they were on a good path.
They continued for a few more minutes, and Sophie managed to hoist Parker from the chair and they went to the kitchen. The silence was welcome, broken only by Hardison’s sigh of relief.
Silence?
Nate glanced at Eliot who was still pacing up and down, but there was no sound of his boots to hear anymore. He even checked if he had them on still - yep, they were on his feet. He just stopped making noise. And from what he could see, he did it without knowing it, still concentrating on his conversation with Shelley.
Hardison went to help the girls, and immediately returned with more coffee.
“That’s not a location, Shelley.” Nate listened to Eliot’s voice - completely normal, maybe even slightly amused. “You’re describing 500 square miles. Location is, like… this barn, this village, that hill… not a place the size of a small state.” Nothing showed that something unusual was happening, yet his suddenly soundless steps made his pacing light, swift, deadly graceful. “Yeah, yeah, I know. Okay, give me a call when you get back, gotta go now. Yes, I will.” Eliot ended the call and joined them at the table, taking his coffee. “Shelley sends regards, he’ll be back in the States in month or two so he plans to drop by.”
“Where is he now?” Hardison asked.
“He didn’t say, and I didn’t ask,” Eliot smiled. “Working.”
“And he called you from a secret mission just to say hi?” Nate said.
“He was lonely,” Eliot smiled again. “We sometimes exchange news,” he added as an afterthought and grimaced at Hardison. “So, speakers? You should go with describing that horticultural exhibition with the performances - they had better security than the Palace.”
“And add rare seeds to her wish list, along with diamonds? No man, the point was to distract her from Japan, not to make her interested.”
The hitter sighed and elbowed the table. “This is gonna be a fucking long day, and I’m tired already.” He spent a few seconds staring at the table, as if contemplating thumping his forehead on it, then sighed again. “We don’t have to be here, right? Nate? There’s no job waiting for us, and we all need a rest from that Japan shit.”
“I have a few potential clients, but no, nothing in the next couple of days,” he replied, leaning back in his seat so he could see both of them better. “Besides, we are out a thief, remember?”
“You’re not planning to skip and leave us to answer her questions, right?” Hardison shot Eliot a disapproving look.
“No, I plan to take you with me, and leave two of them with Parker. You owe me a fishing trip, remember? Is there a better time for that than now? Even better, we’ll find some good rapids so you can paddle along with fishing, and be in nature for few days.”
Hardison choked. “Me, paddle? You mean, like in a boat? With banjos?”
“Canoe, Hardison. What, you sit all day, so you can sit in a canoe for a change. Only difference is that you don’t use only your fingers, but arms. Paddling is not so demanding.”
Surprisingly, Hardison looked as if he was thinking about it for a moment.
“Freezing cold water, rapids, mosquitoes, wild animals, piranhas, alligators?” he finally asked. “Grizzlies, perhaps, too?”
“Yes, and at least three kangaroos.” This time Eliot did bump his head on the table, and stayed there. “You’re an idiot.”
“No, I just don’t want to leave Parker when she’s hurt, after I just returned from another continent. If you wait couple of weeks, I might reconsider that, that… gruesome thing.”
“Nope, I’m going, with or without you.”
“Fine.”
“Fine!” Eliot grumbled.
“Fine!!”
“Maybe we could send Parker with Eliot,” Nate jumped in before they continued, and got two identical aghast looks.
“What? She can sit, right?” he added innocently. “The whole day in a canoe, resting her leg, while you paddle endlessly and answer her questions…”
“I’ll go check that food,” Eliot jumped to his feet. “And then I’m offline, off track, off earbuds, off the phone… finally alone.”
Nate just smirked, because Hardison expected him to do so, but he followed the hitter with his eyes over the cup of coffee.
His steps were still soundless.
***
Nobody mentioned Japan while they ate. Parker didn’t mention anything she was doing, either, but nobody seemed to notice that, not even Hardison.
When they returned to the back room, Eliot made Hardison search for rapids, canoeing and fishing arrangements across the entire state, until he was satisfied with ten final destinations, scattered all over the US, one even in Canada. Besides that, he didn’t show any intentions of moving anywhere, he nursed his beer, occupying Parker’s chair. He chased Parker away pretty mercilessly, but the thief didn’t sit at the table with the rest of them, she hung herself and hovered on the rope at eye level, but above Eliot’s head, slightly swinging. Nate was wondering not if, but when, she would decide to tap on his head with her foot.
Hardison gave up when Eliot pulled up four different documentary films about canoeing and wild rapids fishing, explaining him all beauties of nature and hard work, so he gathered Parker and shooed her in the apartment with him, to rest.
Sophie had plans for the afternoon, plans that included him, walking and visiting a few places he wasn’t very eager to see, but as time went by and Nate just continued to sit there, she got the message. Nate could sense her tentacles checking the atmosphere to see what was happening - she might catch something unusual, but she surely couldn’t figure out what.
After her question, neutrally formed, about afternoon plans, which Nate answered as if they didn’t have any at all, she said she would call him later and left, leaving him to continue with whatever he was doing.
Well, he wasn’t sure what he was doing either… not completely sure, to be precise.
He took his glass and the bottle, brought a smaller chair to the giant one in which Eliot was still sitting, and sat beside him.
“Good distraction with the aquamarines. It almost worked.”
“It worked, but not long enough. And the monkey’s eyes were sapphires, Nate.”
“Since when are you an expert on jewels?”
“I’m not. But I put them in the statue myself a few years ago.”
“Ah, The Gutman job? Or should I say, one of the Gutman’s jobs?”
“Yep. I couldn’t take the monkey the first time I tried, so I made sure the replica I brought with me was stated as the original. The eyes were the first thing they looked at, and without any other reference, they declared the sapphire-eyed monkey the original, because of its worth. I expected the real one to be removed and put away somewhere with less security.”
“You put two priceless jewels in it, ten times the worth of the statue, just to finish the job?”
“Well, I didn’t finish it, right?” he smiled. “That place ‘with less security’ happened to be North Korea. Shit happens.”
Nate said nothing. He waited.
It took three sips of the beer before Eliot finally turned the screens off and turned in the chair to face him.
“We need to talk,” Eliot said slowly. At a quick glance it could have been mistaken for hesitation.
Nate swirled his drink. “We don’t have any immediate job on our hands right now, and though Parker’s six weeks of immobility are nearly done, she won’t be able to do everything like usual,” Nate said. “I planned to give everybody a few days off. But I don’t think that three or four days will be enough for you. I presume you need six to nine, right?”
There was still chance that Nate was talking about fishing, he could clearly see that thought in Eliot’s eyes, that cautious weighing, so he continued. “What would you do if Hardison said he would go fishing with you? That was a good way to calm his eventual future suspicions, but it was risky.”
Well, that ended his weighing, and a quick smile flew over the hitter’s face. He didn’t look worried, Nate noticed, and it was a good sign. Eliot looked… almost speeded up, in spite of his relaxed composure and calm smile.
“I’d find a fishing spot near some SF convention or weirdo geek gathering, and after a fight let him skip away and go to it, pretending I found a woman who would keep me busy for the next few days,” Eliot answered, then sighed and shook his head. “Alright, how?”
“You were very careful not to show that Shelley’s news disturbed you, but it did. It’s something connected to the military, probably your past, and it’s also not in the USA. If it’s somewhere near, I do believe you would tell us, and ask for our help,” he paused and pinned him with his eyes. “Would you, Eliot?”
He thought for a few seconds, then nodded. “Yeah, I would. If it was here, I would tell you. But it isn’t, and I have to go.”
“How long?”
“Six days, minimum.”
“You won’t tell me where and what’s going on?”
“I won’t tell you where, it’s better if you don’t know…” Eliot hesitated, then went on. “It’s one debt I have to pay - not because I have to, but because I want to. In fact, I don’t want any of you to know what I’ll do. It’s something… personal. Close to home.”
“Which home, Eliot?” he asked.
He pursed his lips in a thin line for a moment. He exhaled slowly. “This home.”
So, it wasn’t something from his past, it was something from their present - all at once, hundreds of potential troubles went through his head, most of them connected to Boston.
“No, nothing like that,” Eliot smiled, knowing where his mind went. “It’s just slightly connected with the team - more likely, it’s connected to one of our jobs. Some debts to some people are still due. I was waiting all this time for a chance to settle it, that’s all.”
Yes, but Shelley brought the news. Shelley who wasn’t very connected to their work, except for that night in Boston, the night that later triggered more mess. Nate dearly hoped that Eliot wasn’t lying to him. He looked for the signs of lies, or faking the truth, but none were there - Eliot simply told him as much as he wanted to tell him. He respected that, but privacy and solitary decisions were overrated, especially in their line of work. The last few months in Boston taught them all that, not in a pleasant way.
“What are the chances for you to return?” he asked calmly.
“What a strange way to form that question,” Eliot arched an eyebrow at him, and smiled easily. “I don’t know. I don’t know the situation and what’s waiting for me, don’t even know what I'll have to do. That’s why I need six days at least - intel will take up most of it. It won’t be any worse than the things I’ve done before.”
“You’re sure your chances wouldn’t go up if we were there with you?”
“Sure - not your playground. Besides, I don’t want you there, I’ve already told you I don’t want anybody to know about this. When I come back, consider that it didn’t happen at all, okay? Try to keep Hardison off my back if he starts to suspect something - I won’t be within reach most of the time, maybe not at all.”
Well, that certainly excluded his offer of back up and contact from here to wherever he was going, so he just skipped that question. “What if it goes south?”
“If I don’t return, well, it went south. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
“Try again.”
Eliot sighed. “Okay,” he said gruffly. “If it goes south, I’ll try to find some way to let you know. But I can’t promise that.”
“Fair enough.”
And that was it, nothing more to say. Nate poured one more drink, Eliot brought one more bottle, and they watched the rest of the Pecos fishing trail in comfortable silence.
It was Friday, he remembered later.
***
Saturday was dedicated to helping Hardison write down the most innocent version of their Japan Job; the hacker took the matter very seriously, and handed them both a first draft to read when they came in the office the next morning.
Sophie didn’t ask anything when they met in the evening and went to dinner.
The street riots were scratched out and the new explanation said: after a long, pleasant walk through the streets of Tokyo, surrounding the park by the Emperor’s Palace, we managed to learn everything about cultural diversity, and watch the live parade in honor of Japanese martial arts. Some of us even took a place in the parade, closely connecting with the local people, exchanging the knowledge and good vibes. The torches and fireworks were beautiful.
Sophie almost choked on her coffee. Hardison didn’t take her laughing well.
The firing squad issue was translated into: as a military attaché, highly decorated and well known in his country (he avoided mentioning which country, in case Parker was listening the news) Hardison got into a slight dispute with his colleagues on the Japanese side, who misunderstood the data they were given, and wrongly accused him of actions against their dignified profession. After some clearance from both sides, the issues solved themselves, by themselves, completely naturally, and everything continued in a pleasant and friendly manner.
The diplomatic dinner with the attempted assassination of Emperor Akihito, spiked with poisoned cherries, that ended with their saving their bare lives, fighting and retreating through the huge Palace full of people trying to kill them was explained as: a little, cozy evening meal with the friendly Japanese diplomatic core (Nate flinched at that, remembering that small Foreign Minister, dressed in the traditional kimono, who tried to kill him with her hair pin). The dinner was, again, full of demonstrations of the Japanese culture, including funny going through numerous Japanese paper walls (there, Nate flinched again, remembering Hardison destroying antique art). The cheerful gathering ended with traditional swimming in the lake surrounding the Palace, including the jump from the defense walls. Along with more fireworks, swords, samurai thingies and very traditional screaming.
“And you seriously expect us to learn this crap, and actually repeat it if Parker asks us?” Sophie asked, stopping on the first page. Hardison nudged her to look at other three.
“Okay, the first one for now,” he sighed. “It’s important we have our stories straight - she will smell any lies.”
“Smell lies? Hardison, this stinks, for god’s sake, she’ll know we're hiding things from her.”
“She already knows, and she’ll find out everything… but with this crap, we bought ourselves a little time. She’ll be amused with this, because it is obviously crap, it was meant to look that way!”
“Oh, okay… that even might work,” Sophie admitted after thinking again. “Maybe we should really send her with Eliot,” she ended with a sigh.
“I’ve sent this to him, too, but he left his phone here. Chicken. He’ll hear about this fleeing when he returns. By the way, when did he say he’d return?”
“Six days,” Nate answered shortly.
“And he left everything that I could use to find him if necessary, for whatever reason?” Hardison tilted his head, looking at him. “That doesn’t sound like a ‘paranoid to the bone and proud of it’ hitter, Nate. Is everything okay?”
“Maybe he predicted this,” Nate pointed to the papers. “Can’t say I blame him.”
Hardison smirked but let it go.
Sophie said nothing; and when Sophie wasn’t talking, that meant she was settling all the info in her head. Not a good sign.
Nate just sighed. This was going to be a very interesting week.
***
Sunday was free. Sophie and Nate spent it on his boat enjoying a few warm days in a row, hoping a rain won’t ruin the plans - though, to be honest, to be stuck in the cabin with Sophie, on the boat under the rain, with fine wine and finally enough time to relax, wasn’t completely a disastrous scenario. Especially when he found out she packed the silk kimono she wore in Japan, which he admired.
He wasn’t worried. He didn’t like Eliot being far away without backup, without help, doing something dangerous…nope, scratch that. He wasn’t afraid, but he was a little worried.
The thing that made him curious was hitter’s refusal to tell him where he was going, and what he was doing. Eliot knew he could count on his discretion, and that he wouldn’t spread it to the team. Nate’s knowing what was going on might have been a crucial thing if something happened. A few hours of delay, if they were trying to find out where he was, might mean the difference between life and death for Eliot.
The crucial thing here was why Eliot wanted to hide his target, getting close to recklessness.
He knew Sophie could feel his worry, as she always did, and he knew even better she needed only one minute to connect the strange vibes from their Friday meeting, Eliot’s sudden fishing, and his tension, and he was grateful for her patience.
She only mentioned fishing from his boat twice, letting the bait sway in front of him, but when he didn’t respond, she let it go. Telling her everything he knew wouldn’t reveal anything that Eliot didn’t want to be revealed, and he knew he could do that, particularly because she was aware of the plot, but he decided to stay silent. Sharing a problem with Sophie often meant analyzing it, and he had a feeling that speaking about that fishing trip would just make it more worrying, and give them reasons to get more unnerved with every passing day.
He dearly hoped Eliot wasn’t in Boston, dealing with unknown leftovers of the mess they made and left behind.
***
Monday was ‘meet a potential client’ day, and Nate could swear that destiny was starting to play with his little gang of thieves, because the first word the client said was ‘diamonds’. He wasn’t surprised at all when the rest of the client’s story revealed that those particular diamonds were connected to Washington, DC. He waited to see if the conclusion would bring the National Museum of Natural History into play, but it didn’t happen, thank god. Yet, the damage was done, the Hall diamond and sapphire necklace was embroidered in his mind when he said to client that they would see what they could do, sparkling in all its priceless beauty, coloring his entire day.
The worst part of that potential job - and he wasn’t sure yet if he should play by destiny’s rules and accept it, or refuse the bait - was that they would be balancing on the very edge of utter crime against the art world. Yet, on the other side was an orphanage, robbed of its donation by a greedy politician and businessman who kept the diamonds for himself.
The good thing was, nobody mentioned Japan for the entire morning.
PART TWO