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Bring on the Wonder	By : Azuriel Category: G through L > Leverage Views: 498 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I am in no way connected to the Leverage series. I own nothing in that universe. Therefore I cannot and am not making any money off of this story.

Chapter List
- 6
- 7
- 8
Will, Elliot, and Hardison sat together at a coffee shop hanging out for a little bit. “Man...” Hardison shook his head. “I know Sophie has been kind of a mother hen with us, but it's really hard imagining her as a mom.”

Will shrugged. “She didn't exactly stick around and bake cookies for me. She's my biological mother, but I've only known her for a few months. It... It feels a little strange.”

Elliot patted Will on the shoulder. “Hey, she didn't forget about you, so there's that. She risked her life, literally, to see how you were doing, and then she brought you here, away from, well, all of that....”

“I know,” Will sighed as he sat back in his chair. “Things have certainly turned out better for me here then if I had stayed. My biggest complaint is you aren't in a warmer climate.”

“We were...” Hardison got a far away look in his eyes for a moment. “But that's the past. This isn't a bad city.”

“We'll get you a good winter coat and an electric blanket,” Elliot offered. “You'll live. We should probably get this show on the road.”

They walked out of the coffee shop, and when they rounded a corner a young woman ran head on into Hardison, who was knocked back into Elliot. Hardison helped the girl up. “You okay?”

One of the men in suits chasing her flashed a badge at them. “FBI, Sir. That young lady's in our custody.”

Hardison shook his head. “Aw, see, you made two mistakes, bro. First, you flashed that fake ass FBI badge at me. Second, you spilled his coffee,” Hardison motioned to Elliot who had a giant coffee stain on his shirt and looked pissed.

Elliot threw the empty cup on the ground and went after them. Will bit his lip as he watched. “I almost feel bad for them. Almost.” Then he followed Hardison as he led the girl toward his van.

“Are you in some sort of trouble?” Hardison asked.

“I...” the young woman seemed a bit in shock. “I've been trying to look into my sister's death. I didn't think I was in trouble, but those guys just came after me. Are their badges really fake?”

“Yeah,” Hardison nodded. “But we got you.”

“What can you do?” she asked.

“We um...” Will was a bit distracted when Elliot joined them, blood stains on his shirt. “Helping people in trouble is kind of what we do. We do work a little bit outside the law, which is perfect when the law can't help.”

“If you'll come with us you can talk to Nate, who is kind of our boss. I'm pretty sure we can help you,” Hardison explained.

She seemed a little reluctant to trust them, though she did seem to like Hardison, so she agreed to go to the pub with them and tell her story to Nate. Hardison called Nate to ask him to meet them in the pub.

Nate was waiting for them at a table when they arrived. Hardison and Will sat on either side of her as she told Nate her story. “My sister was part of a drug trial for a new medication called HT1. A week into the trial she suffered acute liver failure and died.”

“Did the drug company offer a settlement?” Nate asked.

“J.R.P. Pharmaceuticals, the company sponsoring the trial, they sent a very attractive man in a suit to our house. He said nobody else had any side effects and it was a freak accident. He sat at our kitchen table and he wrote a number on a piece of paper. Sitting at the kitchen table where she used to eat pancakes.”

She started breaking down into tears, and Hardison wrapped an arm around her. “I'm sorry.”

“So, your parents declined any kind of settlement?” Nate asked, trying to get a better picture.

“I convinced them not to. I gave them a great speech about how Lisa's life couldn't be bought, how I'd make the people who killed her take responsibility.”

“Yeah, but that never happened.”

“Sounds like you've been there.”

“Close enough.”

“We sued, but J.R.P. claimed Lisa had a pre-existing condition. We lost. We couldn't find a lawyer who would take our appeal. I've spent three years looking for any new evidence. I found nothing until Dr. Roberts contacted me. And now he's gone.”

“Well, we'll find him. We're just happy you're okay.”

“Thanks to Alec. I don't know what would have happened if he hadn't been there.”

“Now, before Dr. Roberts disappeared, did he leave you anything, give you any information?”

Ashley pulled a napkin out of her pocket with writing on it. “Just this.”

Nate looked at it. It said 'Arcadia', and underneath was a list of names. He handed the napkin to Hardison. “Here, see what you can make of this.”

Hardison started typing on his laptop. “Okay, Arcadia's a town about thirty miles from here. But I got nothing on the names.”

“None of these names link to Arcadia?” Nate was a little confused.

“No school records, no addresses, no birth certificates. They've been erased. But I did find Dr. Roberts.” Hardison turned the screen around so the others could see.

“Wow. You found that while we were sitting here?” Ashley was impressed.

“Oh, yeah. It's nothing,” Hardison smiled at her.

“It's amazing. I've always wanted to do that.”

“Well, I could show you some stuff. As soon as I get you a refill.” Hardison grabbed her glass and went to the bar where Parker was sitting and watching them.

Parker followed Hardison back to the table while Nate read through what Hardison found on the doctor. “Yeah, according to this, up until eight months ago, Dr. Roberts worked for J.R.P. Pharmaceuticals,” Nate read off the screen.

“That's the company that made HT1,” Ashley said.

Hardison took his laptop back. “Okay, now, J.R.P. Pharmaceuticals was bought by Pallagen Laboratories. Dr. Roberts and all the other researchers were let go.”

“Maybe we should take this to the uh...” Nate motioned toward the back.

“Poker room?” Will finished the sentence.

“Yeah. Where's Eliot?”

“Oh, he had to change his shirt,” Will answered. “He got some coffee on it. And some blood. That was kinda hot.”

“Well, why don't you go pick him up and check out Dr. Robert's home address. Parker, you and Sophie do things the old fashioned way. Knock on some doors in Arcadia.” Parker continued to stare at Ashley, making her obviously uncomfortable. “Parker?” Nate tried to get her attention again, holding out the napkin with the names on it. “Want to go knock on some doors in Arcadia?”

“Yeah,” she replied as she took the napkin. “Right.”

Will and Elliot went to the address Hardison found for the doctor and Elliot knocked on the door. “Door's locked and nobody's answering,” he reported.

“See if you can break in, but be subtle,” Nate instructed.

“Yeah, yeah,” Elliot grumbled and moved to kick in the door.

Will stopped him. “That's not subtle.” Will used a credit card to get the door open. “That's subtle.”

Elliot rolled his eyes as he led the way inside. “Dr. Roberts?” he called out while scanning the room. He picked a key up off the table. “Pretty small apartment to be driving a BMW.”

“He doesn't drive a BMW. He drives a moped,” Hardison responded.

“I like my shiny new BMW,” Will commented.

“That you had me check for explosives and tracking devices,” Elliot pointed out.

Will shrugged. “So I come from a really screwed up family. You didn't find anything.” He grabbed the key and pulled on the end. “It's a flash drive made to look like a key. Clever.”

“Okay, well, plug it into your phone,” Hardison directed.

Will handed the drive back to Elliot who plugged it into his phone. “You getting this?” he asked as the information popped up on the screen.

“Yeah,” Hardison answered. “Okay, according to these files, Dr. Roberts was meeting with Darren Hoffman. Now, Hoffman was trying to buy something from him for two hundred thousand dollars.”

“Sounds like a bribe,” Nate commented.

“That's a cheap bribe,” Will commented as he and Elliot continued to look around the apartment.

“There's nothing in his account that shows up that big. If it was a bribe he didn't take it,” Hardison informed them.

“Well, we gotta to figure out who this Hoffman guy is,” Nate said to Hardison.

Hardison got to work looking him up. “Give me a second. Cross-referencing Dr. Roberts’ cell records with his file. Okay, Hoffman is the C.E.O. of Pallagen Laboratories.”

“Pallagen is the company that bought J.R.P. Pharmaceuticals,” Ashley remembered.

“Well, it shows that Hoffman doesn't have a background in medicine or science. He's a career executive. He started with finance, went to telecom, jumped to software, and then he jumped to the top spot in Pallagen a year ago.”

“Yeah, I know his type,” Nate figured it out quickly. “He's chasing the C.E.O. chair. He's moving from company to company, juicing their profits and using the publicity to move onto the next corporation. No loyalty.”

“Then this might be a tough one,” Will mumbled. “Oh,” he paused when he saw a dead body on the couch.

“What did you find?” Nate asked.

“We found your Dr. Roberts,” Elliot answered. “They made it look like a heart attack.”

“What do you mean made it look like?”

“Well, there's a few places a professional will use to deliver an injection,” Will explained as he started to examine the body. “Yep, right there under a fingernail. He was murdered.”

“Nate, we found the people in Arcadia,” Sophie checked in.

“Tiffany Helland, Michelle Coratola, Nicholas Paxton,” Parker repeated the names.

“Okay, who have you talked to so far?” Nate asked.

“Well, that's not really an option,” Sophie replied. “They're all dead.”

Will sighed. “And I bet I can guess what killed them.”

“Me too,” Nate agreed. “All of you come back.”

Nate and Sophie spent a little while upstairs putting the pieces and a plan together. Then they joined the others in the poker room to give out assignments. “Parker, you break in to Hoffman's office, find out what Roberts had on him,” Nate directed her.

Hardison had an identity ready to go for her. “Yeah. A lot of pharmaceutical reps are hired out of cheer leading programs. Now you, Laurie Sprang, you attended the University of Iowa, where you were a cheerleader, graduated with a 2.9 GPA., and you were also second runner up for the Miss Iowa Beauty Pageant.”

“Beauty queen?” Parker didn't seem to like that part.

“Oh, yeah, it's a nice touch, right? It was Ashley's idea.”

“Meanwhile Sophie is gonna establish a relationship with Hoffman so that when we rattle his cage with your intel, he's gonna run to Sophie,” Nate explained.

Hardison brought up Hoffman's schedule. “It's gonna be tough for Sophie to make contact this week. His whole schedule is filled with this drug launch thing.”

“So get somebody else's appointment, like how about her?” Nate pointed to a name on the screen.

“Jennifer Pearson, FDA?”

“I'm sorry. How do you keep the real Jennifer Pearson from showing up?” Ashley asked.

“Intercept and occupy,” Will answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “You know, I haven't been around here long, but why is she here?”

“Because she's safer here,” Hardison answered the question.

“Elliot, you handle Jennifer Pearson,” Nate gave out the assignment.

The next day Parker went to sales rep training, and Sophie and Elliot hung around the lobby waiting for Jennifer Pearson to show. When she arrived at the front desk Elliot approached her and gave her a friendly handshake. “Miss Pearson? Hi. How are you? Phil, part of Mr. Hoffman's team. He's asked me to show you around.”

“Oh, that's okay. I'm just here to sign some papers for the Vioplex launch,” she turned him down. “It's just a formality.”

“Yes, ma'am. But see, here at Pallagen, we like to make sure that everyone we work with is part of the family.” He took her badge off when he gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder and handed it to Sophie as she casually walked by. “So do me the honor?”

“Sure. Fine.” she gave in.

“Thank you so much. That way I get to keep my job. This way.”

Sophie headed up to Hoffman's office. “Mr. Hoffman,” she knocked on the door before entering. “I'm Jennifer Pearson, FDA.”

“More red tape,” Hoffman mumbled under his breath.”

“Uh, we prefer to call them safety measures.”

“Of course. We take safety very seriously here at Pallagen.”

“I'm sorry, I've just heard so many amazing things about this company and the man that runs it,” she gave him a little bit of a compliment to butter him up.

“Well, you know, you can't believe everything you hear,” he smiled softly as he handed her the papers.

“I'm sure in this case I can. But I was hoping you might show me around. I'd love to discuss the possibility of doing some consulting for you.”

“I'd be honored.”

“Consulting is code for "bribe,” Nate explained to Ashley. “Yeah, doctors who review drugs for the FDA are allowed, by law, to take consulting fees from the drug companies.”

Hardison pulled up a chart for her to look at. “See, it's fifty thousand to each doctor on the FDA panel, two hundred thousand to the director of the New York medical school to speak at the Pain Awareness Institute. And then twenty five thousand to each celebrity that attends the annual dinner at the institute.”

“What's the Pain Awareness Institute?” Ashley asked.

“It's a foundation set up by Hoffman and Pallagen to legally funnel bribes,” Nate answered.

“This is legal?” Ashley was shocked.

“Completely,” Will nodded. “I'm becoming fascinated with the American way of doing things. Very brazen and not quite as violent.”

“Parker, Sophie's cleaning out Hoffman. Get in position,” Nate instructed.

As Hoffman led Sophie out of his office she tripped the security switch so Parker could enter without issue. “I'm clear.”

Parker had a little bit of trouble getting away from the sales rep training, but then she made her way up to Hoffman's office and closed the blinds before inserting a drive into Hoffman's computer. Everything appeared on Hardison's screen. “Locked file on a locked workstation. I smell secrets. Oh, 256-bit A.E.S. encryption? Oh, adorable.”

“Hold on,” Nate pointed to something on the screen. “This right here. Make that bigger.” Hardison enlarged the image. “All right, where is...” Nate started looking for a picture of HT1 and compared the two when he found it. “This. It's identical.”

Ashley's eyes widened in shock. “It's HT1. I've spent three years learning everything I could about the drug that killed my sister. That is HT1.”

Nate sat back in his chair. “Okay, so I thought Roberts made a connection between HT1 and Hoffman. No. It's between HT1 and Vioplex. So Hoffman is going to release HT1 as Vioplex. And a lot of people are gonna die.”

Ashley shook her head in disbelief. “Vioplex is HT1. I mean, here, they just added trace amounts of a time released protein inhibitor. It'll delay the liver failure, hide the symptoms. Instead of dying in months, it could take years.”

“Clever,” Will commented. “Completely morally bankrupt, but he's turning a disaster into a profit margin.”

“How can you be so calm?” Ashley was close to a panic attack.

“Sometimes I envy the innocence and normal childhoods of people like you.”

“Alright,” Nate interrupted. “Let me see his bribes again.” Hardison brought up the information. “Okay, so those are all the people you'd pay off if you were trying to push through a toxic drug.”

“Oh, he can't get away with this,” Hardison was also angry.

“But he can,” Nate broke the news. “Listen, the FDA, they get tens of thousands of complaints every year about bad side effects. By the time anyone figures out what's going on Hoffman will be long gone onto his next CEO gig.

Ashley looked almost on the verge of tears. “So he'll never be held accountable for the people he killed.”

“That's right. We need physical evidence that HT1 and Vioplex are the same thing. We need the HT1 vials.”

“You think they still have them?”

“Yeah. Drug companies keep samples of everything.”

“They still got vials of smallpox in over a dozen countries,” Hardison commented.

“Do I want to know which countries?” Ashley was almost afraid to ask.

“I'm gonna guess no,” Will answered.

Nate headed to the pub. “Parker. I need you to look around Hoffman's office for anything that tells us where they keep the samples. We need to get the FDA to crack down on Vioplex. Eliot, don't lose Jennifer Pearson, all right? We're gonna get the vials to her before the launch. She is now part of the con.”

“Dude, she's on a flight in two hours,” Elliot whispered.

“Well, do not let her get on the plane.”

“Use your charm, Romeo,” Will teased a little.

They listened to Elliot lay on the charm while Parker poked around the office. “Found a safe,” she reported as she started to open it. “Birthday. Typical. Okay, I've got something,” she started scanning some papers.

Hardison watched as the scanned documents came through. “See, now that there, that is so...” A security alarm suddenly went off. “Not good. Parker, security is on their way to Hoffman's office right now. You gotta to get out.”

“No,” Nate argued. “Parker, you don't get out. You stay right where you are till we got what we need.”

“How much time do I have?” Parker asked. “Sixty seconds?”

“Not even that,” Hardison was looking worried.

“You got nineteen. You're gonna stay where you are,” Nate ordered.

“Nate, look, security is literally seconds away from Hoffman's office,” Hardison argued.

“We need those vials.”

“Yeah, but if Parker gets caught, we don't get the vials, and we might lose Parker,” Will pointed out.

“Done,” Parker reported before barely making it out of the office.

“But we didn't,” Nate said with a slightly cocky tone as he walked away.

Elliot was slumped over the table later that evening after returning from spending the day with Jennifer Pearson “Poor baby,” Will patted him on the shoulder. “The FDA lady wore you out.”

“Dude, we walked the freedom trail twice,” Elliot grumbled.

“I've been meaning to do that, just never seem to have the time.”

“We took paddle boats to the public garden, shopped on Newbury Street. I went to something called the Boston duck tour.”

“That's a thing?”

“Yes, it's a thing.”

“Well, old age does tend to take away your stamina,” Will said as he started rubbing Elliot's shoulders. Elliot grunted at the comment but kept still for the massage.

“Yo,” Hardison called out to Nate when he joined them. “The information I got from Hoffman's office confirms that he's still got vials of HT1 in Pallagen's storage. Thing is, the vials are stored in a case among hundreds of other cases in one of ten storage facilities. Now, if I do my math, that means this case was-”

“It's gonna be hard to find!” Elliot lifted his head to interrupt.

Hardison glared at him. “I believe I was making that point.”

Nate shrugged. “Well, we are going to get Hoffman to lead us to the vials. We'll use Sophie's friendship with him to get information. Then I'll enter the game to push.”

“You realize the last guy that pushed Hoffman ended up dead,” Elliot pointed out.

“Yeah, well, let him take his best shot. We'll see who walks away this time.” He turned to Will. “Oh, and for my plan to work we're going to need a smuggler's box.”

“Sure,” Will's tone was sarcastic. “I'll just get right on that.”

“What?” Nate didn't see the problem. “Your dad knows where you are, but he promised to leave you alone. And since that car he sent you wasn't rigged to explode he probably meant it.” Nate then headed upstairs.

“Prison's changed him,” Hardison commented.

“Better or worse?” Elliot asked.

“Not sure.”

Elliot handed Will his keys. “As much as I don't wanna die, you're driving.”

Will glared at him as they headed for the door. “There is nothing wrong with my driving.”

“Of course not, you just have that little lead foot issue.”

Sophie had lunch with Hoffman the next day. He blatantly admitted what they already knew by telling her that one of his expectations of her doing consulting work for him was to try and keep any complaints about his new drug as quiet as possible for as long as possible. The profit he was expecting made the threat of any fines more than worth it.

Sophie pretended to be cold, and when Hoffman offered her his jacket her phone conveniently rang. She excused herself to take the call. Then it was Nate's turn to enter the game. When Hoffman turned back to the table Nate was sitting in the seat across from him. “That seat's taken,” Hoffman scowled.

“Yes, it is,” Nate replied with a smug attitude.

“Who the hell do you think you are?”

“I'm a friend of Dr. Roberts.”

“Is that supposed to mean something?”

“Oh, yes. It means that I know Vioplex is HT1 in a clever disguise.”

Hoffman's body stiffened, but he sat down in the other chair. “What do you want?”

“Five million.”

Hoffman snorted at that. “That's ridiculous. No one's ever gonna believe you.”

“I have proof. You really should have kept those vials somewhere more secure.” He wrote something down on a napkin and handed it over. “Wire me the money by 5:00 PM.”

“Are you... oh,” Sophie came back and Nate quickly left. “I'm sorry about that. Um, are you okay? You don't look so good.”

“It's just a headache. Would you mind if I caught up with you at the launch?”

“Yeah, of course. I'll see you later. Oh, don't forget your, your jacket.” She handed it back to him with a button camera attached to one of the buttons.

Just as predicted Hoffman went to check on his samples and make sure they were still there. Hardison was able to see exactly where he went through the camera. It also captured the security codes. The plan was nearly complete. Parker just needed to break in.

“Now, Parker, look. We have the location, all right? Got the access codes, and we have the case number. All you have to do is go pick the lock on the cage. Now, I'm gonna compare Hoffman's path with yours and lead you to the right room,” Hardison explained.

“Good luck,” Ashley gave her a soft smile.

Parker glared back at her. “Do I look like I need luck?”

“Whoa,” Hardison motioned for Parker to settle. “Parker, she just meant, like, you know.”

Nate handed Parker a case. “Go do your magic.”

“I'm in,” Sohpie reported when she made it to the launch party. “Hoffman is up to something. Hardison, are we tracking his phone?”

Hardison was watching his screen. “I've got a signal. I just don't have a connection point.” Nate's phone started to ring. “And now I have my connection point.”

Nate answered. “Well, I've been expecting your call.”

“I know a good deal when I see one,” Hoffman said. “You get your money, I get your silence.”

“Well, that's the deal.”

“But I like to do these things in person. Eliminates the room for error. So, you're gonna have to come to me for your payment.”

“Nate, no. Don’t do it,” Hardison urged in a whisper.

“Be at Pallagen in twenty minutes,” Nate replied as he hung up.

“Nate, it's a trap,” Hardison pointed out.

“Do you want to end up like Dr. Roberts?” Sophie warned. “All Hoffman has to do is send his goons out into the crowd to brush past you with a syringe.”

“She's right, man. It's a suicide mission,” Hardison agreed.

Nate brushed their concerns off. “Listen, I don't do it, it's gonna tip Hoffman off and this whole thing will fall apart. So Will is gonna come with me for protection, and the rest of you are gonna get this done, hopefully before Hoffman tries anything.”

Will raised an eyebrow at Nate. “You know I don't particularly like you, right?”

Nate entered the lobby where the party was being held about twenty minutes later. “I'm in. Does anyone see anything suspicious?”

“No, but that's kind of the point,” Elliot commented. “They're gonna try to blend in. Look for guys who got a couple inches on everybody else here, and hands in their pocket, shoes that lace up a little too high. Security guys always wear shoes that they can run in.”

“Narrows it down.”

Elliot was still with Jennifer who said something Elliot didn't catch because he was listening to Nate. They all listened as she let him down easy because she was looking for more excitement. “Well, let me just...” Elliot was a little thrown. “You're gonna wait till after the launch to sign the papers though, right?”

“Sure. We can hang out, still be friends,” she answered.

“You know I'm never gonna let you live that down, right?” Will teased from his place a few feet from Nate.

“Shut up! Let's get this show over with.”

“Hardison, how we doing with the vials?” Nate asked as he scanned the room.

“Parker's two minutes out,” Hardison responded. He was watching her on video and guiding her down the same path Hoffman took. “Now make a right. There's a security camera over your right shoulder.”

“Got it,” Parker said when she reached the door. “What's the code?”

“What's the code?” Hardison looked to Ashley.

“I don't...” Ashley's eyes widened in panic. They both rushed to find the paper with the code written down. Then they started reading the numbers at the same time.

“Too many voices, okay? Too many voices,” Parker grumbled because she couldn't understand them. Ashley backed off and Hardison read off the numbers, which Parker entered into the key pad. “I'm in.”

“Okay, good,” Hardison relaxed and let out a deep sigh.

Nate had moved to the bar and cautiously eyed a man approaching him. “Will, I do hope you've got me.”

“He's just a suit reaching for a napkin,” Will assured Nate. “There are some goons here, but they haven't made any moves.”

“I triggered the motion sensors,” Parker reported. “The HT1 vials are in the cage. How long till security's here?”

“Fifteen seconds,” Hardison answered. “Get out of there now.”

Sophie was standing next to Hoffman. “Should we, um, be getting out of here?” she asked. “Go mingle with your fans, I mean,” she added so Hoffman didn't get suspicious.

“Not quite,” Hoffman answered her. “I have one more thing I need to do before I can join the party.”

“Parker has tripped the alarm. We should clear out before Hoffman starts putting the pieces together,” Nate answered the original question.

“I'm just gonna get a glass of champagne,” Sophie said to Hoffman as she casually walked away.

“Parker, Sophie, you clear?” Nate asked.

“The HT1 vials are still in the cage. Security's on top of them,” Parker reported before she headed out of the building.

“Get out, Nate. Now,” Sophie urged.

Nate started toward the door, but a guard with a syringe rushed him. Will intercepted just before the man jabbed Nate, and the needle went into a cardboard cutout instead. That guard was punched out, but four more joined the fight. Will managed to take out two more before a gun was shoved in his face and he put his hands up in surrender.

Nate hadn't run, so they were both escorted into Hoffman's office where the man was waiting. Nate was forced down into a chair. “So glad you could join us. Quite the body guard you've got. Maybe I should try and steal him.”

Will shrugged. “If you're willing to pay me more, why not?”

“What's going on?” Nate demanded.

“The deal's changed.” Hoffman answered.

“Look, I don't understand, I thought a businessman like you would know how to keep a deal.”

“We had a deal when you said you had the vials. But you were bluffing. Nice, getting me to lead you to the storage facility. Too bad the hack you hired to steal the cases got caught,” Hoffman said as he set the case on the desk.

“She didn't get caught,” Nate pointed out.

“She left empty handed. Now I have the vials, and I have you. I think we need a new deal.” He turned to the guards. “Wait outside. Don't let anyone in.”

“As far as I'm concerned, the old deal still works. You give me the money, and no one finds out that Vioplex is identical to HT1, right? So listen. I’ll lower the price. Two million.”

“Still negotiating, huh? Well, I gotta to admire your persistence.”

“Well, you know, the truth's gonna come out once people start dying.”

“Well, sure. But by then, Vioplex will have made this company billions of dollars. And I'll have turned that success into a penthouse office in a fortune 500. I think I'll try oil next.”

“Door's clear,” Elliot reported once he took care of the guards outside.

Nate smirked and leaned forward. “It's a great idea. Great plan. There is one little snag. We stole the vials.”

“Then what's this?” Hoffman motioned to the case on his desk.

“That's an empty box. Yeah. We have the... Well, we had the vials.”

“Where are they now?” Hoffman suddenly looked a little scared.

“Well, now they're in the champagne that you're drinking.”

Hoffman swallowed hard and opened the case. His eyes widened when he found it empty, and a note taped to the lid that read 'Cheers'. “How?”

“Now, I got to tell you, it was a pretty concentrated dose, so your liver will fail in the next few hours, two days tops. You should be experiencing nausea, followed by this intense, profound fatigue, loss of appetite...”

“Now stop it!” Hoffman shouted, his face turning red. “I know you couldn't have drugged the champagne. I've been watching you since you got here.”

Nate motioned to Will. “Well, I'm not working alone, so...”

There was a knock at the door right before Jennifer Pearson entered the room. “Excuse me, Mr. Hoffman?”

“Who are you? How did you even get in my office?” Hoffman's attention turned to her.

“Jennifer Pearson, FDA rep. Your assistant said you were ready for me.”

“My assistant?” Hoffman was confused for a minute before everything started to click. “But...”

Nate crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair. “Like I said, Mr. Hoffman, I'm not working alone.”

“No!” Hoffman cried as he ran out of his office.

“What's going on?” Jennifer was suddenly the one confused.

Nate pointed out the door in the direction Hoffman ran. “You want to stay with him, okay? He'll explain everything. But come here first. You're gonna want to take this.” He handed her the case of vials. “Run along.”

Hoffman ran into the lobby. “Everyone, stop! Don't drink the champagne!” He started knocking glasses out of peoples' hands. “Do not drink the champagne! We've all been poisoned!”

“Mr. Hoffman! What is going on here?” Jennifer asked when she caught up to him.

“We all need to go to the hospital! Someone has put HT1 into the champagne!”

The monitors in the lobby then turned on and showed the makeup of HT1 and Vioplex side by side, showing it was basically the same drug. “HT1? That's the drug that killed all those people in Arcadia,” one woman said out loud.

Hoffman had to lean against the wall. “This isn't happening. Oh, this cannot be happening.”

Jennifer looked up at the screen and then back to Hoffman. “You mean that the poison in the champagne is the same thing as Vioplex, which you're selling to millions of people?”

Hoffman saw the case in her hand. “Someone tampered with that case. They stole the vials.”

Jennifer opened the case to look, and the vials were there. “These vials?”

The color drained from Hoffman's face. “No. I opened that. They were gone.”

“How are you going to explain this to your shareholders?”

The reporters there started rushing Hoffman and asked a bunch of questions. Hoffman looked up to the balcony to see Sophie and Nate together. “You do realize that that stunt you pulled defines out of control,” she whispered to him quietly.

Nate shrugged. “Well, you know, I just wanted you to see that I would never put any of you at risk if I wasn't willing to take the same chances myself.”

Sophie shook her head. “I love how you think that's comforting. And it wasn't just you that you put in needless danger.”

“Your son handled himself just fine. I knew he'd have my back for your sake if nothing else.”

“You crossed a line with him too. Usually you ask Elliot or Hardison to acquire things for you, but you needed a smuggler's box, and you asked the son of a drug smuggler who is trying to get away from that life.”

“He knew better than Elliot or Hardison who to go to to get a box that looked exactly like the box the vials were being kept in. And he came through, it was perfect.”

A few days later Hardison called Ashley to meet him at the pub. After Hoffman's arrest and a very quick investigation the drug company ended up paying some very steep fines. They'd gotten a check for being whistle blowers, and of course they were giving a good chunk of it to Ashley.

Hardison was going to take Ashley home, but Will saw Parker sitting with Sophie, and shards of a broken beer bottle on the bar. “I'll take her home,” Will quickly offered. “I'll even do it in style. You ever ridden in a BMW convertible?”

“No, that sounds kinda awesome,” Ashley was impressed.

“You're....” Hardison was a little confused.

“Parker needs to talk to you,” Will motioned to the bar before leaving with Ashley.

“So what's up?” Hardison headed over to the bar.

“You know what, I have some things to do,” Sophie said to excuse herself and leave the two alone. When she was out on the sidewalk Ashley was getting into the passenger seat of the electric blue sports car. Sophie walked around to the driver's side and leaned against the car. “You are definitely more like me than your father,” she said to Will. “And I'm very glad you're here.”

“Glad to be here,” Will responded as he started the engine and revved it a little. “See you for dinner?”

“Absolutely. Just don't scare the poor girl to death, okay?”

“She'll be fine,” Will laughed and darted out into traffic as soon as Sophie had moved back to the sidewalk.
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Bring on the Wonder