The Outside the Box Job

Chapter One

It's Been A Long Time

Since I Wore This Rattlesnake Smile

And A Lotta My Friends Haven't Seen it in Quite A While

-Rattlesnake Smile by Christian Kane and Kane-

Eliot kept his head down as he walked past the rent-a-cop on his way to the back stairs of the building. He knew the guy didn't have any experience working real security; if he did, he sure wouldn't be here trying to look like he was a badass. Eliot hid a grin as he watched the guy through his peripheral vision; the man started whistling something that was off key while he strutted down the corridor. No, Eliot thought, this breed of wannabe badass always seemed to amaze him the most when they survived from one day to the next in this world of 'boring do nothing special' kind of thing.

The team was waiting for Eliot back at Lucille and he needed to hurry up; it was getting late. It was almost nine and they were meeting their client in an hour; then in the morning they were off to their next gig. Lately they seemed to have a never-ending string of clients needing their special kind of help. Yeah, he thought, sometimes the only good guys you get were the bad guys.

He'd just gotten Parker out of the building with the files they'd been hired to steal; the files that were stolen from their client Dr. Evanwood in the first place. These files contained every ounce of the doctor's life's work and the team was only securing what rightfully belonged to him.

Dr. Evanwood, Eliot thought with another grin. Now that guy was everything one would expect a nerdy professor to look like. Not too tall, a little thickening around his middle, going prematurely bald, and then there was the glasses. Eliot full on laughed when he thought about the guys glasses. They weren't just big and bulky looking and taped in the middle, but they were also a very brilliant shade of green. The guy thought the glasses made him look cool, but they just intensified his nerdiness. Yet in a way they were so him, and because of that Eliot had refrained from making any comments upon seeing the man for the first time.

The doctor was brilliant though, that much Eliot would concede, albeit reluctantly. He knew what he'd been talking about when he'd told them about what lay beneath one of the oldest buildings in the state and was just on the outer edge of Boston. He'd been working on this for most of his life and he had everything to support his deductions; and then his blueprints and all the files had been stolen. If Eliot had run into the guy during any other day, he'd have written the man off as a lunatic treasure hunter, but when the man revealed his photographic memory and Hardison had followed up on his research, things began to fall into place. Eliot realized that the man knew what he was talking about after reading up on the history of the building and everything Hardison had on the good doctor.

Eliot knew he was the real deal and he deserved to get credit for his discovery. It was almost like something right out of the movie, National Treasure. Boston was one of the oldest cities in the state, so it seemed logical to him that the founding fathers probably hid treasures all over; they were, after all committing treason against England and they knew they wouldn't be able to go back once they began. It just made sense they'd stow assets away just in case they were ever needed to help fight for their independence.

Eliot had never really thought about the assets part much, not until he'd talked with the doctor. He'd always had an interest in the USA's fight for freedom and independence, he was once a soldier; but after the line between doing what was right for the people and doing what protected the government became blurry, he'd done some backtracking of his own.

When what he was being told to do began to make him question who he was really protecting, he'd walked away. Eliot had never regretted his decision to leave, but he regretted some of the bad choices he'd made once he'd been on his own. Choices he didn't like to think about any more than he had to.

After he'd met Dr. Evanwood, he'd listened to the man and his theories. They made sense and Eliot realized that the man didn't want the treasure for himself, he wanted to give their country what was rightfully hers. He wanted to help the people by giving them more knowledge on what their country's original soldiers had fought for. He wanted the people to know what they had a right to know, and that had been the fact that not only were they fighting for their freedom, but they were fighting for their future.

But someone else didn't want the world to have the treasure. Someone had been following the man's research and just as the professor had been about to hire a team that would break ground once he'd secured the purchase of the building in question, his work had been stolen. It had taken Hardison a while, but he'd finally been able to trace the location of the plans back to this law firm and it had seemed an easy enough job to steal the documents back.

However, Eliot knew nothing was ever truly easy, so he was making a final sweep of the offices of Buckland and Hart at night dressed as a rental cop. He'd watched as Parker had gained careful entrance to the building through the air ducts and he'd kept all the rental cops in sight as she worked her magic on the safe. When her exit had been blocked by the unexpected appearance of a late-night maintenance crew, he'd managed to get her out of the building through the lesser used route at this time of night, the freight elevator shaft.

Now, Parker was safe in the van with the others and Eliot was rushing through this last check, so he could join them. He needed to be sure no one found out about the missing files until their client was safely out of the city with them. He also wanted to be sure he would be able to return in the future as he'd discovered something in the building that had interested him; and it was his secret as to what it was. Nothing dangerous really, but something that needed his attention.

He could hear the playful banter between Parker and Hardison through his constant earbud and scowled a little at the noise they were making. He hoped no one noticed all that noise if they happened to walk past Lucille. Nate had parked closer to the building than Eliot would have liked, because Hardison said it was easier for him to monitor them without being detected. He didn't understand the nerdy explanation Hardison gave, he just accepted it.

He'd never tell the man that he trusted him with his life when it came to his computer genius, so he'd just growled at him and turned away to head into the building. He may not understand everything about Hardison's level of technology, but he wasn't a total idiot either. How the hell did anyone think he'd survived his job as a retrieval expert without using these modern conveniences occasionally? Because it was Eliot's trademark to be underestimated, he would never let Hardison know that Eliot knew his way around a computer keyboard.

The part that still bothered him after all this time on this team was the fact that even though the marks were supposed to underestimate him, his team should have seen Eliot's other qualities; yet he felt they really didn't notice. No one had ever asked him what other skills he possessed besides making them dinner and bustin' in a few heads. No, they just took for granted that Eliot would be there when they needed him to take the bad guys down. Sometimes it bothered him, but most times he just let it go.

"You guys need to shut up out there!" Eliot growled under his breath as he looked behind him to be sure the guard had continued down the hall. "Someone's gonna hear you and we don't need any unexpected company."

"Hey relax, man." Hardison said, and Eliot could hear him grinning as he spoke. "Lucille's insulated so no one's gonna hear anything. My baby's got it all, no worries."

Eliot grinned as he pictured the guy sitting at his computer monitors with a forever orange soda bottle within reach and Parker next to him eating some of his gummy frogs. He knew Sophie and Nate were there too, and they were probably watching the two younger team members like disapproving parents at their sugar induced antics. What have I gotten myself into with this group? Sometimes they really tried his patience.

"Are you almost done, Eliot?" Sophie's soft cultured voice came to him through the earbud.

Eliot loved the sound of Sophie's voice, her real voice. It was soft like a fine southern woman's voice, but Sophie's held just enough of a deep refined tone to let people know she was anything, but soft. He'd learned early on how to read Sophie; even if it was her job to read people, Eliot had learned in his own career to know what to expect from people as well as most grifters.

Sophie needed to know how to handle a grift by knowing how to read the mark, but she'd have probably been shocked to discover that Eliot knew exactly who she was and what she meant with every inclination and tone she applied to her voice. It may have been her job to read and understand their marks, but it was Eliot's job to read and understand people in general; and Eliot was good at his job. He wasn't being egotistical; he was just good at his job, period. He had to be to survive. Eliot had to be able to read people and his surroundings, so he could get in and out.

He didn't assume people were to be dismissed if they didn't appear to be a threat. He had to read people to know what was under the surface. Eliot had to know instantly who could be a threat later, not just at the moment. He knew how to read women, too. Eliot had been around the block a few times (okay, a lot he thought with another grin), so he knew what a woman meant no matter what words came out of her mouth; and he knew right now Sophie was a little irked (her word, not his-he would have been pissed) with Nate and the hectic schedule he had them on lately.

Eliot also knew she was worried; something about this job had rubbed her wrong from the minute they'd taken it and he had to admit he'd also had some reservations. It had seemed simple enough, an easy in and out job, but he knew if something looked easy it probably wasn't. Anyone could have done this job, so why them? Why had the doctor chosen them? How had he even found them?

These were questions Eliot had been asking himself since they'd taken this job. He hadn't had time to discuss his reluctance with Sophie though, and he hoped when this was all over, he could put those feelings away; but his unease continued to grow with each passing minute.

They'd gotten in easy enough and even though Eliot had to change Parker's escape route, she'd still gotten out with no problems. Now they were all safe in the van waiting on him and it looked like he'd be joining them soon. He hadn't run into any other guards and the stairs were just down the hall on his left; and that's when the realization hit him.

Eliot hadn't seen another guard. Why hadn't he? He'd passed one every two or three minutes when he'd first entered the building an hour ago, and now - none? It wasn't time to change shifts and they were supposed to be on patrol always. Eliot had done all his homework and he had their schedule down pat. So where were the other guards?

He stopped dead in his tracks when he realized he was alone in the corridor. "Hardison, where are all the guards?" Eliot breathed; he had calculated the amount of time it would take him to reach the stairs and get down them and outside; and that included running into any guards.

"What? What do you mean? They're all where they're supposed to be-" Suddenly Hardison's voice cut off. "Umm, Eliot?"

Eliot knew he wasn't going to like this the minute he heard Hardison's voice take on that freaking scared tone he used when he knew Eliot would be pissed with him. "What?!" Eliot growled back.

"Umm, man it looks like all the security cameras are on the fritz - except one. They all just went offline."

"What do you mean?" Nate's worried voice came next in Eliot's head. "What happened to the cameras? Hardison?"

"Which one?" Eliot ground out. "Which camera is working?" But he already knew the answer as he looked up at the camera mounted on the wall just over his head in front of the stairwell door. It was flashing a red recording dot. "Damnit Hardison!"

"El, man - I'm sorry. I didn't-"

Eliot ignored Hardison's voice as he turned to see the group of guards approaching him from behind. These were not the same guards he'd been seeing all night. No, these guys were better suited to the same kind of work as Eliot. "Nate, get out. Leave now!" He watched as the group stopped a few feet from him. He counted six. For now. "You hear me Nate, put Parker behind the wheel and get out now!"

"Whoa! Eliot man, no way you want Parker driving us outta here!" Hardison said as fear gripped him. "Sorry mamma, but we wanna live through this!" He said as Parker stuck her tongue out at him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

In the back of Lucille, Hardison and the others watched as the men appeared out of nowhere and slowly made their way towards Eliot's turned back. They watched as Nate tried to warn him, they were coming, but he was interrupted by Eliot's 'Damnit Hardison!' and they knew he'd already figured it out. They watched as Eliot slowly turned to face the men as he instructed them to leave; and to leave without him.

"Eliot wants me to drive? Something's wrong with him. He never lets me drive." Parker replied as she moved to get in the driver's seat. "Should I, Nate? Drive, I mean. We can't leave Sparky, but..." She didn't know for sure what she should do. She loved to drive, but Eliot hated it when she drove. If Eliot wanted her to drive, that meant something bad was about to happen.

"No!" Nate yelled at her. "No, Parker," He added more softly when she jumped at his exclamation. "We wait for Eliot." He turned back to the monitor. "Eliot we aren't leaving you; I'm coming in to get you."

"No!" This time Eliot yelled. "Get out now or I'll-" Damnit, he thought. How the hell did this go so wrong so quickly? "Nate, this is what I do. Let me do my job without worrying about you guys, please…" He replied in his more controlled voice. "I'm the hitter; the enforcer. This is my real job on this team, so let me do my job." Eliot paused as the six men moved closer forming an arc in front of him. "Your job is the mastermind, the leader, so lead. Get the others out, Nate. I'll be fine." Eliot knew the stairs were behind him now, and there was no telling who could be waiting there to ambush him. He knew he'd walked himself into the worst position strategically possible. "Hardison, I need you to do what you do best."

"What? What do you-" But then Hardison remembered something. One time on a job, they had no computer access and Eliot was giving him a hard time because he couldn't do anything without his computers. Hardison had smiled and held up his phone. He'd told Eliot he always had a computer if he had his cell and that was what he did best; and with that Hardison had been able to hack into the security system of the building they'd been in. He smiled now as he realized what Eliot was saying. "You got it man." His fingers moved over the keyboard with lightning efficiency and soon he had every alarm in the building going off. Fire, security, anything with an alarm, it was going off.

Eliot smiled when the guards suddenly looked nervously at the flashing lights and alarms going off around them. Next the regular lights went off and they were all left in the dark; before the intermittent strobe lighting from the back-up system kicked in and they could see glimpses of the hall around them, but they didn't see Eliot. The group did circles in place trying to find where the hitter gone.

They didn't know what hit them until they were down. Eliot had moved quietly and quickly through the group and he'd taken all of them down in less than a minute. Eliot stood over them, grinning. Yeah, he thought; he really did like Hardison's computers and crap.

"Eliot? We're just outside the fire door exit you were heading for." Hardison said as Parker started the van and moved them to wait just outside said exit.

Eliot growled when he realized they hadn't left has he'd asked them to, but he didn't hesitate as he turned and ran for the stairwell door bursting through and taking the stairs a leap at a time. He jumped from landing to landing, then he jumped over the rail of the last two flights and landed just in front of the fire door leading to the outside world. Eliot pushed on the bar and set off another alarm when he burst through heading for the van waiting at the curb.

He watched as Nate slid the door open, and just as Eliot had cleared the outside doorway, something big and dark hit him hard in the middle of his back and he went down. Nate could only watch as his friend went down; and his heart began to pound even faster when he realized his teammate was not getting up. Eliot never went down without getting right back up.

Eliot could see stars as he felt the heavy dark shape land on his back and knock the breath out of him. He'd hit his head hard on the concrete under him and he couldn't seem to get a grip on the ground. Eliot tried to roll over, but whoever had him down was covering his entire back side. He was too stunned to try and see who was on top of him.

He vaguely heard Nate yelling his name, but it was from so far away. He wasn't sure, but he thought he also heard Sophie's sweet voice calling out to him, but it was too far away, yet he could sense she sounded frightened and that bothered him. What was she scared about?

As Eliot felt himself floating, he could have sworn he felt a cold wet something stroking his neck. What the hell? He tried to move his head away from the wet thing, but he stopped instantly when he heard his father's voice. The one he used when he'd yell at their hunting dog, Jake. Then the cold wet thing went for his face and he couldn't seem to stop the thing from closing in on his throat.

Eliot was falling into a big black pit and he just sighed as he thought of his old coonhound, Jake and his big stupid loopy grin as he licked the crap out of Eliot's face. Stupid dog was always so friggin' happy to see him and Eliot had loved that dog more than anything. Then he remembered nothing as the world shifted on its axis to send him falling off and into nothing.

AN: Hope you like this new one. It began as a Leverage Secret Santa Exchange on AO3 for Ginipig9. I'm expanding it from 3 chapters there to not sure yet exactly how many here. Please read, enjoy and review if you do!