SILENT PARTNERS

Chapter 1

Richard Elia's well-appointed private jet glided smoothly over the Pacific Ocean at a cruising altitude of 41,000 feet. His planes were always well-maintained and his pilots were always exceptionally well-qualified, so nothing would ever dare disturb the tech billionaire's business travels. On this trip, however, there was an over-abundance of turbulence inside the aircraft.

Four members of Team Scorpion were occupying the luxurious interior. The women sat together on one side toward the front. Paige was flipping through a magazine so violently some of the pages tore and Happy slouched in her seat and was alternately staring out the window or scowling at the floor. They would occasionally talk in low voices as if plotting the demise of the men across the aisle.

Their male counterparts were trying not to notice the tension rolling toward them in waves of scorn. Toby was nursing a prodigious hangover and pretending to sleep. Walter was feigning deep concentration on whatever was on his laptop and doing his best to hide behind the screen. Both could tell they were so deep in the doghouse it would take a bloodhound three days to find them.

The group was heading to Bali, Indonesia for a cushy and lucrative private sector job that was also a favor to Mr. Elia. One of the tycoon's close friends recently purchased a five-star hotel and resort complex on the island. Richard had fronted much of the cash for the venture himself.

The tourist retreat was located in the interior, mountainous region on the banks of the Ayung River. Gorgeous, green and lush, the area was the perfect haven for visitors to enjoy pampering, relaxation and romance. Unfortunately, it was also being used for smuggling drugs, unbeknownst to the American buyer.

The local authorities were unsuccessful at catching the perpetrators. They had plenty of suspicions, but no real evidence. Having government officials sniffing around was detracting from the ambiance and there had been two incidents of guests accidentally ingesting opium and needing medical intervention. Consequently, Elia's friend was concerned for the safety of his guests and employees. Plus, he was losing money in cancelled reservations and early check-outs not to mention the colossal hike in insurance premiums and the threat of lawsuits. He wanted to cooperate with the investigators and avoid tension with the foreign government, but the owner hoped he could hasten the conclusion of the case if he hired his own team to discreetly poke around in the resort's infrastructure.

That was where Scorpion came in.

The resort was scheduled to host a couples' seminar and retreat with a world renowned marriage counselor and best selling author. Toby was going in undercover as one of the therapists assisting the attendees with therapy and communication exercises. He would be able to profile the employees because there would be free sessions for workers and their families as a benefit of employment. Not to mention, as a guest, Toby would be staying at the hotel and he could lurk around after hours and observe the other guests and workers alike.

Happy would be posing as a maintenance tech helping with kitchen renovations and upgrading pool equipment in the private villas. She would really be installing high tech surveillance equipment around the resort that would be monitored by Sylvester back at the garage.

Walter and Paige were to assume the roll of a married couple wanting to work on their relationship. Walter would help Sylvester with monitoring the surveillance footage and he could hack into the devices of employees and regular visitors at the resort to look for suspicious activities.

About six hours into the fourteen hour flight, Toby cautiously brought his seatback into an upright position and snuck a covert glance at Happy from under the brim of his hat. To his acute relief, both women appeared to be asleep, reclining in their own spacious seats.

"Pssst," Toby hissed at Walter and jerked his chin in the girls' direction. "I think they're finally sleeping," he whispered.

"They both nodded off about eighteen minutes ago," Walter replied without looking up from his computer.

"Okay. Now you can tell me."

"Tell you? Tell you what?"

"Why our usually compassionate company liaison is keeping herself entertained by picturing you spontaneously combusting? I thought you were chasing after her to Tahoe to tell her of your undying love."

Walter shut his laptop with a snap and looked over irritably at the shrink. "Could you lower your voice? I said I was going to stop her. I didn't say I was going to tell her anything. Don't you tell her anything either. And your assessment of Paige's thoughts is most likely inaccurate. It's impossible for you to know with any certainty what she's thinking. Besides, it looks to me like you have issues of your own. What exactly did you do to Happy? She seems pretty 'un-Happy' with you right now."

"Don't try to be funny. It doesn't work for you. And I royally screwed up with my woman. I know better than to pick a fight when my blood volume is two-thirds tequila. We have some big issues to work on, but we are heading to one of the most romantic spots in the world. I'm bound to figure something out. You on the other hand, couldn't be romantic if the fate of the world depended on it. So, why don't you spill about the events of the mad dash to Tahoe? I might be able to help and it's going to be a long flight."

"Nothing happened."

"Obviously something happened. Paige is here instead of at the jazz festival even if she doesn't seem too thrilled about it," Toby said skeptically.

"We caught this case. The seminar is this week. It's the perfect cover, so it was urgent we all leave immediately. It was logical," Walter replied.

"Let me translate. You used a case that we've known about for two weeks and, up until twelve hours ago we weren't sure we wanted to take, as an excuse to make Paige come back."

"As the leader of Scorpion, I assessed the value of the case and made the decision to move forward. The money is good. And Homeland isn't involved with this one."

"In other words, you took a case that was unpopular, for Paige in particular because she would have to leave Ralph and go halfway around the world for almost a week, so you could find a way to get her far away from Tim." Toby nodded knowingly.

"No. I made arrangements for Ralph. He'll be fine at the garage with Sly for a few days. They packed enough clothes to stay for a week before I picked them up. And I stocked the kitchen with provisions. I even checked to make sure he had a carpool to and from school this week using Cabe as backup. They have everything they need."

Toby raised his eyebrows, "Oh, I see. Without asking, you decided where Ralph would stay, who he would stay with and what he would need for a whole week. Overstepping boundaries much?"

"It was efficient. Paige was out of town and she wouldn't answer her phone," Walter argued.

"She wouldn't answer her phone? How did you get in touch with her to have her come back?"

"I, uh, called Tim's phone, of course."

"Of course you did. And how did that conversation go?"

"I simply explained the situation. I assured him we didn't need him to come along and told him he was welcome to attend the jazz festival like he initially planned, but that he would need to bring Paige back or let me meet them somewhere. It was the practical solution for everyone."

"Well… that certainly explains why she's been imaging your slow death for the last few hours. Walter, you'd better pay close attention at this seminar and in your sessions. You might pick up a couple of things."

AN: I know the 'pretending to be married for a case' scenario has been done, but hopefully this will be a bit different spin on it. I watched the spoiler video for part 1 of "Civil War" and Paige seems pretty upset. Oh, Walter. No matter what happens, he's not going to handle things very well, is he? That's why this story starts off with Paige angry.