The Rule Number 7 Job: Chapter 2
Title: The Rule Number 7 Job
Author: Trapper Creek Kaniac
Category: Leverage
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Humor/Drama/Crime
Summary: A woman asks for the team's help in rescuing her sister from a Russian proposition ring.
Pairings: Implied Nate/Sophie, Parker/Hardison, and Eliot...
The next morning found the team gathered at Nate's apartment, waiting for the briefing on what would be their next job. Parker and Sophie were already seated on the couch in front of the TV monitors; Sophie gracefully perched on one of the cushions and Parker in her usual position on the opposite arm rest. Grabbing a beer from the refrigerator, Eliot easily vaulted over the back of the couch and came to rest on the cushion between Sophie and Parker. Sophie glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, no doubt disapproving of his "heathenish" ways, but said nothing.
"Okay, run it, Hardison." Nate nodded at the hacker to begin his presentation.
"Ian Bruno," Hardison began and clicked his remote so that a picture of an average-looking man in his mid-thirties, dressed in khakis and a blue t-shirt appeared on the screen. His light brown hair was short and his eyes were the same color; he was not particularly handsome, but not completely unattractive. "Age thirty-five, immigrated in to the states from Russian in '98 under the name Ian Brushnikov, which he had changed - I'm guessing illegally." Hardison brought up Bruno's driver's license. "Now this man is clean, hell, he could win the model citizen award - not so much as a speeding or parking ticket, or anything. Nada…"
"Almost too clean," Eliot interrupted.
"Ahem, I believe I was just getting to that." Hardison glared at Eliot. Eliot just took a sip of his beer while staring Hardison down.
"Hardison…" Nate prompted impatiently.
Hardison clicked the remote again so several documents appeared on the screen. "As I was saying, Ian Bruno is squeaky clean. But, Mr. Brushnikov, he's been a bad boy - several slaps on the wrist for inappropriately touching women. After he came to America, he decided to cater to the red-blooded American male…"
"He started a catering business?" This time it was Parker who interrupted Hardison. "But I thought Nate said that he ran some kind of strip club or something."
"He does; it's a figure of speech, Parker." Nate answered. Damn, he wanted a drink but Sophie would kill him so he was just going to have to tough it out.
"While I appreciate all of y'alls insightful comments on the matter, but if y'all don't have anything else useful to add, I'd like to finish my presentation." Hardison huffed. The rest of the team just looked at him and said nothing.
"As I was saying, Bruno got into the business of pleasure. and made quite a bit of money. To an innocent customer, it's just a regular strip joint. I did some serious digging and it is anything but. I checked financials - his "girls" live on less than minimum wage. From what Clarisse told us, a quarter of that money goes to Bruno. When he finds his victims, he offers to pay for the cost of the passage to America in exchange for them agreeing to work him. That way they can work of the debt as the money comes in instead of being dumped off in a foreign country with no awaiting job."
"What's the catch?"
"The money they gotta pay back?" Hardison continued. "It costs Bruno and his guys practically nothing to bring these girls to the States, but they don't know that, so he can get way with tripling and even quadrupling the amount of money "owed" and the poor girls don't even know what has happened. At the rate that the money is going towards paying off the debt, it takes close to eight years to fully pay it off."
Sophie gasped. "Oh, that is terrible! These poor girls!"
Nate frowned; something wasn't quite adding up. "What's to stop them from just walking away from it all?"
"Bruno has several pretty persuasive thugs on his payroll. Also, remember how Clarisse said her sister was provided with papers?" Hardison brought up a copy on the screen. "They're fake. Bruno can't have it look like he has illegal immigrants working for him so he provides them with fake papers that should pass inspection, should they ever get checked over. But, because the documents are fake, if anyone decides they're tired of playing Bruno's game, he'll "let it slip" that the papers are fake."
"The son of a bitch is blackmailing them!" Sophie burst out.
"Yeah, pretty much."
"So, what are we going to do?" The perky blonde thief piped up.
"We are going to get Clarisse's sister out of that place, bring down Bruno and clean out his bank accounts."
"Right…How are we going to do that?"
"I'm working on it." Nate answered.
"What about the Vegas Wakeup Call?" Hardison suggested.
Eliot raised an eyebrow. "The dead hooker in bed with the mark and the boyfriend shows up?"
"It's called the Vegas Wakeup Call!"
"Whatever, man." Eliot smirked at Hardison
A plan, a brilliant plan was beginning to take shape in Sophie's mind. "No, we're going to do something a little different…the Mexican Sombrero."Hardison looked skeptical. "Is that even real?"
"Oh, you bet it's real." Sophie exchanged a glance with Nate and he grinned back at her. "Parker, you and I are going on a shopping - and no stealing this time!" Hardison still looked dubious about the con that apparently nobody had heard of except for Nate and Sophie while Eliot sat by with an amused look playing about his handsome features.
Nate looked at Hardison. "Oh, and Hardison, make sure your video camera and green wall are ready, we'll be needing them when Parker and Sophie get back from their shopping trip." A shadow of a smile crossed Nate's face as he spoke his next words. "Alright guys, let's go steal us a strip club!"
Author: Trapper Creek Kaniac
Category: Leverage
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Humor/Drama/Crime
Summary: A woman asks for the team's help in rescuing her sister from a Russian proposition ring.
Pairings: Implied Nate/Sophie, Parker/Hardison, and Eliot...
The next morning found the team gathered at Nate's apartment, waiting for the briefing on what would be their next job. Parker and Sophie were already seated on the couch in front of the TV monitors; Sophie gracefully perched on one of the cushions and Parker in her usual position on the opposite arm rest. Grabbing a beer from the refrigerator, Eliot easily vaulted over the back of the couch and came to rest on the cushion between Sophie and Parker. Sophie glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, no doubt disapproving of his "heathenish" ways, but said nothing.
"Okay, run it, Hardison." Nate nodded at the hacker to begin his presentation.
"Ian Bruno," Hardison began and clicked his remote so that a picture of an average-looking man in his mid-thirties, dressed in khakis and a blue t-shirt appeared on the screen. His light brown hair was short and his eyes were the same color; he was not particularly handsome, but not completely unattractive. "Age thirty-five, immigrated in to the states from Russian in '98 under the name Ian Brushnikov, which he had changed - I'm guessing illegally." Hardison brought up Bruno's driver's license. "Now this man is clean, hell, he could win the model citizen award - not so much as a speeding or parking ticket, or anything. Nada…"
"Almost too clean," Eliot interrupted.
"Ahem, I believe I was just getting to that." Hardison glared at Eliot. Eliot just took a sip of his beer while staring Hardison down.
"Hardison…" Nate prompted impatiently.
Hardison clicked the remote again so several documents appeared on the screen. "As I was saying, Ian Bruno is squeaky clean. But, Mr. Brushnikov, he's been a bad boy - several slaps on the wrist for inappropriately touching women. After he came to America, he decided to cater to the red-blooded American male…"
"He started a catering business?" This time it was Parker who interrupted Hardison. "But I thought Nate said that he ran some kind of strip club or something."
"He does; it's a figure of speech, Parker." Nate answered. Damn, he wanted a drink but Sophie would kill him so he was just going to have to tough it out.
"While I appreciate all of y'alls insightful comments on the matter, but if y'all don't have anything else useful to add, I'd like to finish my presentation." Hardison huffed. The rest of the team just looked at him and said nothing.
"As I was saying, Bruno got into the business of pleasure. and made quite a bit of money. To an innocent customer, it's just a regular strip joint. I did some serious digging and it is anything but. I checked financials - his "girls" live on less than minimum wage. From what Clarisse told us, a quarter of that money goes to Bruno. When he finds his victims, he offers to pay for the cost of the passage to America in exchange for them agreeing to work him. That way they can work of the debt as the money comes in instead of being dumped off in a foreign country with no awaiting job."
"What's the catch?"
"The money they gotta pay back?" Hardison continued. "It costs Bruno and his guys practically nothing to bring these girls to the States, but they don't know that, so he can get way with tripling and even quadrupling the amount of money "owed" and the poor girls don't even know what has happened. At the rate that the money is going towards paying off the debt, it takes close to eight years to fully pay it off."
Sophie gasped. "Oh, that is terrible! These poor girls!"
Nate frowned; something wasn't quite adding up. "What's to stop them from just walking away from it all?"
"Bruno has several pretty persuasive thugs on his payroll. Also, remember how Clarisse said her sister was provided with papers?" Hardison brought up a copy on the screen. "They're fake. Bruno can't have it look like he has illegal immigrants working for him so he provides them with fake papers that should pass inspection, should they ever get checked over. But, because the documents are fake, if anyone decides they're tired of playing Bruno's game, he'll "let it slip" that the papers are fake."
"The son of a bitch is blackmailing them!" Sophie burst out.
"Yeah, pretty much."
"So, what are we going to do?" The perky blonde thief piped up.
"We are going to get Clarisse's sister out of that place, bring down Bruno and clean out his bank accounts."
"Right…How are we going to do that?"
"I'm working on it." Nate answered.
"What about the Vegas Wakeup Call?" Hardison suggested.
Eliot raised an eyebrow. "The dead hooker in bed with the mark and the boyfriend shows up?"
"It's called the Vegas Wakeup Call!"
"Whatever, man." Eliot smirked at Hardison
A plan, a brilliant plan was beginning to take shape in Sophie's mind. "No, we're going to do something a little different…the Mexican Sombrero."Hardison looked skeptical. "Is that even real?"
"Oh, you bet it's real." Sophie exchanged a glance with Nate and he grinned back at her. "Parker, you and I are going on a shopping - and no stealing this time!" Hardison still looked dubious about the con that apparently nobody had heard of except for Nate and Sophie while Eliot sat by with an amused look playing about his handsome features.
Nate looked at Hardison. "Oh, and Hardison, make sure your video camera and green wall are ready, we'll be needing them when Parker and Sophie get back from their shopping trip." A shadow of a smile crossed Nate's face as he spoke his next words. "Alright guys, let's go steal us a strip club!"