Number 06 │ A Leverage Fanfiction

The Miracle Job │ Part 3

Leverage HQ, Conference Room.

"He's building another mall on the site of the church," Parker said, her eyes scanning the plans that Sophie had brought back.

I looked down at the stack of plans in my hands, flipping through them carefully."It's not even a mall," I replied, shaking my head. "It's a lifestyle center. Eat, work, shop, play, all in one place. You know, all the buzzwords."

Eliot, sitting off to the side with his arms folded, grumbled. "I don't like this guy."

Hardison, who was pacing around the room, shook his head with a knowing look. "He doesn't want the closing of the church connected to him. I'll bet he's got the city council in his pocket and got the land for a song. Once this deal closes, he's free and clear. By the time they break ground on this 'lifestyle' center, he'll be untouchable."

Sophie sighed, her lips curling into a wry smile. "Forget St. Nick. We'd be better off with the patron saint of lost causes."

Nate shook his head. "No, no, no. He trusts you. You can hook him."

Sophie raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I know I can, Nate, but there's no time. I mean, we need a long con for this job, right? In three days, he owns that church."

Nate paused, considering the situation. The clock was ticking, and the stakes were high. "Alright, so we got to hit him hard now, indirectly. Stall the closing, buy enough time to bring him in for a longer game. But we need to act fast."

Eliot leaned forward, not convinced. "You really think he's gonna fall for that? This guy? I gotta be honest with you. We're gonna need a miracle to save this church."

Nate's lips curled into a smile. "So let's, uh, go steal ourselves a miracle."

<>

Nate's footsteps echoed down the hallway as he spoke, "So, the Catholic Church defines a miracle as the work of God, usually through the prayers and intercessions of a saint, for some specific purpose. Frequently, the purpose is the conversion of the unbelieving."

Eliot gave him a sidelong glance. "How do you know all this stuff?"

Nate shrugged, "I went to school with Father Paul...to...uh, Seminary school."

They all filed into Nate's office, the air thick with tension and the usual hum of activity. Eliot, always the thoughtful one when it came to details, handed Sophie a cup of coffee as he spoke up. "So, you dropped out of priest school to become a... an insurance cop? And now you're the leader of a band of thieves. Nice."

Hardison chimed in, his tone incredulous. "Y-you—y-you're a Catholic who wants to fake a miracle. I'm pretty sure that puts us in moral-sin territory."

Eliot raised an eyebrow, "So now you're religious, too?"

Hardison was quick to backpedal. "No, no, I'm not denominational. It's just... I never do anything my nana said 'don't do.' This—what we doing—it just don't seem right."

Nate paused, "What doesn't seem right? Let me get this straight. We're trying to save a church, right? So, faking a miracle to me seems like the quickest way to do that."

I hummed, "Even Andrew Grant's not gonna build a mall on a holy site."

Nate nodded, "Right, so we need three things. We need a miracle, we need publicity, and we need to keep Father Paul out of the way. He can't be involved in this at all."

Sophie thought for a moment before speaking, "Reporters follow Grant around in packs. Let's—let's use him as bait."

Parker's eyes sparkled with excitement. "Use his own publicity to wreck his project."