LEVERAGE AU - volume one

Chapter Six

Boomer, Pidge, Alice and Jack stood at the back of a theatre, watching a bright blond haired, short man act terribly a woman's part. Jack watched intently while the others just watched in shock.
“Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst! Make thick my blood; Stop up the access and passage to remorse, that no compunctious visiting’s of nature.”
Alice raised an eyebrow, “Is he, like, injured… In the head?”
Boomer snorted, “This is the worst actor I’ve ever seen.”
Jack shook his head, “This isn’t his stage…”
Later in the alley way, the four of them were waiting for Spike to exit the theatre.
“I vote no,” Boomer said as he crossed his arms.
“Alice’s right, Dubenich knows us and we need a fresh face…”
As Spike walked out, Jack smiled and clapped. “I thought you did great!”
Spike smiled sarcastically, “My one and only fan.”
In Paris seven years ago, Spike was cutting a painting out of a frame with several empty frames nearby. The door busted open and Jack entered with a gun in hand. “Freeze!”
Spike grabbed his gun and shot Jack in the shoulder. He responded by shooting spike in the back. They both clenched at their wounds.
“You wanker!” Spike called as he got away.
Spike shook his head, “Im a citizen now, honest!”
Jack snorted, “I’m not.”
Spike ginned like a cat, “You’re playing my side,” he said as he glanced at the team behind Jack, “I always thought you had it in you.”
“Right, so you’re in?”
“I wouldn’t miss this.”
Jack seemed a little flustered at the short man’s flirtatious nature, but he continued to speak confidently, “All right, let’s break the law just one more time.”
~
Later, back at Pidge’s loft, she displayed pictures of Dubenich on his TV while the team watched, “Victor Dubenich, executive vice-president in charge of new technology development over at Bering Aerospace. Rich daddy, trust fund, Yale MBA. Blah, blah blah.”
Jack raised an eyebrow, “Victor? Now when was the last time you met a Victor?”
Boomer answered with no hesitation, “Vietnam. Town called Banho Zay.”
Spike nodded, “Chinese border.”
Boomer scoffed, “Odd thing for you to know.”
Spike fired back almost instantly with a raised eyebrow at him, “Odd place for you to be.”
Pidge rolled her eyebrows, “Now Bering is in charge of a lot of big fat government contracts. Some Department of Defense research, very classified stuff.”
Alice crossed her arms, “Can we use that?”
“No, I don’t think so. Dubenich is in charge of their commercial airline business.”
Jack nodded, “I know when you sent Dubenich his designs you weren’t supposed to make any copies.”
Pidge grinned, “No, of course not! That would be very wrong.”
“Show me your copies.”
“You got it,” she said as she brought them up on the screen.”
“It’s a short alt domestic airliner, yeah, usually one hour flights. It’s the fastest growing segment of the industry, very fuel efficient. High tech. Very nice carbon nose, it’s got the titanium wrap. 3 to 1.” He felt everyone’s questioning eyes on him and he shrugged, “What? You pick things up here and there.”
Pidge snorted, “You pick up a lotta stuff, man. Now, check this out. Dubenich and Pierson they were head to head for five years trying to grab the lead in an industry that’s worth like eleventy-billion dollars.”
Alice nodded, “So Pierson got there first, Dubenich took a short cut.”
“So he’s got a rival. He’s got a rival that pisses him off so much he hired us to steal his designs. This is good,” Jack said with a thoughtful expression.
“What’re you thinking, Jacky?” Spike asked, and everyone snickered.
Jack answered with a very pointed look at Spike, who seemed to be very amused by this, “I’m thinking Nigerians. Yeah, Nigerians will do nicely.” With that, he walked away yet again.
The original team just stared, and Spike and he shrugged, “Well, he sure hasn’t changed a bit.”