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“You made a mistake?” Eliot repeated. “What kind of mistake?”
“It’s a small mistake!” Hardison said. “Really, it’s a tiny one, itsy bitsy teeny weeny–”
“Damn it, Hardison!”
“But yeah, you should probably, uh, start running.”
Eliot cursed under his breath and glanced around the room. The room absolutely full of very fancy people in very fancy clothes, where a man randomly racing for the door would attract all kinds of unwanted attention. “In that case, somebody needs to get me an exit.”
“On it!” Parker piped up.
A second later, the fire alarm started ringing, and Eliot hid himself in the evacuating crowd. He caught a glimpse of two guys on his left and another one on his right, but it didn’t look like they’d spotted him just yet. And he wanted to keep it that way.
Someone grabbed his arm and yanked him into a service hallway, and Eliot very nearly punched before he registered it was Parker.
“Did they spot you?” she asked.
He shook his head. “No. Were we made?”
“Hardison?” Parker asked.
The comm was quiet for a beat too long. “Nah. Nah, I don’t think so. It tipped ‘em off that someone’s running a con, but they don’t know it’s us.”
“How sure are you?” Eliot asked.
“Pretty sure?” Hardison said. “Like, ninety-five point six percent sure, at least. Maybe ninety-four. Definitely more than ninety.”
Eliot would have preferred to hear one hundred percent, but they didn’t really get one hundred percent guarantees in this job.
“Okay,” Parker said. “So the con is still on.”
She started toward the exit, and Eliot followed her, eyes and ears peeled for any threats. Fortunately, they seemed to be alone.
“Sorry, guys,” Hardison said quietly.
Eliot sighed. “It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not–”
“I said it’s okay,” Eliot snapped.
“Yeah, we made it out and nobody tried to stab me or Eliot,” Parker said.
“…thank you, babe,” Hardison said in such a tone that Eliot knew Parker hadn’t been as reassuring as she’d probably intended.
“We’ll meet you back at the van in five,” Eliot said.
“And we’ll figure out how to fix this,” Parker said. “Together.”
“Thank you,” Hardison said again, but this time it sounded much more genuine.
“It’s what we do,” Eliot said.
Parker grabbed Eliot’s hand and pulled him out of the building. “See you soon, Hardison.”