Chapter Text
The lab sat beneath a waterfront mansion in Monterey, accessible through a service corridor that smelled like salt and money. The kind of place where rich men kept things they shouldn't have. Endangered corals, unregistered specimens, the occasional biological weapon disguised as a research project.
Dr. Emil Rask was the kind of collector who treated the ocean like a private shopping catalogue. If it was rare, luminous, or legally protected, he wanted it in a tank with a little brass placard beneath it. Hardison had traced three black-market trades to his private lab, including something the manifest listed only as "Specimen K" with a purchase price that made Parker's eyes light up.
"We don't need the specimen," Nate had said, which was directed entirely at Parker. "We need the drive. Financial records, communications, shipping logs. Get in, get the drive, get out."
Simple.
Eliot went in through the service entrance, comms live, the button cam on his collar feeding a grainy wide-angle back to the van. Hardison had the security system looped. Parker was topside, ready to create a distraction if needed. Sophie was in the van, monitoring the feed and nursing a glass of something red.
The corridor was dim, lined with the low hum of filtration systems and the blue-green glow of tanks. Eliot moved through it without sound, checking corners, cataloguing exits. The lab was at the far end. Reinforced door, keypad lock.
"Hardison, I'm at the door."
"Got you. Code is 7-7-4-1-9. You've got twelve minutes before the security loop resets."
Eliot punched it in. The lock clicked. He stepped through into the main lab. A wide, clinical space lined with tanks on three walls, a central workstation, and a locked office at the far end where the drive sat waiting in a safe that Parker could have cracked in her sleep.
He didn't look at the tanks. Didn't need to. He was in and out.
That was the plan.
The plan lasted about forty-five seconds.