Chapter 3

Rome 32 hours later


Long story short Das arrested Hartley because the egg wasn't real.


Russia


A helicopter arrived on top of the mountain based prison. Hartley was being walked in by to guards. "You a top or a bottom?" He hears before turning around to see, the one and only, Nolan Booth. He says that sentence as he jumps of the top bunk. "Doesn't matter. Prisons gonna decide for us." He says. "You gotta be shittin' me." Hartley says. "Well, I'll say one thing about ol' Inspector Das, she's got a real sense of humour. Put 'er there, roomie." Booth says, putting his hand out for Hartley to shake.


When Hartley puts his hands in his uniforms pockets, Nolan says "You're right, we should wash up first. It's okay. You're safe here." He says getting back onto the top bunk. "Except if they find out you're a cop. Then they're gonna wanna kill you."


"Bishop must have seen you coming from a mile away." Booth said as him and Hartley were in line for food. "Got your trust after selling me out. Can't run a con without gaining a mark's trust first, that's page one." Nolan says as they get tea from the prison cook. "I know how a confidence scheme works, trust me." Hartley says looking at Booth. "Well, you do now, that's for sure. So the same mystery thief who ratted me out is the same who framed you. That seems like a bit of a coincidence, don't you think?" Nolan says as he looked at Hartley. "It's not a coincidence. This is a plan. In one move, The Bishop took her lead competitor and lead investigator. Two birds, one stone." Hartley says as they come to a stop for their food.


"Egg." Nolan corrects as they come to a stop for their food. "What?" Hartley asks confused. "Two birds, one egg. It's kind of a lay-up. Even Post Malone gets it." Nolan says looking at the prisoner in front of him, who had tattoos on his face. A digustingly textured gloop was put into their bowls. (My guess: it's oats)


"This is farm-to-table, right? Thank you." Nolan says as he takes the bowl. "I don't understand why. Why would The Bishop go through the trouble of framing me when she already has the egg? I mean what's left?" He asks as they go to find a table.


"Three hundred million dollars? Your kidding. I've never heard of a price tag like that." Hartley says appalled. "No one has. But you don't understand, that's not the price for just one egg. Here's the deal. Whoever brings this Egyptian billionaire all three eggs by the night of his daughter's wedding gets all the marbles. Turns out, Mr. Big Daddy Big Bucks' daughter, guess what her name is? Stop guessing, it's Cleopatra." Nolan says not giving him time to guess. "I mean, these people are horrible. But I like money, so..." Booth says. "So how does this work?" Hartley asks, before continuing "No one knows where the third egg is. It's never been found." He says confused. "I'm not gonna lie, that's a bit of a problem. I was gonna deal with the second egg first. Then the rest." Nolan says. Hartley sighs before saying "Alright, well, Bureau Intel says that the second egg is owned by an international arms dealer." "Sotto Voce. I know all about this guy. His dad tried to strangle him when he was 14. Nobody can stand this son of a bitch." Says Nolan while chuckling.


Flashback kinda thingy


It shows Sotto Voce taking off his shirt walking towards an injured man that is tied to a chair. "Apparently, it left quite the impression on him. And strangling folks became sort of a hobby for him. He's a big fan." Nolan says narrating the scene where Sotto starts to strangling the man."Sotto Voce is super scary. But he's not above having a good time. Throws a masquerade party every year for his top buyers in his I-probably-have-a-tiny-penis villa in Valencia. Gunrunners are a little touchy about their indentity. So the Eyes Wide Shut thing takes the edge off for everyone. Now, none of these evil one-percenters know is that upstairs locked away in a secret vault, Dr. Shirtless has in his possession an ancient piece of pricelesness that I like to call... Cleopatra's second egg."



The second egg


"And it's just begging for me to steal it. 'Rose' and I'd be on our way there right now if you weren't such a super cop." I say the last part slightly louder than the rest of the sentence. "Don't do that." Hartley says in a hushed voice. "What." I whisper back to him. "I know what you're doing. Listen." Hartley says in a normal voice. "I'm not doing anything." I say still whispering. "I know what you're doing. Listen to me." He says trying to stop me from telling the rest of the inmates. "These guys here, if they find out you're a C-O-P... This is a room full of convicted murderers and toilet vodka enthusiasts. We gotta make sure they know that you're not a cop. Nyet politsiya." I say as I get up and start to yell. "Listen to me." He says trying to convince me to sit down. "Nyet politsiya! Guys? Nyet politsiya. Not a cop. This man is not a cop, all right?" Nolan says pointing at Hartley while exclaiming "Get that through your thick skulls right now! He's a profiler for the FBI, which does fall under the umbrella of law enforcement, but not a cop. It's similar, but it's not the same thing. It's a complicated backstory. Alright, this is our good friend Special Agent John Hartley. Let's give him a warm welcome to the prison, guys." He says the last sentence while clapping. Every prisoner is now looking at Hartley and Booth.


"Thank you, guys." Booth says as he sits down, before whispering to Hartley "I don't think anyone heard. We're good. All's quiet on the western front. Nobody's... Oh, no." He interupts himself looking behind Hartley to see a prisoner walking towards the table. "Yep. Drago Grande heard. Here he comes. Okay, be cool. Don't embarrass me." Booth whispers to Hartley while Grande arrives at the table. "Hello, sir." Booth says in a normal voice. Grande doesn't pay any attention to him, but instead to Hartley. "Politsiya. You die." Grande says, threatening Hartley. "Okay, he knows. He knows you're a cop. The jig is up." Booth whispers to Hartley. Grande drags Hartley's bowl of food slowly to Hartley's lap before flipping it, causing the contents to spill on Hartley. "It's okay. You can...you can have mine. You need nourishment." Booth whispers to Hartley as he slides his bowl towards him. Grande once again spills those contents onto Hartley.


"You should get up. You look like a little bitch right now. I say that as a friend." Booth says, mockingly advising Hartley.  Hartley then stands up and looks at Grande "Okay, look. I don't wanna do the whole prison fight thing with you..." Hartley says trying to calm down the situation. "You got this. I'm in your corner." Booth whispers to Hartley. "So please. No fight. Let's just go back and finish our meals." Hartley continues before Grande punches his face, then his stomach then he kicks his face makijg him fall. Grande the turns around and raising his hands and yelling in victory. Hartley touches the bottlom of his nose, only to see blood.


A guard shoots at the ceiling in order to stop the commotion. They grab Booth and Hartley and take them to their cell. "God..." Booth says.  "All that working out. You still get your ass spanked by a toothless man with tuberculosis--" Hartley then grabs the collars of Booth's uniform. "Okay, okay." Nolan says in a strained voice. "If you ever pull shit like that again, it'll be the last thing you do." Hartley threatens Booth. "Right." Booth whispers nodding. "You don't know me, Booth." Hartley continues. "No." Booth whispers shaking his head along with the statement. "You have no idea what I'm capable of." Then guards burst into the cell. "Okay. Thank God, you're here!" Booth yells as the guards seperate them. One of them says that the captain wants to see them. "Him?" Booth asks pointing at Hartley but is interrupted by them walking him out as well. "Oh, no, us. Okay."


They are put down in the chairs that are across from the head chair before the guards leave. The head chairs swivels around to reveal a lady. "Hello, boys." She says to them. "Oh, my God. Wow. You're the captain? You might benefit from a little career change." Booth says as he chuckles before continuing. "I mean I'm... I don't think runway, but definitely regional catalog work, fliers..." "She's The Bishop." Hartley says stating the obvious. "No shit, dipdick!" Booth says looking at Hartley. "It's so nice to finally meet you Mr. Booth. Such a thrill to be face-to-face with the second-best art thief in the world." The Bishop says mocking Booth. "Oh, I see what you did there. That's..." He says crossing his legs over one another while chuckling. She nods with a smile on her face while Booth carries on "Yeah, you got lucky a couple of times earlier on, you know? But you can't name one time in the past year that you beat me." "Helsinki." "My parachute failed."


"Jakarta." "My Segway sank."


"Macau." "Nobody knew that Miley Cyrus was gonna be there. It was a completely unannounced show." Booth says excusing his failure. "You can have excuses or results. Not both." She says shaking her head. Booth scoffs looking away form her before Hartley decides to speak up. "What are we doing here? What do you want?" "To have a chat. First of all, Agent Hartley, please accept my sincerest apologies for the whole mix-up in Rome."


Another flashback kinda thingy


"You see, after I stole the egg in Bali, I then made an $8 million deposit into an account registered in your name. Then all I had to do was sit back and wait for Das to take the bait." Bishop is sitting on the couch watching The Great British Bake Off. When a cell phone rings "A few clever keystrokes and a well-rounded call intercept."


"FBI BAU Director's office." Bishop says answering the call.


"And poof. Bye-bye, Agent John Hartley. Hello, suspicious suspect. Funny, don't you think." She says looking at Hartley. Booth starts laughing before mumbling lowly "Y/n would love this." "Shut up. You deleted my life." He exclaims to Bishop. "And now I'm stuck in a cell with this idiot." "Well, down to business then. At the risk of stating the obvious, I have the first egg in my possession, and in less than 48 hours I'm gonna have the second one as well. But that leaves an issue..."


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Sorry this chapter took so long. This is a to be continued chapter but I will try to push, so that the next chapter will be published faster than this one.


1. Hi again. How was your day today?
2. Do you have any weird talents, and if so what is it.
3. Do you have any hobbies, and if so what is it?

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