Leverage

Hey, pumpkin.

By the time you get this we'll be out of base camp and about half way to Camp 14.

Weather's good, not a lot of wind, it's perfect visibility, it's just...

I know you had to "work"...

but you are missing a real great climb. I love you.

Well, this ain't Boston, is it?

Good to see you, too, Eliot.

Two weeks we're supposed to lay low, Nate!

You climbed in the service, right?

Two weeks after San Lorenzo, all right?

There's a reason we follow rules.

This job has a specific window of opportunity.

But you are missing a really great climb.

I love you. Mwah.

That was the last time I ever heard his voice.

He disappeared in that storm,

and they never found the body.

Why don't you tell me about him?

Alan grew up on a Kansas farm.

He said the... the first time he climbed a mountain,

it was like going to another world.

We met climbing.

Put himself through college

and started his own investment firm

to help small businesses like his family's farm.

Then about five years ago,

he partnered with Merced Financial Services,

John Drexel's company.

That's Drexel, third over.

He's the guy that races cars, right?

Mm, he races anything that goes fast and costs a lot.

He also climbs mountains.

He liked that Alan could climb,

so he took him on a bunch of his expeditions.

Uh, listen, I am sorry.

I, um, I'm not sure I can help you with this.

There's something's wrong at Merced Financial, okay?

One division, the mortgage investments...

Alan said they were seizing properties

he wasn't even sure they owned,

that they were signing foreclosure forms

- without even reading them. - Oh, yeah.

Robo-signing. Yeah, that's what they call it.

What they do is they sign a thousand foreclosures,

and they bet that the homeowners

don't have the money to fight the case.

Now, the courts, they'll stop it,

if your husband had proof.

After he disappeared, our house was broken into.

Our computer was stolen. His e-mails are wiped.

Is there any... I don't know... paper trail?

Not at our house.

But there may be...

one place no one's looked.

This is not what I expected.

Climbing is a rich man's playground.

These people pay 50 grand

to get choppered halfway up the mountain,

then they climb to the peak,

having a dozen guides carrying their luggage.

Pay enough, they'll carry you to the top.

Literally.

Hello, Nate.

Uh-oh.

Sophie.

I've heard of denial, but climbing a mountain

to avoid talking about...

Let go. I'm just so damn cold.

I don't care, man.

Just please set me on fire. Do something.

I'm all shivering, and I think one of my nipples fell off,

- 'cause the sensation... man... - Don't tell me stuff like that!

- Tell him what? - Nothing.

- Hey, girl. - Hey.

Okay, Parker, listen. You can climb a mountain, right?

I climb skyscrapers. You can walk up a mountain.

It's not the same.

Are there avalanches on skyscrapers?

No.

But that would be so cool.

Just how dangerous

is this gig you took without checking with us first?

Yeah. Eh...

Ridiculously dangerous!

It's like a danger cupcake with murder icing.

Man, that is 20,000 feet high.

Only half the people who try actually make it to the top.

But t-t-they figure that Alan Scott died

on the way back down,

just hours above the base camp here.

I'm sorry... died on the way down?

That's why black people don't climb nothin'!

You know there's like a hundred dead people

scattered all over that rock.

That's nasty.

These millionaires, man...

they go up these mountains just to have fun,

and people die trying to drag their ass back down.

But, oh, happy day, because the rich guy got saved.

Now, Alan Scott...

They were the last ones on the mountain last winter, right?

Yeah, the storm our guy disappeared in

shut down the mountain for three months.

So we got a shot at this.

Now, if we get there the day the mountain reopens,

we can find him before anyone else has a chance.

Fi... find him? Find the dead guy?

Well, not him, exactly.

Okay, so, this notebook right here...

This contains his findings on the mortgage fraud, all right?

Now, the rest of these teams, they're in a holding pattern until the blizzard clears.

But, Parker, Eliot, you're gonna go up now.

Look, this is really, really sad, and I'm sorry,

but we're gonna climb a mountain to find an executive's diary?

Merced Financial Services is taking 100 homes a day.

That's 100 families out on the street a day.

They're either too afraid or too broke to fight this thing.

I agree with Sophie.

This widow doesn't need thieves for a rescue mission.

It's not even a rescue mission.

The dude is dead, Nate. It's treasure hunting.

I...

Thank you very much.

Come on, a man's not a camel. Where's my bloody drink?

Now, listen to me.

She needs thieves because this is not a treasure hunt.

She needs thieves because this is a race.

All right, so, Hardison and I are gonna run things

from the communications tent, which is just over here.

Yeah, see, I'm officially working on a project

for the U.S. meteorological survey.

That means that I have access to the comm relays,

the satellite, Internet, uh, the cell-tower repeater.

Nobody talks to anybody on or off this mountain unless we want them to.

Who are these guys in red?

They're forest rangers.

They're why we, uh, have this window of opportunity.

Drexel's team has to be cleared to officially hit the trail.

That'll take a couple hours.

So we're unofficial.

Uh, very.

Guys, Mr. Scott's parka had a locator beacon inside.

Now, the signal's not strong enough to reach

all the way down to base camp, but with this receiver,

the closer you get to him, the louder the ping.

Now, I'll do my best to lead you to his last-known location.

- What about Drexel? - That's Sophie's job.

She's gonna keep Drexel off the mountain, distract him.

You okay with that, Sophie?

Nate, I'm at a party full of drunk millionaires

far from home who are dizzy from lack of oxygen.

It's like grifter Christmas in here.

Okay, people.

Let's go steal a mountain.

Again.

- What? - Again.

We already stole a mountain two years ago.

- Really? - Well, technically, it was a mountain resort,

Not a mountain, but, yeah.

You were also very drunk on that one.

Uh...

Ladies and gentlemen...

we're climbing this mountain...

I am climbing this mountain...

to honor the people...

especially my dear friend Alan Scott...

who died here doing exactly what they loved to do,

proving to the world that with determination and preparation,

nothing is impossible,

which is what Merced Financial Services is all about.

It's a company where adversity is overcome.

Wow. He is a piece of work.

It is a company...

- Nate, when are Eliot and Parker in play? - Where we're always trying to get to the top.

Any second now.

Listen, you get caught up there, just call. I'll suit up.

You'll suit up? You shouldn't even be up here.

No, I'm fine. We're at 8,000 feet already, Nate.

Altitude sickness kicks in here, all right?

You know the symptoms?

- Headache, nausea, dizziness, fatigue. - Exactly.

Sounds a lot like alcohol withdrawal, doesn't it?

So, what do you think it is? You think it's the booze?

Or you think it's the blood boiling inside your skull?

Hey, Eliot, you know, if you can't handle this, you know...

I can handle it just fine, Nate.

But every second you're on this mountain,

your clock is ticking.

You're very good at what you do,

but you can't con a mountain.

I'll be fine.

I'm just saying, I should go up that mountain with you.

- You want to climb? - Yeah.

A mountain?

Aaaaaaah!

Seriously?

Aah! Ugh!

Ugh.

Okay.

And that last one was a 10-foot drop!