Chapter 2

"I didn't know you had a sister," Sophie said. "Did you meet her in foster care?"

"No, she's my real sister. Half-sister." He yawned. "Can I just sleep right now?"

"Of course." Parker said, shooting a look and an incensed Nate, who was about to speak.

"Of course." He echoed obediently.

As soon as Hardison was asleep, the others gathered around the counter. Sophie opened her laptop, and pulled up some results. "There's nothing on an Amy Hardison. No records, it doesn't show that he had a sister at all. And this is the government, they track everybody!"

"Hardison never mentioned a sister." Parker said. "I would have remembered. That's not something to lie about!"

"Who says he's lying?" Eliot said. "This is Hardison. He can put anything on the grid, but he can also take anyone he wants to off of it"

"But why would he have done that? Why hasn't he told us before? And what does this have to do with Quiroga?" Nate asked.

"Maybe nothing," Parker suggested. "Maybe it's all a coincidence."

"No, I know Helán Quiroga." Sophie said. "He doesn't do anything without a good, justifiable reason."

"So…he's a pretty good guy." Nate teased.

"I'm saying, he doesn't torture people for fun. He doesn't sill people out of their pensions. He does it because it's the family business, not because he necessarily enjoys it."

"What about his son?"

"Josef? I'm not sure. I mean, I've never met the family, only watched from afar. Honor among thieves, you know."

"How far?"

"Are you plotting what I think you're plotting?" She smiled seductively. "I love undercover ops."


Hardison woke again to an eerily quiet darkened room, all by himself. He sat up, pleased that his head didn't spin or throb as much as it had before, which he considered a success. He noticed two more capsules and a glass of water on the table, and eagerly gulped them down to quell the pain in his fingers and arm. Quietly, he stood up, testing his balance. He stepped forward, tripped, and landed on…Eliot?

"GAH!" Hardison's panicked scream awoke Nate too, Hardison could hear footsteps thundering down the stairs.

"Hardison!" Eliot shouted, grabbing him by the arms. "Calm down! Geez." He massages his arm, where Hardison had hit the hardest. "You okay?" Nate burst in, holding the small handgun he kept by his bed.

"What the hell happened?"

"I just stood up to go to the bathroom, and apparently Eliot decided it was a good idea to sleep with me tonight."

"I'm protecting you." Eliot grinned. ""It's not my fault you tripped."

"Hrmph." Hardison walked into the bathroom, and Nate flipped on the lights.

"It's almost morning anyways," Eliot said, glancing at his watch.

"Eliot, it's 4:30AM. What do you mean, almost morning? I still have a good two hours of sleep in me."

Eliot just snorted, stretching out his sore limbs. "Your floor sucks."

"Maybe you shouldn't have volunteered to sleep there, then!" Nate said, starting the coffee machine. He pulled three mismatched mugs out of the cupboards, and set them around the bar. "Coffee will be ready soon," he yawned.

"What do you have for breakfast?"

"Coffee."

"Seriously man? Fine. I'll whip something up. Do you have any eggs?" He was already rifling through the refrigerator.

"Nope."

"Bacon? Ingredients for pancakes? Nothing?" Nate kept shaking his head. "What do you eat in the morning?"

"Coffee."

The door opened behind them, and suddenly they whipped around, ready to react. "Relax boys, it's just me." Sophie said, closing the door with her foot and putting the grocery bags on the table. "I figured we could probably use some food here, if you all stayed the night." Eliot was picking through the bags, lifting out ingredients and shoving others in the fridge.

"You are a goddess, Soph." Nate rolled his eyes, but didn't protest as Eliot began his work.

"How is he?" She asked. "Where is he?"

"Bathroom. He seems to be better," Eliot said, finely chopping some green onions.

"Has he said anything about what's going on?"

"Not yet." Eliot poured all the ingredients into a skillet as Hardison walked back into the room

"Man, I hope that omelet's for me. Hey Soph."

"Hello Hardison. How are you doing?"

"Good." He smiled, somewhat loopy. "Eliot's got magic pills."

Eliot snickered. "Just Vicodin. Nothing else."

"Where's Parker?"

"Right here!" The voice came from the couch behind them. The team jumped, not having seen her come in.

"Jesus, Parker! Give a guy a heart attack, why don't you?" Nate said, clutching his mug in both hands. "Okay Hardison, we're all here. Time to start talking."

"Right. Okay. Amy…Amy was my half-sister. We lived with our mum until she was five and I was seven, then social services took us, and we never saw her again…not that we minded. We were shuttled from house to house until Amy was eleven. We had moved into a house in downtown Chicago, and one night, when Amy was sitting outside reading, she…she witnessed a mob hit." Hardison's voice grew soft and emotional, but also protective. The police questioned her, and she was all set up to testify…and then…" He choked, but the others stood silently, not wanting to assume the worst, but not succeeding at hoping. They had all danced with the mob, and they knew how often people got burned. "And I knew what could happen. I…I erased her, I made her disappear. I took away all her records, I got a friend of mine to create a new life for her."

Nate sighed. "And now the mob is trying to find her again."

"I don't know how they could have connected us. Literally, I erased every connection, every record."

"You haven't seen your sister in eighteen years?" Sophie said.

"I don't even think I could track her down. I've been trying ever since…" He stopped abruptly to the stares of his friends.

"Since?" Eliot prompted.

"Since I noticed someone following me about a month ago."

"You're an idiot!" Parker said. "What were you thinking?"

"It was just a couple of days. When we had the week off. It had nothing to do with you guys."

"That's not what we were talking about, Hardison! You could have been killed!" The petite blonde steamed with anger.

Nate cut her off before she could continue. "It was stupid, Hardison. You should have told us. I assume you checked them out?"

"They were Quiroga's muscle. They weren't threatening me at all, they just waited outside my house, and followed me to the grocery store and such."

"But why didn't you tell us?" Nate insisted. "You're not alone any more. We can protect you."

"I don't need protection!" Alec said adamantly.

"Then explain why you're hurt," Parker soothed. "Alec, let us help."

There was a brief pause, the entire team waiting anxiously. "Alright." He conceded.

"Wonderful." Nate said, striding over to the wall of screens. "Then we need a plan."