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Without any further yada yada yada...
Chapter 2-Help.
When Quinn arrives, he is very angry. And he is also carrying a small bundle of blankets.
"What the heck happened, Eliot?! She does a job with you and this happens?! Jobs aren't her element, man!" Quinn shouts. Eliot rises to meet his stare.
"It's happened to her before! It just, takes her awhile, man!" Eliot shouts back. The little bundle starts to cry.
"Now look what you did!" Quinn shouts as he attempts to settle the bundle. He slightly pulls the blanket back to reveal a tiny scrunched up face.
"You have a kid?" Eliot asks. "And you thought it was safe to bring it here?"
"The reason I didn't take this job is because me and Jordan had a family vacation. Jordan doesn't usually come anyway, but it's the only safe time I can see my wife, ok?!" Quinn tries to calm the baby.
"Ok, ok, we understand, Quinn," Sophie says. Quinn looks to Eliot.
"What did they drug her with?" He asks.
"We don't know." Hardison says.
"But we have a video!" Parker exclaims.
"You mean you don't know what they drugged her with?" Quinn shouts again, prompting a new round of tears from the kid. "I can't take this right now, ok?"
"You're gonna come dump all your ever-loving life crap on us?" Eliot growls. Quinn doesn't have time to growl back when a hand clocks him in the face.
"What the heck Eliot-" Quinn realizes Eliot didn't hit him. Instead, everybody looks to Jordan, who is currently having a seizure\panic attack. Quinn and Eliot immediately pin down the flailing retrieval specialist's arms, causing Jordan to flail with more force.
Just as the panic moves down drastically, Jordan calms down. She is still soaking wet, and she is still asleep.
"Can I see that video?" Quinn asks, also having calmed down considerably. Hardison plugs his phone into the TV, on which he was playing Wii Sports preliminary to the seizure. His video feed pops up, and everybody watches the feed of JJ and the thugs falling out the window, Jordan being drugged, and the thugs kicking her back into the water. It keeps playing as the crew talks.
"It's Moreau, he only uses certain drugs, some of them are lethal," Eliot says.
"You just tell us this now?" Sophie asks.
"Only some are lethal," Eliot puts emphasis into it this time.
"Eliot, you've been drugged by Moreau before?" Nate asks. Eliot nods. Jordan wakes up.
"Quinn? When did you get here?" She asks quickly.
"A minute ago," Quinn responds. JJ notices the sleeping infant.
"You brought your kid. Into what's probably becoming a war zone." Jordan growls.
"What do you mean?" Sophie asks. "This isn't a war zone." Sophie leans against the wall.
"Yes it is!" Eliot and JJ growl in sync.
"Last time this happened, it was WW III, and, um, hello? Innocent people were involved!" Jordan growls, more angry at herself than Sophie.
"Hey!" Eliot points a finger at her. "I wasn't innocent. I was doing the same thing you were." He growls. Quinn observes.
"You weren't a long-time employee, who was trusted completely. You weren't digging dirt like I was. That makes you innocent." Jordan stands up.
"Then why didn't you tell me? I would have helped you, and then maybe we wouldn't have been drugged!" Eliot yells, causing the baby to wake up again. Quinn sighs.
"You were the new guy! I couldn't trust you!" JJ growls.
"Wait a minute," Quinn interferes, speaking over the cries of the infant. "How long were you working with Moreau before Eliot showed up?" Jordan's eye twitches.
"That's not important, Quinn," She growls, her voice dangerously low.
"Well, considering we split at age 10, and got back together at age 35, that gives you 25 years to work for whomever. Please don't tell me you worked for Moreau all 25 years." Quinn says, calming the kid.
"21 of them, maybe," JJ says quietly.
"And how many times have you been drugged by Moreau?" Nate asks.
"67 times." Jordan says, not at all shocked. Eliot raises an eyebrow.
"I only worked with him for 4 years, and I only got drugged twice." Eliot growls
"Let's just say it took awhile for Moreau to trust me." Jordan shrugs.
The door is broken down by more of Moreau's thugs.
"See?" Jordan says as Quinn passes his child to Sophie.
"War zone," Eliot says. The 3 hitters stand in front of the rest of the crew as the thugs approach. The 1st guy moves to Jordan. Eliot and Quinn both take down their approaching thugs Then, more thugs flow in. They surround the hitters, and Eliot and Quinn are drugged, and knocked out. Jordan takes down most of the guys, but the last 2 pull guns. Jordan freezes.
"That's it! You're all coming with us!" One of the men shouts. They walk until they are closer to Jordan. She can see the crew out of the corner of her eye. She makes her decision.
"Take me. I'm the only one here who's worth anything to Moreau. He won't care, you get the bonus." She sighs.
"How can you be sure we'll get the bonus?" One of the guys asks.
"I worked for Moreau, I got bonuses." The 2 guys handcuff her and walk her outside, and then they drag all their fallen guys with them.
When Quinn and Eliot wake up, they feel very disoriented.
"Wha," Quinn sits up. He's still in his sister's house, Moreau doesn't have him, and he's clearly been drugged. He walks out into the living room, where the crew is.
"Well, sleeping beauty finally woke up," Eliot teases.
"Yeah right." Quinn sits down. Sophie hands him his daughter, who is finally happy to be back with her dad. Quinn settles Aria in his arms, but suddenly sits up straight. "Where's Jordan?" He asks. Nate sighs.
"She convinced Moreau's guys take her hostage, and leave the rest of us." Sophie explains slowly. Quinn sighs.
"Least it isn't your daughter, man," Hardison sympathizes. "But, uh, we got Moreau's cameras, we have something, right?" Hardison asks.
"Moreau took them down last night." Nate tells Hardison. Quinn and Eliot sigh.
Jordan is woken up with a slap.
"Wakey, wakey," A gruff voice says.
"Ahh, Jordan," Moreau says. "How've you been? Probably not well, considering what I drugged you just yesterday." Moreau holds up the comm Eliot gave her. "You brought me just what I needed." He puts it in his own ear.
The crew is discussing multiple plans. No one exactly settled after yesterday's conn, and they all still have their comms in. Which means that they hear Damien Moreau's smooth voice erupt across the comms.
"Well, it seems I have acquired your little friend." Moreau sneers. Eliot growls.
"You do anything, you are a dead man," Quinn says, after Hardison gives him a comm.
"Oh, nothing yet, but you try anything Jordan's gonna be the dead one." Moreau taunts before he breaks the comm under his shoe.
"Now that I have you, we can play their little game against them." Moreau sneers. "Leverage? Is that what they call it?" Moreau nods to his henchman, who consequently drives a knife into JJ's shoulder. Jordan strikes up a little conversation.
"You know that thing, that thing Eliot always says?" She asks Moreau. "The 'torture doesn't work on me' line?" Moreau turns to face her.
"I've heard him say it before," Moreau says.
"I'm the one who taught him that. You won't get anywhere with me," Jordan growls.
"Good. I'm not trying to get anywhere with you." Moreau shoves a tablet in her face. "What do you see?" He asks her.
"A great white shark, male, looks about 12 feet long, pretty hungry," Jordan says hesitantly.
"Yes. That shark is going to be here tomorrow. If I were you I'd work on my shark taming skills." Moreau smirks before the thugs drag her away to the torture room.
The next morning, the shark arrives. Jordan watches it from the chair she's currently tied to.
"Jordan. We can avoid the shark ordeal if your friends will make a deal. I just need one thing from you." Moreau is about to go on, but in Jordan's dazed and panicked state, she gives him an answer.
"I'll give you Eliot's phone number," She says quickly, and giving him the number, Moreau grins like a cat.
Whatever the crew was expecting, it wasn't gonna be the home phone ringing. Eliot picks it up.
"Well, Spencer, our little friend managed to choke up your phone number," Eliot stays silent, not mentioning that this is Jordan's landline.
"What do you want, Moreau?" Eliot growls, and the crew, upon hearing who it is, jumps into action. Hardison tries to track the call, Parker picks up another phone silently and listens in, and Nate and Sophie watch Eliot's response to Moreau. Quinn holds Aria and stays silent.
"I got this big fish, it has lots of sharp teeth, and it's very hungry." Eliot puts it on speakerphone. "I haven't named it yet, but it will earn a reputation for eating the world's best hitter."
"Moreau, you're never gonna get within a million miles of me. I suggest you don't plan on feeding me to a shark." Eliot's response is cool and collected.
"Have you forgotten? I have JORDAN." Moreau says, and the crew can hear JJ in the background.
"You know, since I'm the one that's gonna die here, can't I name the shark?"
"Why is she acting like that?" Eliot growls.
"I introduced her to my newly renovated torture room." Moreau sneers. "I'm afraid she reached damage to her neurotransmitters, but other than that, she should be fine. Oh wait, I forgot about the shark."
"You're a dead man," Eliot growls.
"You know, you've been saying that for awhile, and I'm still alive." Moreau hangs up. Eliot slams the phone down.
Jordan looks at the shark in the tank. She's standing above it, on a platform. She takes a breath, Moreau doesn't say anything. She's handcuffed, but she can still move her arms. She sticks them in the back pocket of her jeans.
"Do I have to jump now?" She tries to stall.
"Of course you do. Go!" Moreau yells. Jordan jumps. When she hits the water, the shark approaches and all Moreau can see is blood. He looks closely at the tank, and suddenly, the shark rams against the tank, as if begging to be let out. Moreau looks closely into the tank of blood, and upon realizing JJ is not in it, Damien calls for his guards. "I don't know where she went, find her!" He yells.
"Man, we got nothing." Hardison looks up from his computer.
"When's the last time Moreau had any thing on his tab?" Nate asks.
"The last time his credit card was used was on Monday." Parker says, emotionless.
"She could be dead. You still haven't counted for that." Sophie remarks.
"Nobody wants to, Sophie." Eliot says after glancing at Quinn, who is trying to feed his kid from a bottle. Everytime Quinn gets close with the bottle, Aria pushes it away. Quinn's brow furrows for a minute, and everybody seems to notice.
"Hardison, when was the last time my credit card was used?" Quinn asks. When he receives strange glances, he says, "She has this strange habit of swiping my wallet, taking my credit card, putting my wallet back, then using my credit card instead of the one I set up for her a couple years ago." Hardison looks up the info. Eliot raises an eyebrow at Quinn. "Well, she uses mine, I use hers. It works out." Hardison looks up from his computer.
"Um, well, we have lots and lots of medical supplies bought 2 hours ago, we have a hotel room in Bend, Oregon, and...hacking cameras," He turns the computer around so the crew can see Moreau's guys checking out the hotel.
"We've got to move," Nate comments, and the crew packs their on-hand equipment. Quinn goes through some of Jordan's stuff, and her grabs her a change of clothes, and some of her favorite knives. They grab whatever else is useful, then Eliot and Quinn wrestle Aria's car seat into the van. The crew heads off at 6:36 p.m..
9:57 p.m. Bend, Oregon, The OXFORD Hotel.
"Ok, we're looking for blood. Hardison, you got the hallway cameras on looping feeds, correct?" Hardison nods, so Nate continues. "Anything blood, then we'll narrow it down with the tracking signal, and then Hardison and Parker will open the door. Sophie and Parker are together, Eliot, Quinn and Aria, and Hardison with me." Nate finishes his plan as they walk into the lobby.
Sophie and Parker took the first floor, mainly Sophie preventing Parker from jumping off the roof. They check all the Do Not Disturb door hangers for any trace of blood.
"How do you think she did it?" Parker asks.
"Did what?" Sophie asks.
"Escaped. I mean, she was in a tank with a great white. Teeth, Sophie." Parker explains.
"I don't know, Parker, did you check that door down there?" Sophie remarks.
"Yes. Do you think she did it with a taser?" Parker asks. "Oh wait, if she was in a tank full of water, no, she did not use a taser."
Hardison and Nate took the 3rd floor.
"You know, we're lucky it's kinda late, cause we look mighty suspicious," Hardison points out. Nate nods before replying.
"Moreau's gonna look even more suspicious." The guys check for any sign of JJ.
Quinn and Eliot took the top floor. Quinn explains as they ride in the elevator.
"She doesn't usually like heights or top floors, if Moreau knows that, he's going to check every single ground floor room before he comes up here." The elevator arrives with a ding, and Eliot and Quinn, and, technically counting, Aria, step out onto to the top floor. The first thing they notice is the maid mopping up a couple little red drips.
"I just saw a couple here, a couple there," She tells the hitters when they ask her about them. They find a vending machine. They stop here. Eliot presses his comm.
"Nate, she's definitely up here."
"Ok, everybody head up to the top." Nate orders.
"Yay! I get to go on the roof!" Parker shouts, only to be shushed by everyone else.
When they all regroup at the vending machine, Hardison buys a bag of gummy frogs and starts to eat them while Eliot and Nate talk.
"Ok, we narrowed it down to 403, 483, 496, and 472." Eliot tells Nate. The crew goes to each door, eliminating each one until they get to 483. The Do Not Disturb sign has some pen marks on it. Quinn looks at it for a second.
"Yeah she's in here." Quinn says, no doubt about it. Hardison puts a keycard in, but on the outer end is a monitor, and it works through the system. Quinn hands Aria to Sophie, then he and Eliot sweep the room to make sure it's clear. Eliot comes back out, looking like he's seen a ghost.
"Get the girls outta here." He growls to Nate.
"But wait, I wanna help!" Parker says. "No, you don't, Parker." Eliot starts pushing them away.
"No. If you want to help, go get all the first aid kits you can find."
"It's that bad?" Sophie almost whispers as Eliot nods. At this, Sophie pulls Parker out while still holding Quinn's child.
Nate, Quinn, Hardison, and Eliot try to stabilize JJ, but they don't want to hurt her anymore than she is. Eliot and Quinn found her in the bathtub, trying to clean what's left of her right arm, but she must have passed out by the time the crew got to the OXFORD. Quinn notes all the taser marks, probably what caused the neurotransmitter problems.
"Uh, guys? I hate to break it to you, but we only got 7 minutes left on the loop feed," Hardison looks at his watch while saying this.
"OK, we need to move." Nate observes. Quinn and Eliot, who have been trying to patch JJ up for the past 10 minutes, carefully pick her up. "Ok, we're gonna do this the hard way. Hardison, go grab the elevator." Hardison leaves the room, listening to the rest of the plan via comm. Nate continues. "Once it's clear, Hardison, tell us, and we'll come out."
"Alright, you guys are good," Hardison says. Nate assists Quinn and Eliot, and they make it to the elevator without being seen.
When they make it to the van, Nate hops in the front and drives.
1:18 a.m. Portland, Oregon, Jordan Jordan's house.
When Nate pulls up to JJ's house, he spots the van. It's clearly Moreau's, and the crew notes this.
"We need to find somewhere else," Sophie remarks.
"My apartment. Take a left at the light." Eliot says. They get to Eliot's apartment, Quinn and Eliot bring JJ in. They put her down on a table and begin the painful process of stitching her back up.
TO BE CONTINUED...
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