Here's the next chapter and this one is longer! The funny thing is that all of these stories seem really long on Microsoft word until you break them into chapters and upload them. Then they turn out to be about half the length you thought they were. Oh well. I'm pretty proud of finishing this story so quickly. It was the actually all the reviews from my other E/P story, On the mend, that motivated me to finish up this one. I've had it for weeks and actually wrote half of this chapter and most of the next one in a day. Reviews really are love! Enjoy!
I don't own Leverage.
While talking with the General in "The San Lorenzo Job" Eliot remembers a time when they had to leave one of their own behind.
"What do you mean she's gone?" Eliot roared.
"I don't know!" Hardison yelled back. "She is nowhere in the building and neither is the mark. The entire building has been evacuated."
"Well find her!" Eliot snarled. He continued to speed to where they had left their thief. Maybe he would be able to find clues pointing to her new location. Or the dead men who took her… Eliot thought wryly.
Hardison kept searching, but he couldn't find any hint as to where she'd disappeared to. When Eliot arrived at the building, it was indeed deserted and Eliot couldn't find a single thing. Nate had disappeared into the bar again and Sophie had followed in a desperate attempt to keep him still sober enough to be useful to the team later. Eliot didn't speak on his way back but demanded an answer from Hardison the moment he stepped into the apartment.
"I've got nothing Eliot. I'm looking through everything. I'll find her, just give me some time." Eliot knew Hardison was doing his best, but he still went to his room and started beating the heck of one of his punching bags. It wasn't long before he had actually hit it so hard that it fell onto the floor. By the time he was done with it, it was in shreds.
Six hundred eighty three minutes. Eleven hours and 38 minutes. It took Hardison that long to locate Parker. She was being held in office building on the edge of a tiny town a hundred miles from their current location. The thugs were smuggling weapons through the building, but it was incredibly well hidden, at least on the internet. It was supposedly abandoned the year before. The moment Eliot got a destination he was out the door. The trip that should have taken an hour and a half took Eliot a little over forty five minutes. He paused just a few miles from the office building to collaborate a plan with Hardison.
Eliot slapped on a stupid smile and grabbed an empty pizza box from the back seat. He strode into the building and started talking happily to the receptionist. A moment later, the fire alarm started going off. He took advantage of the chaos and darted to the stairwell. Coming down from the second floor were three men that obviously had military training. It took Eliot only a few minutes to take them out, however, and he was soon up to the sixth floor where Parker was being held. He had to take out two more thugs on the sixth floor, but they went down easier than the three earlier. Hardison guided him through the comm. to the room where Parker was being kept. She was in the very back, but by now most of the people had evacuated the building because of the fire alarm, so Eliot made it there fairly quickly. He came to a locked door that looked like it led to a storage room. He dipped his shoulder and rammed it twice before it swung open. Inside the tiny room, Eliot saw what he expected, but not what he had hoped for.
Parker was sitting on the ground next to a metal shelf. She was tied to the shelf with zip ties that were cutting into her wrists. Her feet were tied together with ropes, but apparently it was tight enough that she couldn't wiggle out of them. Blood was slowly dripping down her arms and a cut near her forehead was still bleeding, but it didn't look like the cuts were too bad. Eliot was more concerned with the fact that she was currently unconscious and the dark purple bruises that were forming on her shoulder and legs. She was paler than normal and trembling slightly.
"Hardison, turn off the fire alarm, at least on the sixth floor. I don't want to scare her too much," Eliot ordered and a moment later, the blaring of the alarm stopped. He checked to make sure there weren't any thugs around before getting to his knees right beside Parker and trying to free her. He found a knife nearby and cut through the zip ties and the ropes easily. At the release of the restraints, Parker's eyes fluttered open.
"Hey, darlin'," Eliot said softly. Parker's eyes were glassy and she didn't seem to fully recognize Eliot. "I'm going to get you out of here, okay?" he asked gently. "Can you stand?" Parker didn't respond at first, but accepted his help up. She swayed unsteadily when she was upright so Eliot wrapped his arm around her to stabilize her. She flinched at his touch but didn't pull away too badly. "I'm not here to hurt you Parker," he reminded. She relaxed a little bit, but she was still tenser than he would have liked.
"Okay," she murmured. He led her out of the room, but had to give her even more support when her legs proved to be nearly too weak to hold her up. He couldn't pick her up though, because if he needed to fight anyone he couldn't be holding an injured thief. Hardison sent the elevator straight to the sixth floor and set it so it wouldn't open on any other floor.
"Where are we going?" Parker asked.
"I'm taking you away from here. We're going home," Eliot repeated. She furrowed her brow but didn't ask any more questions. He helped her into the elevator where she quickly sank to the ground. Eliot was alarmed at this but let her stay seated. He knelt down next to her and started asking questions, but he kept his eye on the elevator doors, just in case. "You okay, darlin'?" he asked. She nodded after a short delay. She was shaking more than earlier though, and Eliot worried she would slip back into unconsciousness again. "Keep your eyes open, Parker," he instructed gently. She did her best, but he could tell she was fading.
"Eliot," Hardison said through the comm. "I'm going to stop the elevator at the second floor. There are still a bunch of people on the main floor, so you need to go down the back stairs out to the parking lot. I've already unlocked one of the cars for you."
"Is there anyone else waiting for us between here and there?" Eliot asked.
"Not right now, but they are starting to figure out something else is up and some are coming back in," he replied. "How is she?" he asked hesitantly. Eliot looked at Parker again before responding.
"Not good. She'll live if I can get her out of here though." Hardison didn't respond to that; Eliot could tell he was just as worried about Parker as he was. The doors opened on the second floor just as five thugs came out of the stairwell. Eliot knew in an instant that he would have to get rid of them now or they would be trapped in the elevator forever. He jumped out of the elevator while he yelled at Hardison to take Parker up to the next level. She called out in surprise when the doors shut and the elevator started moving.
It took her up another two floors before stopping in between the levels so that the doors wouldn't open. Parker didn't know what she was going to do now. Then the reader board that usually displayed the floor number started acting weird. It already looked like it didn't come with the elevator when it was installed, maybe the last one had broken, and words started scrolling across its screen. She stared at it uncomprehendingly. Finally, the letters formed words in Parker's mind and when she concentrated, they made sense.
Are you okay? The words read. She frowned. Was she hallucinating? It's Hardison. Are you okay, Parker? It took longer than it should have for those words to process in her mind, but then she smiled. Hardison had hacked into the elevator floor displayer.
"I'm okay," Parker replied, even though they both knew it was untrue.
I can see you but not hear you. Nod or shake your head. Parker nodded that she was okay. Eliot is still fighting the thugs. Parker shrugged and leaned into the wall. The dizziness had abated some, but the grayness was still at the edge of her vision, ready to take her at any moment. More than anything, she was just so tired. Her eyes started to close of their own accord but she was brought back by the incessant beeping of the elevator. It was the same beep that elevators normally do when they arrive at a floor, but repeatedly and annoyingly.
Stay awake. Parker shook her head as best she could. She just couldn't do it anymore. It took most of her energy to hold her head up and concentrate long enough to read and comprehend the words.
Parker! Open your eyes. Hardison's plea went unread as the exhaustion caught up to Parker and she lost consciousness again.
Review please! One more chapter to go!