Chapter 4

The next day was tense but quite. No further attempts were made on Nate. Most of the morning was spent visiting each of their apartments for them to collect what they would need for the stay at Leverage Inc. They finally made it back there at just after one. While Eliot gave his friend a call to get the results of the tests on the pizza pieces, Nate went straight to his office to work on figuring out who was behind this. They had precious little to go on. Hardison's profiles on the possible suspects, and their present whereabouts, those that he could find, were the only clues available. Nate sat down at his desk and poured himself a glass of whiskey. He was tired and his head still hurt and at least he could have a moment of piece alone in his office. Sophie and Eliot were busy in the kitchen preparing a meal for the team and Hardison and Parker were on front of house duty again. The tension amongst the group when they were out was palpable. Nate could sense that all of them feared for his safety and frankly, although he appreciated the concern, it was driving him a little nuts. He was not allowed to go through a door before Eliot had checked out the place, he had to sit in the back seat of the car between Sophie and Eliot at all times. When they walked anywhere, Sophie, Eliot and Parker had positioned themselves in a semi-circle around him. Not to mention wearing the damn bullet proof vest, of which he had divested himself as he walked through the doors to the offices. The other thing bothering Nate was the fact that all of them were quite happy to set themselves up as targets. The last thing that he wanted was for one of them to get hurt trying to protect him. He shook his head and took a sip of his drink, he had to find this bastard and soon.

"Nate…" Eliot said as he entered the office, "So my friend got back to me and we wasted perfectly good pizza last night, no sign of any poisons." Eliot informed him.

"Oh, well that's good to know." Nate said. "This guy has us chasing ghosts."

"Yeah, well better safe than sorry. Foods nearly ready…" Eliot said as he turned to leave.

"Right, thanks Eliot, I'll be right there." Nate looked back down at one of the possible suspects and noticed something, something he could use. He reached for his cellphone only to find that it was not in his pocket. Searching his other pockets and the table and not finding it he assumed he had left it in the car.

"Eliot…I'm just going out to the car to get my phone." Nate called to the Hitter. He made his way swiftly out the back of the building into the underground parking area. Eliot heard him call out and cursed softly as he followed the Mastermind. As he came through the door he saw Nate approaching the Mercedes. Suddenly he was deafened by a loud explosion that was amplified by the confined space of the basement they were in. He saw Nate get thrown to the ground as the Mercedes exploded before him.

"Nate…Nate…Goddammit…" Eliot shouted and rushed forward towards the fallen man. Eliot fell to his knees beside the prone figure of his friend. "Nate…Nate…" Eliot called but got no response. He felt for a pulse and found one, steady and strong. But Nate was out; the explosion must have knocked him unconscious. He wanted to check him for any other injuries but thought it best he get the Mastermind inside and to safety first. He quickly picked him up and carried him into the building. Passing by Sophie and the other two who had heard the explosion and rushed to the basement, he carried Nate into his bedroom and placed him on the bed. He immediately started checking Nate for any injuries. Finding none he stood and turned to the other three members of the team.

"He's ok…just knocked out from the explosion." Eliot told them much to their relief.

"How the hell did somebody put a bomb in the car?" Sophie asked looking at Hardison.

"I don't know Sophie…but they did not do it here, if anybody had come within spitting distance of that car my alarms would have gone off." Hardison said. He knew that Sophie did not mean to accuse him of anything but he felt guilty anyway. I'll go check the cameras in any case. He said and made a hasty retreat to his work area.

"Well if they did not do it here, then the only other time they could have is when we were out this morning. He must have gotten to the car while we were in the apartments. This guy is good Sophie, really good." Eliot said softly. "We've got to up our security. We can't allow him outside…" Eliot said looking at the Grifter seriously. She could see the fear on his face and knew he was scared for Nate, for all of them but especially for Nate.

"I don't think that is viable…needed perhaps, but not viable." Sophie said sadly. She knew Nate too well to think he would be willing to be confined to the building. "If we try to force him, he'll just do a runner on us." Sophie continued, looking down at the unconscious man on the bed.

"Sophie, I don't know if I can protect him." Eliot said in voice filled with fear and guilt. It was a voice she had never heard from the Hitter before and it scared her.

"We'll protect him, and we'll catch this bugger." Sophie said softly. "Now let's go see what Hardison has if anything, and then get something to eat. I take it he will be out for a while again?"

"Yeah…"

"Ok…well you go ahead I'll be there now." Eliot nodded and turned to go and see what Hardison had found, leaving the Grifter and the unconscious Mastermind alone.

"Oh Nate…" She whispered as she ran her hand gently through his hair. "You just rest ok…we'll be right outside." She bent down and placed a kiss on his forehead. She sat by his side and took his hand in hers. "I don't know what I will do if I lost you Nate…you are going to have to see reason and be more careful. I love you Nathan Ford…please, please let us look after you. Let Eliot do what he has to, to make sure you survive this. God you are such a stubborn man…Nate…but you need to see reason here, you have to, if not for yourself then for us...for me." She felt a little silly pleading with the unconscious man, confessing her love for him. She knew however that she would not say it when he was awake, and she needed to say it. She bent down and placed another kiss on his forehead and ran her hand down the side of his face. Then standing up she looked down at him briefly again before leaving the room quietly.

"Did you find anything on the cameras?" She asked as entered the office.

"No, but I am hacking into the traffic cams around the apartment blocks. Maybe I can find him on one of them." Hardison said not looking up from his screens as he spoke. "And there he is…" Hardison said. He pressed a button and the image of a man dressed all in black with a cap on that completely shielded his face from the camera appeared on screen. They watched as the anonymous figure quickly and efficiently placed something under the car and then walked away.

"Well that's no good…we still can't see his face." Sophie said in frustration.

"No, no we can't but see…we can take his height and then work out his weight and then cross-reference it with our list of possible suspects…and…" Hardison waited for his computer to spit out the answer to his query. "And we have narrowed the pool of suspects down to a possible seven." He said triumphantly. Eliot threw him a look that said "why not just one" and Hardison smirked at him. "Well at least it is better than the fifteen we had."

"Maybe I can get something from the wreckage too, bombs are usually specific...bombers have a signature, hopefully this one has one too." Eliot said to the others. "Hardison I need to know if any of those seven have been implicated in any bombings and if so…what type of bombs they used…what they used as a trigger and so on…." Eliot told the Hacker.

"Done brother…" Hardison said getting to work immediately.

"Parker, you come with me…we need to have a look at what's left of the car." Eliot said to the Thief.

"Ok well then I will…" Sophie said looking at Hardison who was busy with the computer and watching Eliot and Parker disappear out the back towards the parking area. "Just…finish in the kitchen." She muttered to herself going back to the kitchen and pouring herself a glass of Nate's favorite whiskey. She downed the fiery liquid in one gulp. I needed that she thought to herself before continuing with the preparation of the meal for the team.

Nate woke a few hours later. He was momentarily disorientated when he opened his eyes and then he remembered the blast. He lay back in the bed, his head was killing him and his sight was a little blurry. Damn…that was close he thought to himself. Suddenly he remembered Eliot had followed him out to the car and concern for the Hitter's safety filled him. He forced himself to the edge of the bed and stood shakily before stumbling out of the room.

"Nate…what are you doing…?" Sophie said as she saw him stumble out of the room teetering dangerously. Eliot beat her to the punch as was at the Masterminds side steadying him and leading him to the kitchen before she was out of her chair.

"Thanks Eliot." Nate said gratefully sitting down heavily.

"You shouldn't be out of bed." Eliot said sternly to him. "In case you hadn't noticed you nearly got blown to pieces."

"Yeah, I noticed…" Nate smiled. "Got any more of those pills?" He asked; his head was killing him.

"Only if you promise not to drink any alcohol…" Eliot replied ignoring Nate's disdainful look at his words. "I mean it Nate, you could have a concussion and if you are going to take pain medication and drink…"

"Ok I get it, just give me the pills." Eliot looked at the Mastermind but obliged, handing him a glass of water and two of the pain pills.

"Good…thanks…now can somebody tell me how in the hell somebody put a bomb in the car?" He asked echoing Sophie's initial question to Hardison just after the incident.

"He did it while we were at my apartment. Hardison caught him on a traffic cam." Eliot told him. "But before you get too happy…his face was hidden. No match on the bomb either, I found the detonator…he used a cellphone, but it doesn't match any one of the remaining seven suspects signature."

"Seven…I thought we had fifteen?" Nate asked confused by the sudden reduction in number of possible bad guys.

"Yeah…well comparing weight and height there were only seven left." Hardison said in explanation.

"Oh…" Nate said in understanding, he assumed Hardison had run an analysis on the footage he had from the cams to come to that conclusion. "So who's left?"

"No man…you need to rest. You took a good knock today and you are still recovering from a near fatal gunshot wound to the head." Eliot told the man and before Nate could say anything he followed up with the fact that the suspects and their profiles were not going anywhere. It was late and they all needed their rest.

"Come on Nate…let's go." Sophie said standing and helping Nate up. Nate did not have the energy to fight her or Eliot at that moment. The pain pills were kicking in and he was feeling very tired and sore. Maybe a goodnights rest would be helpful and tomorrow he could go over the suspects with fresh eyes.

"Ok…Ok…I'm coming." He smiled holding on to Sophie's arm for support. "Eliot, I want you in bed tonight…that's an order…you also need to sleep sometime." Nate said to his Hitter. He was aware that Eliot had not sleeping, but sitting up in front of the monitors. "And before you say it sitting in front of the monitors dozing off is NOT sleeping."

"I'm fine Nate…I don't need more than ninety minutes a night."

"Eliot…I'm not going to argue about this. Hardison's watch dog will wake us if there is any problem. Now go to bed."

"Ok…you are right. I'll get some sleep I promise."

Nate looked at his Hitter intensely. He was not sure that Eliot would do as he promised but he hoped he would. "Good, you two get to bed to…it's been a long day." Nate said looking at the other two members of the team. They both nodded their agreement. Nate smiled to himself then…when had become a parent again? He sighed heavily then turned towards his room with Sophie holding him.

"I need a shower…" Nate said as Sophie closed the door behind them.

"No way Nate…you can barely stand and I can't hold you up in the shower…" She could see rebellion in his eyes so continued. "If you insist, I'll get Eliot in here to help you." She said knowing he would never allow that. His pride would never allow Eliot to see him in a weak state.

"Fine…share a bed with a filthy person then." He said lying back in the bed. She sat down beside him and removed his shoes and socks, then his shirt and pants.

"You are fine…we can shower in the morning. Now let's just get some sleep shall we." She said making her way to her side of the bed and sliding in under the covers. She moved over to him and lay her head on his chest listening to his steady heartbeat.

"I could have lost you today Nate." She said her voice hitching with emotion.

"But you didn't…Sophie we will get through this, I promise." Nate said running his hand through her hair gently.

"We'll get through this in once piece, you promise me Nate. You have to take more care…this guy is after you and you are taking too many chances." She said raising her head and looking him in the eye.

"I can't promise that Sophie…" He said and seeing her eyes well with tears at the words he quickly continued. "But I do promise I will take more care…OK?"

"OK…I can't lose you Nate…" She whispered as she put her head back onto his chest and her eyes fell closed. Nate lay there just stroking her head gently until her breathing evened out and he thought she was asleep.

"I can't lose you either Sophie…I love you…" He whispered softly to the sleeping woman. "And maybe one day I'll tell you that when you are awake." He muttered sadly to himself. He did not see Sophie's smile as she heard the softly spoken words. He does love me she thought as she drifted into a deep peaceful sleep.

Well that is the end of chapter four. What further ordeals will Nate have to face. Will Eliot be able to prevent any more harm coming to him? Will the team figure out who is doing this before it is too late? Thank you for all the reviews…Sphinx and stella as always your support is greatly appreciated. huttonfan, Kristin and livestar I hope you are still enjoying the story. I will try to post the next chapter as soon as possible.