Chapter Four
A/N: I own no rights to Dean Devlin, John Rogers, or Chris Downey's world of Leverage. I'm just borrowing the characters. Sorry it took longer to update than I planned.
It was time to wake the dragon again. Nate stood close to the wall; it should put him out of reach of Eliot's fist. This time he was prepared; he hoped. "Eliot." Nate's voice was pitched to break through the sleep that had engulfed the wounded man. He wasn't going to try to shake him awake again. His cheek still stung from the last time. A bit louder, "Eliot."
Eliot jerked awake. The light from the bathroom had been turned on so the form standing beside him was easily identifiable as Nate's. Eliot reached up to grasp Nate's proffered hand to pull himself upright. He ran a series of his own diagnostics while answering Nate's questions. "What time is it?" muttered Eliot. It was obviously late but Eliot wasn't sure just how late. His internal clock had been screwed up. He had his own timeline on how long they should stay in one place after their escape. He would insist they relocate when his countdown stopped.
"It's about 4 a.m." Nate's eyes were burning. He'd not closed them; he was worried about Eliot though he didn't want to show it. "Go back to sleep."
Eliot didn't refuse Nate's arm helping him back down. He needed it; his ribs were on fire and his muscles had stiffened tremendously.
Nate snorted. Worn out, Eliot was already asleep. Nate went to the window and pulled back the curtains to scan the back parking lot below. They didn't think that they'd been followed, but Eliot was worried and that made him worried. Letting the curtain drop, Nate thought about the plans he'd roughed out. He'd pick their new course of action once Hardison identified their attackers. Nothing to do but wait another hour. Nate sat down at the table illuminated by lamplight, opened his sudoku book, and began the next puzzle.
When Parker knocked softly on the door, Nate opened it after looking through the peephole and then removing the chain. Briefing the blond thief about Eliot's instructions and a warning about how to wake him, Nate shut the door behind him. He waited until he heard the chain slide into place again then headed down the hallway to the other room they'd rented. Nate had hated to split them up but he'd wanted Eliot to have complete silence to rest. Hopefully, Sophie and Hardison had decided to sleep.
Using the key card Parker had handed him, Nate eased the door open so as not to disturb them. The light from his computer screen illuminated Hardison's face where he sat at the table. "If you're playing one of your games…" Nate's implied threat was left hanging.
"No, man. I'm going through Macias' files. I'm still trying to figure out where the money went. I've got his bank codes, so I'm using them to backtrack money transfers." He stared at his screen not looking up as he spoke to Nate nor did he ask any questions.
Nate watched Alec and decided to cut him some slack. The man was exhausted and he was often monofocused when on the computer. "Eliot seems okay so far."
Hardison jerked a bit in his chair. "Oh….okay. That's…good."
Nate was confused. The hitter and the hacker had seemed to be building a quasi-friendship, and he would have thought that Hardison would be more…pleased…he guessed was the word he was looking for, at the news. Instead, Hardison seemed to be uncomfortable with something. But Nate was too tired to try and figure it out at the moment. "Are you going to crash?"
"Nah, man. I've got some more things to do. You take the bed." Hardison took a big swig of orange soda. He could almost feel the sugar flowing through his veins. Popping his head to both sides, he flexed his fingers above the keyboard and dove into the files once again.
Nate dug into his bag to find his sweat pants. Going into the bathroom, he switched on the light after he shut the door. Leaning on the sink, Nate stared at his face in the harsh light. He didn't like what he saw. Deeply graven lines cut down his face, lines reflecting past pain and present. The sounds of the abuse being heaped on the others and the fear and pain in their voices still played inside his head. He had been helpless to help them. They had all become so dependent on Eliot for their safety that when he'd been taken down, it had destroyed their balance. Only the fact that Eliot was extremely resilient and stubborn had saved them. Truth to tell, Nate wasn't sure that he and Parker could have rescued the others.
God. He needed a drink. He'd come so close to losing all three of them… And it would be his fault. His fault that he hadn't ordered Hardison to check closer, to search deeper, to see what Nate himself had missed. Hanging his head down, Nate took a deep breath. He would have to be sure that they were all alright, both physically and mentally. He needed to see what was up with Hardison, to see if Sophie was going to be okay, to see that Eliot was recovering like he should. Nate made a mental note to observe Eliot and not just take him at his word. The man was stubborn about revealing anything personal especially any weaknesses.
Going back into the room, he saw that Sophie was lying on the bed closest to the wall so he took the other. Pulling the covers over his head to block out the glow from Hardison's screen, Nate dropped off into sleep.
***
When Nate opened his eyes, he thought it was still early morning. It was only when he pulled back the curtains to be blinded by the bright sunlight that he realized how late it really was. Turning back towards the room, his eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness within. Hardison was gone. Parker's tousled blond hair was barely visible on the other bed's pillows. Nate looked at his watch with a start. He'd been asleep for about five hours.
Shaking his head, he decided that a shower was in order. It helped to clear his head. Dressed, Nate packed his meager belongings and left his bag by the door. Closing it gently behind him, he headed down the hall to the other room. Knocking softly, it took a while before it opened and he saw Sophie's face. Entering, he saw that Eliot was still asleep. "How's Eliot doing?" he said, jutting his chin towards the still figure.
"He seems fine. I haven't had to wake him yet; Parked just switched with me." Sophie smiled. "Parker said Eliot was fine but that he kept growling at her. But that's normal for him so she figured he was okay."
"She did remember to not…"
"I'm sure she did, Nate, Parker…looks at things differently…but she's not stupid." Sophie had been about to say has strong sense of self-preservation but that wasn't true. If she had that, she'd not do the things she did with a rope on tall buildings.
Nate sighed. He pictured Parker being chirpy or whatever and Eliot saying something he might regret. Might. Just maybe. Of course, Parker ignored all the things Eliot said to her anyways so maybe he shouldn't be so worried about her.
Nate realized that they were alone. "Where's Hardison?"
"He went for lunch."
"Did he sleep at all?"
"Yes, when Parker woke me up, he was asleep on the floor. He came by a bit ago to tell me he was going to find us something to eat."
It must have been the closing door that had woken Nate. The two friends settled down at the table. Nate knew he could run his ideas past her. It would pass the time, and she could poke holes in his thoughts and plans. "What did we miss? Where is Macias sending the money? Nothing we read said he had goons. When did that start?"
"I know they're not ex-military." Eliot's voice ground out behind them. "They made too many stupid mistakes."
Turning, Nate and Sophie saw that Eliot had dragged himself upright and was sitting slumped on the side of the bed.
"How are you feeling?" Sophie moved towards Eliot slowly and stood a distance away.
Eliot noticed it, and it caused a pang. She was staying out of reach. She knew in her bones now what he could do. And it scared her. Eliot observed the two from behind a curtain of hair. He was a little surprised that Nate seemed clearheaded. He must not have gotten drunk last night. Eliot had thought that Nate would hit the bottle once his job of watching Eliot was done. Although the man had claimed they were not friends, Eliot had observed him enough to know that Nate must have felt extraordinarily guilty about how sideways the job had gone. He had probably felt the stitches being placed more than Eliot had. Speaking of which, Eliot reached up and touched the side of his head. They itched. A good sign. Feeling gingerly around the wound, he was pleased that it didn't feel overly tender or hot. No infection. One less problem to deal with. Now came the fun part. Standing up. Bracing his abs, Eliot used the bedside table to pull himself up.
Sophie backed away a step. She'd never seen Eliot move that slowly or seem to be in that much pain. The facial bruising he'd sported from the bar fight before they'd left for Bosnia was the worst she'd seen him deal with. He'd healed really fast then; a few days and no bruising. She prayed he'd recover equally well now. It hurt her to seem him hurting. If she'd not had a gun on her, Eliot could have taken all those guys down and he wouldn't have had to kill that man and they wouldn't be hiding out and she wouldn't be so scared they'd find them again. Get a grip on yourself, she told herself sternly. She realized she was babbling in her head as much as Hardison normally did out loud.
She clutched her arms around herself. She could still hear the crunch as Eliot struck the man whose gasps had ended quickly. Violence was not a regular part of her life. Sure, she'd carried a gun at times. Yes, she'd shot Nate who then shot her but neither had fired to kill. That was different. Wasn't it? No, she had to admit it wasn't. She had shot Nate so she wouldn't get caught. Eliot had killed that man so they could go free. If he'd shown any mercy, tied up as they had been, they might not have escaped. They might even have been dead by now. Eliot had done the only thing he could have done. A small smile crossed her lips. Eliot was still the same man she'd known last week. That hadn't changed. Just her perception and wasn't that what they all dealt with: perception?
Ignoring Sophie standing lost in her thoughts, Nate went over to Eliot. "Can I help?"
Wanting to refuse but realizing the reality, Eliot said, "Yeah, grab some clothes out of my bag will ya?" He stepped towards the bathroom wincing as his right hip gave a twinge. He'd hit in on something going down the hill. The rest of his lower body was relatively pain free. It was his torso that was protesting loudly. He sighed and gritted his teeth.
Reaching back over his head, he grasped his shirt collar and pulled. That shirt was probably trashed. He wasn't sure if the bloodstains would come out. Not that it mattered. He'd reached the bathroom by then. He didn't want Sophie to see the bruising he knew would be there. Yep. Looking at himself in the mirror, he had some spectacular ones. He looked great in blue but this was ridiculous. Leaning closer, he checked his pupils. Neither one was blown so he seemed to be recovering from the concussion.
Nate winced when confronted with Eliot's bare back. One bruise was distinctively caused by a boot. He could almost see the tread pattern within the bruising. Yet if he hadn't passed out in the car, there would have been no way they could have gotten him to a hospital. During his years with IYS, he'd heard about, read about this man who got in horrible scrapes yet escaped. He had no clue how many times Eliot had needed a hospital. Nate figured Eliot took care of himself a lot. His familiarity with stitches, their placement, knotting them so they would stay knotted, and removing them when Nate had been shot had proven that. He felt saddened. What a life Eliot must have lived.
Eliot's eyes met Nate's via the mirror. Nate met the challenge in the blank face. He knew Eliot would accept no pity from him or any of them and Nate would accede to his wish. He had enough skeletons in his own closet that he understood the need for privacy. That was why Eliot had asked for his help.
"Anything else?"
"I'll need help re-wrapping my ribs when I'm done with a shower."
"Let me know." Nate left Eliot alone. If the man said that was the only help he needed, Nate would believe him. He really didn't think Eliot'd pass out again. He shut the door behind him and headed out into the room.
A knock on the door caused Sophie to start and make an inadvertent sound. Going to the door and looking through the peephole, Nate smiled at the sight of Hardison and Parker carrying bags and coffee cups. It was a good thing it was them. He shuddered at the thought of Eliot trying to fight as he was right now. He scrubbed his face with his hands as he opened the door.
The four settled down at the table and divided up the meal. A fifth place was set aside for Eliot.
After shoving half a burrito down his throat, Hardison took a gulp of coffee. "I think I found what we-I-missed," he said shamefully. "I didn't go into the most recent of Macias' accounts. Macias got a partner about two weeks ago. A silent partner who takes a big percentage." He sighed. They were not going to like this. "I think Macias pissed off the wrong person. I think those guys we who attacked us are into drugs."
"Gangs or cartel?" Eliot said behind them. He padded barefoot into the room. He'd overheard Hardison talking and pulled on jeans and a shirt to come out to hear the rest. At the table he pulled out his chair and eased down. Clenching his hands into fists, he wondered if anyone else had noticed how Hardison had shifted his chair away as Eliot sat down next to him. Dammit. Picking up his coffee, Eliot hid a grimace as he took a sip. He was surprised at how much that rejection had hurt. Eliot had lived inside his own head most of his adult life. It had become a dark place to live. Although he didn't share many of his thoughts with the crew, he had been able to blow off steam with them. He had a place to relax where he didn't have to watch his back. Had seemed to be the operative word. If he now scared the others, he couldn't relax around them. He'd have them jumping which would make him irritable which defeated the whole purpose of relaxing.
Eliot didn't realize that his thoughts were so transparent. Normally he had a great poker face. Nate wished Hardison had done a better job of controlling his reactions. Didn't he realize that Eliot had made the only choice he could for all their sakes? Nate had been trying to draw the young fighter into the group and had felt like he was making progress. Now they were back to square one.
"Gangs? Cartel?" Eliot reminded them of what Hardison had just said. "What are we looking at? Local? National? International? What?"
Shifting his laptop screen a bit, Hardison read out loud what he'd found out. "Local cartel. It seems a really small operation just getting started. Macias stole from some guy connected to this Avalos dude…and he got caught. But instead of killing him, Avalos decided to take in a portion of his business. So now this Avalos has a controlling interest. That's where the money is going. Avalos' account."
"So where does this guy live?" asked Nate. "He's local. So were those his guys that broke into the hotel room? How did they find us?"
"I would guess that they followed us from Sophie's meeting. Maybe they saw Eliot beating up Macias' guys. I don't know. All I know is that we've pissed off this dude and apparently he's not someone to piss off."
"How connected is Avalos?" asked Eliot. "Is he the boss man or lower down on the rung?"
"He seems to be the boss but like I said, it's a young cartel. I need some time to make sure but I really think it's just these few guys."
Eliot snorted but Nate interrupted him before he could say anything at all. "Hardison. I want you to be positive about his connections. We cannot go against big organized crime. The last time we did, we barely succeeded. We only were able to take Masconi down 'cause the FBI was watching him too."
"Give me a bit then, okay?" Hardison knew how important it was for him to dig deep and find all the dirt he could. He so did not want to get on the wrong side of the mob. His neck started to ache and he stopped typing to try to figure out why he was so tense. Then Eliot shifted, and he jumped a bit. He kept his eyes on his hands, but he could sense the others looking at him. He was not going to look at any of them. He realized Eliot was scaring the crap out of him.
Parker was oblivious to the undercurrents running through the room. She just inhaled her burrito and tossed the wrapper onto the table. Picking up her coffee again, she stood up. She was hyper; she needed to get out. Spinning around, she faced the others. "I'm going out. I'll be back in a bit." She grasped the doorknob in one hand.
"No, wait, Parker; we don't know how safe we are here. You can't be seen on the street." Nate half-rose from his chair to stop the thief.
"Who said anything about the street?" Finishing her coffee, Parker left the room and headed up the stairs to the roof. She was going to get some fresh air topside.
Sophie shook her head slightly and looked at Nate. He had a bemused look on his face like he wasn't sure if he wanted to smile or not. He sat down again. He saw that Eliot was done eating and was just staring into space while slowly sipping his coffee.
Eliot was running scenarios through his head and in each one the only option had been for him to take his opponent down permanently. He'd always prided himself on using only the amount of force needed in a fight. That's why he always ejected the clips from the guns he took. It equaled out the playing field a bit since he didn't carry a gun. But the amount of force he had needed last night had been deadly force. With his own hands bound, he had only one chance to strike the man down so that he stayed down. So that he couldn't get up and kill him or the others. But now he was a killer in the eyes of the others. Could they ever see him otherwise now? Did he still want them to? Did…"
"Eliot." Nate's voice broke through Eliot's thoughts about the fight. When the hitter looked up, Nate continued. "Do you want to wrap your ribs now?"
The question seemed to not be what Eliot was expecting and it took him a second to respond. "Yeah." Turning away from Hardison, Eliot used the table and the back of his chair to help him stand. The hot shower had done a lot of good and his muscles weren't so tight. He led the way towards the bathroom followed by Nate.
Left alone with Hardison, Sophie wondered if now was the time to point out to him how rude he was being. Eliot had saved all their lives. He had chosen to kill not for fun, not for torment, but for need. She didn't like it but she liked it more than still being tied up in that chair…or worse. She opened her mouth to speak but the sounds of conversation from the bathroom carried and she knew any words she said would carry back there. She decided to wait until they were alone before she broached the subject with the young hacker.
Hardison had closed out the room around him. There was nothing but his screen and the lines of data scrolling across it. He was determined to track down this Avalos and all of his dealings and information that he could track down. There would be no more mistakes on his part. He had failed to discover that Macias had been caught by Avalos prior to their job and it was his fault they'd been caught. He kept expecting Eliot to turn on him for not doing his job and he had to admit to himself, he deserved it. Eliot had killed the guy but if Hardison had done his job, Eliot would not have had to. He swallowed hard, shut his eyes, and kept on checking data.
Returning to the room, Eliot sat down in the chair Parker had left. It put him closer to Sophie but she didn't seem so nervous around him. "How are you?" he asked. What she'd been through had been tough but he had no clue to how she was coping. She might be a horrible actress on stage but in life, she was solid. When they'd all played poker that time at the office, the only one he could read was Hardison. It had made for a real challenging game. He'd enjoyed that evening.
Smiling slightly, Sophie turned towards Eliot. "I'm fine thanks to you. I know…well actually I don't know…but killing that man must have been a hard choice."
Deciding to give her the unvarnished truth, Eliot said, "No. It was easy. The choice was us or him. Not much debating there."
Nodding her head, she said, "But I think you feel his death even now. It wasn't a casual act. You didn't dither about it but you regret having to make it."
Stunned by her insight, Eliot couldn't say anything. He'd always been afraid that one day he would cross the line into cruelty and complete indifference. He debriefed himself after every job to justify his actions to himself. Sometimes he'd made the wrong choices and he'd berated himself for them and planned never to repeat them. Yes, he'd killed and he would probably kill again. But he'd never be callous about it. Death was permanent.
Her smile widened. They kept forgetting that her thing was reading people. And she was pleased at what she'd read off of Eliot. Yes, she'd been a bit nervous around him at first but his regret was visible to her and that helped her regain her former comfort level around him.
Nate watched the two of them come to some kind of silent accord. There would be no need for him to intervene between those two. That left only Hardison. Maybe Sophie could help him with this. After they finished the job.
"Hardison? Anything?"
"Give me…" Hardison reached into the bag at his foot and pulled out an orange soda. "I need for one more check to come in and…Here it is." Heaving a sigh, Hardison turned to the others. "We gonna get Parker in here?" He took a swig from the now opened bottle.
Reaching a finger up to his comm, Nate called, "Parker? Where are you?" He hoped she'd put hers back in.
"Above you. What's up? Besides me…" she snorted at her own wit.
"Hardison's got what we need. Get down here."
"On my way."
Turning to the others, Nate cocked his head to one side. "She's on her way."
"Well, at least she has to come down the stairs…" Sophie's voice trailed off as she heard a sound at the window.
Getting up from his chair, Eliot held out his arm to stop the others from passing him. He went to the window to see what it was. If it was anything dangerous, he needed to be the first to confront it. Twitching back the curtain, a smiling Parker greeted him on the tiny balcony. He unlocked the window so she could come in. "What do you think you're doing? You had no rope and people could see you." His voice shook with frustration.
Smiling widely, Parker said, "There's no one in the parking lot, the window is at the back of the hotel, and there's a depression in the wall that I slid down. It was fun."
"Fun?" Eliot's eyes blinked as he tried to figure out what to say next when Nate interrupted.
"Come on over here you two and sit down. We're all here, Hardison, so give us the intel."
Having completely ignored all the byplay going on in the room, Hardison started to relay all that he'd found. "Avalos is a local boy. He's got no connections to any of the big cartels and definitely no overseas connections. That's good. He's got three of the local gangs cooperating according to ICE records. That's bad. These gangs are into some heavy drugs but not weapons."
Eliot relaxed a bit at that. There was no way they were equipped to handle a gang of gunrunners. He'd walk away and hope the others would follow his lead.
Continuing, Hardison said, "He has only been working this area for about seven months. I checked his family and none of them are involved with anything related to crime. This boy did some time in jail for grand theft auto, and I think he got some schooling there 'cause he came out and opened shop with a whole different inventory if you know what I mean. ICE doesn't have anything on him that will stick. The file they have on him has a keep your eye on this guy note but nothing currently active. Macias cheated one of the gang leaders in his cartel and Avalos took exception to that. His exception is to the tune of 50% if Macias wants to stay in business. That's pretty much it. I dug really deep and I'll keep on digging."
Nate sat back. "This is good. Avalos got the drop on us but he's not connected and he's never seen Parker or me. So we go after Macias in a different way. Here's what we'll do."
TBC
Time for Plan B.
Please let me know what you thought of this chapter. I really appreciate your comments and have tried to use the constructive criticism to improve this story.