Chapter 7

"Karl, my boss want's to meet you before the deal goes down." Tara or Sarah as he knew her said running her hand over his chest.

"Of course he does…" Markison smiled at her.

"Then when we have…settled this…"

"Mmmm you mean…" Markison leaned in and kissed her gently. "You will work for me…" He said kissing her again.

"Yes, and then we can take over the other families and…"

"Oh my, my still so very power hungry…" He smiled.

"Romanov is an oaf…he is so…shortsighted." She said in a seductive voice.

"Boss…" Kristoff said as he entered the room and then stopped seeing the woman in his bosses' arms. "Oh… sorry sir."

"What is it?" Markison said moving away from Tara and looking at his second in command.

"It's done sir." Kristoff said.

"You are sure this time?" Markison asked sarcastically.

"Yes sir, it is confirmed."

"Good now get out." Markison said moving to the table and pouring a glass of champagne for himself and Tara. By the time he had turned back to her Kristoff had left the room closing the door behind him.

"A toast my dear…" Markison said handing her the glass.

"And what are we toasting…" She asked taking the champagne flute and raising it to him.

"Oh, the death of David Jenkins…aka Nathan Ford…" He said clinking glasses and taking a sip. Tara had to force herself not to completely blow her cover on hearing Nate's name. She smiled and raised the glass to her lips.

"Who is he…?" She asked regaining her composure quickly.

"A nobody who thought he beat me…but you know my dear…" He said taking her glass and putting it back on the table then pulling her into his arms. "Nobody gets the better of me and lives to tell the tale…nobody." He said kissing her.

"Eliot, you're a retrieval specialist, retrieve that man and get him here now." Sterling said turning to the Hitter. Before the words had even left his mouth Eliot was out the door followed by Parker.

"He…he was alive…?" Sophie whispered trying to make sense of what they had just heard. "All this time he was alive and we just…I just gave up on him…I…"

"Sophie, let's wait till Eliot gets him here and then we can get some answers." Sterling said.

"Sophie it's ok…" Maggie said.

"NO…no Maggie it's not ok…if he was alive we could have saved him, I could have saved him…"

"Sophie don't do this, let's just wait and hear what happened." Maggie said taking Sophie hand. "Please Sophie you need to calm down."

Sophie turned her tearstained eyes to Maggie. She could see her concern for her. Then she felt Maggie's hand pull hers to her stomach.

"You have to think of him Sophie…" Maggie whispered. Sophie looked at her and nodded in response. She sat back into the seat and closed her eyes running her hand over her stomach.

They waited and the tension grew. Tara had extracted herself from Markison telling him she had some shopping to do and would see him later. She was back at their hotel sitting beside Sophie when Parker and Eliot entered the room pushing a bloody Kristoff in front of them.

"Where is Nate…what have you done to him." Sophie immediately asked standing up. Maggie grabbed her and held her back from the man who simply smiled at her as he was pushed passed her and placed in a chair in the front of the room.

"Nate…? Oh…you mean that double crossing son of a bitch David Jenkins?" Kristoff said and was rewarded by a punch from Eliot which almost knocked him off the chair.

"Answer the lady…" Eliot said through gritted teeth.

"Do you know who I am…you are going to regret this…" Kristoff said.

"It's taking everything I have not to kill you on the spot…so before I make you wish you were dead, I would answer the ladies question." Eliot whispered to the man grabbing his neck and squeezing causing Kristoff to writhe in pain and lack of oxygen.

"OK…" He croaked out and Eliot released his hold on him. He sat back in the chair and fingered his neck where Eliot had hold of him.

"If I were you I would just talk, Eliot can be…difficult to stop." Sterling said stepping in front of Kristoff.

"He's dead." Kristoff spat at him.

"In the explosion…?" Maggie asked softly.

"No…turns out he survived that." Kristoff said.

"Then how…" Tara asked drawing Kristoff's eyes to her.

"The bosses lady…" Kristoff said looking at her. "You've been playing him…?"

"Just answer the question Kristoff." Tara said menacingly.

"Ok…well your boy survived the explosion. He didn't survive the visit from me…" He smiled at them knowingly.

"You killed him…you…" Sophie screamed at him and moved towards the man.

"I did what I was ordered to do…and anyway, that explosion killed some of my friends, so yeah I killed him…and I liked doing it too." He said. He knew he was going to die, he could see it on the face of the man standing before him, he was damned if he was going to go out whimpering.

"Where is he?" Sophie said coming to a stop in front of him. "Tell me where he is." She said.

"Brestov Hospital…or that is where he was yesterday…who knows now, no family, no friends, nobody to claim the body…"

Sophie just stood there and stared at him. Then she slapped him across the face the sound crisp and clear. Then she turned away from him and walked to the door.

"Eliot, Parker, Hardison…let's go." She said as she took the keys and left the room.

Eliot looked at Sterling who just nodded. "Go, we'll take care of him…" Sterling said motioning to Tara to help him.

"Eliot…watch her." Maggie said softly.

"I will…" He said as he followed them out.

"What about the plan?" Tara asked as she and Sterling made sure that their captive was secured.

"On hold…" Sterling said. "Until they get back."

"We have him on the hook, we can't wait too long, Romanov is going to hold that meeting whether we are ready or not." Tara said. If they waited then they could miss their chance to.

"You're right." Sterling said thoughtfully. "Get back to Markison Tara." He said and then turned to Maggie. "Are you ready to get into the game Maggie?"

"Ready, willing and able…" Maggie said standing up.

"Ok…well let's do it then." Sterling said. He did not want to complete this without them, but he had no choice, not if they wanted his plan to succeed.

A bit of a shorter chapter. I hope you all enjoyed. Please leave me your reviews, I really appreciate them.