Promise Ch 7 - Trust in the Team
"You need to take his blindfold off," she stated firmly. All three of the men in the room turned to look at her. "Look at him, he's going to combust," she pointed out, honestly trying not to watch Eliot arch against the chair, fighting and growling. The apparent leader of the men arched an eyebrow. "If you don't give him some sense of control, he will die," Aimee said definitively.
"Go Aimee, show them whose boss!" Parker's voice was all to chipper over the line, causing a slight smile on Aimee's lips.
The three men in the room huddled together, having a conference on whether or not to remove the blindfold.
"We can't take a risk of him dying, his life is far too valuable," one hissed.
"But what if it's just some plan to free him," another objected.
"It's just the blindfold, not the restraints, we're going to let her do it," the boss decided. "Go in, remove the blindfold, but DO NOT touch his restraints, or we will kill you earlier than planned," he addressed Aimee. Aimee nodded and cautiously entered the room with Eliot.
"Eliot," she said firmly, trying to get him to calm down. He continued to thrash. "Eliot," she tried again, reaching out to set a hand on his knee. On reflex, he kicked his leg out, connecting with her shin. "Ow, shit El," she cussed.
"Aimee?" Eliot croaked.
"Yeah, it's me," she said softly. She carefully climbed into his lap. She reached up and undid the blindfold, revealing his panicked blue eyes.
"Are you ok? Who are these people? What do they want? Did you get hold of Nate?" he rambled, each word showing evidence of his stressed vocal chords.
"Shh, calm down," she soothed, setting on one hand on either of his cheeks.
"They haven't hurt you have they? How did they get you?" his questions didn't cease.
"El, hush," she tried again, bringing one hand down to his chest. She felt his heart hammering against the thick wall of muscle. He opened his mouth to speak again. This time she shut him up the only way she knew how. She met his lips with her own, her tongue invading his mouth. After a moment she pulled away.
"Aimee, please," he started to beg. She furrowed her brow at him. "Please take the restraints off," he finished.
"Eliot, I can't," Aimee replied grimly.
"Please, can't you just, please Aimee," he continued, his eyes growing desperate. "Please just take them off, I can't sit here like this, please," he added.
"Nate listen to him, Eliot has never sounded that desperate, we have to get him out of there," Sophie declared.
"I know, but we have to figure out where they are first," Nate replied. Aimee shook her head as if she could shake away their voices.
"They said they'd kill me sooner if I even touched them," she admitted to Eliot. Under her hand, she felt his heart rate that had finally slowed some pick up again. She watched his jaw clench.
"They're going to kill you?" he rasped.
"Yeah Eliot, eventually," Aimee said with a solemn nod.
"Get out of my lap," Eliot demanded roughly as his whole body went rigid again. Aimee scrambled off of him just before he flailed against his restraints once more with a tortured groan.
"Eliot, you need to calm down," she repeated.
"I can't let them kill you, but with these damn restraints on, I can't save you," he spat.
"Aimee, discretely take your ear piece out and give it to Eliot for a second," Nate guided. Aimee did as she was told. "Eliot," Nate started.
"Nate, get us the hell out of here, come up with a plan, please, I have to save her," Eliot begged.
"You need to trust me, you need to trust the team," Nate replied. "We're going to get you out of this," he added.
"How? Do you even know where we are or who these people are?" Eliot responded in a frustrated manner. Aimee glanced nervously at the door and then at the large two way mirror. She was surprised none of the men had come to pull her out yet.
"Eliot, do they have your cell phone?" Hardison's voice interrupted.
"Damn it Hardison! I'm strapped to a chair, of course they have my cell phone," Eliot replied gruffly.
" Well, I don't know! I figured you were the type of guy who might not always carry his phone, ya know if he's not working or something, forgive a guy for asking," Hardison mumbled quickly, receiving yet another growl from Eliot.
"Hardison, this is not the time," Nate warned.
"Did you take that chip out I put in last week?" Hardison got back to business.
"I can barely turn the thing on, I sure as hell wouldn't take it apart," Eliot retorted.
"Well, then a brother can save the day! I can track the GPS on your phone..." he went off in geek speak.
"Hardison!" everyone said in unison.
"Yeah sure, yell at the guy whose going to save the day," the hacker replied, sounding hurt.
"Eliot, tell Aimee to take the com back, but before you do, you need to promise me something," Nate came back over the line.
"What, anything, I promise, just get us the hell out of here, at least get Aimee out," Eliot jumped back into panic mode.
"First you need to stay calm. Second, when you get your restraints off, don't kill anyone," Nate laid out.
"I can't promise that," Eliot objected.
"Aimee's life may depend on it," Nate added.
"And you promised her," Parker chimed in, Eliot grimaced at the though of the promise he made to Aimee. His eyes fell upon the woman in question. Her strawberry blonde hair was falling out of her ponytail and her clothes were dirty. She looked like she'd been put through the ringer, even though he was the one strapped to the chair.
"I promise," he said barely above a whisper.
"Ok, we'll work on getting you out of there," Nate returned with a promise of his own.
"Just hold on, Eliot," Sophie interjected.
"Yeah, don't die, I'd miss you," Parker said in her odd innocent way.
"We got you, man," Hardison offered his encouragement, knowing his friend was fighting every fiber of his being to hand this one over to the team, even if it seemed he didn't really have any other options.
"Aimee, take the com back," Eliot instructed. As Aimee removed the device and returned it to her own ear she noticed the renewed sense of calm settling over Eliot. What she said in Kentucky had been correct, that team was his family, and he trusted them.
"Listen to whatever Nate says," he continued, not liking the taste of those words in his mouth. He gritted his teeth to keep from lashing out over the vulnerability and lack of control the current situation bred. It had to be this way for Aimee's sake.