Chapter 10

Nate got back to Eliot who was still unconscious. He carefully checked the Hitter over, he had two gunshots, one in the side and one in the leg, he also had a deep cut and bruise on his head, Nate suspected he had picked that up when he had fallen into the river or alternatively as he was being carried down the river until the branch had halted his progress. Rolling the Hitter over he removed his rucksack. He removed Eliot's shirt and checked the wound on his side, it did not look too bad, rolling the Hitter again he checked for an exit wound and to his relieve he found one. The wound was more bloody than dangerous. Next he checked Eliot's leg, the bullet had torn through the leg but it looked as if it had missed bone and the wound was not life threatening. Both were however bleeding quite profusely and Nate quickly opened Eliot's bag and checked for anything he could use as a tourniquet for the leg and a bandage for the bullet wound on his side. He knew he had nothing in his bag that would work. It was starting to get colder and darker and Nate knew he had to work quickly. He removed the half-jack out of his sack and cleaned the wounds, taking a swig to steady his nerves first. Then he dressed the wounds using his belt as a tourniquet for Eliot's leg. The Hitter remained unconscious and that worried Nate because he could treat the bullet wounds but he had no idea how bad the head wound was and what damage it might have done. He would have liked to move further into the woods, but did not want to move Eliot again so after placing the Hitter's jacket over him, he moved away back down to the river. He heard nothing and sweeping his eyes up the shoreline he did not see anybody. They had gone, at least for now he thought. It was dusk now and darkness would soon descend upon them brining icy coldness and an unpleasant night.

Sophie heard Nate shout and heard the barrage of gunshots that followed his shout, she was about to turn around when a strong pair of arms grabbed her and propelled her forward and into the tree line. They kept going for what seemed like hours before she was unceremoniously shoved behind a tree and told to keep quiet. Then the lithe figure of Parker moved away, disappearing into the trees to return only a few minutes later with Hardison in tow.

"Nate…Eliot…?" Sophie spoke for the first time as the three of them huddled behind the huge tree Parker had chosen for their hideaway.

"They both went into the river." Parker said without blinking an eye. Nate's little rush to the river had distracted their pursuers enough for them to get into the trees and far enough away she thought, to keep safe from them for a while at least. Night was coming and they would be able to evade them easily as the darkness set in.

"We have to…"

"We have to stay here and keep out of the hands of the men with guns who want to kill us." Parker interrupted the woman. "That is what they would both want."

Sophie looked over at the blonde woman and for the first time she saw what Nate had seen, why he had picked her to lead the team in their absence.

"We can't do much of anything now except find a place to keep warm and safe for the night. In the morning we can start looking for Nate and Eliot." Parker added looking around her. "I doubt these guys are going to keep looking for us through the night. They will recon they have us trapped, we can't go forward towards the town because the only way there is to cross that bridge…"

"Yeah and they are going to guard that you can bet on that." Hardison nodded in agreement of Parkers assessment.

"Right…" Parker agreed. "We can head back up the mountain but they know we are going to be looking for Nate and Eliot, so I would figure they will leave us and concentrate on those two, and hope to catch us at the same time."

"So what is the plan?" Sophie asked softly.

"I still have no damn signal…" Hardison said with disgust shoving his phone back into his pocket.

"For now, we are going to get comfortable and keep as warm as possible until morning." Parker said ignoring the Hacker. "Then tomorrow you and Hardison are going to head upstream…"

"Nate and Eliot went down stream…" Sophie reminded her.

"I know…" Parker said softly. "You and Hardison are going to head upstream and try to find another crossing point on the river. You need to get to town and Hardison needs to get his computers working."

"Nate…"

"I am going to go looking for them." Parker stated.

"Parker…"

"Sophie if all three of us going looking for them and find them then what? They could both be hurt and maybe unable to walk out of here. Those guys are going to be looking for them as well. I can find them and maybe help them, you need to get to town with Hardison and you need to get help to us." Parker said locking eyes with the older woman.

"Parkers right Sophie." Hardison said softly. He did not like the thought of leaving the two men out in the woods alone, and he definitely did not like the thought of Parker staying behind and looking for them alone, but he had to admit that it made sense. Neither he nor Sophie were good at traipsing around in the bush and the best thing they could do was get to town or at least to a place where he can contact people who could come out and help them. Eliot was definitely hit, Nate…well if he not been hit then it would be a miracle considering his ridiculous actions at the bridge. Parker would find them…somehow he had no doubt of that. His job was to get help out here and keep Sophie safe.

"Ok…so let's see what we have to keep us warm, I'll check where they are and I'll see if I can find a place for us to sleep." Parker said dumping her rucksack in front of Hardison and then disappearing into the darkening dusk.

Thank you all so very much for the wonderful reviews. Again sorry for the slow post.