Chapter 11

When Nate stepped through the door to his 'rented' apartment he went straight for the kitchen and the bottle of whiskey he had stashed there. He was taking one hell of a chance and he knew it. He poured himself a glass and drank it down. Then he took the bottle and made his way to the sofa. He was sure Hartley would not act tonight, yet he could not get the uneasy feeling he had to go away. He poured himself another glass and turned on the TV. He watched for a short while then decided that he should just go to bed. Tomorrow was going to be a long day and he needed to be prepared.

Back at Nate's apartment the rest of the team were busy with their own parts of this particular play. Hardison was intensely working on his computer. He was tracking all of Hartley's money, checking where it was going and to whom. He also had taps on Hartley's phone, his house – Parker had installed listening devices – and his office. Whatever Hartley did they were going to know about it first. Eliot walked over to Sophie who was sat on the sofa in the living area.

"You all right…?" Eliot asked her as he sat himself down next to her.

"No…no Eliot I'm not alright." Sophie replied.

"Sophie…"

"He is going to get himself killed!" Sophie whispered her voice breaking slightly. She was scared. Really scared, and she was incredibly angry. Nate had finally admitted his feelings for her. He had finally said the words she had been waiting for so long to hear. They had finally totally connected to each other. Now he was going to get himself killed. He was deliberately putting himself in a situation where he could die…how could he? How could he do this to her?

"Sophie…Nate is, well you know he can pull anything off. He always pulls it through in the end. I've got his back; we've all got his back. Hartley can't make a move without Hardison knowing about it. We have eyes on him…" Eliot emphasized this by looking at the screen which held the image of Nate sitting on the sofa. "Hardison has acquired an apartment right next to Nate's and I will be going over there in a short while." Eliot continued. He was not sure if he was trying to reassure Sophie or himself. He could see nothing he was saying was making any difference to the way Sophie was feeling. He did not blame her. He had noticed a subtle difference between her and Nate. Something had happened between them. Of course they all knew that they were in a relationship, but Eliot could tell that something had changed in that relationship. Somehow they were closer than they had ever been. It was probably what went down in France.

"I know…he…it's just…I don't know I just have a very bad feeling." Sophie finished unable to voice her concerns coherently. Maybe because she was unable to really determine what was worrying her, besides the fact that Nate could quite possibly be killed on this con. There was something else. She felt they were missing something. She could not quite put her finger on it but…well, she thought sighing heavily, there was nothing they could do not except play their parts as Nate had laid them out. She had to get into the Governor's mansion and stay there for the duration. Nate's plan called for her to involve the Governor at the right time in order to ensure Hartley's downfall. She knew how she was going to get in. Hardison had arranged an interview for her with the man. She would be posing as a small town journalist doing a piece. All she had to do was convince the Governor that she needed to follow him around for a week. She was sure she could pull that off, it was after all what she did, convince men to do what she wanted them too. Her part was not the hard part.

Eliot patted Sophie's shoulder again as he stood up to get his things together. "Ok guys, I'm going to the apartment. Everybody keeps their earbuds in at all times alright." Each of them nodded in response and then watched him leave. Nate had gone to his room presumably retiring for the night. There was no activity on Hardison's monitors.

"I think we all need to get some sleep." Sophie said to the two youngest members of the team. She rose from her position on the sofa and headed into her and Nate's room. "Goodnight you two, please get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be a long day, for both of you." Sophie said then entered her room and closed the door.

Hardison and Parker both looked at the screen just to make sure all was quiet and calm. Hardison then set up some warning signals to alert him to any kind of disturbance and then took Parkers' hand and led her into the spare room.

Eliot entered the apartment Hardison had set up for him. He could hear on his comm's the quiet deep breathing of each of his teammates. They were all asleep. He pulled a chair to face the door and sat down. Taking out his knives and tool set he set about sharpening and cleaning his weapons. This always soothed him for some reason. Eventually Eliot also drifted into sleep.

A couple of hours later Hardison was woken by the alarm on his computers. He flew out of bed and rushed over to his laptop that he had left on the night stand to the side of the bed. Looking at the screen he cursed silently.

"Nate…Nate wake up man…we got a problem…"

Sorry another short chapter…but the action is coming I promise. Thanks again for all reviews they are greatly appreciated.