A/N: Here's the next chapter. Chapter 4 of my other story should be up in the next couple of days-I know I promised it, but couldn't write it until I got this out of my head.

I don't own Leverage or any of the characters in this story, except the ones of my own creation. I write for fun and not for profit.

I take my writing seriously, and reviews help me hone my craft. Besides that, they make me do a happy dance, so please keep them coming. I'm dying to know what you think.

Hope you enjoy the new chapter. Thank you for reading.

Chapter 14

Eliot made it back to the team's headquarters mostly by the force of his will. He was struck by a bout of weakness, from the blood-loss, and he heard Doc's voice sounding in his head, telling him he should have known better than to go out so soon after being shot. In this case, there was no real choice, though.

He walked in, straight through the living room, past the quizzical looks of the rest of the team, into the treatment room, where he opened the refrigerator and took out a bottle of water, and sank down onto one of the cots. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying not to allow the exhaustion to get the best of him.

A moment later, he heard a knock on the door. He moved to one of the chairs that sat next to the cots, and said, "Come."

The door opened and Nate walked inside. "Eliot? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure? I would probably be feeling pretty weak right now if I had been through what you've experienced over the past few days."

"Yeah, well, we don't really have much of a choice now, do we?"

"I suppose not. Listen, Eliot, I know you can't talk about what you and Doc are planning, or where she went, but I need to know what this means for the team." Eliot gazed at Nate for a moment. The team deserved to know what they were up against, so he would tell them what he could.

"My best guess?"

Nate nodded.

"Conrad set us up, probably to get revenge for the last time he came after us. He lured me there, planning to torture me, kill me, whatever. Then he lured Vance there by making him think there was some sort of mission, for which he would need backup, probably someone skilled in medicine, so Vance called in Doc for backup. She realized they were holding me, and when she didn't find Vance there, I think she figured out that it was a set-up, managed to take the place of the Doctor they had interrogating me, and staged a rescue. She had her people put all of you in custody for your own protection because she wasn't sure what Conrad would do once he discovered I was gone." Eliot fell silent and finished draining the water bottle in his hand.

"Why did Doc leave?"

"Kat's a force of nature. She does what she feels like she has to do, and there's no sense in arguing. She'll meet up with us again before all of this ends."

"Yes, she explained to me about the way you all send for one another, and I asked her what you sent to them when you needed help."

"Oh?" Eliot smiled a little. "What'd she say?"

"She said that was a question for you. So now I'm asking you."

"Depends on the situation."

"You aren't going to answer me, are you?"

"You'll know when it's important," Eliot said, lightly.

Nate swallowed nervously, unsure how Eliot would take what he needed to say next. "Eliot, I want you to make me a promise."

"I only make promises I know I can keep."

"I know. Eliot, you're one of the toughest men I've ever met, but you aren't superhuman. You're still recovering from torture and you've lost a lot of blood from those gunshots. I want you to promise me you won't take on any more than you can handle."

"I can't make you that promise, Nate." He considered for a moment, and then continued. "If it comes down to me being weak or keeping the team safe, I will ensure the safety of the team. That's my job."

"At least let me know if you're too weak to do something, so we don't jeopardize their safety."

"I'll let you know if I can't do my job, Nate. That was never a question."

"So, what's the plan for us?"

"First, we find Mitchell."

"Mitchell? What does he have to do with all of this?"

"That's what we need to find out. When we finished with Conrad the last time, Mitchell assured us that he'd be something like an early warning system for us—he'd be watching Conrad closely, and let us know if he was up to something. As a Deputy Director of the CIA, he was in a good position to do that."

"So?"

"We haven't heard a word from him. Mitchell proved himself an ally last time, so there'd be no reason to doubt him. So why haven't we heard anything?"

"Ah. I see. And how do you propose to find him? You can't just be planning to walk into the CIA headquarters in DC. Are you?" He gave Eliot a dubious look.

"Someone gave us a little help." He pulled the card out of his pocket, still clipped to the envelope. "Coordinates."

"How do you know it's not another trap, set by Conrad."

"Chance we'll have to take. Someone I trust sent me a text message telling me to go to a specific locker at the bus station. This is part of what I found there. Now, that person could have been passing on some information, or they could have first-hand knowledge. No way to tell that without putting them at risk. If I'm not mistaken, these coordinates are somewhere near Italy."

"So, Hardison needs to find us some tickets."

"Yep."

"I'll let him know. At least rest between now and the time we leave."

"I still have some work to do, but it's work I can do lying down. I need to top up on fluids, too. The blood loss left me dehydrated."

"I know planes aren't exactly restful, but at least you won't have to move around for the duration of that trip."

"Yeah-yeah."

(0o0)

Nate was correct when he said the plane wasn't restful, and even staying in his seat for the vast majority of the flight, Eliot still found himself exhausted. There would be time to deal with that later, and so, he shoved the feeling aside. It was nothing he hadn't dealt with before. As the plane taxied down the runway in Malta, Eliot was already three or four steps ahead, making plans, and planning contingencies in case those plans went south.

Eliot refused to rent a car at the airport, not wanting to leave a paper trail that could be traced. Instead, each of them went through customs with the passport of a relatively new alias, and then they bought five seats on the fastest train available, and Eliot pulled them off at the station nearest the coordinates he had been given. It wasn't safe to use GPS either, since it could be tracked, so Eliot had to do it the old fashioned way. He determined they were still about two kilometers away from their intended location. They set off through the countryside, and into the forest. Half an hour later, they reached an old farm. Wooly sheep dotted the countryside a ways away. Goats and cows grazed in the next field, but the area immediately around the farm seemed deserted.

The house was locked up tight, but it was the work of a moment for Parker to pick the lock. When she had done so, Eliot put a hand on her shoulder and motioned for her to stay put. He quickly checked and cleared the house, and then walked back out, and with hand signals, motioned them to follow him around the house to the barn.

Motioning for everyone else to hang back, Eliot and Parker snuck from tree to tree, staying under cover until they reached the barn. The barn was padlocked, and Parker again worked her magic, and quickly opened the door. She slipped inside, with Eliot right behind her, and as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she gasped and made a strangled cry in the back of her throat. She felt a warmth behind her, and a hand on her shoulder, and as she realized Eliot was behind her, she turned into him and tucked her head into his shoulder, diverting her eyes from the scene before her. Eliot rubbed her back for a moment, and the thought in his mind was If Parker turned away, it must be pretty bad.

He gently moved her to one side, and stepped around her. The scene that greeted him provided sufficient cause for Parker's behavior. There was blood everywhere, and it looked like someone had put up one hell of a fight. Eliot found Jack Mitchell dead, lying in a pool of his own blood, bleeding from every orifice in his body, which was broken in a dozen places. Someone had done a number on him.

Eliot stood staring at the man lying dead before him, and thinking 'That would explain why neither Kitty or Eliot, nor presumably Vance, had heard anything from Mitchell.'