Chapter 26

The four other members of Eliot's team, plus Vance and Kitty skidded to a stop to keep from running into Conrad at the entrance to the alley. With Eliot in assassin mode, it made sense to approach with caution. It wouldn't be good for anybody if they got caught in the crossfire, and it would be even worse if they ended up as collateral damage. Using hand signals, and being careful to stay in the shadows near the edges of the alley, some of the members of Eliot's team moved into the alley and toward the building upon which Eliot was posted, being sure to stay near the wall, in the shadows, and as quiet as possible.

Vance had been charged with keeping Hardison safe, as he looked for a place to plug in his computer and help. He moved them both into the building, and leaving Hardison on one of the lower landings, he didn't make a sound as he moved up the stairs to clear Eliot's exit. He knew Eliot would have been aware if anyone was on the roof with him, so he made his way, quickly and quietly up the stairs that led to the roof of the building and when he was satisfied that no one was there, he made his way back down, and hid in the shadows, watching and waiting to see what would happen. Moments later, he heard the clank of a heavy footfall on the stairs below and sank back into the shadows.

Vance watched as a well-dressed man moved toward him on the stairs, gun drawn. When he was close enough, Vance reached out and grabbed it, pulling it (along with its owner) toward him. In one smooth motion, he relieved the man of his gun and wrenched his arm up behind his back, completely immobilizing him. A well-aimed punch knocked the man out, and Vance proceeded to lay him out and begin searching him for ID. A moment later, a wide streak of black cut across Vance's consciousness and his knees buckled, and he crumbled to the ground. Kicking straight out in front of her with her foot, she sent the large man tumbling backwards down the stairs. Cringing at the horrific noise, the woman followed him down and retrieved the gun her partner had lost, and placed her own back into its place of concealment, since she no longer needed it for the moment. She then proceeded to tie Vance securely, so that he was completely immobilized.

Hardison watched the reflection in his computer screen with wide eyes and tried to look busy, and as though he didn't notice what was going on behind him. A moment later, someone grasped him firmly by his arm, and he felt the barrel of a gun against his temple.

"Walk." Hardison stared in amazement at the woman forcing him to move forward, and he saw her, almost as though he was watching in slow motion, pick up his computer and throw it with some force down the stairs. His heart sank as he heard the resultant crash.

(0o0)

A moment later, Eliot heard a voice. "Here I am, Spencer. Come and get me."

Eliot suddenly saw him through the scope of his rifle, and was just about to squeeze the trigger when he heard the trap door behind him clank open and the sound of a gun being cocked. Like lightning, he turned around, turning his gun with him, and his heart nearly stopped. The couple he had seen earlier, nuzzling one another, were standing behind him. The man held Hardison in an iron grip, holding a gun to his head with the other hand, while the woman held a gun on Eliot. The hitter froze, and then spoke quietly.

"Put the guns down before someone gets hurt." He ever so slowly took a step forward.

"You first."

"I'm sorry. I can't do that. Now then, I'm giving you ten seconds to walk out of here. Nine."

The man and woman exchanged glances, unsure of what to do. Eliot looked through the scope on his rifle, sighting in on the target. At the same time, he slowly counted down the numbers in his head, wondering all the while if this plan would work, and hoping it did.

"Eight," he said, taking a step closer.

"You understand I'll shoot you?" The woman spoke and her voice shook.

"I understand you'll try, and maybe you'll hit me and maybe you won't, but this-" he said, touching his sniper rifle almost lovingly, "from this distance, this thing'll blow your heads clean off."

"It'll take him out, too," the man said, motioning to Hardison. Eliot looked Hardison in the eye for the first time, studying the man who had become his brother over the past few years. He was pale, but determined. Almost imperceptibly he nodded, giving Eliot permission to do whatever he had to do to save the others, and get them all out of this situation.

"Probably. He knew that was a possibility long before today." He paused, looking once more through his scope. "Three," he said softly, as he squeezed the trigger. Dispassionately, he watched the headless man crumble, for he hadn't been joking when he said the rifle would take their heads off, and he barely registered Hardison go down underneath him.

Eliot's attention had already turned to the woman standing next to them. She was a professional. The vibe he had gotten from her was that they really were romantically involved, and he had been counting on the shock factor to buy him some time. It bought him precious little, but it was enough. Without thinking, she had moved forward, and he had done so deliberately, and that put him in range of her weapon.

She had just aimed and put her finger back on the trigger when his knuckles came smashing up through the air, connecting with her nose and making her cross eyed. He relieved her of the weapon and promptly disarmed it. Then, he spun her around and twisted her arms up behind her back until she was breathing heavy with the pain of it. Holding her with one hand, he took his belt off with the other, and secured her to the building's railing, so tightly that movement was impossible. He hoped she wasn't afraid of heights.

Moving over to her would be boyfriend, he kicked the man over onto his back and reached down to help Hardison up. After checking to be sure his friend was all right, though shaken, he led him over to where the girl was sitting and growled, "Stay with her" before moving off again.

Belly crawling over to the edge of the roof and peering over, he saw Conrad below, along with Kitty and Nate and wait, was that Mitchell (but he's dead!?)? He moved away from the edge of the roof, promptly deciding that his mind must be playing tricks on him, and he couldn't have seen what he thought he saw below, he started sighting in his rifle again, on a new target this time, or perhaps it was better to call it an old target.

Satisfied that he had squelched the threat on the roof, he went about the business of preparing to fire his rifle. One by one the things in the outside world fell away, until all that was left was the feel of the rifle in his hands, and the narrow field of vision in the scope. Every detail of Conrad's form was in high focus, but he saw Doc behind the man, holding her gun on him, and he didn't want to take a chance on hitting her. Then, she looked up, directly at him, and he could read the message she was sending. She wanted him to leave Conrad to her. He couldn't do that, and she might never understand why, but they would discuss it later. For now, he needed her to move. He stayed perfectly still, with the gun barrel still pointed at Conrad's chest, and he knew she would check for his answer in a moment, and there it would be, loud and clear.

A tiny noise, like the mewling of a cat, reached his ears and he glanced around for the source. Parker had emerged from a dumpster, dirty, with garbage in her hair, and was prodding a man along in front of her. Another of Conrad's men, no doubt. She stopped next to Nate and Sophie, who had magically appeared at his side, and was explaining something.

Catching movement out of the corner of his eye, he looked over in time to see Doc grab her wrist and collapse to her knees before she slowly spread out on to the ground, struggling to breathe. His fingers tightened on the rifle's trigger, and without allowing himself to stop and think too much about what he was doing, he squeezed the trigger and watched in fascination as a small hole appeared right in the middle of Conrad's forehead. As if in slow motion, he fell backwards, hit the ground and lay still. Blood slowly pooled behind his head as his eyes dimmed and turned glassy.