Chapter 37

Nate allowed himself to be taken out of the room and placed in the car that was waiting. The drive was not a long one and they arrived at a private airstrip where a jet was waiting for them. His captives did not speak to him and he did not speak to them, they obviously had no instructions to hurt him in any way, they were merely delivery men. Once on the plane was in the air and he was strapped into a seat with the tall man still holding a gun on him was the first time Nate spoke.

"You fire that thing in here and we all die." Nate said casually. "You might as well put it away, I am not going anywhere."

The man looked at him and then smiled holstering his gun.

"Nice plane…" Nate said surveying the interior of the plane, his eyes settling on a small wet bar. "Perhaps I could trouble you for a drink…"

The man looked at Nate for a second and then indicated to his friend that he should get him a drink.

"Whiskey..." Nate said smiling at the man who poured him a glass and then handed it to him.

Nate took the glass raising it in salute to him before taking a sip and closing his eyes as he felt the fiery liquid slide down his throat. The rest of the flight was spent in silence. Nate could sense that these men were not going to tell him anything and he did not want to antagonise them in any way. He knew they worked for Luwitsky and assumed that they were taking him to the man. Luwitsky was however supposed to be in Sterling's custody, had he escaped, were they taking him to LA or somewhere else? Well he would just have to wait for the answer. His only comfort was Luwitsky had no knowledge of his team, unless Cruz had told him about them, but he doubted that. He did have one ace up his sleeve but he would only play that card at the opportune time and no earlier. Nate sighed and sat back relaxing into the seat. Until he knew more there was nothing he could do, he would just have to wait for the next act of the play to start.

Just over two and a half hours later the plane landed and Nate was taken off and put into a black SUV. They had not landed at a commercial airport again and Nate had no idea where they were. Nate estimated they had driven for just over an hour before they pulled up at an isolated house. Nate was taken out of the car and placed in a room which contained only a bed. The window was high on the wall and small with bars across it and the door was bolted from the outside. The only thing Nate was sure of is that he was not in LA at Luwitsky's house there. The drive here had been on dark roads, no sign of towns or houses, he was somewhere outside of town on an isolated property.

Nate made his way to the bed and lay down, all he could do was wait now so he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. He woke a few hours later with the rays of sun flooding the room with light. He had no idea how long he had slept but estimated that it was late afternoon the following day. Nate took a short time to survey his prison checking the walls for any camera's or other surveillance equipment. Once he was sure that there were none he fished in his pocket and pulled out an earbud that he had taken before leaving the house to go and meet Luwitsky and Cruz. None of his team knew he had one, and he was not quite sure why he had taken it himself, but he was quite pleased that he had now. Placing the com in his ear he sat down and propped himself up against the wall on the bed.

"Hey guys…Hardison…is anybody on coms?" He said softly. He was not sure any of them would have coms in as the job was done and they were all probably back in Portland, but Hardison usually did use his, it was a quirk of the Hackers to keep his in just in case somebody needed waited for a reply hoping that he would get one, what he was not expecting was all for of his teams' voices saying his name almost simultaneously and with a high level of angst in their voices.

"This is madness Eliot. You are going to get yourself and Parker killed." Sterling told the Hitter as he and Parker prepared to go into Luwitsky's property looking for Nate. They were out of options. Hardison could not hack into the security system as it was a closed circuit and there was no other way. "He has at least twenty men in there and they are heavily armed. Not to mention the camera's and other surveillance."

"They won't see us." Parker said confidently as she appeared dressed in all black and ready to go.

"And what if he isn't even there and you two get yourself killed…how is that going to help Nate?" Sterling asked.

"That is a chance we will have to take." Eliot growled at the man before turning to Sophie. "All set?"

"Yes…" Sophie said. She was going to be the distraction to give them time to get in. She knew it was a risk and she knew that both Eliot and Parker might get caught or worse, killed, but they had to find Nate and she was almost sure he was in that house and she had faith in the Hitter to get them in and out, and if Nate was in there to get him out as well.

As they were walking to the door their coms suddenly sprang to life causing complete chaos and confusion amongst the Leverage team.

"Hey guys…Hardison…is anybody on coms?" Nate's soft voice stopped them all in their tracks.

"Nate…." Hardison almost shouted.

"What the hell Nate…" Eliot growled out.

"Nate…" Parker said putting her hand to her ear pressing the earbud in further to make sure she was hearing right.

"Nate are you ok…where are you…?" Sophie rattled out her voice full of relief at hearing his voice and worry at the same time.

"Hey guys…one at a time ok…" Nate said as the cacophony of worried voices came through the coms overlaying each other.

"What the hell is going on Nate?" Sterling's calm voice sounded as the other four were silent.

"Sterling." Nate said smiling to himself. "Seems you lost one of your prisoners."

"Luwitsky…"

"Yeah…he has invited me for a visit." Nate confirmed.

"Do you know where you are Nate?" Eliot asked cutting into their conversation.

"Eliot. No…we flew for about three hours then a reasonably long drive, not in the city or near a city…the house is old, remote and I have no idea where." Nate said telling the Hitter what he knew.

"Hold on guys…" Hardison said working on his computer which he had started punching things into as soon as he had realised it really was Nate on the coms. "You are in California but about a hundred miles out of LA in a rural area. There is only one house at your location."

"We're coming for you Nate." Eliot said.

"Luwitsky doesn't know about you guys…"

"Nathan Ford…" Sophie said heatedly getting ready to give the man a long and hard lecture. She could not believe he was going to pull his old stunts again and tell them that they must stay away and keep safe.

"Don't worry Sophie…I wouldn't have contacted you if I didn't want to be rescued." Nate said softly. "I need…I need you guys to come and get me."

Sophie was silent swallowing hard and looking at Eliot with a glint of tears in her eyes.

"Luwitsky is not here yet, but they are expecting him sometime soon. Now they have not done anything to me yet, I think they are waiting for him. I am not sure how many men are here, but there are two that brought me here and I saw three more when they brought me in and locked me up." Nate told them.

"We are on our way." Eliot said smiling slightly.

"Sterling, you have tabs on Luwitsky?"

"Yeah Nate, he is still in his house here in LA as far as we know."

"Ok well…hey hold on I got visitors." Nate said softly as he heard the bolt being pulled back and the door was flung open.

"Mr Logan…or is it Ford?" Luwitsky said as he stepped into the room along with three of his men.

"Oh shit…" Eliot hissed.

"Mr Luwitsky…" Nate said, obviously Sterling's surveillance was inadequate.

"I don't like being set up Mr Ford…I don't like it at all. You understand that I cannot allow you to get away with your actions?" Luwitsky said as he motioned to his men to get Nate to his feet. The two men moved forward taking Nate by his arms and holding him as he stood before the man. "As I see it you owe me for two deals gone bad and for that you will have to suffer a little, an example to those who would cross me as it were." Luwitsky smiled at him. "Oh and if you are counting on your team coming to your rescue…well you can forget that, they are camped outside my house in LA…and they will die when they try to rescue you from there."

Nate smiled back at him and shook his head slowly.

"You know Luwitsky you won't be the first to underestimate my team. You can kill me but you will have to deal with them, they will take you down no matter what you do, they are the best at what they do and they don't need me to take down a weasel like you."

"That's right…but please don't kill him…" Parker hissed out.

"You are wrong Ford…they are merely criminals, good one's I will give you that, but criminals none the less…interested only in what they can get, you…you are the brain behind them, you are the one that holds them together and makes them function as a team, they will scatter when you are dead and I will hunt them down one by one, that is if they are not killed trying to rescue you first." Luwitsky replied.

"Boy is that guy going to get a surprise…" Hardison said.

"You do not know how wrong you are Luwitsky. But you will find out." Nate replied.

"So confident in their abilities…but where are they now Ford…?" Luwitsky said nodding to the third man who stood by his side. The man smiled and stepped forward burying his fist into Nate's kidneys buckling the Masterminds knees and bringing an involuntary cry of pain from him.

"Nate…" Sophie gasped not sure what had happened but hearing the cry of pain from Nate.

"They cannot help you…hell without you they cannot even figure out where you are…I think maybe you have overestimated their abilities." Luwitsky said nodding again and again the man's fist connected with Nate, this time in his solar plexus doubling the man over and brining another cry of pain.

"Oh God Nate…" Sophie sobbed. Eliot was moving though, he was out the door and running towards the car with the others behind him including Sterling who was steering Sophie along.

"Maybe you should not have put so much faith in them…I mean a Grifter, a Hacker, a Thief and a Hitter are not exactly what I would call trustworthy, and loyalty means nothing to them…obviously you are a soft touch?" Luwitsky said nodding again and brining another blow to Nate this time to his jaw snapping his head sideways. "Actually, perhaps I should take care of them first, before ending your miserable life, it would save me having to go after them individually and they must also learn not to mess with Victor Luwitsky." Luwitsky said as his man landed another blow to Nate's jaw rendering the Mastermind unconscious.

"Leave him and double security." Luwitsky said to his men who dragged Nate back to his bed and dropped him on it. "Check with our sources…I want to know where his team are."

"Nate we are on our way…Nate…" Sophie called out but was met with only Luwitsky's voice and then silence as Eliot sped along with Hardison directing him and another SUV filled with Sterling's men following. They had taken Sterling's SUV and with the lights on they could at least avoid any trouble with the local law.

Thanks for the great reviews and the next chapter will be up soon…sorry about another cliff hanger.