Chapter 16
Nate woke up midmorning, a lot later than he had hoped. He was really tired, his feet were sore, and his body was sore. His arm hurt from where he had broken his fall the previous day and he was generally not in a good mood. He had had a restless night with nightmares of seeing Sophie die and his team hurt. For a moment he thought about just staying where he was and let nature take its course. Then he shook his head, pulled out his whiskey and took a small sip as was his custom now. Then he rose, made sure the fire was out, packed his bag and trudged off.
He had been walking for about an hour when he stopped dead in his tracks. Standing before him was the largest bear he had even seen. The creature stood with its back to him and he hoped it had not seen him. He started walking backwards slowly. Maybe he could just back away and get out of sight he thought his heart beating in his chest. Just as he thought he was going to get away with it the bear swung around and stared at him.
Sophie and the others were up before daylight and the camp was packed up by the time the sun started to rise. They wanted to get a move on now, they needed to catch up to Nate as soon as possible. They set off in the direction that they thought Nate had gone and were rewarded with an arrow to show they were on the right track. It did not take more than an hour and a half for them to reach the camp Nate had just left. Eliot checked out the fire and stood up telling them they were close now. He checked all the trees in the area and found one with an arrow on it and they all set off a little faster in pace than before.
They had been moving fast when suddenly Eliot brought them to a halt and told them to be quiet. None of them knew what was happening but immediately obeyed. They all listened intently and then heard what had brought Eliot to a halt.
"Hey there little bear." They clearly heard Nate's voice say. They could not see him but it was him speaking and their anxiety levels rose seeing Eliot's worried expression and listening as Nate spoke to the bear. "Now I don't want any trouble."
"Dammit." Eliot hissed dropping his pack and lifting the rifle into readiness.
"I take it you are not lost. Well I am." They heard Nate continue. His voice was calm and even, showing no panic whatsoever. "Maybe you can direct me."
His words were followed by a couple of grunts by the bear and then they saw the bear as it raised up onto its hind legs making chomping noises. They still could not see Nate but could clearly hear him, Sophie looked at Eliot and he shook his head at her.
"Ok so no directions." Nate said calmly. "Now I don't want to get in your way big boy so I'm going to back up here and you can go your own way." Nate said still slowly backing away from the bear which was slowly following him.
Now the Leverage team had sight of him too. They could see him slowly backing away from a great big black bear who was following him. Sophie's heart jumped in her chest as she watched. Parker was ready to spring up and defend Nate and Hardison just looked plain scared. They were still a good hundred meters from him though and Eliot could not get a bead on the bear without being sure he was not going to hit Nate. Eliot motioned them to stay still and quiet as he moved stealthily toward the side trying to get a good angle. Both bear and Nate were oblivious of his or the teams presence.
"So I don't know my bears very well. Well actually I don't know them at all. But I think you are one of those Black bears right?" Nate continued as the team watched and listed amazed at how calm Nate was as he spoke to the bear. "I can't be sure but I think you are not a grizzly which is good for me. Not that I don't like them… Well actually I don't like them but don't let that be a reflection on you big fella." Nate said still backing up slowly and trying to talk as calmly as possible to the bear. He had read somewhere that talking to them calmly helped. "So I don't really want to die here today boy, and I promise you I have no way of killing you so why don't we just go our separate ways."
They were now getting closer to the hiding Leverage crew and Eliot still did not have a good shot. They were all listening to Nate as he spoke softly to the bear his voice calm and soothing. Suddenly the bear rose up and let out a terrible growl and then started bounding towards Nate. Nate simply stood his ground and continued to speak quietly and calmly to the bear. Eliot's heart sprang in his chest and he lifted the rifle ready to take action.
"Now, now boy let's not get excited I am no threat to you." Nate said softly. He stopped backing up and stood his ground drawing himself up to be as tall as he could make his six foot odd frame be. It took everything for Sophie and Parker not to jump up and shout at the bear to leave Nate alone. The bear came straight for Nate and still the Mastermind made no move, Eliot was about to pull the trigger when suddenly the bear stopped dead in its tracks.
"That's it boy, now you go your way and I'll go mine ok." Nate said. He felt as if his legs were going to collapse under him and what he really wanted to do was run as fast as he possibly could but knew that would be his end.
Eliot swore the bear nodded its head then turned and started to walk away from the Mastermind. Eliot looked from the bear to Nate. Did the man just talk a bear out of attacking him? Eliot just shook his head in utter disbelieve as he watched the Mastermind.
"That's it you go on your way now." Nate said standing as still as possible until the bear was well away from him and continuing in the opposite direction to where he was. "Ok well that was fun" they heard the Mastermind say to himself and he almost fell into a sitting position keeping his eyes on the retreating bear.
Eliot motioned to the others to remain in their hiding place until he was sure that the bear was gone. He kept his eyes on the bear and on Nate who had reached for his bag and pulled out a half empty bottle of whiskey and was taking a long drink.
About two minutes later the bear was gone and Eliot motioned them to get up.
"So Nate this was your plan?" Sophie said walking up directly behind the Mastermind and scaring the living daylights out of him.
"What the hell…" Nate said getting up quickly and backing away. "Sophie?" He said taking in the woman in front of him. Then Parker, Hardison and Eliot flanked her all of them staring at him expectantly.
"How… are you here?" Nate said not sure if he was dreaming or not. There was no way they should be here in the middle of nowhere with him. He must be hallucinating.
"You are not dreaming Nate." Sophie said reading his mind. "We came looking for you."
"What?" Nate said still confused. "Why, how…?"
"Mrs Hapers' lawyer came looking for you at the pub." Parker said in explanation.
"Ah…" Nate said softly now it made sense. That is how they had found out about the flight and the subsequent crash and his place on the plane. These people could track you down anywhere he thought smiling to himself.
"Something funny Nate?" Sophie asked stepping forward. "Because I don't think it is funny at all."
"Sophie." Nate said raising his eyebrows at the woman. "You know there is a bear and, and we should maybe just move on a bit." Nate said trying get away from the question at hand.
"Bears gone." Eliot said quite unhelpfully eliciting a look from Nate.
"Well I am glad to see you guys, I mean you know being in this situation and all." Nate said.
"You left." Parker said. She knew Sophie had said not to argue here but she did not care.
"Parker." Nate said in that pleading tone he adopted sometimes to get her to quit a subject.
"You left Nate after saying we were family and all that shit you said at the grave." Hardison said his anger growing now that he was faced with the Mastermind in person.
"Shit I said at the grave?" Nate said his voice getting cold and hard. "That was my son's grave and nobody gave you permission to be there and listen to my private conversation with my son."
Hardison stepped back slightly. He had not heard that voice for a long time. It was cold, heartless and one that was reserved for people Nate was going to bring down.
"That's not the point Nate." Sophie said softly. She recognised that tone too and realised that they were now treading on dangerous ground. "But the point can wait until we are out of here."
Nate kept his eyes fixed on Hardison, and then slowly calmed himself down and looked at Sophie. Then he backed away and turned his back on them. His son was a sore point for him but he should not have reacted like that and he knew it.
"Parker get the phone and tell Jackson to be on standby we will let him have coordinates for pickup as soon as possible." Eliot said quietly. Sophie was right this was not the place for confrontation that could lead to difficulties.
Nate took a deep breath and turned back to the group looking directly at Hardison.
"Sorry." He said to Hardison who just stared back at him with wide eyes.
After a minute of silence Eliot said they should gather their things and look for a suitable pickup point. He looked around by the forest seemed quite thick all around them.
"We back track, there was a clearing a ways back that looked suitable." Eliot said gathering his pack and putting his rifle away.
The rest followed with Nate bringing up the rear and not another word was spoken until they reached the clearing that Eliot had mentioned. He took the phone and gave the pilot the co-ordinates and was informed that the pickup could only happen tomorrow as by the time he got out to that point it would be too dark.
"Ok guys we are here for the night. Pickup will be sometime tomorrow so make yourselves comfortable." Eliot said.
Nate nodded and moved over to the base of a tree and sat down leaning back against it and closing his eyes. They were here. They were all here. They had figured it out and come looking for him. He was relieved, grateful and at the same time apprehensive. What did he say to them?
Parker and Hardison set up their tents and then went looking for wood to start the fire with. Eliot helped Sophie with her tent and then offered his to Nate who politely refused saying he was good as he was. Eliot did not argue and moving off he set up his tent a little way away. Not that he slept in it anyway, he only used it to store their gear.
Eliot built the fire and they broke out their rations and took their seats around the fire. Nate remained where he was watching them all. He had taken out his bottle and had a few sips, something that had not gone unnoticed, he knew they were all watching him too.
"Nate there is enough for you here." Sophie said softly and patted the ground next to her. She was sure the man had not eaten much for the last two weeks and wanted to get something into his system. Nate looked at her and then decided retreat was the better part of valour on this occasion and rose to walk over to her taking his seat beside her.
"Here." Sophie said handing him some rations. "It's not the Ritz but it isn't half bad."
Nate accepted the food and looked it over. It was the best he had seen since his fish at his little camp next to the river and he was starving.
"Thank you." He said softly and started eating. He was really hungry so he did not even look up at them as he gulped down the contents of the tin. When he was done he accepted the water that Eliot offered him and washed it down.
"So two weeks in the wilderness Nate. I didn't think you had it in you." Eliot said trying to keep the mood light.
"Well." Nate said shrugging his shoulders. "Necessity breeds invention."
Silence fell again over the group. None of them knew what to say. Or rather none of them wanted to say that they wanted to say, not here and not now. Sophie had made it clear that that would be unacceptable.
"Thanks guys." Nate broke the silence looking at each one of them individually. "I don't think I would have made it out of here if you had not found me."
"You shouldn't have been here in the first place." Hardison said under his breath eliciting a glare from Sophie.
"No, no Sophie, Hardison is right." Nate said unexpectedly. "I take it they found the wreck and got James home." He asked nobody in particular.
"Yeah. You missed the rescue by about a day." Eliot confirmed.
"Ah well." Nate said softly. "Maybe I should have just stayed and avoided this all." He said then realised the double meaning in his words.
The rest of the group looked at him and nodded. They were not thinking about him staying with the plane he knew, they were thinking about him staying with them.