Chapter 19

Nate woke again in the late afternoon. His room was silent and he was alone. He could hear them in the living room, Eliot making dinner, the television was on and Sophie was probably just sitting watching them all or reading something. He ran his hand over his face. He was sore. His chest hurt like hell and so did his shoulder. He needed a glass of whiskey too he thought. Eliot had given him pain pills earlier but they had worn off a while ago. So what did he do ring a bell for them to come running he thought to himself. He pushed himself up wincing at the pain it caused but continued swinging his legs off the bed. No he needed to get up, he had been in bed now for almost two days and that was enough. He hated being dependant on anybody, even Sophie.

He reached for his phone seeing he had received a missed call from Sterling. He had put the phone on silent and he hoped none of them had seen that or he could be in trouble. He quickly dialled the number again.

"Nate."

"Sterling."

"I am texting the details. For what it is worth Nate don't do it, don't cut them out, you need them this time."

"Thanks Sterling I will take that under advisement."

"Fine do it your way. But they deserve better than that. Hell they deserve better than you." Sterling said putting his phone down. He did not like the life Nate had chosen but he was still a friend. He had helped him with Olivia and he owed the man. As for the rest of the team he had come to respect them and their devotion to his friend, even Eliot. But Nate had always been and would always be a stubborn fool and that is why he was so good at what he did.

Nate checked his text messages, wrote the information down and tucked it into the draw next to his bed then deleted the message. Then he pushed himself up onto his feet, almost falling backwards but not quite. He waited a few minutes for the pain to subside and then shuffled into the bathroom to put some water on his face, maybe he would feel better then. He leaned on the basin and looked at himself in the mirror. Then he turned the tap on splashing a bit of water on this face and then drying it off. It did not make him feel any better. He wanted a whiskey and they were not going to bring it to him so he stood upright again and then shuffled towards the door, walking slowly and concentrated on not concentrating on the pain he was feeling and trying to not to make it too obvious that he was struggling to catch his breath with the effort.

He moved silently toward the living area and then veered off towards the kitchen. Their backs were all too him, Eliot busy chopping the vegetables for the dinner, Parker and Hardison intently watching something on the television and Sophie sipping her wine and lost in her own thoughts. He reached the counter, leaning heavily on it before he said anything, brining all of their attention to him.

"Well this is nice isn't it?" he said looking at all of them.

"What the hell are you doing out of bed?" Sophie said jumping up and moving to his side to steady him.

"Just tired of lying down is all." Nate smiled at her. "I can rest just as easily on the sofa as in the room."

She looked at him and then decided not to fight it. Eliot joined her and they helped him over to the sofa and lowered him carefully into the seat.

"Thanks." He said as Eliot walked back to the kitchen returning a minute later with a glass of whiskey. Nate looked up at him with gratitude and Sophie gave him a withering look at the same time.

"He can't get the DT's now." Eliot said simply and headed back to finish dinner.

Nate watched the Hitter with a slight smile of his face. He closed his eyes and took a sip of the whiskey feeling the comforting burn of the liquid as it slid down his throat. He needed that he thought, taking another sip he settled into the sofa with Sophie next to him. Eliot then joined them in the living room and they all waited for Nate to make the first move.

"So Hardison anything?" Nate asked the Hacker who had moved to his computer with his appearance anticipating the question.

"Yeah man Nate I got all the information on everything, but I don't see how that gets us closer to anything."

"Well Hardison that is why I am the Mastermind remember…" Nate told him with a smirk. "Ok run it."

Hardison went through everything detailing who the buildings Nate asked about belonged too and what was manufactured or produced out of them. He went through the people Nate had him researching and where they were and what they were doing. Nate watched and listened without saying a word and they could all see he was thinking about something.

"So what is the plan?" Sophie asked after Hardison finished and Nate said nothing.

"Working on it." Nate said simply holding up his empty glass. They all looked at him and then Hardison rolled his eyes and took the glass to refill it. Nate thought at his best when he had whiskey and they needed a plan.

Nate took the glass and sat back. He was feeling tired again, this whole thing was taking it out of him not that he would admit it to any of them. He looked up into expectant eyes and smiled.

"Ok this is what we need to do…" Nate said downing the rest of his whiskey and then launching into a big convoluted plan that involved three of the people that he had Hardison research and what was being kept at one of the warehouses. Once he had finished he sat back again and closed his eyes briefly.

"I still don't understand how this gets us to Jenifer Laybrand?" Sophie said softly going over the plan in her mind. Yes what was going on in the warehouse was illegal, yes the people involved were questionable but she did not understand the connection to the woman in question.

"Well technically it doesn't."

"What?" They all said in unison.

"Well there is another part to the plan…"

"Oh no Nate what have you done?" Sophie said seeing trouble coming.

"Nothing…well…"

"Nathan Ford God damn it do you never learn?" Sophie said her anger growing. He never did, he never learnt, never.

"Sophie calm down ok. I haven't done anything yet, I thought I would get the rest in place and then tell you this part."

"Does it involve you doing something dangerous when you are hardly even in a position to walk properly?"

"Technically…"

"Nate."

"Jeni is a ghost. She is gone. We will never find her." Nate said softly. "Except if she knows I am still alive."

"What…" He heard in unison again from his team.

"Nate are you crazy. She will reinstate the hit and then all of this is for nothing." Hardison said incredulously.

"No, no Hardison she won't." Nate said. "Look I know her. She will never do that because then she will have to admit that she had been duped again, by me. She will…"

"Want to kill you even more." Sophie finished for her.

Nate pulled a tight face the one he did when somebody got what he was saying and sat back again. He had thought about keeping this part from them, hence dealing with Sterling and not using Hardison, but Sterling was right, he needed them and they needed him to play fair this time.

"Well, yes basically. Now those warehouses, they are owned by." He held his hand up to Hardison who provided the group who owned them. "Yes and that is Jeni's. Those three they are her lieutenants, they were with her from the beginning and they got away, they were small fry then but now. Then there is another one, her partner, he also got away when we took her down. Now we have to get those lieutenants in that warehouse, at the same time as Jeni and then Hardison you have to hack into the files that I am going to get from her ex-partner to get the rest of the goods on her. She also needs to be there when they take the lot down."

"And where are you going to be?"

"I am also going to be there." Nate said softly waiting for the explosion and he was not disappointed. All of them spoke almost simultaneously telling him that there was no way in hell they were going to allow that to happen.

"Look guys this is a limited time offer. Those goods will be gone and we won't have an angle if this does not happen in the next week." Nate said now feeling really tired and trying his best to ignore the tightness in his chest. He could not let them see that he was hurting or they would never let this happen.

"Nate man I have nothing on this guy…" Hardison said looking up from his computer, he had been trying to get information on Jenifer's ex-partner but nothing was coming up the man was just as much a ghost as she was.

"Yeah about that…" Nate said softly. "Bedside drawer, his number is in there." Then seeing all of them looking at him curiously he raised his eyebrows. "Sterling."

Hardison snorted and got up to fetch the paper. Sophie shook her head and looked away from Nate in disbelieve and disgust at what he had done and Eliot just stared at the Mastermind his eyes telling him what he thought. The only one not seeming to hold anything against Nate was Parker, but that was usually the case. She trusted him implicitly and believed he could do anything and get away with it.

"So we put everything in motion to catch them in the act and then Hardison has everything else regarding her other activities." Parker summed everything up.

"Yes, and I have to get Hardison the goods to be able to do that." Nate agreed.

"And how you going to do that Nate?"

"Well Sophie I am going to set up a meet between me and Jacob."

"And then?" Sophie asked wanting to scream at him but knowing that would not accomplish anything.

"Well if I am right, Jacob will meet at his offices, he always liked playing the business man, I will then put the thingy into his computer so that Hardison can do his thing. Then he will let Jeni know that I am not as dead as she thinks and she will want him to set up a meet with me, two birds with one stone."

"Assuming that he IS still working with her." Parker added.

"That's right Parker." Nate said pointing at her. "But I would bet he still is, that is how she was able to get her empire up and running again, while not giving herself away to her handlers, it was the only way she could, with somebody she trusted on the outside."

"You've been planning this from the beginning. You were going to send us off to do the mild part of the plan leaving you on your own to take on not only the woman but her partner too" Sophie realised then that he had been planning all of this behind their backs. "Nate…" She said when he made no response.

"Well yes." Nate said then held up his hand before another explosion. "But Sterling said something when I spoke to him and he was right."

"Sterling?" Eliot asked incredulously.

"Yes." Nate said looking at the Hitter. "Well actually he said quite a few things, but it came down to this. I need you guys. I need you to get me through this. I can't do it without you."

Sophie looked at him and then the others. She had never felt the need to thank Sterling for anything but if he had been there then she would have hugged the man. Finally she thought, even if it was Sterling that had made him understand.

"Ok well then…" Nate said moving forward, he wanted to get back to bed, he was not feeling very well and he was having difficulty hiding it from them.

"Why is it a limited time offer?" Sophie asked, she would like him to get a little stronger before they did this.

"Well because Jeni has a system. She will pack up and move on and there will be nothing left, Jacob will be in the wind as well. That was how they operated and I'll bet the way they are still operating. We have a week at most."

"Ok." Sophie said. "Fine. We will do it your way."

"Now wait a minute Sophie…"

"No Eliot we will do it his way with all the precautions we can take." She said looking at the Hitter. "We will do it his way because otherwise he will go off and do it without us and you know it. He needs our help and we will give it to him."

Nate looked at her with a mixture of surprise and gratitude. He would have gone ahead anyway because this was the only time he was sure he could get it done, otherwise he would have the spectre of Jenifer Laybrand hanging over him for the rest of his life. He needed to do this and if he had any hope of surviving he needed them to help him.

"Thank you Sophie." He said softly.

"Don't you thank me mister. We are still going to have a long, long talk about his. But it can wait. Now you are going to get as much rest as possible before we do this…this thing, and I will not have any arguments."

"Anything you say." He smiled at her. "But first I need to make the call to determine the timelines." He said pulling out his phone.

"Fine, then dinner and then bed for you mister." She said as Nate dialled the number and set up the meet.