Chapter 22

Hardison sat working feverishly on his computers. He was checking every camera in the city with facial recognition he was checking all ATM camera's all property records and everything else he could possibly think of and still coming up empty.

"We got him into this." Sophie said as they sat at the table waiting for Hardison to give them a starting point.

"We will find him and…" Eliot was interrupted by a noise from Hardison's computer.

"Hey guys I think I got something. A property owned by, well through a lot of shells, by Trevor Dullus. It ain't in the best of areas. Hey and there has just been a shooting reported at the address." Hardison added looking up at them.

"Let's go." Eliot said grabbing the keys and heading out the door.

It took them thirty minutes to get to the house. It was run down and in a bad neighbourhood and looked completely deserted. Eliot was out of the van as it stopped and quickly approached the house. He held his hand up to the rest telling them to hold back until he had checked it out. Getting to the door he pushed on it. It creaked open with no reaction from inside. Eliot motioned the others to come in as he could hear no movement. The place was empty but had had people in it not too long ago. They all walked in and looked around. Eliot motioned Hardison and Sophie to check out the ground floor and he and Parker took upstairs. They gathered again at the bottom of the stairs finding the house completely empty with no sign of Trever or Nate. Parker motioned to the basement door and Eliot nodded, telling them to stay put he would check it out. Eliot opened the door and turned the light on making his way down the stairs. The place was empty but there had been some activity. He immediately noticed the puddle of dried blood on the floor and a spent cartridge indicating a gunshot wound had caused the bleeding.

"Nate?" Sophie asked fear in her voice.

"Don't know Sophie, but I would say it wasn't a fatal shot, probably shoulder." Eliot said, he was almost sure it was Nate's blood on the floor, and he was not happy at all. They had another dead end and time was running out for Nate.

"Ok where to now?" Parker asked as they walked up from the basement. She was angry, like Eliot she was sure that that was Nate's blood, he was hurt, and they had to find him, and they had to do it quickly before he got even more hurt.

Eliot looked at her and then suddenly having a thought picked up his phone and dialled a number.

"Pat, can you give me a number or anything I can trace Dulles on?" Eliot asked as the detective picked up his phone.

"Yeah, 555 69697 is the number we had for him, not sure if he still has it though." Bonano replied not even asking Eliot what he wanted it for, but assumed it was to track Nate.

"Thanks." Eliot said putting the phone down and looking at Hardison.

"Ok, if that is still his phone, we have him. He is headed out of town." Hardison said. He hoped it was Trevor's phone because if not they had nothing.

They all got back to the van quickly and then set off following Hardison's directions. "Ok Eliot turn here." Hardison said as they approached a gravel road. "There is a house about two miles up this road, that's where the phone is."

Eliot drove until they were about half a mile from the house and then pulled the car off the road into the bushes for partial concealment.

"Sophie you keep behind, Hardison you with Sophie, Parker you with me." Eliot said and then set off quickly down the road with Parker behind him.

"Ok Parker we need to take this easy, if they see us coming, they might kill Nate so easy ok?" Eliot whispered to her and she nodded in agreement.

Eliot and Parker approached the house quietly. They noted three armed guards on the outside but could not determine how many on the inside. Eliot motioned to Parker to go round the back while he snuck up to the front of the house taking out two of the guards silently. Peering through the one window what he saw made his blood run cold.

Nate was being held up again by two goons, he had an obvious gunshot wound to the shoulder as well as to one leg. Trevor was standing in front of him.

"My money Ford, NOW." Trevor said his anger getting out of control. He needed that money, he needed to disappear until he could convince his friends that he had not betrayed or cheated them, and until the heat cooled down with the cops.

"Now, well, no see I can't do that, because if I do that then you will get away, you will take that money and get out of the country and then you will rebuild yourself and then this will start all over again." Nate replied saying exactly what he meant.

Trevor did not reply, he simply raised the gun slightly and pulled the trigger sending the bullet into Nate's gut at point blank range. Eliot was stunned for just an instant and then he was through the window taking out the two guards as he went. The two goons holding Nate up released their grip letting the Mastermind crumple to the floor as they turned to face the threat of Eliot and Parker but they were dispatched in seconds.

"Move and I put one through his head." Trevor said looking at Eliot.

Trevor's voice brought all movement to a halt. Eliot surveyed the situation. All the guards were down the only threat remaining was Trevor. He was sure he could take him down but not sure he could do it before he put another bullet into the helpless Mastermind. Parker remained still her eyes fixed on the still form of Nate trying to see if he was still breathing. She looked at Eliot who shook his head at her.

"If you shoot him you will not walk out of here alive." Sophie said stepping into the room. She kept her eyes off of Nate's still form and kept her attention on Trevor. "I will guarantee your freedom if you put the gun down and just walk out of here."

"So not so unfamiliar with you bunch of thieves then." Trevor said quietly looking from Sophie to Eliot, Parker and Hardison. "He was there to save you?" He asked raising his eyebrows.

"Do we have a deal?" Sophie said softly. Nate needed help, he needed it now.

Trevor looked at the woman. Walk out to what he thought. This man had ended him. He had nothing and he had nothing to rebuild with. His so-called friends would just as soon kill him as look at him and if he killed this man they may kill him but at least he would get the pleasure of taking something from them that they held dear. Eliot watched him and knew that he was not going to give up, he was going to go down in a hail of bullets taking Nate with him and with that he acted.

Everything happened in a blur. Eliot moved faster than he thought he could getting to Trevor just as he pulled the trigger taking him down and keeping him down. Sophie screamed as she heard the shot. Parker dived for Nate trying to take the bullet for him and Hardison screamed for Parker. Then all was still. Parker sat up pulling herself off the Mastermind. Her clothes were covered with his blood.

"Parker, Parker are you hit?" Hardison asked anxiously seeing all the blood as she sat back on her knees.

Parker did not answer she looked down at Nate and then at Eliot who had rushed to the Masterminds side. He looked up at her and told her to take care of Trevor to ensure the man posed no more threat. He had wanted to kill him but the thought of Nate's reaction to that stopped him, instead he knocked the man unconscious and then rushed to check on Nate. Ripping open Nate's shirt he exposed the damage that had been inflicted on the Mastermind. Sophie stood back she knew Eliot needed space to work. She knew that Hardison had already called for the EMT's and let Bonano know where they were and what was happening.

"Nate just hold on now." Eliot said softly pressing his shirt down on the stomach wound. There was nothing else he could do.

Sophie knelt beside Nate on the other side and looked at Eliot with a question. Eliot's eyes spoke volumes. Nate was in bad shape and might not make it. Sophie took the Mastermind's hand in hers and started speaking softly to him. She confessed her love and begged him to hold on, that the EMT's were nearly there. She also made sure to tell him his family were all safe and unharmed. The EMT's came into the room ten minutes later to find them like that. Eliot backed away and then lifted Sophie up moving her out of the way so that they could work. Bonano was not far behind entering the room and taking it all in. He looked down at the figure of Nate on the ground with the EMT's working feverishly on him and then to the corner of the room where an unconscious Trevor lay with his hands and feet bound. There was nothing he could do for Nate, so he concentrated on getting Trevor out of the room and into the waiting car outside.

"Don't worry about cover Eliot. It's taken care of." Bonano said as the EMT's loaded Nate into the ambulance and watched as Sophie climbed in with him.

"Thanks Pat." Eliot replied and then climbed into the car that Bonano had said they could take. They sped off after the ambulance traveling in silence.

In the ambulance Nate's condition was deteriorating. The EMT told him to hang on. He hung an IV bag and injected him with meds that the doctor had ordered over the radio. Nate was barely breathing now, and his heartbeats were erratic. Sophie looked from the EMT to Nate fighting to hold her emotions together. This was her fault. She should never have taken that job. This was her fault and Nate was going to die because of her mistakes.