Chapter 8

Two days later Nate left his room quietly making sure not to wake Sophie or disturb anybody in the house as he moved to the kitchen and turned on the kettle. It was five am and he was tired of being in bed and besides, he had to figure a way out of this mess for all of them.

"I'll take one." Sterling said as he joined the Mastermind.

"Couldn't sleep?" Nate said retrieving a cup out of the cupboard and making Sterling a cup before carrying them to the table and taking a seat.

"What are we going to do Nate?" Sterling asked ignoring his question.

"Well like you said Sterling, we need him to emerge from the shadows, he hasn't till now and I don't think he will until he can make his run at us." Nate replied. "We need to play this carefully, I know they agreed to go with that plan, but Jim, we can't take the chance that Sophie, or Olivia get hurt, the other three can take care of themselves."

"Agreed, but how do we keep Sophie out, I mean Olivia no problem but Sophie…this is you we are talking about here Nate." Sterling said. Sophie was not going to be left out, not when Nate was going to be putting himself in danger.

"I don't know." He said then saw the look on Sterling's face and smiled before continuing. "Besides, they cannot help with the hook or the reel in, only the take down, and that should be easy if well planned."

"So you are suggesting we go it alone in the beginning and only bring them in at the end." Sterling asked raising his eyebrows although this is what he had expected.

"I can't see any other way can you?"

"No, but Nate they are going to be mad as hell if you do that, all of them especially Eliot and you are going to have to deal with fall out, and I don't even want to know how Sophie will react." Sterling told him, and it was true, Nate's team would go ballistic especially Eliot and especially if something went wrong.

"Hey you two." Sophie said as she emerged from the room, she had woken to find and empty bed and had gone in search of Nate.

"Sophie…" Nate said looking up at her. "Couldn't sleep and needed some coffee." He said in explanation as he rose to give her a kiss and then walked over to the counter to make her a cup of tea. He could not see any indication that she had heard him and Sterling discussing the situation and their plans.

"How are you feeling?" She asked as she sat down opposite Sterling.

"Fine." Sterling replied then seeing the look in her eyes she shook his head slightly. "Ok not fine, a little weak and not quite at my best, but otherwise fine."

"Well you did take a bullet to the chest Sterling." Sophie said as she accepted the tea Nate handed her.

"So what were you talking about before I interrupted?" She asked as Nate took a seat beside her with a second cup of coffee this time with a bit of whiskey added.

"Nothing…" Nate said then smiled at her seeing she did not believe a word of it. "Ok the situation we are in and how we are going to handle it."

"I see." Sophie said. "And your conclusions?"

"Nothing definite yet, we know what we have to do to get him to show himself, we just need to figure out how to do it without…"

"Getting yourselves killed." Sophie finished for him. "I still don't think this is a good idea Nate." She added then held up her hand to stop him before he said anything. "Look I know you said this is the only way and I don't disagree but Nate you and Sterling are still recovering from serious, near death injuries and you are not ready to take on anybody especially somebody like Perkins. If you get into trouble, you are not strong enough to get yourselves out of it and you both know it."

"We do, we know." Nate said surprising her. "But we have no choice."

Sophie did not say anything just looked at her husband and then put her hand on his squeezing it gently telling him she supported him, but she was scared, she feared losing him.

"Morning." Eliot said as he stepped into the kitchen along with Parker and Hardison.

Parker greeted them and then grabbed her cereal and made herself a bowl before sitting down at the table. Hardison poured himself a coffee and one for Parker before taking seat as well and then Eliot followed suit.

"So the plan?" Eliot said knowing that the two men had been discussing the situation and how they were going to deal with it and seeing the look on Sophie's face that they were determined to continue the trajectory they had discussed previously, one that she did not like or approve of none of them did, but he was also aware that it was probably the only way to get the job done, the question was how to do it without getting either of the two men killed.

"Still working on it." Nate told him. "I don't think he knows where we are. He probably thinks I have been taken into Interpol protective custody along with Olivia. Now when he came at us in France and took out those cops it was because he did not know they were cops and I bet he did not know Sterling here was Interpol either, he doesn't go for cops it will bring too much heat down on him."

"But he will make an exception for me." Sterling interrupted.

"Yeah right, anyway even if he knows where we are he is not going to make a move, not if he has to take out Interpol Agents and local authorities, he may be determined but he is not stupid, no he will bide his time…"

"Interpol agents...?" Parker asked confused they had not called on Interpol.

"You Parker." Nate said. "You, Eliot and Hardison, he thinks you are Sterling's team, agents all. No he will wait until we leave here."

"Until he thinks you think he is gone and drop your guard and give him a target." Eliot said.

"Yes." Nate said.

"So…" Hardison asked.

"I don't know yet Hardison, I'm working on it." Nate said honestly, he didn't know how they were going to work it, the one thing he did know was that they were not going to be involved in the initial phases even though they did not know that he looked over at Sterling who met his eyes and nodded slightly.

"Well I am going to make us some breakfast." Eliot said as he stood and walked into the kitchen.

Nate told them he was going to go have a shower and clean up before breakfast and Sterling too left making his way to first Olivia's room to get her up and then his own also to get cleaned up. After breakfast they all sat in the living room and went over what they thought they would have to do to bring the entire affair to an end.

"I want your word Nate that you and Sterling will not try to go alone on this one." Sophie said brining all conversation to a halt as she met his eyes.

"Sophie, I promise I will allow you guys to help take him down."

"Your word Nate." Sophie said, she knew this man very well, knew him better than he knew himself and she could tell by the vague answers he was giving that he was planning something that did not include them, and she was not going to allow it.

"Soph I promise…" He said not breaking eye contact with her. "Ok…"

"I don't believe you." Sophie said softly. "So just know that if you do, if you pull one of your normal stunt's and just go off alone I will never forgive you."

Silence followed as they watched the showdown between husband and wife. Sterling looked at Nate and shook his head slightly, it was of course exactly what he was planning, not getting Sophie involved, he knew Nate would like to use the team, but if he did he also knew that Sophie would not remain in the shadows and just allow the other three to do their thing, this was Nate, a man she had loved for a long time, a man who had taken and eternity to admit he loved her and to truly bring her into his life, a man she had married. No, he thought, this woman would give her life for Nate and he knew it and he would never allow her to do that, so they were at an impasse on this subject.

"So do we get Rogers involved?" Sterling said breaking the silence and brining all of them back to the planning.

"Yes." Nate said breaking eye contact with Sophie. "We need him and his men. Perkins will not be coming alone when he comes."

"But he doesn't work in a team, you said so." Parker said knotting her eyebrows slightly.

"Not on heists. But he has already used others with his first move, Perkins may not be averse to killing, but he is not a Hitter as such so he will probably get a team together who can plan and deliver us to him as before."

"Eliot, do you still have contacts?" Sterling asked looking at the Hitter.

"A few. I keep my ear to the ground."

"Good, see if there have been any offers, any indication that somebody is putting together a crew for a job." Sterling instructed and Eliot nodded, he may not like Sterling, but they were all in this together and Sterling was just as much a Mastermind as Nate no matter what he thought about him personally.

"So Nate what is the plan?" Hardison asked, he was still not quite clear on what it is Nate wanted to do and like Sophie he got the feeling they were going to be left behind and he did not like it at all.

"Well Sterling and I have to make ourselves…obtainable." Nate said looking at his wife and smiling slightly. "We have to give him a chance to make his move like I said. So we are going to go."

Sophie inhaled deeply this was the part of the plan she did not like, and she could see the others did not either.

"Of course we will know where you are and Hardison will have you wired up." Parker stated.

"Of course." Nate smiled at the woman.

"But won't he know it is a trap if you two just suddenly appear without Sterling's team?" Hardison asked seeing an obvious flaw in the plan.

"No I don't think so." Nate said then looked at Sterling raising and eyebrow.

"Ah yes, he will think we are leaving you lot to ensure that Olivia and Sophie, the two non-combatants as it were, remained out of the firing line. He would probably expect that." Sterling said seeing where Nate was going.

"Right. So we go, he follows, Rogers moves in and puts the cuffs on him."

"You mean of course we move in with Rogers and get you both out safe and alive and then Rogers puts the cuffs on him." Sophie added.

"Yes…yes of course my darling." Nate smiled at her.

"And when do you want to make this move?" Eliot asked.

"Well let's give it a few days." Nate replied. "We have to find a place, one that will not expose anybody else to crossfire, you need to make your enquiries so that we can try to figure out if we are dealing with just him or a crew and we need to get Roger's buy in."

"I would say we should be ready to start the game in about three days." Sterling told him as Nate finished.

"So Eliot, get going, I am going to contact Rogers, Sterling can you get us a place, Interpol must have some remote safe houses right?" He did not want to ask Sophie to organise something or Hardison, he did not want them knowing where they would be going to.

"I'll make inquiries." Sterling smiled at him knowing exactly why he was asked and not Hardison to organise a place.

"Good, good, well then that is settled." Nate said. "Now we also have to be careful in regards Olivia and Sophie. Perkins had a nasty habit of going after the family of his enemies and you two are Sterling's family." Nate said and Sophie looked at him curiously but then nodded understanding. If Perkins had been observing them at the hospital then he would think that Sophie was Olivia's aunt. "So Eliot, Parker and Hardison I am trusting you three to make sure that they both remain safe understand."

"Nate."

"No Sophie you are in as much danger as Sterling and I and they will protect you and you will let them, or so help me I will walk out there and let Perkins do his worst." Nate said his voice hard and the ultimatum clear.

"Fine." But we are not going to sit here and…"

"That is exactly what you are going to do Sophie. Now Eliot and Parker I can use, Hardison will stay here with you and Olivia until this is over and make sure that you remain safe. There is no debating this and there is no arguing it." Nate stated.

Sterling looked from husband and wife and shook his head slightly. Both were making each other give promises neither one intended to keep. Sophie would never sit back and allow Nate to go off into danger alone no matter what the danger to herself, and Nate would never allow Sophie to participate in something that could get her killed. He could see on the faces of the other three they were thinking the same thing. Then he looked at his daughter who sat with wide eyes staring at them both and then looking at her father and he could see in her eyes she knew the danger he was in and that she also did not just want to sit back and wait for him to be killed. He sighed heavily as he contemplated the situation and knew that Nate would have a plan to get them out of the house without anybody knowing it and that they were going to go this alone, it was the only way to ensure Sophie and Olivia's safety and although he knew it would cost Nate and himself dearly, he was ready to go along with whatever Nate came up with, to keep his daughter safe he too would walk out the door and let Perkins do what he would.