Chapter 18

Nate spent the night in holding and by the next morning he was feeling the worse for wear, he needed a drink and he wanted out of the small cell. He was taken back up to the interrogation room and then left alone again. It was only a few minutes later when the FBI man from the previous day along with Sterling and Bonano entered the room.

"Captain Bonano…" Nate said as the man stepped in the room. "I am so glad to see you." He said holding out his handcuffed hands to the man.

"Mr Ford." Bonano said taking in the sight of the man. He was dishevelled, looked haggard and sleep deprived and lines of pain were etched on his face, he shook his head slightly as the sight.

"Sterling." Nate said his voice a little less welcoming. He was sure they would all know the history between the two and did not want to come off friendly in any way towards the man.

"Nate." Sterling replied.

"Mr Ford, Captain Bonano has confirmed your story about what happened to you and the hospital records corroborate them. Also we have some information from other sources in the form of video of your ordeal."

"So I am free to go?"

"There is still the matter of the eyewitness who identified you Mr Ford. Now from what we have been able to discern Mr Barrington, this Bertram has a history of questionable behaviour. We are not sure what happened here Mr Ford and until we have cleared the situation up I am afraid you will have to stay in custody. We will be moving you to a federal facility today."

"Now wait a minute I know my rights and you can't do that without…."

"Mr Ford you are charged with three counts of murder so I can do exactly that. Now I am not sure about all the other information, but we do have an eyewitness. I have no doubt you had an ordeal at the hands of the man, however that would give you a good reason to want him and his sons dead. We are not withdrawing the charges. Your arraignment has been scheduled for tomorrow and you can apply for bail then. Until then you will remain in our custody understand."

"I don't understand, you have Captain Bonano's files, you have the video you talked about you have evidence that this Bertram is a psychopath and a killer…but you are still holding me?" Nate said sounding indignant.

"Yes."

"Fine but then I want to see my lawyer first." Nate said. "Ms Tara Carlisle and I want to see her now."

"Tara…" Sophie said immediately pulling out her phone and dialling her friends' number. This was unexpected but she was sure that Nate would have a reason and she could understand why he would not want one of them to make in appearance.

"Fine I will call her, until then you will stay here." Devon told him and then left the room with Sterling and Bonano in tow. The two men could do no more, they had played their part and if they came off too strong there would be questions asked.

It took Tara three hours to get to the station. As soon as Sophie had called her she had taken the first flight out to Boston not asking what it was all about because she could hear the plea in her friends' voice when she asked. She walked into the police station and immediately demanded to see Nate. She was shown into the interrogation room and told them that they had to turn off the camera's as there was client attorney privilege at play.

"What the hell Nate?"

"Tara thanks for coming."

"What is going on.?"

"I'm going to let Sophie explain that to you. For now all I need is for you to tell them to hold back. They cannot make any moves not now. This thing has to play out understand."

"You are charged with murder, three murders?"

"Like I said long story." Nate smiled at her. "Now make sure Sophie and the rest stay away, I will let them know when to make a move ok?"

"Fine." Tara said softly. "They said your arraignment is tomorrow so I will be back to see you then." Tara said. "But you are going to need a real lawyer Nate."

"Yeah." Nate smiled at her. "You were quite good as I remember…"

"You need anything?" Tara asked ignoring his remark. The man really did need a proper lawyer, or he was going to get himself locked up for the rest of his life. She looked at him closely, he did not look to good and she knew he had gone some time without a drink, not that she could do anything about that right now.

"No thanks." Nate smiled at her. Tara nodded then stood and left.

An hour after Tara had left the Mastermind he was fetched from the interrogation room and taken down to the basement for transport to a federal holding facility. Sophie and the others watched as he was led out to the waiting transport van in chains and Eliot could see Sophie's face darken at the sight.

"There is nothing we can do right now Sophie.." Eliot told her. He knew she would leave here and break him out now if she could. Nate did not look good at all and Eliot knew he was also going to suffer now from lack of alcohol. There was nothing they could do though, this had to play out.

The team had no eyes on Nate and were waiting for them to arrive the facility. As soon as Hardison knew they were taking Nate to a federal facility he hacked into their camera's. They waited in anticipation. Finally forty-five minutes later the transport pulled up at the gates. Nate was then led into the facility to be processed and then was taken to his cell. They knew he would be held in isolation until such time as his arraignment could take place the next day.

"Ok well his arraignment has been set for ten tomorrow morning." Hardison informed them.

"Yes well he is going to need a real lawyer." Sophie said then pulled out her phone to contact one of the best criminal lawyers in Boston, an old friend of hers and one that would make sure Nate was had the best representation.

Tara arrived at the warehouse an hour later and informed them that Nate was fine and would appear the next day which she could see they already knew. Then they all took a seat before Sophie explained to her exactly what was happening and what had happened. Tara listened and knew this was far from over, if Nate were charged and went to trial and God forbid was convicted they would break him out and that would bring all kinds of other problems their way.

"So I have contacted a good lawyer who will be representing Nate. I am meeting him later this afternoon to explain the case to him." Sophie informed them. "He will get Nate bail I am sure and then we can take it from there."

"I don't know Sophie, this is a triple murder case with foreign nationals involved a Lord none the less and Interpol is involved, I doubt they are going to give him bail." Tara said. The plan Nate had put in place had already gone awry from her point of view, the man had thought with the evidence that Bonano and Sterling brought forward he would have been released but that had not happened.

"I thought they were going to release Nate after Bonano and Sterling were there and told them about Bertram and everything else." Parker said not liking the fact that Nate was locked up at all.

"Yeah girl so did he." Hardison told her knowing that was what Nate had hoped would happen.

"What if…what if they don't release him and he…well what if he is convicted?" Parker asked hesitantly.

"Then we get him out." Eliot stated although he knew it was not going to be that easy.

"He planned this didn't he?" Sophie said looking to the Hitter as she realised they had played into Nate's hands. He had planned this, he had planned to give himself up and hoped that his ploy to get out of it worked but if it didn't, well then he would take his punishment for a crime he felt guilty of regardless of the situation that led to it.

"Sophie…"

"No Eliot, he is now in the system and he could be convicted and you know as well as I do he is not going to allow us to do anything about it if it goes wrong." Sophie said quietly.

"He played us again." Hardison said as he thought about what Sophie was saying. Nate had said he wanted to give himself up, but they had refused, to the point that they had forcibly removed him, then he came up with this hairbrained scheme which they all bought into but was it really just so that he could do what he wanted to, give himself up and keep them all in the clear?

"So what do we do?"

"Well Parker there is nothing we can do for now we have to let this play out and if it all goes wrong…well then we get him out whether he likes it or not." Eliot said and he would do it no matter what he had to do to get Nate out of this mess including coming forward and taking credit for the crime if it came down to that. This was his mess, and he was not letting Nate take the fall for him under any circumstances.

"Ok well there is nothing to do for now. I am meeting Alan later today and then tomorrow we will see what happens." Sophie told them.