Chapter 10

Nate and Sterling arrived at the house that Sterling had arranged for them. They had no idea if Perkins were watching and if so how long it would take him to make a move.

"So how are we playing this Nate?" Sterling asked as they both took a seat in the living room. "Neither of us are in great condition."

"Yeah, well he has to make a move Sterling." Nate said. "Then we get the cops to move in and arrest him."

"So no team?"

"There is nothing they can do anyway we need the cuffs on him, and they can't do that." Nate sighed heavily. He did not like to do what he was doing but keeping them out of it was the only thing he could do now besides, they did need the man arrested and as much as Eliot and the others were playing the part of Interpol agents they weren't, and if they were exposed, well that would be bad.

"You are a braver man than me Nate…Sophie is going to be…well let's just say it is not going to be pretty and I don't even want to think about how Eliot is going to react."

"Well if we need them we will contact them but lets just try and get this done without exposing them more than they need to be." Nate said as he pulled out his phone.

"Who are we calling?"

"Rogers."

"Ah…"

"He is going to expect them to be here, my 'team' remember…" Sterling said. Detective Rogers thought that Eliot, Parker and Hardison were his team and would expect them to be present.

"Yeah." Nate said then held up his hand to silence Sterling before he could continue.

"Detective Rogers it's Nate Ford."

"Mr Ford yes, how are you doing and how is Agent Sterling?"

"We are fine both thank you. Detective we have a plan to get Perkins, now Sterling's team is with Ms Devereaux and Olivia, Perkins made threats against them so we will need you to assist us, can we count on you?"

"Yes. Where are you?"

Nate told him where they were situated but told him that they did not know when Perkins might make a move and that he would not move if he saw police surrounding the place, so he had to stay out of sight until needed.

"Mr Ford, I don't think this is a particularly good plan. It is going to get you and Agent Sterling killed. That is a very isolated spot you picked, and I understand that was for a reason, but it will take us some time to get out there."

"I understand Rogers, but Sterling and I have chased this man before, we know how he works, if he sees you guys around he won't make a move and then we will never catch him. Now we are safe like I said, and we must wait for him to make a move. Do not put surveillance on us because he will know, but don't be too far away either, when we call we will need you here so be ready, we will need you in a hurry when we call, or you are right we will both be dead. Do you understand Rogers, can you do that?"

"Yes we will be ready, but I still think that this is insane, where is Agent Sterling?"

Nate looked up at Sterling and then pressed the speaker button and nodded.

"I am here Detective, this is the only way Nate is right, Perkins will not show himself again until he is sure that he has us, just be ready."

"Very well we will be ready." The detective said and then hung up the phone.

He quickly organised a swat team and his own team telling them it was going to be along couple of days in cramped quarters. He could not put surveillance on the place, but they had to get as close as possible so that when needed they could make their move. He did not want to be more than ten minutes out from the location Nate had given him. The house they had chosen was isolated with no close neighbours Rogers assumed they had chosen that location to avoid any innocent bystanders getting caught in the confrontation that was coming if it turned bad. The problem was there was nowhere nearby they could wait for the call. The only solution was that they would have to park their van somewhere close and stay there waiting, that meant some uncomfortable days and nights but if they got Perkins it would be worth it.

"So now we wait, how long do you think?"

"Don't know, he is not a patient man so not long, probably by the end of today we could see some action, depends if he is going to use help or not and how quickly he can get that help."

"Yeah do you think Rogers will be here on time?"

"I would prefer to be relying on Eliot and the others if that is what you mean." Nate said locking eyes with the man. He would much prefer to be relying on his team for backup and not a detective he did not know, but he had a sense of people and he felt Rogers was good man and a good cop.

"Yeah…" Sterling said but he understood where Nate was coming from and was also grateful that he was doing it this way because it meant that Olivia was also out of the thick of it, not that he thought Nate's team would not take care of her, but he knew his daughter well and she would not be left behind if they were coming for them and then she would be in danger and he did not like the thought of that.

"So now we wait." Sterling said. It was still early in the morning and he was tired, he could see Nate was too. "Let's get some sleep in, I doubt Perkins will move before late this afternoon, but probably only tomorrow, so let's take advantage, I'm beat."

"Me too." Nate said running his hand over his face. Sterling was right, Perkins was not going to make a move now and this would probably be the last time until this was over that they could get some sleep.

Both men lay down on the sofa's and both were asleep within minutes. As they slept, a car moved up the narrow road towards the house moving slowly. It pulled up a few miles from the house and a man emerged moving stealthily along towards the house ensuring he was concealed from view.

"Well let's see if you got anybody watching over you." Perkins said to himself as he surveyed the area. "Well no van's, and I don't see any camera's although there could be…I do believe you have left yourselves exposed. Bad move." Then he paused and shook his head slightly. "So you think you can pull the same stunt you did in Paris, well have I got news for you." He said quietly. "I'll be back later now…don't go anywhere." He said then moved quickly back to his car and drove off, he had some things to organise before he made his move.

Four hours later inside the house Nate sat and sipped his whiskey as Sterling slept. He was sure that Perkins was already around, probably running surveillance on the place, and the game was about to begin. He turned and looked at the still sleeping Sterling and sighed, he hoped they were going to get out of this alive, well he thought there was nothing to do now but wait and he was sure Perkins would only make his move sooner than later, probably in a few hours. He picked up is phone and dialled Rogers' number.

"Mr Ford."

"Detective, Perkins is around, he will probably make his move in a few hours, are you and your guys set."

"We will be ready I have a swat team on hand as well as my own team."

"Good, make sure you stay out of sight, I am almost sure he has done a recon and I am sure he will be watching to see if we have any kind of protection detail."

"Understood."

"Good. Thank you Detective."

"Just keep yourselves alive and let me know if anything changes."

"Will do." Nate said then hung up the phone.

"Nate?" Sterling said as he woke to hear the end of the conversation.

"I think he was around." Nate said as Sterling sat up.

"Recon?"

"Yeah, I let Rogers know to be ready, but I don't think he will make his move until later this evening."

"Ok so what do we do now?" Sterling asked, he was tired, but he doubted he would be able to get any more sleep.

"We wait."

"Good, well I am going to go and have myself a shower and then we can think about something to eat."

"Sounds good." Nate smiled at him.

"Nate…" Sterling said as he stood. "I never said thank you."

"For what" Nate asked.

"For Olivia she would be dead now if it wasn't for you." Sterling said, he had not yet thanked Nate for taking the bullets and protecting her in their first encounter with Perkins.

"No problem." Nate said then walked towards one of the bedrooms with Sterling watching him go.

Then he shook his head, he wanted to talk to his daughter, he wanted to tell her how much he loved her. If this was goodbye, then the way he had left would haunt her and hurt her for the rest of her life he thought, but contacting her would alert the others and that is not what Nate wanted, but damn the man, he could die here today he thought, and he had left without saying goodbye. He sighed and then picked up the burner phone Nate had left on the table and dialled her number.

"Hello…" Olivia said as she answered her phone, it was an unknown number to her.

"Olivia."

"Dad." She exclaimed brining all eyes to her.

"Olivia I am sorry I left without saying goodbye, but you understand I had to do this right."

"Dad where are you?" She asked ignoring his apology because she did not accept it, she had to get him to tell her where he was so that they could go and get him.

"Olivia darling, I love you, I love you very much and if I don't come back…I just needed you to know that. I am sorry this is happening, and I am sorry you are in this position."

"Dad please just tell me where you are and then we will come and help you, please dad." She begged him looking up and into the eyes of Sophie who motioned for her to hand her the phone.

"Sterling."

"Sophie."

"Where the hell are you?"

"I'm sorry Sophie and so is he. This will be over in a few hours and…take care of Olivia if something goes wrong. I am sorry Sophie." He said then hung up. He knew that Hardison was good, but he had not been on long enough for a trace and he would not be able to track the burner phone.

"Thought that was a good idea did you?" Nate asked as he stepped out of his room.

"I had to say goodbye and make sure that Olivia would be taken care of if this hairbrained scheme did not work out." Sterling said unapologetically.

Nate shook his head but said nothing as he walked over to the kitchen and poured himself a glass of whiskey before sitting down on the sofa. He looked at his phone, should he call them now that Sterling had? Just as he picked up the phone gunfire erupted, and he and Sterling dropped to the ground and crawled behind the sofa. The gunfire increased in intensity and they both tried to shelter behind the sofa then he pressed redial on the phone and waited. Olivia answered. He cursing himself for not remembering that Sterling had called the girl he immediately asked to speak to Eliot and Olivia handed over the phone to the Hitter her eyes filling with tears at the sounds she was hearing, Nate quickly instructed him to call Rogers and tell him it was a go, that Perkins was there and that they were taking fire.

"Take care of them Eliot." Nate shouted out over the sound of the cacophony of noise surrounding him.

"Nate…" Sophie called out as Eliot had put the phone on speaker.

"Sophie…I'm sorry…I love you." Nate said as the gunfire ceased for a few seconds before continuing. Nate dropped the phone as he and Sterling were forced to seek cover behind the walls in the corridor as the sofa was torn apart by bullets.

"We are coming Nate." Sophie said but the only sound coming through the phone was that of incessant gunfire.

"Hardison…?" Eliot asked looking at the Hacker.

"Yeah I have a location and I have let Rogers know, but we are at least an hour out and Rogers said he was about 15 minutes out of their location." Hardison said as Parker grabbed the keys to the van and headed to the door followed by Sophie and Olivia then Eliot and Hardison.

The phone had become silent although not off, the gunfire had just ceased. Then they heard Perkins calling Nate and Sterling's name but with no response.

"Oh God Nate…" Sophie whispered as she sat beside Olivia in the back and Eliot urged the van into high-speed heading towards where the signal was coming from.