Chapter 10

"Nate, Nate Goddammit Nate…" Eliot said into the coms."

"He's taken it out man and it's a Nate special…no GPS." Hardison said as they heard nothing over the coms.

"He can't have got far, lets just go back and find him." Parker said.

"Hey guys." Nate's voice came over the coms. "Meet you back at the hotel, I will be there in about an hour ok."

"Where you going Nate?"

"I have something I have to do Eliot, now if I were going to leave I would have left and not put the coms back in. Please trust me, I'll see you all in an hour." Nate said then removed his coms again before any of them could say anything.

"Damn the man." Eliot swore to himself.

"So what do we do?" Hardison asked.

"We go back to the hotel and wait." Eliot said looking at Parker and seeing she was not happy with that plan. "We need to trust him Parker, like he said he could have just gone but he didn't, he'll be at the hotel."

"Ok." Parker said although she was not happy at all, but they really did not have much of a choice. They did not know where he was and if he did go back to the hotel and they were not there then he would leave, and they would probably never find him.

An hour passed and Eliot was pacing, while Parker sat staring at the door waiting for Nate to walk though and Hardison sat in front of his computer but not even looking at it.

"Where is he?" Hardison asked after another half hour passed.

Five minutes later Nate walked through the door.

"Where you been man?" Eliot asked as the Mastermind entered the room.

"Out." Nate said with his back to them as he poured himself a drink. "Hardison I need you to get everything you can off this phone." He continued as he walked back into the main room and handed Hardison his burner phone.

"He call you again?"

"No I called him." Nate said as he sat down heavily. "He has Sophie."

"What…?" Parker asked confused by this turn of events. "But he contacted you, he sent you the phone and he has been helping you."

"Yes." Nate said looking at his Hitter. "He has been leading me on a goose chase like Eliot said. He has been sending me from pillar to post for whatever reason."

"But in the right directions..."

"Yes I think he wanted me to figure it out."

"Why?"

"I don't know Eliot. I don't know but I am going to find out." Nate said as he downed his drink and then picked up the bottle he had brought with him and filled it again.

"So he has had Sophie all this time, but for what purpose? Is this about you or her?"

"I don't know that either." Nate said sighing heavily. He also wondered about that, was this about him or was it about Sophie, and if it was about Sophie then why play these games with him.

"Do you think they are in the country?" Hardison asked and Nate looked at the man. He knew nothing, he had no idea where this man was keeping Sophie and he also had no idea if Sophie was in fact still alive or if this had all just been a sick game.

"Nate…"

"I don't know." Nate said loudly. "I don't know guys, I need to to think." He said picking up his bottle and then walking to his room and closing the door.

"Where do you think he went?"

"I don't know Hardison." Eliot replied.

"The phone Hardison?" Parker asked stepping up to the Hacker.

"It's burner I can't trace it." Hardison told them.

Eliot took the phone from the man and hit redial. The number rang a few times before a man picked up.

"Nathan we speak again so soon."

"Who is this?"

"Ah Eliot Spenser so Nathan is back with his team. Well good for him. Tell him from me that it will do him no good, Sophie will die and so will he, it is written in the stars." The man said and before Eliot could say anything he hung up.

"What did he say?" Parker asked looking at Eliot and seeing his face darken.

"He knew my name and he said Sophie and Nate were going to die." Eliot said softly.

"Well that is good." Nate's voice drifted down to them.

"What?" The three said turning to the Mastermind who walked back into the main living area of the hotel suite.

"It means Sophie is still alive." Nate explained.

"Oh…" Parker said thinking about it and realising Nate was right.

"You wanted us to call him didn't you?" Eliot asked thanking that Nate had planned for them to call the man that is why he had left the phone with them. "Nate don't play games with us man, you wanted us to call him you could have just asked."

"I didn't mean you to call him Eliot in fact I was just coming to get the phone to make another call to him, but this works. He would never have told me outright that Sophie was still alive, but he let it slip now to you, trying to scare you."

"Eliot doesn't get scared." Parker said her brows knotting.

"Yes he does, when his family is in danger he does, and that is what this man was counting on. He is trying to throw you guys off your game."

"Well that ain't going to work." Eliot growled.

Nate smiled at his Hitter and then looked at the other three. No it would not work they would stay focused and they would get Sophie back from this madman and then he was going to kill him.

"OK well we still have no idea who this man is." Hardison said. "We don't know where he is, and we don't know what he wants except to kill both you and Sophie."

"But why? I mean I get it if this guy is one of Sophie's ex-marks coming after her, but both of you and in this way…Why?"

"That's a good question Eliot and one I can't answer." Nate replied.

"Well it could be one of our ex-marks." Parker said. "I mean hurting you would hurt Sophie and hurting her would hurt you, it is a win-win for them."

"Yeah man she's right." Hardison said.

"I don't think so." Nate said. "Gambilino said the man he did the favour for was MI5."

"Yeah but he ain't the main man. He said whoever Mr MI5 was just a hired hand and Gambilino was doing a favour for somebody else."

"Ok well I got some intel on Charles Kinnear." Hardison said as he looked at his computers. "Ex-MI5 left in disgrace but there are no other details on him. He disappeared after leaving the agency, not surprising 'cause they have a find and detain order out on him."

"Which translates into a terminate order." Eliot said knowing how these agencies worked.

"Ok." Nate sighed sitting back and closing his eyes. "So whoever this guy is he hired an ex-MI5 operative to get Gambilino to do him a favour, Gambilino hired it out to Bosch who had the right connections, then what Mr MI5 takes Sophie and delivers her to whoever has organised this."

"Yeah that sounds about right." Eliot agreed.

"But why and where are they now?" Nate asked none of them in particular.

"I don't know but that is a lot of time and trouble to get Sophie. The way they did it, they wanted to inflict maximum emotional pain on you Nate. He took time to find you too, six months searching, and he must have some good resources to have found you, then the game he has been playing with you. I don't know Nate but it don't sound like any of our ex-marks."

"One of Sophie's or Nate's then?"

"Well none of us know much about Sophie's life, not even you know all her alias' Nate, so where do we start trying to find out who this guy is?"

"We find Mr Charles Kinnear." Nate said looking at Hardison.

"I can try Nate man, but the man is a ghost, not even his own agency can find him."

Before anybody else could say something Nate's phone stared to ring.

"Ford."

"Nate it's David. I did some digging and I think we found your man. He has been offering his services to the highest bidder and…well he also gave us some intel on our fellow agencies, you know how that goes. He hasn't done anything here, or nothing that can be pinned on him, MI5 want him but well, we don't like cooperating in that way, they leave ours alone we leave theirs. Anyway last known was a small cabin in the mountains near Big Bear, I am sending you the GPS coordinates. I don't know if he is still there, he moves around a lot, not very trusting of anybody you know, and he is completely off the grid. You try take on this man you better be careful Nate, this guy is a straightforward killer."

"Thanks David." Nate said and hung up the phone.

"Who was that?"

"An old friend. Works for the agency…"

"You have friends in the CIA?"

"Nate this man is a killer, he is not going to be easy to take."

"Yeah…" Nate said picking up his phone again and dialling a number. "Joseph it's Nate Ford, I have a job for you."

"Nate Ford, why would I do a job for you?"

"Because Joseph you owe me, and I am calling in that favour."

"Fine, what is the job."

"I need a man brought to me, one Charles Kinnear."

"Who is he?"

"Ex-MI5 ghost and one of their best. I am sending you his location. I want him alive Joseph."

"Fine but does he have to be in prime condition."

"No, just talking."

"Timeframe?"

"Tonight."

"That's very optimistic, with that short timeframe it is going to cost."

"No problem."

"Ok." Joseph said. "Where do I bring him?"

"I'll be in LA tonight and will give you a location when I am there." Nate said then proceeded to give him the details before hanging up.

"Just who the hell was that?" Eliot asked.

"Joseph Kepler."

"What…are you mad?" Eliot asked, he knew Joseph Kepler from the old days, the man was a psychopath, an out and out killer who enjoyed his job a little too much.

"No." Nate told the Hitter. "Now I am going to LA, Joseph will bring him to me there. You guys will head back to the offices and I'll meet up with you there afterwards, then depending on what goes down we can plan from there."

"Nate…"

"No Eliot you will all go back to Portland and wait understand. I am going to get that man to tell me what I need to know, and I don't want any of you there. Do you all understand?"

"Yeah." Eliot said softly locking eyes with the Mastermind and seeing the determination in his eyes and seeing something that chilled him to his bones, Nate was willing to torture this man to get what he wants.

"Good. I will come back here afterwards. Eliot, Hardison you make sure the offices are locked up tight, he knows I am in contact with you, and he might just try something, make sure you guys stay safe until I get back."

"Nate…"

"Stop Eliot." Nate said looking at his Hitter. "Now I'll be back." He said taking his keys and walking out.

"Who is that?" Hardison said softly watching the Mastermind leave but wondering who the man really was, not the Nate they had come to know over the last years.

"I don't know Hardison…" Eliot said shaking his head. This was a Nate they did not know, it was the Nate who had killed on that boat and if what Gambilino had said it was not the first time in the last six months Nate had killed somebody, this was not the Mastermind, this was somebody else and he was afraid of what the man was capable of. Not only that he was afraid that he would not be able to come back from the place he had let himself go to after all of this was over.

"He…is broken." Parker said softly.

Eliot looked at her and thought about it. Yes Nate was broken, the day he had sat by Sophie's side and watched her die he had broken and a memory returned to him, something Sophie had said years ago, if he breaks again not even they would be able to put the pieces back together.