Chapter 11

Nate returned to the Brewpub two days later to be met by three very anxious people. They had not heard from him since he had walked out and although all of them wanted to go after him Eliot had decided not to. Nate was not in the best frame of mind and if they had interfered he might just have decided to go it alone, so they waited.

"Nate."

"Eliot." Nate said as he walked in then putting his bags down went to pour himself a whiskey. Eliot noted he poured a glass and drank it down quickly before pouring another and returning to take a seat on the sofa. He also noted the man had a few cuts and bruises to his face and wondered what other injuries he might be carrying but said nothing.

"So?"

"Sophie is still alive, or at least she was." Nate said looking at the three people who had seated themselves around him. "According to Kinnear this was a set up from the start. Sophie was drugged with a drug that completely immobilizes you. She was then placed in her car and the accident staged. The doctor at the hospital then injected her with something that caused her heart to stop, or at least to appear as if it had, thus…she died."

"That is a lot of trouble to go through." Eliot whispered.

"Yes well, Kinnear then took her and delivered her to a man whose name he did not know. A British man with a heavy accent."

"Like the guy on the phone."

Nate nodded then sat back and closed his eyes. It had been a long two days and he had done things he never even imagined he would be capable of to get the little bit of information he had. He had done a lot of things he was not proud of, and in all honestly did not think he would be able to do in the last six months, but if Sophie were alive then it would all be worth it, if not…well that he did not want to think about.

"From there Kinnear was no longer involved, he delivered her to a place at a private airstrip so we can assume he flew her somewhere but that was all he knew. Tomorrow I am going to the airstrip to see if I can get the flight plans of all planes that left during the time Kinnear gave me."

"He gave you…" Eliot said softly knowing that a man like Kinnear did not just give you information. Nate looked at his Hitter and Eliot saw his eyes not ask any further questions.

"You sure he didn't know anything else." Hardison asked before the Hitter could say anything more.

Nate stared at the Hitter and his face darkened slightly before he answered Hardison, he knew Eliot knew that he had not given him anything but that he had taken it by force.

"I'm sure."

"Ok so what now?"

"Now I don't know Eliot." Nate admitted, the trail was now cold, and he did not know where to next.

"Ok well let's go over everything again from the start."

"Eliot, I am tired and I…I am tired." Nate said as he stood and grabbed his bags. "I'm going back to the boat. I'll see you all in the morning."

"No."

"Eliot."

"No Nate you stay here and that is final." Eliot said his tone flat and hard. "We don't know what all of this is about, and it may very well be about you and not Sophie. Now it appears we have reached the end game of this and I am not leaving you to go it alone. I let you go to LA alone but no more, this is our problem as much as yours understand."

"Eliot…" Nate started to say but was interrupted by his phone ringing.

"Ford."

"Mr Ford I am calling on behalf of my employer. He wishes to meet with you to discuss a particular package that is of value to you."

"I'm listening."

"You will catch a flight to London, it leaves tonight there will be tickets for you at the counter. Once you have arrived at Heathrow you will receive further instructions. Mr Ford my employer wishes you to come alone, should you not come alone the package in question could suffer some damage due to your non-adherence do you understand."

"I understand."

"Very well then I would suggest you make your way to the airport as soon as possible." The man said then hung up the phone.

"Nate?"

"Looks like I am going to London." Nate said standing and finishing off his drink.

"What?"

"I just got an invite. Tickets are at the airport waiting for me, I am to come alone."

"Well that's not going to happen." Parker said.

Nate just looked at the woman and shook his head.

"He said he would hurt Sophie if I did not."

"Fine we will make our own way there." Eliot said then looked at Hardison who nodded and handed Nate an earbud one that had a GPS signal.

"Stay out of sight, I don't want to take any chances."

"Don't worry about us Nate." Eliot said.

"Ok…well here we go." Nate said as he walked to the door picking up his bags he had dropped earlier, at least he did not have to pack he thought.

An hour later Nate was seated in the plane in first class. It was going to be a long flight but at least he would be able to get some sleep he thought. Once the plane was in the air ordered a whiskey downed it quickly then put his chair back and exhaustion overtook him, and he fell asleep.

Eliot, Parker and Hardison walked to their charter flight, Hardison had decided that if they wanted to keep a low profile travelling commercial might be risky, this man seamed to know a lot and might know their faces and aliases. They would arrive in London a about an hour before Nate would as his flight had a layover for a short while. That would give them time to get set up and ready for Nate's arrival.

"Do you think we are going to find Sophie alive?" Parker asked looking to Eliot.

"I don't know Parker." Eliot replied. He had no idea what they were going to find in London but he hoped that they would, because if not then Nate was truly lost because Sophie would be the only one who might be able to bring him back from the darkness and if she were truly dead, well…Eliot shuddered slightly at the thought then told the other two he was going to get some sleep and suggested they did too as he did not think they would be getting much of it when they landed.