Chapter 13
"Sophie…" Eliot said as he saw her exit the room.
"Damn the man, damn him." Sophie said as she poured herself a glass of Nate's whiskey and drank it down.
"Sophie calm down." Eliot said ignoring his stove and concentrating on the woman who as clearly distraught. "What did he say?"
"He said that I could leave if him that what it took to keep me safe, we could leave, and he and Sterling were going to handle this because…because he did not want me or Olivia or any of you hurt and that Perkins was his and Sterling's problem and they would deal with it and he was not going to allow me, us to get in the middle and…damn him." She said pouring herself a second whiskey and then sitting down on the sofa. "Eliot they are going to walk out of here and nothing we can do will stop them."
"No they damn well aren't." Eliot said softly. "No they aren't Sophie." Eliot growled out softly then turned to finish his dinner. His anger was building at Nate and he needed to calm down before he spoke to the man and cooking always calmed him.
Sophie shook her head as she watched the Hitter and then sat back closing her eyes and sighing deeply. Parker watched Sophie and then turned towards Nate's room her eyes conveying the worry she was feeling. Hardison had moved over to his computers and was making sure that there was no way that Nate or Sterling could fudge his systems to get out the house undetected. A half hour later Nate and Sterling emerged from their respective rooms and joined them in the living room with Olivia who had also gone to clean up and get ready for dinner. Nate could feel the tension in the room as he took a seat with a glass of whiskey and so could Sterling.
"Dinner's ready." Eliot called from the kitchen and Parker and Hardison immediately stood to help him serve the meal while the others took their seats.
"Looks great Eliot." Nate said as Parker placed his plate in front of him.
Eliot did not reply, and Nate looked up at him meeting his eyes and reading the anger in them. So Sophie had told them of their discussion. Nate sighed slightly and then looked at Parker and Hardison and saw their expressions mirroring that of his Hitter. Maybe he should have played them, told Sophie he was going to use them like he had before it would have avoided all of this, but he had said what he had, and Sophie had surmised what she had from his words and there was no changing it now.
"This is really good Spenser." Sterling said trying to ease the tension at the table.
"It's not going to happen Nate." Eliot said unable to remain silent anymore. "I don't care what you want or what you think you have to do understand me, we tried it your way and you almost got killed so now we do it another way."
"Eliot not now." Nate said looking up at his Hitter.
"Now Nate."
"Eliot..."
"Eliot is right man you can't just go out there again and you can't expect us to let you." Hardison interrupted him.
"Dad what are they saying…" Olivia asked not having been privy to the conversation from earlier.
"Olivia darling…"
"No Dad. No you can't do that. You can't because…because you are all I have, and I am not losing you." She said emotion welling insider her as she realised that her father was planning on taking on Perkins alone again.
"Don't you care…" Olivia said her anger and fear now turning on Nate as she looked at the Mastermind. "Don't you care that you are planning on making me an orphan? He is all I have…don't you understand that?"
"Olivia please…" Sterling said putting his hand on his daughter's arm.
"Do what you want then…" Olivia said slamming her knife and fork down and pulling away from her father before storming off to her room. Sterling immediately stood and followed her.
They watched them leave and then Eliot turned towards Nate.
"Nate, we know you think this is your problem to solve but it is ours, and we are going to solve it. You cannot deal with Perkins alone and you know it. You are still suffering from the aftereffects from two serious bullet wounds as well as being nearly blown up. It is suicide to attempt it and you know it, and I am not going to allow it. We are not going to allow it and that is all there is too it." Eliot told the Mastermind locking eyes with him and telling him no matter what he was not going to allow it.
"What he said." Hardison said softly and Parker nodded in agreement.
"You know I am quite frankly sick and tired of having this conversation with you Nate, after seven damn years you haven't learnt a Goddam thing have you? Well you can just stop being a stubborn ass and let's get this done." Eliot finished.
"You know all I wanted was a nice family dinner, so can we just do that?" Nate asked not wanting to get into an argument with them.
"No we can't because you are not doing what you need to do." Parker said.
"And what is that Parker?" Nate asked looking at her intently.
"Being Nathan Ford, the man who can solve any problem, the Mastermind. Stop trying to protect us because you can't and we don't need to be protected, and you can't stop us from being your family and trying to stop Perkins from killing you." Parker added. "Concentrate on Perkins Nate and not protecting us because otherwise you are going to get yourself and us killed."
Nate looked from one to the other and shook his head slightly. They were right of course, he was not concentrating on taking down Perkins, he was more concerned with ensuring the man did not hurt his family and that was interfering with him getting the job done, but he could not bring himself to use them, not on this case, not knowing that the odds were that they could get hurt or killed. Perhaps if they were not around he would have been able to deal with Perkins, but he was spending most of his time trying to con them, trying to keep them out of it and it was causing more problems for him as he was not concentrating on dealing with Perkins solely and to the exclusion of all else, which is how he had to operate or she was right, he was going to get himself, Sterling and maybe one of them killed.
On all their other jobs there was danger yes, but he had always had a plan, he had worked out the 'mark' and he knew the dangers and could mitigate them, he had plan after plan always running around in his head and when something did go horribly wrong then he had always ensured it was himself that had taken the greatest risks, and when that did not work then he put plan 'Z' into action just like he had on the Maltese Falcon, he would sacrifice himself to save them without hesitation because Parker was right they were his family, he had allowed that to happen, he had married Sophie and he had opened himself up again to but that meant that he was open to be hurt again by losing somebody and although that may happen it would not happen due to something he caused, or did or neglected to do. They did not understand. He could never go through losing a family again and if it were because of him that they were killed, well that he could not live with. He trusted them to look after themselves, and he knew they could. Yes their jobs, his legacy that he had handed to them to continue with was dangerous, that is why he had pulled Sophie out. Yes they had lived dangerous lives before they had become this makeshift family, but the people they dealt with, although evil, dangerous, and powerful people, they were not outright killers, they were not Perkins.
"So Nate?" Sophie asked looking at him her eyes begging him to just accept their help.
"No." Nate said softly. "You are right Parker I am not concentrating on Perkins because I am worried about you all, that is true. So I am going to ask that you let me deal with Perkins without having to worry about you."
"And how do we do that?" Hardison asked knowing what the answer was going to be.
"By letting me and Sterling deal with him without having to worry about making sure you and Olivia are not involved, by not dividing our attention between you, Olivia and Perkins. By giving me your assurance that you will stay out of it and allowing us to do what we do. We know Perkins and we can handle him, but not like this, not with our minds on two fronts."
"So in other words let you go out there and deal with Perkins and probably get yourself killed and sit here and wait for you to come back to us or for somebody to come and tell us you are dead." Sophie said. "You can't be serious."
"I am." Nate said meeting his wife's eyes. "I am deadly serious. I need your word. I need you all to give me your word that you will not interfere with our plans. Now Perkins may come after my family or Olivia because that is what he does and I need to know that your priority is taking care of Sophie and Olivia, all of you, let me and Sterling deal with Perkins."
"Nate you can't expect us…expect me to do that." Eliot growled at him.
"I can and I do. Now I will come clean with you all, I will not lie to you and I will not leave here without you knowing, but I need you to respect my wishes in this regard. I need to know that Olivia will be safe, and that Sophie will be safe and if you can't do that, then I have to make my own plans to ensure they are."
Silence followed Nate's ultimatum, all of them wondering what to say and how to respond. Sophie reached out and put her hand on her husband's arms drawing his eyes up to hers.
"Ok Nate." Sophie said taking all by surprise. "But on the condition that if you need help you will call us can you at least promise me that? I understand that we are taking away your concentration on Perkins and that is causing you to fail and…and might get you killed, so concentrate on Perkins and forget about us, we will not interfere unless you ask."
"Sophie?" Eliot asked looked at her quizzically.
"Eliot we will do this because he asked and because when we ask him to respect our decisions he does. So we will do it." Sophie said looking from Eliot to Hardison and then Parker. "But you will call when you need help, just like we do when we go off and do things and get into trouble and call on you, no matter how dangerous it is." She said squeezing his arm gently.
Nobody said anything they just sat and looked at each other. Five minutes later they still sat silently when Sterling joined them and took a seat looking at all of them and seeing that something had happened he was just not sure what.
"Fine." Nate eventually said. "So the plan is simple, Sterling goes one way and I go the other, Perkins is going to have to choose which one he goes for first and the other one then steps in to end him along with Rogers." Nate said giving the broad strokes of the plan he and Sterling had discussed and ignoring the look he got from Sterling.
"So you are going to make him chose and one keeps tabs on the other and when Perkins makes a move the other moves in along with Rogers and his men to put the cuffs on him?"
That's the idea Eliot." Nate affirmed.
"But that puts whoever he comes after first in the most danger." Parker said knotting her eyebrows slightly that seemed to be a bad plan.
"We will be in constant communication with each other, Rogers will be on standby and aware of both of our positions."
"But Nate you will both be alone, no matter how close Rogers is to either of you or you are too each other, the one he goes after first…na man that ain't a good plan." Hardison said, he could not see how it worked and he did not like it.
"Well whoever it is will have to entertain Perkins for long enough for the other one to step in." Nate said.
"He does not seem to want to be entertained as you say Nate, he wants to kill you and that is all." Eliot reminded him.
"True." Nate smiled at the Hitter. "Look going together did not work, this is the next logical step. I don't know what Perkins is thinking and I don't know what his next move is, it is risky yes and there are no guarantees, but I don't see any other way."
"But then why can't you each have one of us with you, just to cover your backs." Parker asked, that made more sense, if Perkins came then they would have somebody else to help them keep him at bay until the police arrived, she did not like the fact they would be alone, Nate would be alone, and she could not understand why Sophie would even agree to it.
"Parker…" Sophie said shaking her head at the woman. She had made the commitment to him and she would keep it. She had made that commitment, they did not, they had not agreed, well not really and they would be on hand to assist when necessary, but that she would discuss with them later.
"Fine." She pouted and slouched back into her seat.
"That is assuming he comes at you alone, he hasn't yet." Eliot reminded them.
"Yeah, well that is a chance we will have to take." Sterling said he did not like the plan either and he knew nor did Nate, but it was what it was, and they would work with it.
"Nate if you misjudge him again…"
"Yes Sophie I am aware." Nate said a little more coldly than he meant to. They had to make this work because they could not continue to carry on the way they were.
"We will leave tomorrow morning." Nate said smiling at his wife. "So I am going to go and turn in." He said standing and holding his hand out to his wife. Sophie smiled at him and took his hand and then disappeared into their room.
"That does not sound like a very good plan Sterling." Eliot said after they had left.
"It's a plan, the only one we have." Sterling said. "Look Spenser I know it is not a good plan, I understand that it is probably going to get somebody killed, and so does he, but we can't stay in hiding forever and we can't avoid a confrontation, now this way there is a chance we catch him unawares because he will be focused on whoever he decides to take down first ignoring the second, so it is the plan we go with." He was not convinced it was a good plan and it was probably going to end badly, at least for one of them, but they did not know where Perkins was or how he was going to come at them, the man was unpredictable and he had gone completely off the rails, he was unstable, and he was dangerous. For him it was enough that Olivia was out of the fray, he would deal with the rest as it came.
"The last time you were apart he got Nate to come to him." Hardison said.
"That is exactly right, by using Olivia. That is why it is so important that you lot ensure her and Sophie's safety, otherwise he may try to use them to get to us. I am trusting you as is Nate to ensure that does not happen."
"We understand that Sterling." Parker said softly. "Nothing will happen to her I promise you that."
"Good, well I am also going to bed. Thank you for dinner Eliot such as it was."
The three youngest members of Nate's family watched him leave and then turned to each other.
"He would be happy to go along because Perkins is probably going to go after Nate first." Hardison said in disgust, he did not like or trust Sterling even after all these years.
"Are we really going to let him do this?" Parker asked.
"Yes Parker we are." Eliot replied. "We don't have a choice Sophie made a deal with him."
"Why did she do that?" Hardison asked still perplexed by Sophie's position in all of this.
"Because she is a Grifter." Eliot said and immediately Parker's head shot up and her face lit up with a smile.
"Right that is exactly what she is, give the 'mark' what he wants right?" She said with Nate being the 'mark'.
Eliot smiled at her and nodded. He was not going to let Nate go it alone and nor where they, they were going to do to Nate what he did to them, con him into thinking they would play along but do what they needed to do to keep him safe.
"We have to be careful and make sure he knows we are unhappy about it. That is the game if I understand it right." Eliot told them as he rose to make himself some coffee.
"Right, so what is the plan?"
"Well there isn't one Hardison." Eliot told him. "We just keep tabs on him and step in when Perkins makes his move. We also have to make sure like they said that Sophie and Olivia are safe, like Sterling said they could also be targets, even if just to get to those two."
"Sounds good." Parker said. "You are with Nate and who is with Sterling and who stays here with Sophie and Olivia?"
They all three looked at each other. None of them wanted to babysit Sterling, they wanted to make sure Nate was alright, but one of them at least was going to have to watch over the Interpol Agent as well.
"We'll flip for it." Eliot replied. "Besides if they plan to be in constant communication with each other then they are going to be using earbuds and we will have their locations at all times. Hardison should stay here with Sophie and Olivia, you can coordinate from here with your computers and keep watch over what is happening with both." Eliot quickly finished his thought as he saw rebellion in Hardison's face.
"Yeah but that is no guarantee we will be able to get to them in time when Perkins does make an appearance." Hardison reminded him.
"True, so we need to be as close as possible without being obvious at both their locations."
"We don't even know where they will be going."
"No we don't Hardison, but we will figure that out too." Eliot said, how they were going to do that he did not know, perhaps Nate would tell them given the correct motivation by Sophie and he knew the woman would try to get as much detail out of him as possible.
"I don't want to babysit Sterling." Parker said bluntly, she really did not care if the man got killed.
"None of us do, but one of us must. We owe it to Nate, and we owe it to that little girl in there." Eliot reminded them.
"Ok so we flip for it." Hardison said with a sigh, not only was Nate putting himself on the line, but Parker was also going to be doing that without him there to back her up. He did not like this plan at all, and he did not like playing the role Eliot had given him, but he knew it was the only plan and the right move for him to remain with Sophie and Olivia…but he still did not like it.
"Good well I ain't tired." Eliot said moving from the table to the living room and turning on the TV.
"I'll get the popcorn." Parker said as she bounced into the kitchen and then the three of them sat down to watch some inane movie, all of them thinking about what was to come and wondering if they would be able to safe Nate and Sterling from themselves and ensure the end of Perkins once and for all.