Chapter 12

Nate barely slept his body ached from the beating he had taken, and he did not want to miss his deadline, he looked at his watch and noted the time. His men were under instructions to make their move at 5am, which would be half an hour from then. He pushed himself up and ran his hand over his face.

"Juan you awake?" He called out.

"Yes Nate."

"Good, now I want you to listen very carefully to me ok, in about thirty minutes all hell is going to break loose here, and we are going to have to move quickly understand."

"I understand."

"Good, now if everything goes as planned you and me will be getting out of this place, but if something does go wrong, I need to know that you will follow the instructions of my men no matter what happens, you need to get out of here do you understand."

"You mean…you mean leave you behind."

"I mean you get out of here no matter what happens." Nate reiterated. "This is my job understand Juan and I mean to get it done. Now just be ready."

"Ok." Juan said and then remained silent. "How is it going to happen?"

"Well first we need to get out of these cells." Nate said standing up and working on the lock. He quickly got it unlocked then moved over to Juan's cell and did the same. Then he indicated that they should move to the corner of the room out of sight of anybody coming down the stairs.

"We are going to have to make it part of the way on our own." Nate told him. "We will take our chance when we can ok, just be ready."

"How are we going to get passed all the guards?"

"Juan there is going to be a lot of gunfire and confusion, you need to be prepared and you cannot hesitate understand." Ignoring the question.

"I do." Juan said. "I know you think that I am just a little boy who is weak, probably what my father told you, but he did teach me how to use guns and I can do what I have to when I have to."

"Good." Nate smiled at him.

"Eliot what's going on?" Sophie asked coming awake on hearing Nate's voice.

"Nate's plan is going down in about…twenty minutes." He said looking at his watch.

"What…what plan, what's happening?"

"I don't know Sophie, seems Nate has arranged a raid of some kind on the house, he has got himself and Juan out of the cells and they are waiting for the action to start before trying to get out probably during the confusion of the raid. The Russians won't be expecting anything like that, they are protected and add to that at this hour, this early in the morning, they will be caught doubly off guard."

"But that is madness, what is he thinking. Eliot we have to get there, he is going to get himself killed." Sophie said standing up and moving towards the door.

"No Sophie." Eliot said and nodded to Parker who stepped in front of the door. "We can't, we are at least two hours away and by the time we got there it would all be over. No we wait."

"Wait for what, for us to listen to Nate being killed." Sophie almost shouted at the Hitter.

"No Sophie to see what happens and if we can step in, that is all we can do."

"Why do it this way?" Hardison asked. He felt the same as Sophie and he knew that Parker and Eliot did too, but he also knew Eliot was right.

"There is no other way of doing it." Eliot said softly, he had spent most of the night wondering what Nate's plan could be and coming to only one conclusion, based on what he had seen Nate doing with his so called team before he left for the meeting, a head on assault and take your chances. "Not here and not under these circumstances. Nate did the planning he found the boy, set the whole thing up, I think he changed it slightly when he discovered that he was about to be exposed, but the basics stayed the same and now that plan is in motion, but he could not extract him without…without doing this and that is why Morero sent the hitters with, they also probably have local hires to bolster the group."

"We can listen just as well in the car Eliot and the closer we are the more we can help if needed." Sophie said looking at the Hitter. Sitting here was not what she wanted to do, she wanted to be there, to be ready for when Nate needed them and she had no doubt with this godawful plan that he would need them, especially Eliot.

Eliot looked he had thought the same thing but had hesitate because he did not want to put Sophie in the firing line, but he could see he was not going to stop her, after a slight pause he nodded. "Ok let's go." He said as Sophie tossed him the keys to the van.

They were well on their way to the compound when they heard Nate tell Juan they had to move. They had no idea what was going on other than that though but assumed that the raid had begun, and Nate's plan was in motion. Sophie was grateful that Nate had not removed his jacket, or that it had not been removed and they could at least hear what was going on with the man.

"Move Juan." Nate called as they climbed the stairs and moved out into the hall. The plan was that the men Nate had brought with him along with about a dozen others they had recruited would act as police and 'raid' the compound at precisely five am. At that time Nate would get Juan out of the cells and to the back of the house where he would be met and then spirited away. There should not be any gunfire if all went well and they would not even know they were missing until after the so-called raid ended.

Nate moved silently down the hall, which was deserted due to the focus on the front of the house as planned. He could hear heated words as the 'police' ordered Bronovich's men to lower their guns and submit to the search of the premises. Bronovich was nowhere to be seen or heard and Nate quickly led Juan towards the back entrance.

"And just where do you think you are going?" A voice stopped them in their tracks. Nate closed his eyes and sighed slightly.

"Juan you get to the back entrance, straight down this passage and then turn left at the end." He told the boy in hushed tones then turned around to face Novich who stood holding a gun on them.

"Well, well Novich, nice to see you again. Juan and I were thinking we have had quite enough of your hospitality." Nate said stepping forward and placing himself between Novich and the boy.

"You organised this didn't you Ford…you came here for him." Novich said suddenly realising why Nathan Ford the Mastermind was here, it was to get the Morero boy out and away from them. He had done some research on the man after the revelations of the previous evening wondering why Nate would have an interest in them and their business.

"Yes well I thought maybe he had overstayed his welcome." Nate said again taking another step forward. He was now almost an arm's length away from the man. "Go now Juan." He shouted as he suddenly moved throwing himself forward and he and Novich went down to the ground struggling for the weapon Novich held.

They struggled for a few minutes then a shot sounded, and both became still.0

"Nate…" Sophie cried out on hearing the struggle and then the shot.

Seconds later Nate pushed the heavy dead weight of Novich off him and scrambled to his feet. He quickly surveyed the area and saw Juan had obeyed his instruction and was nowhere to been seen, he heard footsteps running in his direction as well as gunfire coming from the front of the house. Quickly he moved towards the end of the passage when his way was blocked by another man who fired two shots at him. Both missed and he ducked into a room to the side and out of the line of fire. He was trapped he thought with men coming from both sides then suddenly the deafening sound of rapid gunfire sounded and continued for a few minutes with Nate keeping himself well hidden.

"Nate…" A voice called out and he recognised it as one of Morero's men. "Come on we have to go."

Nate stepped out and looked at the bodies strewn in the corridor then moved towards the man.

"Where is Juan."

"He's out. I told them to take him straight to the airport and put him on a plane home as you instructed." The man said as they moved cautiously down the passage.

"Good." Nate said approvingly. His job was done, the boy was out and safe, now he just had to get out.

"The men in the front should give us some…" Gunfire interrupted the man and he dropped to the ground with four bullets in him his eyes wide with a hole in the middle of his forehead.

Nate ducked down and ran full speed towards the end of the passage taking the turn and headed towards the open door firing wildly behind him as he went. Reaching the door he stepped outside and immediately felt the burn of a bullet as it pierced his side. He saw the man who fired at him coming running towards him and fired himself also running towards the vehicle that stood slightly to the left of the entrance. As he ran he felt another burn as a bullet grazed his arm and then another as one entered his back pushing him forward slamming him into the vehicle. He quickly opened the door to the car and climbed in bending down to avoid the bullets flying his way now.

"Go go go…" He heard as one of the locally hired Russian men stepped out from behind the side of the house and opened fire of those firing on him. Nate pulled out the wires and started the car then opened the back door and shouted to the man to get in.

The man threw himself into the car as Nate put his foot on the accelerator. He drove down the road towards the exit of the compound but found his path blocked.

"Turn here." The man at the back shouted at him and Nate obeyed going off the road and towards the back of the estate. He trusted the man directing him he was a local and they were all hired because of their knowledge of the area and the compound itself.

"They are right behind us." Nate said and the man nodded firing a shot through the back window and shattering it.

"Keep going." He said as he opened fire on the pursuing vehicles. Nate said nothing but kept his foot flat.

"We got a fence." He shouted. "Hold on."

He burst through the fence and onto the little country road that ran just along side it.

"Keep going, follow the road." The man shouted then grunted as a bullet pierced his shoulder. "Move it..."

"Hey, the car can't go much faster." Nate said as he urged it on.

Three cars followed them down the road and the man kept firing until they were out of bullets.

"Now what?" Nate asked as the man moved to the front seat and sat beside Nate.

"Now we die." The man said then laughed and indicated to Nate that he should continue driving at full tilt and be ready to jump out when needed.

"Oh my God Eliot." Sophie said as she listened to everything. They were close to the compound now, but they knew Nate was not there. Hardison had directed Eliot to turn out so that they would intersect the road running along the fence that Nate had taken.

Eliot did not say anything he kept his foot down willing the van to go faster as they sped down the little country road that Hardison had them on. The coms had gone dead and he feared the worst as the sped along.

Nate looked at the man and nodded his understanding. He took off his jacket and tied one arm around the steering wheel and watched as he tied the other to the gun and then leaned down and wedged it against the accelerator. Nate watched the road ahead and saw that they were coming up on a turn in the road. The man indicated that they should go straight and Nate nodded understanding. As they approached the edge of the cliff in front of them he opened his door ready to bail out and after a short few seconds both he and the Russian threw themselves from the speeding vehicle as it flew over the cliff and plummeted into the rocks below.

Nate felt the wind knocked out of him as he fell and rolled into the bushes where he lay dead still. Three cars pulled up minutes later and men piled out running to the edge of the cliff and looking over it at the wreckage below. The leader shouted a few words in Russian and then they all piled back into their vehicles and sped of back towards the compound. Nate did not move he did not want to make himself visible if any of them were looking behind them at the road. Eventually after a long few minutes he emerged to find his Russian friend also emerging from the bushes.

"They will be back as soon as the mess at the compound is finished with." Georgi Ivanovic said as he limped towards Nate.

"Ok so now what?" Nate asked looking at the man noting the gash on his leg and the gunshot wound to his shoulder. He knew he also carried a few bullet wounds himself not to mention a few cracked ribs and other bruises and cuts.

"I know a place to lay low as you Americans say." He smiled at Nate. "It is a bit of a walk, but nobody will find us there."

Nate looked around him and shook his head. They could not head back towards the compound, not now, they had no weapons, and they were both in pretty bad shape and even with the chaos around there they would be spotted and then they would really be dead.

"Ok, so lead on." Nate said and Georgi nodded then turned and headed into the woods alongside the road and soon the two were gone from site with no sign of them having gotten out of the car before it headed off over the cliff.