Chapter 31
Chaos reigned as Sterling along with the Interpol agents, the Russian Police and the Leverage Crew made their entrance. Nicoli's men opened fire and it was like a war going on outside when Nicoli realised what was happening he turned to the figure of Nate slumped in the chair he sat with blood soaking through his shirt where the bullet had struck him in the middle of his chest.
"Clever Nate, I should have known." He said looking out the windows and seeing that it was not just Nate's team and Sterling coming, but a large contingent of Interpol agents and police.
There was no way out for him he realised, this was either a fight he would win, or he would go to prison or die, those were the only options and he had no plans of dying in prison like his grandfather.
"I was right, you are the man I researched, you had a plan I suppose, get me to agree to you working for me and then telling you something about my organisation which would give them a reason to breach." He smiled at the man as gunfire continued outside. "So what was this, the last resort, your life for theirs and get me as well on murder and whatever other charges they might come up with. You would have been a great asset to my organisation Nathan." He said then downed his drink and prepared to join his men.
"Nate talk to me…Nate please…Nate…" Sophie said as she stood back and watched the frenetic fight that was ensuing.
She knew her getting involved would not help the situation. Eliot had instructed her and Hardison to stay with the van while he tried to get to Nate avoiding the gunfire. She listened as Nicoli spoke to Nate as if he were alive and listening.
"I'm coming for you Nate." Eliot said as he made his way to the house using the knowledge they had gained when they had scoped the compound and avoiding the gunfight in the front. "Just hold on I'm coming man."
Parker moved silently with Eliot he had not been able to get the little Thief to stay put. She moved quickly and quietly like a ghost and they both made it to the wall of the house taking cover there for a minute before deciding what their next move was. Parker indicated that she was going up and would come in through one of the upstairs windows. Eliot nodded, he was going to take a more direct route, through the window of the room in which they thought Nate was. The fight still raged but the gunfire was growing less as Nicoli's men either fell or surrendered to the onslaught of law enforcement officers who entered the compound.
"Nathan Ford if you die I swear…I will never forgive you for this Nate, never." Sophie said almost in a sob. "Nate please talk to me my darling, please…" She said knowing she was going to get no response.
They had heard his offer, they had heard Nicoli accept and then the gunshot. Nate was dead. But she refused to believe it, until Eliot told her it was so she would keep trying to get Nate to tell her it was ok, that everything would be ok. Hardison stood by her side not saying anything. He kept his eyes on the direction that Parker had gone in. He too thought Nate was dead and now Parker was walking into a gunfight and she might also die. He stood like a statue listening to what was happening.
"I'm in Eliot" Parker's voice came through the coms.
"Yeah me too but he ain't in this room." Eliot said having come through the window to find and empty room with no sign of Nate or Nicoli.
"I'm coming down Eliot." Parker said as she moved stealthily along to the staircase.
"Careful Parker we don't know who is still in the house." Eliot said as he moved from room to room trying to find Nate.
"I'll be careful." Parker said softly as she descended the stairs.
The gunfire outside had ceased, the fight was over, and Eliot assumed that Sterling and his people had won as he heard harsh instructions to drop weapons and lie flat on the ground.
He met Parker at the bottom of the stairs, and they moved together to the last door at the end of the corridor. Eliot took a deep breath and entered the room quickly surveying it and seeing that it was empty except for the figure of Nate slumped in one of the comfortable chairs in the middle of the room facing the door.
Eliot and Parker rushed to his side and Eliot surveyed him. Then he reached out and felt for a pulse.
"Eliot…" Sophie voice came through the coms her angst very evident.
"He's alive." Eliot breathed as he felt a flutter of a heartbeat.
"Paramedics on their way in Eliot." Sterling said as he instructed them to get into the house.
Eliot carefully with Parker's help lifted Nate out of the seat and laid him out on the ground. The paramedics rushed into the room as they finished and asked them to move away so that they could work on Nate. They opened his shirt showing the bullet wound. It was in the centre of Nate's chest right over his heart. They also felt for a pulse and then rolled Nate to check if the bullet was a through and through or not. Seeing no exit wound they packed the wound and hung an IV before loading him on the stretcher and securing him before moving out of the room with Eliot and Parker following behind.
Sophie met them at the door and followed them to the waiting ambulance where they loaded Nate and Sophie climbed in with him not even asking permission. Then the ambulance left leaving Eliot, Hardison and Parker to watch it go.
"Well you lot better get after them Sophie is going to need you with her." Sterling said handing Eliot the keys of one of the Interpol cars. "I'll be there as soon as we finished cleaning up here."
Eliot just looked at the man and then a hard smile crossed his face. He did not like Sterling, never had but he had gained a new respect for him over the past year and he had helped them and without question.
They arrived at the hospital to find Sophie sitting quietly in the waiting room. She told them that they had rushed the man into surgery on arrival and she had heard nothing yet. Eliot nodded then took a seat with the rest to wait on the outcome once again. This had been the hardest year of his life Eliot thought and he could see that all of them were close to emotional collapse as well. Sterling arrived a few hours later and took a seat with them. It was a few hours after that that the doctor emerged and told them that Nate had survived the surgery. The bullet had lodged in the right ventricle of the heart and as it was a small calibre Nate had been lucky. The doctor explained that it being the right ventricle had caused less blood loss than one to the left ventricle would have since the pressure is so much higher with contraction. However the damage was extensive and the patient although alive was in critical condition. They were told that they could see him as he was being moved to a private room as soon as he was out of recovery.
Two weeks after the incident Nate was stable enough for Hardison to arrange a medivac flight back to the States as Sophie and the others did not want to remain in Russia any longer. Nate had not yet regained consciousness, however the doctor assured them he was not in a coma. The flight was long and by the time they all arrived back in Portland they were all near collapse. Nate was transferred back to Portland General and once again placed under the care of Dr Norton who was mortified that Nate was back and with more injuries that he had had.
"I am so damn tired of hospitals, I hate them, probably even more than he does now." Sophie said to Eliot at they sat in Nate's room. Hardison and Parker were out, and they were alone with the Mastermind.
"Yeah, for somebody who hates them as much as he does he has spent a hellova lot of time in them of late." Eliot said looking at the unconscious man. He had still not regained consciousness although Dr Norton had assured them he was not in a coma, or what was classified as a coma.
"At least it is finally over now." Sophie said with a sigh. It was over the Dressers were all either dead or in custody and Brenner was dead. "He was lucky Eliot, but one day his luck is going to run out." She said sadly. One day Nate was going to do something that they could not save him from.
"Yeah." Eliot said softly putting his arm around her. "Anyway, I think we should go home and get some rest Sophie, he ain't about to wake up just yet and we are all exhausted."
Sophie looked at him and smiled, this whole thing had taken its toll on all of them, mentally, emotionally, and physically. They all needed to rest she knew that, knew that Eliot was right but she did not want to leave Nate in case he woke up or…no, she shook her head slightly, no that was not going to happen, not after everything, no he would wake up and they would get their lives back.
"Ok, well let's go home, we will leave word to be called if anything should happen." Sophie said turning to the two other members of her family who had re-entered the room while the spoke. She could see Parker was not a happy with that decision, but she could also see the woman was beyond exhausted as were they all.
"Come on, nothing is going to happen to Nate here, he needs to rest and so do we." Eliot said softly also seeing the rebellion in the young woman's eyes.
"Ok." Parker said stepping up to Nate's bed. "We will be back in the morning."
"Yes we will." Sophie smiled at her. Then kissed Nate softly before walking out the door with Eliot and the others.
It was early hours of the morning when Nate woke and stared up at the ceiling realising he was in a hospital again. He cast his eyes around the room but is was quiet and dark. He could tell he was alone. Staring up at the ceiling he wondered what had happened. He remembered his talk with the young Dresser then the gunshot then nothing.
"Well look who is awake." The nurse said as she entered the room. "How are you feeling?"
"Fi…fine…" Nate said his voice hoarse.
"Good." She said stepping closer and handing him a glass of water to sip. "Not too much now Mr Ford." She said as he drank.
"How long have I been here?" Nate asked looking up at the nurse as she took the glass from him.
"You were brought in yesterday Mr Ford…"
"Nate, please call me Nate."
"Nate, you were brought in on a medivac flight from Russia. I believe you were in a hospital there for a period of just over two weeks."
"Oh." Nate said.
"Yes you sustained a gunshot wound to your chest, but you are doing well and now that you are awake I am sure you will recover just fine." She smiled at him looking up from the charts where she was making notes.
"Yes. My wife?"
"She and your family went home earlier, but they said they would be back in the morning. Why don't you try and get a little more sleep? You need your rest."
Nate smiled at her and nodded. She told him to press the button if he needed anything and then left.
The next morning when Sophie and the others arrived Nate was awake and sitting propped up in the bed with his breakfast tray on the table in front of him.
"Nate…" Sophie said as she walked in and saw him.
"Sophie." Nate said holding out his hand to her as she walked up to his bed. "God I am sorry Sophie."
Sophie took his hand then leaned in and gave him a kiss. She was still angry with him for what he had done in Russia but did not want to bring that up just now.
"Hey Nate, good to see you awake man, you…you gave us a scare there man."
"Hey Hardison, Parker, Eliot, sorry about that but…"
"But you were being your usual idiotic self." Eliot finished for him. "How are you feeling?"
"Fine…fine…" Nate said locking eyes with his Hitter and seeing something that told him that Eliot was not going to say anything now but there was going to be a discussion about what he had done in Russia.
Silence fell in the room, they were all happy Nate was awake and feeling better but there was a tension in the air and Nate knew that was because they were all unhappy with what had gone down in Russia, that he had offered his life to that madman and that they were all once again in a hospital room with him.
"So Doctor Norton was here this morning and said he I could be discharged at the end of the week."
"That's great news." Sophie smiled at him. She could see he was aware of their disapproval of his actions, but she could also see that he was tired, and in pain and that confronting him about it was not going to do him or them any good.
"Nate." Sterling's voice drifted into the room as he stood at the door and ground out the name.
"Sterling."
"That was…what exactly was that?" He said getting a look from Sophie as if to say don't do this now, but Sterling ignored her, he was not going to pussy foot around this one like they were.
"Well…"
"Idiotic, stupid, and suicidal is what it was. Don't you think they have been through enough?"
"Sterling."
"Don't Sterling me Nate. These people, your family have been through the mill in the last year and half."
"I know." Nate said quietly.
"So you thought that telling that lunatic to put a bullet in you knowing that they could hear that and knowing that they could not do anything about it was a good idea."
"No not a good idea the only idea there was to end this thing."
"Don't give me that bullshit Nate." Sterling said stepping up to stand at the foot of the bed.
"Sterling I don't think…"
"That's just it Nate you don't think." Sterling told him.
Silence then settled over the group. None of the others said anything as they watched Sterling confront Nate.
"Fine. I was wrong. But…"
"No buts…"
Nate stared at the man and then smiled sadly and nodded looking from him to Sophie and the others.
"No buts. I was wrong." Nate said softly.
"Good. Now that we have that out of the way I thought you might like to know that Dresser Jnr was taken into custody, unfortunately he was killed trying to escape, so the threat is over."
Nate stared at the man not knowing if he was happy or not at that news. It was good news that the man was no longer a threat, but he had not wanted him dead.
Sterling could see the conflict in his expression and the news and sighed. Then he looked at the others and saw that they wanted, no needed, some time alone with Nate now that the threat was over and Nate was going to be fine he excused himself and left.
"I know that is not what you wanted Nate and I know you feel guilty about the whole thing, but it is over now. We have to put this all behind us and move forward." Sophie said after Sterling had said his goodbyes. She could see as well as the Interpol Agent had that Nate was conflicted on the news he had just received. She knew he felt guilty, about Dresser and about what had happened all those years ago.
"I know my darling." He said smiling up at her. There was nothing he could do about any of it anyway and he had his wife and family to think of.
"Good. So you are of course going to do exactly what the doctor tells you too, you are going to take care of yourself and let us take care of you right?" She added.
Nate frowned slightly but nodded. He did not like being taken care of and they had their lives to live. They had already sacrificed so much.
"Good, well we thought because you would be indisposed for a while you could help us with our jobs, just the planning mind." Eliot said. He knew that leaving Nate to sit and think with nothing to do could only lead to trouble.
"Yes and I have a number of clients lined up so as soon as you are up to it we can start." Hardison added and Parker nodded smiling at the man.
The team had discussed this at length the previous evening and come to the decision that Nate had to have something to do and helping them was the easiest way to both keep and eye on him and keep him busy. Sophie was not so sure but knew that Nate sitting around moping would lead to trouble and the three had promised her that only the planning would be involved.
"Seems like you have it all planned out." Nate said looking at them. He knew what they were thinking and was willing to go along with anything they said, he had put them through hell, and he owed them.
"Good, now my darling you should finish your breakfast and then I believe you need your rest." She said sitting down beside him.
They had also spoken to the Doctor before coming in to see Nate. He had told them that he would discharge Nate at the end of the week but that his recovery was going to be long and slow. His heart was weak and would never fully recovery although it was not life threatening. He was also still suffering from the effects from being imprisoned for two months and being in a coma for six. He would have to eat healthily, exercise and take care of himself from here on in or he would wind up back in the hospital.
Nate groaned slightly as Sophie looked from him to the food but said nothing taking a small bite of the eggs. He was not at all hungry, all he really wanted was a drink, but he owed them, so he would do what he could to please her.
The talk turned to their plans for the future when Nate went home. Hardison laid out details of a few of their prospective clients and after an hour Nate had drifted back to sleep. Sophie sat by his side holding his hand in hers while Eliot and the others sat talking about how they were going to involve him in their jobs but keep him out of getting involved other than the planning. Sophie smiled to herself as she listened to them then looked back at Nate who slept soundly. He would go home, he would heal, they would all heal from this ordeal and then, then life would go back to normal, well as close to normal as their lives ever came she thought.
Well that is the end of this story. I hope you enjoyed reading 😊
