Chapter 2
It took the ambulance ten minutes to get to them and by that time Nate had sunk into unconsciousness. The EMT's worked on him stabilising him before loading him into the ambulance with Parker at his side as they rushed towards Boston Memorial. Nate was fading fast. Parker could tell by the way the machines that they had attached to him were giving out warnings and the EMT at the back with her was working on him telling him to hold on. She was numb with shock, what had just happened, that man had been after her, he had called out her name before firing but why and who was he?
They arrived at the hospital and she was told to wait as they rushed Nate into the trauma rooms and out of her sight. She stood staring at the doors for a minute then pulled out her phone. She looked at her hands which were coated with his blood and tears began to pool in her eyes as she dialled Sophie's number her hand shaking slightly.
"Parker." Sophie answered. She had just finished up at the spa and was about to leave for Nate's apartment, they had all agreed that they would meet there in the late afternoon and that Eliot would make dinner for them.
"He's been shot." Parker blurted out emotion now starting to overwhelm her.
"What…Parker who's been shot?" Sophie asked.
"Nate."
"Where are you?"
"Boston Memorial."
"Ok I am on my way. I will let the others know." She said then hung up. Nate had been shot, but why and how bad was it, they were not on a job, there should not be any danger. She fought to control her fear as she rushed out of the spa and to her car dialling Eliot's number as she went.
Sophie arrived at the hospital to find Parker pacing outside the trauma rooms, it had been twenty minutes since she had called her. She could see Parker was distraught and barely keeping it together.
"Parker." She said as she ran towards her. Parker turned to Sophie and then threw herself at her and wrapped her up sobbing as she held her tightly. "Parker…Parker…" Sophie said softly holding her then moving her away to look at her. She had blood on her clothes and her hands were stained with dry blood, was that Nate's she wondered her stomach knotting.
"Nobody has told me anything, they took him in there." Parker said indicating the trauma rooms. Her eyes were wide and full of fear as she looked at Sophie her face wet with tears. Sophie had never seen Parker so overwrought before.
"Parker come sit down and tell me what happened." Sophie said leading the woman to the chairs lined up along the wall. Before Parker could say anything the two boys arrived.
"Sophie…" Eliot said seeing the two woman and making his way towards them with Hardison on his heels.
"Parker." Hardison said looking at the woman and seeing the emotion on her face and the tears that still silently fell as well as the blood on her hands and clothes.
"I don't know." Sophie said looking up at Eliot then turned to Parker her eyes questioning.
"We went to lunch, then were going to the shop to buy groceries for Eliot to cook tonight, then this man…"
"What man?"
"I don't know. He came out of nowhere and he called my name…"
"Your name?"
Parker nodded bowing her head and trying to regain her composure before continuing.
"Nate…Nate just moved in front of me and then there were shots and then he was on top of me and bleeding and then, and then the EMT's got there and then we came here." She said all in a rush. "He moved in front of me…he moved in front of me, so the man shot him…why…why did he do that?" Parker asked looking at Sophie as more tears made their appearance and Sophie could see Parker was now completely coming undone with emotion.
She looked at the woman and then pulled her into a hug, holding on tightly to her whispering that it was going to be alright, that Nate would be alright and that he would always, always protect her and that is why he had done what he had. Just then the trauma doors opened, and a doctor walked out calling out for Nate Ford's family. Sophie moved Parker away and stood making her way to the doctor and introduced herself as Nate Ford's wife. She wasn't but she knew they only gave medical information to next of kin or family and she was damned if they were not going to tell her what was going on.
"We have managed to stabilise him and are taking him to theatre now. The operating doctor will be out to see you as soon as he can." The ER doctor told her.
"Is he…will he…" Parker asked not able to get her thoughts together properly as she looked at the doctor.
"He was not in good shape, both bullets were not through and throughs, so they are going to have to remove them and it appears that there has been some substantial damage caused internally, although they will only be able to tell the extent when they operate." The doctor said looking at the woman, he had seen a lot of distraught family members before and had long since learned not to get too emotionally involved in the situation but to give the bare facts, and not to give any false hope either. "We have the best surgical unit in Boston here Ms and they will do their best for your friend. Mrs Ford as I said the surgeon will be out when he can, you can wait here if you like or you can wait in the surgical unit's waiting room, it is more comfortable there and I will inform the nurses that the doctor can find you there." He finished.
Sophie nodded at him and thanked him for his help. Before they could say any more a nurse approached them and asked Sophie to fill out the forms required for Nate. Sophie nodded and took the forms and sat down again filling them in and listing herself as Nate's wife, and Parker, Eliot and Hardison as his colleagues from Leverage Inc. Hardison took note of what Sophie had done and then quickly made sure that her cover was in place as Nate's wife, usually they would use the Bakers, but there was no time for that and besides Nate was here under his own name. Their cover as employees of Leverage Inc was solid so he did not have to do anything there. Once that was done they all moved to the surgical waiting area and took seats on the comfortable chairs in the waiting room.
"What about cover, cops will be coming?" Sophie asked looking at Hardison.
"They…they were there, I gave a statement, they think this is an attempted mugging." Parker informed them.
"Ok Parker from the top." Eliot said as they all took their seats. Parker again went through the sequence of events, although there was not much to tell.
"So he was after you." Hardison said his eyes wide with fear for her, he was in love with her, had been from the moment they had met on that first job and now somebody was after her, wanted to kill her.
"Did you recognise him?"
"No." Parker said closing her eyes and trying to picture the man, but everything had happened so fast and Nate had moved in front of her, so she had only seen him for a second.
"Ok Parker where did this happen?"
"Just outside the Italian restaurant that Nate loves, we had lunch there and we had just come out."
"Hardison are there any traffic cams that might have caught it?"
"I'll check." Hardison said.
"Ok Parker, can you sketch the guy?" Eliot asked, that was a talent they had discovered she had and maybe she could give Hardison something to go on with facial recognition.
"I…I think so." Parker said looking at the Hitter. "I…Nate…he moved in front of me so quickly that I, I didn't really see him very well."
"But you can give it a try right?" Eliot smiled at her seeing the emotion well up again at the memory of what Nate had done for her, the knowledge that he had without hesitation stepped in front of her and taken two bullets for her.
"Can you think of anybody who would want you dead Parker?" Sophie asked her and she shook her head. She was a thief, she stole things, she did not hurt people, not physically anyway and there was nobody she could think of that wanted her dead, not from her past and not from the last almost four years working with Nate and the others.
"Well he was after you, he called your name, so from now on we take precautions." Eliot said looking at her. "You don't go anywhere alone Parker, and you follow my lead with security do you understand?"
Parker looked at him and nodded, her mind was not on herself, she did not care about herself, Nate was in an operating room fighting for his life and he may die because of her, and if she stayed here then they all might also be in danger, might also get shot. Somebody was after her and she was scared for them, for Nate.
"Parker look at me." Eliot said his voice soft and his southern drawl coming out. "You know Nate did this to protect you and if you run off, well he ain't going to take that lightly when he wakes up, he will probably get up and leave here to look for you and that could be bad for him. Parker…you allowing us to keep you safe is the best thing you could do for him. It is what he would want darlin' and you know it." He said and Sophie had to smile as she listened to the Hitter.
Parker looked at him and then nodded as tears once again formed despite herself, she was lost, lost in a world of emotion she did not understand and did not know how to cope with, and in that moment she realised just how much Nate meant to her how much these people meant to her. Eliot was right and she knew it. Nate would walk out of here and look for her if she did run even if he were not in a condition to do so. She would stay and she would obey because she needed to protect him like he had protected her. But if he died, if he died then all bets were off, and she would find this man and kill him herself.
An hour after arriving at the hospital Captain Bonano made his appearance, he had heard about the shooting and liked to be notified when Nathan Ford was involved in anything in his city.
"Eliot…" Bonano said as he approached the group. They had all become somewhat friends over the last years, and especially after the Maltese Falcon, although Nate was a criminal and so were the rest of his crew, he respected them, and they did good work.
"Pat." Eliot said looking up at the man with a tight smile and shaking his hand. "He's in surgery."
"What happened? The police report said attempted mugging?" Bonano asked and Eliot could hear in his tone that he did not believe a word of that.
"Somebody tried to take out Parker." Eliot said softly and Bonano's eyes went wide. "We don't know who, Nate got in the way."
"Is there anything I can do?"
"We need the details from the crime scene and any information the officers got from the bystanders…anything you can give us could help."
"What about Parker?"
"We'll take care of her." Eliot said knowing the man was offering protection for them.
"OK, I hope he makes it." Bonano said shaking Eliot's hand again. "I'll see what I can find out."
"Thanks Pat." Eliot said then watched the man leave before taking a seat beside Sophie again to wait for news.
