Chapter 4

It had been three days since Sophie had received the unexpected visit from the three youngest members of the makeshift family Nate had made them into all those many years ago. The evening had turned out to be very pleasant and the three of them had only left the next morning, all of them crashing at the house. She had still not had any contact from Nate, and although she knew there was no real reason to be concerned, the man often went off sometimes for a month or two at a time on his boat, she could feel a knot starting to develop in the pit of her stomach. She was not sure if she was more worried about the three youngsters and their current job which by all accounts was getting a little complicated, or for Nate whom she had not heard from for the last two weeks now. Either way, she knew she had to try to get hold of Nate if just to soothe her own mind, and also to let him know to come back as his family needed him at that moment.

Sophie smiled to herself as she put aside her glass of wine and lifted her mobile. It would be nice to hear his voice again she really missed him when he went away. Dialling the emergency number Nate had left with her the first time he had taken one of his trips she sat back on the sofa.

"Larson…" A gruff voice answered after the third ring.

"Yes, Mr Larson, Nate Ford gave me this number to contact. He said you would be able to put me through to his boat when he was out at sea." Sophie smiled through the phone.

"Out at sea...?"

"Yes, he left a little a week and a half ago." Sophie said sitting upright immediately at the surprise in Larson's voice, something was definitely not right that she could tell right off.

"Oh yes…yes…mm…of course, but unfortunately our radios are out at the moment and I will not be able to contact him, maybe you could call back tomorrow?" Larson said suddenly remembering that Nate had left a standing order that whether he was out or not if anybody phoned he should give that response and then try to get hold of him on a number he had left. This was the first time the situation had come up though. He knew Nate's boat was still docked so he was definitely not out at sea, but the man should have given him the heads up at least he thought as an uncomfortable silence followed his words.

"I see…" Sophie said slowly after a few seconds. Yes something was definitely wrong and that small knot in the pit of her stomach started churning. "No problem…thank you."

"Good…perhaps you would leave your name and number and then when I get hold of him I can let him know you are looking for him?"

"No that is quite alright." Sophie said softly. "Thank you anyway, I will call again later, hopefully your radios will be working then."

"Ah…yes…well…sorry" Larson said suddenly feeling very uncomfortable at the tone of her voice. Then he heard the click as Sophie ended the call. "Damn Nathan Ford for the fool he is…" Larson mumbled as he rummaged through his drawers looking for the number Nate had left with him for just such emergencies.

Sophie sat for a few minutes contemplating the conversation she had just had. The man was nervous about something. What was Nate up too…where had he gone and what was Larson hiding? The questions ran through her head and the knot grew and a feeling of almost panic overtook her. She shook her head then and downed the last drops from her glass of wine. Then taking a deep breath she rose and collected her bag and key and left the house.

It took Sophie only twenty minutes to make the trip to marina where Nate kept his boat. She headed straight for his berth and spotted the yacht immediately. Nate was not out to sea that was for sure. She sped up her gait and approached the berth and as she climbed aboard she called out Nate's name hoping for a response but getting none. Quickly she searched the boat, it was completely empty. She pulled out her mobile and dialled Eliot's number.

"Sophie…" Elliot hissed into the phone trying to keep his voice low. They were in the middle of the business end of the current job and Elliot should really not even be answering his phone, but seeing it was Sophie he had picked up.

"Trouble…" Was all Sophie said to him.

"We'll be there in about thirty." Eliot whispered and then hung up. They were going to have to speed this process up.

Thank you for the great reviews. Sorry the chapters have been a little slow in coming. I hope you enjoy.