Chapter 9

Eliot and Sophie left the buildings of Interpol after hearing the story of Nate and Sterling's ill-fated visit to South Africa. Du Plessis had made it plain, though not in so many words, that he thought the two were not merely missing but decidedly dead, that was an idea neither one of the two of them wished to embrace. They made their way silently to the waiting car and then set off to the hotel where Parker and Hardison were no doubt waiting for them. Sophie had no idea what the two youngest members of the team were thinking, they had of course heard everything as Hardison had made sure they were wired up before going to the meeting. Sophie had heard the sharp intake of breaths and some rather explicit language emanate from Hardison during Du Plessis's narration of the happenings, but Parker had remained dead quite. The drive through the Sandton traffic was slow and Sophie sat staring out the window engulfed in her own thoughts and fears.

"Nathan Ford how could you…" Sophie whispered to herself as she stared blankly out of the cars' window. She could feel the emotion building within her and the sting of salty tears in her eyes, but now was not the time for crying she thought blinking them away. There had been so many times they had thought Nate had got himself killed, so many stupid dangerous situations he had immersed himself in, and every time despite all odds and what people had said, he had returned home to her. This time was going to be no different she told herself. "You better bloody be alright…" She said softly shaking her head softly.

"Sophie you alright there?" Eliot asked gently.

"Fine…fine…" She said sighing heavily keeping her eyes fixed on the buildings passing her by.

"Sophie…" Eliot said glancing sideways at her. "You know he always makes it right…" He whispered trying to sound confident. "You know the dumb son-of-a-bitch always finds a way…"

Sophie turned towards Eliot and smiled a wry smile. He sounded just like a little thief she knew. Parker believed Nate was invincible, actually, she smiled to herself, they all did. She just hoped it was true in this instance too.

"Let's just get back and see what Hardison found. I don't have many contacts here though… I mean if this was home I could call on so many, but…"

"Yeah I know, same goes for me, I been out of the game for some time now… we all have."

When they got back to the hotel Parker was nowhere to be found and Hardison was immersed in his computer. Sophie dropped her bag on the hallway table before pouring herself a glass of wine. It was early yes, but she needed it. Eliot eyed her but chose not to say anything heading for the little coffee station in the corner of the room. The silence was deafening. Sophie plopped herself down on the sofa after pouring herself another glass of wine and waited for somebody to say something.

"I checked out the crime scene photo's from where they got those girls from. Looks like the bad guy had a clean getaway. No sign of either of them." Hardison stated matter-of-factly to nobody in particular and without raising his head from his computer. "No camera's out there, it's in the middle of nowhere in a place called Magaliesburg, nothing around the compound for miles…just nothing. There are plenty of camera's here in Johannesburg, but most of them are not even working, and then the internet is so dodgy…"

"This is a big country with a lot of small isolated places." Sophie said quietly, it was not going to be easy to find him.

"It's a big damn continent…" Eliot said. For all they knew these guys could be out the country and across the border into Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique or any of the neighbouring states. Africa was a fluid continent and anybody with money could move without questions being asked from country to country, a wide expanse of nothing with almost no law and no rules.

"Have you checked the border posts?" Sophie asked picking up on Eliot's reasoning, perhaps they had left the country, at least if they caught them going through customs they would have a starting point.

"Checked… Checked?" Hardison hissed looking up at her. "There is NOTHING to check. No camera's, no nothing, weren't you LISTENING?"

"Hardison…" Eliot growled.

"Sorry…" Hardison said softly. He did not like feeling so helpless, he did not like not having the power of his tools to solve problems, he did not like the situation at all. "It's just that…" Hardison heaved a heavy sigh. "Here in the cities it is still ok, but out there…" Hardison waved his hand in a wide circle, "Out there, there is nothing…"

"Well we aren't in the States anymore." Eliot reminded him.

"Really?" Hardison said sarcastically.

"Where is Parker?" Sophie interrupted them.

"Out. She didn't say where she was going just left." Hardison replied.

"You didn't ask?"

"No Eliot, I didn't ask." Hardison said. "She heard what went down with Du Plessis and then up and left without saying anything."

"She'll be back." Sophie said before Eliot and Hardison got in another verbal tangle. Tensions were running high and both of the men felt that they were falling down on their respective jobs and the fear and anger at the situation was about to hit boiling point. She did not need to have the two of them at each other, their focus needed to be on Nate and nothing else. "Hardison, focus your attention on any local airstrips around Magaliesburg, and then check out any and all large compounds that are heavily fortified. Let's start close to them expand outwards." Sophie instructed the Hacker, maybe this Johnathan Derby had not gone far at all she thought. "Get a list together and we will go check them out."

"Good idea." Eliot said softly.

"Yeah ok." Hardison agreed and got back to work.

Sophie sighed heavily. She looked at the two men then stood up and made her way into the main room of the suite. She need some time alone, time to calm her nerves, time to think, time to gather her thoughts… She walked into the room and closed the door then leaning against it she sank to the ground and buried her head in her arms as her body shook with silent tears.

Thanks for reading, thanks for reviewing, hope you are all enjoying the story as it evolves.