Up a Creek Job
Pounding. His heart beat rapidly and out of sync with the pressure in his chest. He could feel the resistance to every breath. A cold sweat drenched him. He couldn't see it, but the tingle was unmistakable.
A soft female voice came to his ear. It wasn't understandable even though it was near. The voice grew louder, the tone sharper, but none the clearer.
He tried to look around, to locate the voice. The whole space spun around him, leaving a swatch of gray in the wake. His own breathing began to drown out everything. All he could hear was the desperate rush of air, in and out. He shut his eyes and swallowed.
"ELIOT!" Sophie growled loud as she dared in the middle of unsuspecting throngs of bystanders. She had stepped aside from the mark after Eliot failed to respond for the fifth time. His penchant for missing communication was always a problem, but he had never gone off com at this moment without trouble. Parker stood by, waiting for him to give her the all clear. They'd heard him engage the guards. Now all they heard was breathing. Nothing more.
"Yo, Eliot, can you hear us?" Breanna jiggled her earbud in the back of the food truck as she spoke. She glanced at Hardison next to her worriedly.
"This is SO not the time for this," Hardison muttered as he tapped a few keys, double checking the earbud status.
"BRUH!" he hollered. "Parker is in limbo waiting for you, man. ANSWER!"
The drastic change in voices broke through.
Eliot blinked several times. The room began to come into focus. Three men were unconscious at his feet. His chest quieted down.
"Eliot, answer us!" Sophie hissed under her breath.
"Yeah, yeah," he managed.
"Finally. Sophie's been asking if it's clear for like ten minutes!" Hardison whined.
"Five minutes, twenty five seconds. Twenty six. Twenty seven," Parker chimed.
"You're clear," Eliot stated.
"You okay?" Breanna asked.
"Fine."
"Parker finish up. Everyone else, the blow off and meet back," Sophie ordered.
Parker shrugged and scurried down the vent. Breanna and Hardison exchanged concerned looks. Eliot huffed and stormed off.
Back at HQ, the team chatted away in broken groups. Sophie locked eyes with Harry a moment. He gave a nod, acknowledging his understanding to run interference if necessary. With him in place, she tapped Eliot's shoulder and beckoned him to follow her out into the courtyard. The hitter knew what she wanted. He also knew he couldn't avoid it, so he reluctantly followed.
Once out of ear shot of the team, Sophie turned to confront the issue at hand.
"Care to discuss what that was?"
"No."
"Eliot, you froze, on the job."
"I didn't freeze!"
"Five minutes?"
He scrunched his face, knowing he had no explanation. "Ok, I froze. No, I can't tell you why."
"Eliot, we've known each other for about fifteen years now. You don't have to play tough or prove anything..."
"I'm not trying to prove anything! Sometimes people freeze."
"Not you. Hesitate, yes, but not fully freeze."
He pulled his lips tight to his teeth, but stayed silent.
"I know we've been running non-stop since RIZ so you never really had a chance to fully process..."
"This isn't about Maria. Besides, I talked to… Parker and Hardison." He tilted his head realizing how that sounded.
"Eliot, that was the longest, most solid relationship I've ever seen you in. We all know it hurt."
"Sophie."
"Can you honestly tell me that it doesn't matter to you anymore?"
His eyes cast to the floor. "It doesn't matter."
She nodded. "Now look at me when you say it."
He looked up at her. "Okay, it hurt. It isn't the first time. I'm certainly not going to freeze over a breakup."
"Fine. At this point, it doesn't matter what your issue is, only that you deal with it."
"What are you getting at?"
"Eliot, we need to know that everyone is going to be ready on the job. Something got to you, and until you deal with that something, it will continue to do so. We can't risk you freezing on the job again. Someone could get hurt, or even killed."
"Are you kicking me out?"
"No. I'm ordering you to take some time off. Deal with whatever is in your head."
"But what about..."
"We have a couple of cake walks we can do. If we really need a hand, Parker said Roy is a little stir crazy with the Korean team sidelined by Soo's laryngitis."
Eliot pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Take a week. Go on a cruise, go hike, fish, pub crawl, golf, whatever you need to do to relax. One week, no less."
"She's right. You need to go do your equivalent of eating your feelings." Parker's interjection stunned them. Sophie stared at Harry who shrugged.
"Dammit, Parker. I'm not upset," Eliot hissed.
"Five minutes," Hardison reminded as Breanna stood next to him flashing an open palm of five fingers.
Eliot grumbled and stormed off into the bar.
"We don't want to hear a peep out of you for one whole week!" Hardison shouted.
"Yo, Eliot! Wait up!" Breanna chased after the hitter.
"You really think he'll make it a week?" Harry asked.
"No. But I think he'll figure it out, and that's the important part." Sophie sighed.
Eliot paused on the landing mid staircase, allowing the youngest team member the opportunity to catch him.
"You sure you're okay?" she asked.
"I'm fine."
"You did freeze up. Sophie's right, you don't do that. Are you sure this is nothing or is it really anxiety from the breakup like they think?"
"I don't know." Eliot sighed. "Truth, that's the longest relationship I've had since Amie. It hurt, but I feel like something else is off. Maybe it is me."
"Maybe Sophie is right about taking some time to get out of your own head. I can find you a nice VRBO Airbnb cabin in the woods thing – that's your bag, right?"
Eliot laughed. "That's my bag. Thanks."
"No sweat." She lightly punched his shoulder.
As he pulled into the driveway, Eliot slowed to a crawl. The cabin Breanna had tagged for him sat in the middle of a twenty acre lot. A river cut through the lot, feeding a lake near the cabin. The woman letting it had listed fishing equipment on site and included in the rental. A week of solitary silence lifted his soul. Even Hardison couldn't ruin it. He smiled at the thought of the hacker moaning over the whole place.
The cabin came into view, a swing hung from the porch rafter, a shed stood between the rear and the lake a short stroll to the right.
Eliot parked short of the front steps. He stepped out, grabbed his duffle from the backseat, and inhaled deeply. As he approached the stairs, he heard raised voices from the back of the house. A man and a woman were arguing. He set the duffle down on the front step and began to slide carefully around the corner.
"You can't be here, Kevin," the woman said.
"I'll be where I want."
A cargo van parked behind the cabin caught Eliot's attention as he rounded the corner. It appeared empty, leaving his focus to fall back to the arguing couple. The voices came from a deck off the back door. An array of tools covered the far side. A vinyl tool bag sat open on a table near the steps.
"Hey!" Eliot hollered.
"Who the hell are you?" the man demanded. His wide 6'2" frame shadowed the steps from a perch along the cabin wall.
"The renter," Eliot spat.
"Grandma said you'd be coming. Sorry about this," the woman answered. She was slight, but toned. Her long blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail.
"Well, renter, you're just going to have to find somewhere else to be. We're having a private conversation here." Kevin argued.
"You were leaving," the woman replied as she turned back to her tool bag.
Kevin grabbed her arm, pulling her back sharply.
"Let go," she cried, tugging. He refused.
"We're not done."
Eliot stepped up between them, grasping Kevin's hand firmly until he released her arm. Kevin took a step back, Eliot held position between.
"The lady said you're done."
"Yeah? You going to make me?" Kevin puffed up his chest as Eliot sighed. This vacation was off to the worst start.
"I'm here to fish and relax. If that requires removing you first, I have no choice."
The jolt hit a fraction of a second before the electric hiss filled the air. Eliot remained conscious, but his body fell sluggish to commands. He hit the deck boards, trembles ran the length of him. He tried to push himself up, to stand up, but neither his arms nor legs would cooperate.
"I appreciate the chivalry, I do..." the woman pat Eliot's shoulder a moment before moving to toss the taser into the tool bag. She rummaged a second, her hand removing a syringe from the bottom of the bag. Eliot tried to respond, but the words failed the same as his limbs.
She squatted next to him. "I also want to thank you for being so much fun. Chemistry part is always the best. Don't worry, this won't hurt a bit."
The syringe pierced his arm as she continued. "My own blend. Numbs the extremities, makes you quite the cooperative cargo. There's no long term damage. None from the anxiety inducer either, you'll be pleased to know. Or not. It's really moot, isn't it? Let's face it. The groups clamoring to collect you want you dead, most of them anyways. So any effect wouldn't be long term anyway."
Her tongue clicked as she smacked his arm and stood. "Put him in the van."
Kevin heaved Eliot up onto his shoulders and carried him off. The woman gathered her tools and followed.