Parker, Hardison, and Breanna tore through every channel they could find. Every cell tower, internet hub, contact, no rock was left unturned. Nothing came close to a trail. The frustration raised the heat and the volume level in the bar.
Sophie drifted out to the courtyard for some quiet. She sat facing the small vine covered fountain, tea in hand. A sigh escaped her lips as she turned the cup, set it aside, and pulled her wedding ring from its home in her pocket. Her fingers rubbed the band.
"You would know how to handle this, wouldn't you?" she spoke. Her heart grew heavier. Nate always had a plan, no matter the hiccups, he had one. She didn't. Being completely blind didn't suit her. Reading a mark was her strength, always, but she needed the mark in order to read them, and that wasn't happening.
"How would you proceed?" she said into the air.
"I'm not sure, but I'm pretty certain that wasn't aimed at me," Harry responded.
Sophie blinked before softly smiling and shaking her head at the lawyer.
"Parker caught me up. Sorry, you should have told me right away." Harry stopped next to the table, grabbing the back of the chair next to her firmly.
"There wasn't anything for you to do, and I didn't want to ruin your lunch. Time with your daughter is important. She's your family."
"So are you. But I appreciate what you meant. What can I do? Is there a plan?"
"Nothing yet. Until we have a trail, there's not much we can do."
"And that's what scares you?" Harry sat down, wholly focused on Sophie.
She nodded. "I know Nate would have some otherworldly design for this, but I can't. I've never had to plan for a mark I didn't know."
"You don't know yet. You will. I'm confident. None of you will rest until you find something to lead you to Eliot or the people who took him."
"No, we won't."
"Then let's find them, and then plan their defeat."
She snorted softly in appreciation of his enthusiasm. Motivational speech was one of his most annoying, yet strongest traits, and was sorely needed at the moment.
"Do you have any ideas?"
"I'm definitely the wrong person for that job."
"Had to try." She sipped her tea.
Eliot rolled his eyes to catch sight of his current babysitter. The young man sat far behind him, nose buried in the sports page. All previous guards had made sure to stay in front, watching. Lack of awareness was only the first sign of the man's inexperience. Eliot had taken note of the failure to boost his shot. It had been a good forty minutes past due. The hitter slowly curled his fingers and stretched his toes, trying to get enough blood flow to work the muscles, without alerting the guard.
After the stinging pins feeling subsided, Eliot began to slide his wrist free. With his restraints placed to hold him up rather than down, he was easily able to wriggle it free. He made a quick glance to ensure he was still clear before proceeding to free his other wrist and torso.
The rookie guard laughed at a comment in one of the articles and lowered the paper a moment to see his charge still in the chair. He pinched the pages together to turn to the next. A quick scan produced no interest in the articles. He turned the page again, the empty chair in his peripheral not immediately registering. After a few beats, he lowered the paper to double check.
"Surprise." Eliot's fist crossed the lowering pages, impacting at the nose.
Rookie dropped the paper, stumbling away. He pulled himself together to swing back, Eliot barely getting his forearm up to block. A faint numbness slowed the muscles enough.
Eliot threw a half speed pop to the ribs, making enough impact to flinch.
The rookie grew angry. He swung both arms wildly. Eliot focused on the dominant arm, allowing the weaker to hit his cheek. It stung, but didn't move him.
A quick breath and Eliot responded, throwing his full energy into an elbow blow to the rookie's temple. The kid dropped.
Eliot breathed hard, but his ear still caught a faint sound. He spun to block the arm coming towards him. His knuckles glanced off flesh before catching the fist in air. As his eyes locked onto his new assailant, Adeline scoffed at the blood on her lip.
She sighed, quickly wrapping her fingers around the body of the taser in her weaker hand. The female hitter smashed the device into the side of Eliot's face, causing him to flinch away in defense. Her fingers instantly re-positioned to drive the taser into his ribs.
A momentary cry escaped Eliot's mouth as he collapsed to the floor again. Adeline wiped the blood from her lip and stared at the cut and bruise now on her captive's face.
"So much for mint pricing. I warned you not to miss the damn shots! This is coming out of your cut." She muttered at the reviving rookie. Adeline gave Eliot the late booster before helping put him back in the chair.
"And pull those damn straps tighter..." she hissed.
"How can there be nothing?" Hardison pounded the enter key.
"We missed something. We had to." Breanna flipped her stack of notes back to the beginning.
"We didn't. Whoever this is, they hid well."
"Like they were waiting for us," Parker muttered, a piece of origami keeping her fingers busy.
"Probably are." Harry replied, drawing their attention. "They targeted Eliot with fair precision. Clearly they did some research, so they know you and what you're capable of doing to get him back."
"Us," Parker sniped.
"Us. Know us," Harry corrected rather than argue semantics with her.
"Mr. Wilson is correct. We have to assume we're exposed. Our best option is to figure out how to get invited to this auction." Sophie waved her fingers at the auction notice still on the monitor wall.
"You really want to just march in there?" Harry swallowed.
"That's what a grifter does." Hardison chuckled to himself.
"They expect a rescue, but we don't always give what is expected." Sophie smiled.
"And if you get outbid?" Harry rubbed the nape of his neck.
"One crisis at a time."
"Comfy?" Adeline smirked. She circled Eliot, giving a couple tugs on the straps to ensure they remained tight.
Eliot scrunched his face, trying to banish the growing headache from their last encounter.
"Day at the spa," he lied.
"This has been fun. Too bad we won't be able to do it again sometime."
"Never know."
"Tease."
"What are you planning to do with your payday?"
"Haven't really thought about it. The money is kind of secondary to the job."
"And our host?"
"Nope. You aren't going to trick any info out of me."
"Worth a try."
"You really do play up the cute angle, don't you? Respect."
Eliot sighed and tried to relax.
Sophie dropped her head into her hands. Harry sat across from her at the table. The rest sat at the island. Phones, laptops, papers and Post-Its covered the room. The only progress anyone had made was in frustration levels. She debated switching from tea back to wine when her phone chimed.
"Hello?" she answered without looking, hoping a contact had made luck.
"Ms. Devereaux, I heard you were looking for me." The voice was scrambled.
Sophie began flagging the team as she hit the speaker button. "And who are you?"
Hardison began tracing the call, while Breanna recorded to try unscrambling.
"You'll find out soon enough." The voice continued, "I have a proposition for you. It is non-negotiable if you want any chance of getting Spencer back yourselves."
"I'm listening."
"The auction takes place tomorrow. I will text you the address right before. You and your entire team must arrive together, where you can be observed at all times. If even one of you is missing, you will all be shot on sight. The auction is a quarter million buy in. Do you agree to the terms?"
She swallowed and looked at the team. The hackers were both wide eyed. Parker looked ready to fight. Harry's eyes were downcast in terror.
"All or none. This is walking into the fire. That room is going to be filled with people likely happy to take us down too. I won't force you. Are we in or not?" Sophie asked.
Parker gave one sharp nod. The siblings swallowed as they nodded. All eyes moved to Harry.
"Yeah, let's do this," he said, shaking nervously.
"Agreed, if we get a sign Eliot is okay," Sophie insisted.
"Tomorrow it is." The voice hung up. Moments later, a couple seconds of video hit Sophie's text inbox.
Hardison loaded the video to the monitors. Eliot and Adeline's exchange appeared on the screen.
"He's alive, at least when this was recorded." Harry noted.
"Hardison, see if you can get anything from that," Sophie ordered.