Chapter 18

Nate was woken by the incessant buzz of his muted mobile that lay on the nightstand beside his bed. Turning over he reached out for the phone and looked at the caller ID, it was a number he did not recognise. Sitting up quietly he answered the call.

"Hello Nate." A familiar voice said.

"Grant." Nate using the man's first name as he had his and then rising from the bed and making his way into the bathroom and closing the door. "I heard you got out."

"Did you think I had forgotten about you?" Grant replied.

"No." Nate stated honestly, as much as he had told Eliot and the others that he did not think that Sadiski would come after him, he knew he would.

"Congratulations on your new family." Grant said and Nate's stomach knotted. "You have a handsome boy and a beautiful wife."

"They are not part of this equation." Nate said his voice hard and cold as he swallowed hard holding back an emotional response because that is what the man was after.

"No they are not unless you make them part of it." Grant concurred. "This is between you, me and God."

"What do you want?"

"What I have wanted from the start."

"I see." Nate said and he did see, he wanted him dead and he was not going to stop until he had accomplished that particular task.

"Yes and I have a friend of yours that is eager and willing to assist me in that particular task, considering what you took away from me, and from him." Grant added and Nate's eyebrows knotted as he listened to him what friend, who had this man recruited to work with him.

"Friend of mine?"

"Oh come now Nate you don't expect me to give you his name do you? There are consequences for actions Nate, but I am sure you know that."

Nate could feel a wave of fear wash over him, the last time somebody had said similar words to him it had led to his father's death and almost to his own destruction and that of his teams.

"So what happens now?"

"Well that is completely up to you Nate…" Grant said.

"Really?"

"Yes, it is your choice to fight me on this, or come to me willingly. Now as I said I have the means to take your forcefully, but I have no desire to, I have no use for your team or your family."

"What guarantees do it have?"

"None."

"I see. So I am just supposed to trust you on this, not knowing who you have recruited in your mission and trust you, a serial killer."

"I am not a serial killer. Those people, those people deserved what they got."

"Like I did?" Nate retorted.

"Yes, although I did not know it at the time, how many lives have you destroyed, how many families have you taken a member away from, maybe not killed but jailed, humiliated, conned, how many companies have you bankrupted with no thought to the people who work there, yes Nate…you did deserve it."

Nate remained silent not quite knowing how to answer that, it was true, they had taken down a lot of evil men and woman, people who had done immeasurable harm, but there was always a price to pay for somebody, family, friends, colleagues, employees…it was all true.

"So Nate you have a decision to make."

"Not without knowing what I am up against, not until I know that doing what you ask will actually spare my family." Nate said, he wanted to know who this man was working with because he was sure whoever they were would pose a threat to his people.

"There are many out there that wish to see you dead."

"I am sure."

"Most of them though are either in jail or completely robbed of all of their means."

"Well…"

"I have means though and they want their revenge, a fair trade I thought and there was one in particular that was eager to take me up on my offer."

"And…?"

"Do you recall Damian Moreau?"

Nate almost gasped at the name, but he was still in prison in San Lorenzo, how had Grant Sadiski even known about him, how had he even gotten in touch with him.

"I can actually hear you thinking." Grant laughed. "Yes it took much of what I had left to free the man. You imagined my team would abandon me, and for the most part they did, but one, one did not, and she researched you, she found your enemies and brought them to me. I did not have to do much to find the right one, the one who would move heaven and earth to see you dead, you left him with nothing, left him rotting in a deep hole for many years, and now all he has is the burning desire to ensure your demise, a kindred soul as it were."

"Yes well you are very much alike." Nate said sarcastically.

"So Nate…your decision." Choosing to ignore Nate's remark.

"Well I am not just going walk out here and invite you to kill me." Nate said his mind working overtime to find a way to give himself a fighting chance. "You have to give me a chance to fight, even God allows that."

This was not the same man he had dealt with in the beginning, he had evolved. He was no longer the obsessed serial killer blind to almost everything except his fantasy, he was focused and he was meticulous. He doubted the man wanted to kill him for the same reasons as before, now it was revenge on him for destroying his fantasy world and for defying him.

"What do you suggest?"

"Well you and your…friend try and catch me, and I will try and take you down. I will not use my team and you leave my family alone."

Silence met Nate's offer as Grant considered it. Nate would leave the safety of his team's protection, he would be easy to find and kill and besides, he had no intention of harming the man's family, he was the one who was the innocent the one who was supposed to die, to leave a grieving family to mourn him he wanted that, he needed that too. To Grant this seemed like a good deal, and a challenge, something he relished, he would prove to Nathan Ford that he was on the side of right, the side of the angels, that it was indeed God's wish that he should be dead and that he, Grant was right all along. He had no doubt that with the team he had and with Moreau's help and knowledge of the man he would be able to hunt him down without much effort.

"I agree." He said after a few minutes.

"Great." Nate said. "So you give me time to get out of here and away from them, you give me a fighting chance, after all if God really is on your side and has determined what you say he has, I don't stand a chance right?"

The one good thing here he thought to himself was that he was dealing with a delusional man who believed he was in the right. The FBI were right, he had a 'God Complex' and Nate hoped to use that to at least get the man to give him a fair chance, he was sure Sadiski would not be able to resist a fight between the devil in Nate and the will of God as he saw it, a chance to prove he was in the right, that Nate was supposed to be dead and he was the one who had been tasked to make that become reality.

"Very well, we will start after you tomorrow. I will not go after your family, or your team, they are not part of this. However if you change the rules so will I."

Nate did not respond immediately he was telling him that if he did contact his team and he found out about it then they would be fair game in this battle between them. Not that he thought they would not be in danger anyway. If Sadiski was indeed working with Moreau, well he would not be content with only taking his revenge on himself, Eliot would be high up on his list too. He had to win the day, he had to take them both on and win, how he was going to do that he did not know.

"Fine."

"I will see you soon, enjoy your last night with your lovely family." Grant said then hung up.

Nate sat and stared at his phone for a few minutes. At least he had managed to get the man to give him a chance to protect his family for the immediate future, but that meant he had to leave, he had to leave now and that he knew was not going to go down well with his team or his wife. He sighed heavily and then made his way out of the bathroom quietly and stood looking at his sleeping wife.

"No matter what Sophie, you and Michael will make it through this, I swear he will not harm you or my son." He whispered.