Chapter 33
"When do you expect him to come?" Eliot asked as they entered the house and Nate poured himself a small whiskey.
"Soon." Nate said. "He will not be alone, so you and Parker need to be out there, you have to take care of his men, keep them busy and make sure they do not interfere with me and Moreau, I will take care of him."
"Nate…"
"Eliot this is the way we are playing it. You have to make sure you allow Moreau a way into the house and then keep his people occupied until Hardison can get the cavalry here understand, that is your job."
"He won't hesitate to pull the trigger you know that." Eliot said locking eyes with the Mastermind.
"I understand." Nate said knowing that Eliot was concerned that he would hesitate, that he would not be able to kill Moreau before he killed him.
"Fine. Earbuds in." He said handing Nate an earbud. If he were going to be outside he wanted to know what was going on inside so that if Nate needed him he could make a move.
"Ok let's get this started." Nate said as he pulled out Christopher's phone again and texted Moreau the address of the safehouse. "Go, make sure they stay occupied, don't follow Moreau in here, your job is to keep them outside and out of it do you both understand?" He said looking at Parker and Eliot.
They both nodded and then after collecting some weapons Eliot turned to Nate and handed him a gun, Nate raised his eyebrows but took the gun, then he and Parker made their way outside to take up positions where they would not be seen. A short distance away at another house Hardison and the others quickly made their way inside and Hardison locked it up before putting his computer on the table in front of all of them so that they would follow what was happening. He had the feeds from all the camera's and the feed from the earbuds was up. By the time they were set up they did not see Parker and Eliot, but Nate was seated on the sofa in the house sipping on his whiskey as he waited for Moreau to arrive.
"How can he be so calm?" Maggie asked watching Nate and knowing what was coming.
Sophie watched Nate as he sat seemingly without a care in the world and waited for a man who was intent on killing him to arrive.
Across town Moreau gathered his men after receiving the text. He was not sure if Nate would have help yet, the Italian was still busy with clean-up so if he moved fast enough he would be able to catch the man alone.
"Ford is mine understand." He told his men as they drove towards the address Nate had sent him. They all nodded, they were just along for the ride, their boss was going to take the man out himself.
"He's on his way Nate." Eliot's voice came over the coms as they saw the cars approach.
"Be careful Nate." Sophie whispered as they too watched the cars pull up outside of the house and waited for the action to start.
"Remember Eliot, keep them occupied." Nate said ignoring Sophie as he sat unmoving on the sofa.
"What is he doing?" Paul asked watching Nate who had not made a move, surely the man should at least be ready for when Moreau came through the door.
Hardison and Sophie looked at the Priest and then shook their heads, they knew Nate, and this is what he did, he waited and then he acted when least expected. Sophie knew that Nate was going to try to avoid killing the man but rather stall him until Penton and the others could arrive, and that that may cost him dearly if he misjudged or if Moreau did not play along. They all held their breaths as Moreau and his five men exited the car.
Eliot nodded to Parker who had taken up position a short distance from him and then they started the game opening fire on the men. Moreau ducked down as the first bullets flew.
"Finish them." He told his second in command. "You." He said pointing to another man. "Cover me I am going for Ford."
Eliot watched as Moreau moved towards the house and all he wanted to do was put a bullet into the man and end this thing, but he couldn't, he had to obey Nate, so he concentrated on the other five men making sure that they were taken care of trusting that Nate was ready for Moreau.
"He is on his way in Nate, be ready." Eliot hissed out as he and Parker kept up their barrage of fire.
Moreau sprinted to the door and burst in holding his gun at the ready. What he saw was Nate sitting on the sofa looking as if nothing was going on around him and he closed the door keeping his weapon on the man before moving further into the room and coming to stand in front of him.
"Welcome." Nate said softly. "Want a drink?"
Moreau was slightly taken aback by Nate's attitude and swept his eyes around the room looking for any other enemies. He noted the gun that had been placed on the table within easy reach of the man, then his eyes settled back on the Mastermind. His thoughts returned to a time previously when Nate had sat calmly drinking his whiskey as he unravelled his life. Outside he could hear that the fight continued unabated, but Nate showed no sign of worry, no indication of concern at all.
"What the hell are you doing Nate?" Hardison said softly as he watched him, he had made no move for the gun and with Moreau's weapon trained on him he doubted the man would be able to get his own weapon before Moreau put a bullet in him.
"Don't worry about your men they will be occupied for a while." Nate said as he poured Moreau a whiskey then slid the glass across the table to him.
"You will not win this time Ford, this time you will pay for what you have done." Moreau said cocking his gun.
"Yes well I would not get too excited Moreau." Nate said smiling at him. "Sit down, have a drink, it may be your last one for a while."
Moreau stared at him not quite understanding why Nate was acting in this way, it was as if he was not at all worried about what was going on outside, or the fact that he had a gun pointed at him with nobody around to stop him from shooting him.
"Worried Moreau?" He asked watching the man's face. "You should be."
"I am not worried I hold all the cards." Moreau said but his mind was telling him that something must be wrong, Nate knew something he did not, and he wanted to know what was.
Nate watched him closely, he had put doubt in the man's mind, he did not know what do to, what he might have up his sleeve, that was the only reason he had not pulled the trigger yet. The gunfire from outside had stopped so either Moreau's people had won, or Eliot and Parker had done their job. He was sure it was the latter, but his stomach still knotted as the door opened.
"Put the gun down Moreau, it's over." Eliot growled.
"I don't think so Spencer and if you come any closer I will have to eliminate Ford."
"The FBI and Interpol will be here in a few minutes Moreau. It's over." Nate said standing up and facing him.
"You think you are so much better than me." Moreau said his anger building.
"No, well yes. But the point here is Moreau you can either just put that gun down and we can all wait for the authorities to arrive or…"
"Or I can kill you now." Moreau said and as he spoke Eliot moved at the speed of light knocking Moreau to one side as Parker moved crashing into Nate and pushing him out of the line of fire.
Moreau fought Eliot as they both landed on the floor and they wrestled then Eliot straddled the man and pounded on him taking all his frustration and anger out on the prone man beneath him. He stopped when he heard Parker's voice.
"Eliot…" Parker said looking down at Nate.
Eliot saw the blood on Parkers hands and the look on her face, he could not see Nate who lay behind the table. Quickly he stood and moved over to them with Parker moving out of the way for him.
"Oh God Nate…" Sophie whispered as she watched Eliot.
"Nate…Nate…" Eliot said as he pushed the table to one side and knelt beside the man. "Nate talk to me." He said as he leaned in. Nate's shirt was starting to soak in blood and Eliot reached out and ripped it open exposing a bleeding hole in the side of Nate's abdomen.
The door then burst open and Agent Penton from the FBI and Isabella came through and took the scene in immediately. Penton turned and called out to the medics that they were needed and then stood back. Within a minute two EMT's entered and asked Eliot to move away from their patient then started to work.
"Gunshot wound to the abdomen, looks like it was on an upwards trajectory, let's roll him." The lead said to his partner and he needed then they rolled Nate briefly before laying him back on his back. "No exit wound. Let's get him loaded quickly, get the stretcher." The second EMT nodded then went for the stretcher as his partner started packing dressings onto the wound which was bleeding profusely. He also hung a bag just as his partner arrived.
"Nate…" Eliot said moving to his side when he was on the stretcher. "You just hang on you hear me you hang on." He said as he moved along with the stretcher.
Nate looked up at him his eyes full of pain, but he said nothing.
"Parker, go get the others I am riding with Nate." Eliot said as he climbed in the ambulance. "Where you taking him?"
"Sedar Sinai." The EMT said as he closed the doors then moved swiftly to the driver's seat and gunning the motor.
"Parker we will see you at the hospital." Hardison's voice came over the coms as they all ran out of the house and piled into the waiting van.
Parker watched the ambulance leave then ran to the nearest car and climbed in. One of the FBI agents moved to stop her but was told to leave her by Penton as Parker started the car and sped off in the FBI vehicle. Then Penton turned back towards the house and entered.
"He yours or mine?" Penton asked Isabella.
"He is mine." Isabella said and Penton nodded, she was outranked by this woman who worked for Interpol and was on first name basis with some very powerful people. "You will clean up here?"
"I will." Penton said.
Isabella nodded then walked out pushing Moreau in front of her, she handed him over to Jason who put him in the car. Then she turned back to Penton.
"There will be no comeback on Ford or his people." She instructed. "No investigations."
"Understood." Penton said looking towards the three men who were being loaded into the vans and the two body bags being loaded into the corner's vehicle. She had no idea what was going on here, although this had started out as a case involving a serial killer, it had ended up in international intrigue and the arrest of a man who was an international criminal, brining Interpol into the whole affair. She wondered how Moreau had become involved in the case but then decided it was above her paygrade and started giving out orders to get the place cleaned up.
