Chapter 21

Nate was discharged at the end of the week and they were all back at Sophie and Nate's home, all of them had decided to stay there for at least a week until Nate was a little stronger. They had not told Nate anything about the presence of Bronovich in the US. Hardison had been tracking him and he had not left LA and they had all agreed that he was not here looking for Nate but on his own business. Hardison had made sure that all record of Nate's flight was erased, although he felt like he was closing the barn door after the horses had bolted. Nate spent his time sleeping and spending time with his wife and son.

Nate had retired to bed the one evening along with Sophie an the other three were sitting in the living room chatting.

"So he flew out of LA this evening. Private flight and he had a lot of men with him. hitters all of them." Hardison said giving them an update on the movements of Bronovich.

"Back home?"

"No…" Hardison said and the tone of voice brought all of Eliot's attention to the man.

"Where?"

"Mexico."

"Dammit." Eliot said softly. It was not a given that he was going there to deal with Morero, but it was a possibility and if that were so then he would also be coming after Nate if he knew the man was still alive.

"Now I have lost track of him. As you know, Mexico is not the US and there are no cameras to hack into. I have the airports camera's but if he lands at a private field…But you can be sure he is going after Morero."

"Yeah, a man like him can't let what happened go, if he did, well the people he works with will see it as a weakness and that would not be good for business." Eliot said. "We are going to have to step up security here just in case."

"Nate is expecting us to leave by the end of the week, if we don't, if we insist on staying, he is going to ask questions." Parker said.

"I know but I am not leaving here until we know what Bronovich is up to." Eliot told her. "It may not even concern Nate, he might still think that Nate is dead, but I am not taking that chance."

"So do we tell him?" Hardison asked. He was not sure how much longer they could keep what was going on away from Nate, in fact he was surprised the man had not picked up that something was going on. But then again he was still healing, and he was spending most of his time with Sophie and Michael.

"We will have to if there is a real threat, but until we know what is going on I say no. He doesn't need it. He is still healing and is still a little week and internal injuries are not easy, add to that his heart was weakened when he had the arrest on the table, he doesn't need the stress. He still needs time. We can handle it." Eliot said.

"Agreed." Parker said. She could see that Nate tired easily and that he was still not nearly fully recovered from the ordeal he had gone through.

"I agree but you guys know he is going to pick up on something and then he is going to be…well let's just say not happy with us, when he finds out we kept it from him." Hardison said.

"Too bad. It's for his own good." Eliot smiled at the Hacker.

"Ok so it's settled. I will let you guys know if anything with regards Bronovich changes and until then we do nothing, we just make sure this place is secure and Nate goes nowhere on his own."

They all nodded in agreement. They would protect the man even it if was from himself. All three of them remembered what they had felt when they thought they had lost Nate and none of them wanted to go through that again. They would, any one of them would die for the man, to keep him safe to keep Sophie and Michael safe.

"So movie?" Parker asked as she moved to the living room and turned on the TV.

"Yeah girl…" Hardison said joining her.

"I'll make the popcorn and I get to choose the next one." Eliot said as he moved into the kitchen.

They all sat down and put on the movie that Parker had chosen, followed by another one that Eliot chose until both Parker and Hardison had drifted off to sleep. Once the movie was finished Eliot made a quick sweep of the house noting that Michael was sleeping in his parents' room again and smiling at that. Nate was happy and that was the way he was going to stay, nobody was going to hurt Sophie or Nate or Michael, not on his watch. After checking all the windows and doors and then the security screens which covered the entire outside area of the house. After making sure all was quiet he took a seat and put his head back closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep and the house grew silent.