Chapter 12
Nate woke to a silent and dark house. He was not sure how long he had been out for. Reaching out he lifted his phone and looked at the time. It was three thirty in the morning. He pushed himself up in the bed propping himself up against the wall and running his hand over his face. He put his head back and wondered how his family, his wife was doing. Probably worried out of their minds about him he thought ruefully. He pushed himself up in the bed and swung his feet over fighting off a wave of pain and dizziness before pushing himself up into a standing position. Then he shuffled along towards the bathroom. As he approached the door he felt his knees buckle under him and a great pain wash over him and then he fell bonelessly to the floor.
Parker woke to find Hardison still awake and working away on his computer. She stretched out and smiled at him as he looked over at her.
"Did you sleep at all?" She asked as she rose and walked over to him.
"A bit." Hardison said pulling her into his arms. Then his computers started making a noise and he let her go and turned towards it again.
"Parker..." Hardison said looking up at Parker with wide eyes.
"What Alec?"
"I think I found Nate. Get the others." He said as he turned back to his computer taping feverishly at the keyboard.
Parker did not hesitate she immediately walked to the bedside and pulled out her phone dialling Sophie's number first.
Fifteen minutes later they were all gathered in Parker and Hardison's room and Hardison was telling them about a house that belonged to Nate. It was an old house and in an old neighborhood and had once belonged to Jimmy Ford and his wife, they had lived there when Nate was born but then moved. Nate had bought the house a few years ago.
"I think you are right Hardison, he might just have gone there, I doubt Moreau would know about it or even be able to find out about it." Sophie said smiling at the Hacker. Nate was right, he always came through when the chips were down.
"Well then let's go." Sterling said turning and walking out followed by the others. He was not surprised that Hardison had wheedled out this house and its connection with Nate and he was sure that Moreau would not. It was perfect for Nate to hold up in and he was almost sure they would at least find evidence of Nate's presence there if not the man himself.
They drove quickly to the old neighborhood finding the house easily. It looked completely deserted and quiet. Stopping the van they moved quickly to the door and Parker made light work of picking the lock. They all entered, and Sterling closed the door behind them.
"He's here or at least he was." Eliot said seeing the bags at the door where Nate had left them.
"Nate…" Sophie called out but got no response. She moved down the hall and looked in at the first bedroom door then stopped briefly before rushing in and to the still figure lying on the floor in front of the bathroom door.
"Sophie…" Eliot said as he walked into the room to see her kneeling on the floor.
"Eliot help me here." She said as she knelt beside an unconscious Nate.
Eliot looked down at the man and then knelt beside him feeling for a pulse and finding one. He looked at Sophie and then lifted Nate up and carried him to the bed laying him down gently and checking him for any injuries. He had none that he could find. He opened his shirt and swore to himself silently. The dressing on his wound was bloodied and needed changing. He told Hardison to fetch the med kit from the van and pull it out of sight of the road.
"Eliot is he going to be alright?" Sophie asked looking down at her husband.
"Yeah he should be. The wound needs dressing and he needs rest. He just tried to do too much too soon." Eliot told her knowing he was not telling her anything new.
Hardison returned a few minutes later with the medical kit and everybody vacated the room while Eliot took care of Nate's dressings. They all moved out to the kitchen which they found fully stocked and Sterling put on the kettle for coffee. The rest sat down and waited for Eliot to come out the room and tell them about Nate. Sterling finished up the coffee and then joined them at the table. An hour later Eliot came out the room and joined them.
"How is he?" Sophie asked looking at the Hitter.
"He's fine, he didn't pull his stitches and the wound is not leaking too much, just a change of dressing is all. He passed out from exhaustion and he must have been in some pain as he did not bring his meds with him. I gave him some morphine which will help." Eliot said accepting the cup of coffee that Hardison placed in front of him. "He should never have been out of the hospital never mind traipsing around the countryside."
"Yeah well." Sterling said looking at the Hitter and smiling slightly. "He is going to be very surprised when he wakes up to find all of us here."
"True. We need to get this place secure." Parker said softly. This is where they would stay for the time being and they needed to make sure it was secure if Moreau found them here.
"Shouldn't be too difficult and I don't think Moreau will find him here, I don't even know how Hardison found him." Eliot said sipping his coffee and looking at the Hacker.
"It's a gift." Hardison said smiling at the man. He was already working out where he would be placing his camera's and other security equipment.
"Well I am going to go be with my husband." Sophie said finishing off her tea and then rising and walking to the room. She closed the door behind her as she entered and made her way to his bedside.
Sitting down she ran her hand through his hair and stared down at him. He looked peaceful now as he slept. She sighed heavily and sat back in the chair thinking about everything that had led up to them finding Nate here and thinking about what was still to come. Moreau was out there and whether he found them here or not they still had to deal with him.
"Oh Nate it's going to be alright, we will all get through this and we will do it together. I know that is what you did not want, you did not want us involved but we are, we always were. You are my husband dammit and they, well they would walk through fire for you. You have to let us help you in this no matter what happens." She whispered to him then rose and bent down giving him a gentle kiss. "Just rest now my darling and we will talk later."
Sophie then made her way out to the main room. She found Sterling sitting in one of the chairs talking on his phone and the others were nowhere to be seen. She walked into the kitchen and grabbed a cup to make herself some more tea. Sterling finished on the phone and then looked over to her and smiled and nodded as she offered him a cup. A few minutes later she joined him handing him his cup and taking a seat opposite him.
"He maintained this place well." Sophie said, she noted that the place was spotless and fully stocked in every way.
"Yeah a safe house." Sterling said, he had also noticed that the house was well maintained and obviously regularly serviced.
Silence fell between them as they sat and drank their coffee and tea contemplating their current position.
"He is too weak James, even with us here he can't take on Moreau and survive, unless he leaves it to us to take him down and just does the planning which you know he is not going to do."
"You are right, and we can't stop him unless we tie him down and keep him locked up here." Sterling said looking at the woman. He could see the strain she was taking with all of this, he could see her fear and her concern for her husband, for her family and he could not give her any assurances that things would work out alright.
"So what do we do?"
"I don't know Sophie. I just don't know." James sighed.
By the late afternoon, the place was secure and Hardison had all his toys in place. Eliot had checked on Nate, but the Mastermind was still out. Hardison was busy working on his computer trying to locate where Moreau was, and Parker was sitting on the kitchen counter munching on cereal. Sophie, Eliot, and Sterling were sitting around the little table discussing what they could possibly do next and how Nate was going to react to their presence here amongst other things.
Nate woke to find himself ensconced in his bed and changed into comfortable sweatpants and a t-shirt, he felt a lot better and his pain was slightly diminished. He looked to his bedside and saw the bottle of pills standing there along with the other pills the doctor had prescribed to him before leaving the hospital. He also noticed that the glass of whiskey he remembered being there was gone. He closed his eyes and sighed heavily, they were here he thought, somehow they had found him, and they were all here. Oh well he thought pushing himself up in the bed and feeling a twinge of pain as he did, there was nothing he could do about it. He swung his feet over the edge of the bed and placed them on the floor then pushed himself up. He stood for a few seconds and then walked slowly into the bathroom and leaned heavily on the basin looking at himself in the mirror. He looked like hell he thought turning on the taps and then splashing some cold water on his face. Then he walked back into his room and found his bags. He quickly picked out some clothes and made his way back into the bathroom to shower, maybe he would feel better once he had washed up. Once he had finished and dressed he felt a lot better than he had in a while, now he needed a drink he thought. He walked to his bedroom door and closed his eyes before opening the door and stepping into the passageway. He could hear them talking and Parker crunching on her cereal and he moved quietly down towards the living area. There he stood and watched them for a second before clearing his throat and brining all the attention to himself.
"Nate…" Sophie said standing and walking up to him. "How do you feel?" She was not going to lash out at him and ask him what the hell he was thinking, that would get them nowhere except into an argument.
"Fine Sophie." He smiled at her taking her hands and leaning in kissing her lightly.
Then he let her go and made his way to the wet bar and poured himself a small whiskey. The rest watched him but said nothing. Then he made his way to one of the comfortable chairs and sat down taking a sip of his drink.
"That was really stupid you know." Sterling said giving voice to their feelings. "Just what were you thinking?"
Nate did not reply. He sat back in the chair and looked from Sterling to the others his eyes then coming to rest on his wife.
"Look guys this is something I have to do. Moreau is mine to take care of and…well I know how you all feel about that." He said and he did. He knew they did not want him to go after the man, well at least not to kill him.
"No matter how we feel Nate…" Sophie said keeping her eyes locked with his. "We are with you. We are here for you and no matter what you want to do I will…"
"We will…" Eliot interrupted.
Sophie smiled at the Hitter and then looked back to her husband.
"We will stand by you in anything don't you know that by now?"
Nate again said nothing. He knew that, he knew they would do anything he asked of them, would stand by him in anything he decided to do but he did not want that for them, not this time. The last time he was willing to, no wanted to get his revenge by killing somebody they had made it quite clear that he should not, but in the end they had helped him and left him to make his own decision. That time he had not killed, not because he did not want to, but because they did not want him too. But this was different. This time a little girl had been killed, an innocent little ten-year-old girl was dead, and it was his fault, not to mention her father, a good friend who had trusted him to make sure his daughter was safe and secure.
"I know that." Nate said slowly looking from one to the other. "I do know that and that is why…" He stopped trying to find a way to say what he felt. "Why I could not let you be involved." He said looking only at Sophie now.
"You don't have to kill him." Sophie said softly.
"Yes I do Sophie." He said. He was now speaking only to her. "I know you don't want me too. I know you think it will change me in some way and it probably will in many ways. Sophie this man killed a child and he did it because of me. I cannot let that pass, and I cannot take a chance that he comes back again, even if we take him down again and put him in jail again, next time it might not be a little girl it may be my wife." He said softly and his heart clenched at the mere thought of that. "Or it might be a member of my family and that, that is not an acceptable risk to me."
Sterling looked at the man and realised that that was what this was all about, it was not only about Elysia or David's death, it was about the possibility that if he did not take care of Moreau then the man would come after his family, if not now later and that he would lose somebody he truly loved again. That is what Nate was thinking and that was why, no matter what they said they were not going to stop the man from doing what he had decided needed to be done.
"Do you think he is here?" Sterling said moving the subject away from what Nate was planning to do and trying to get it to how he was planning on doing it.
"He's here." Nate said with confidence. He was sure Moreau would be here in Boston he was just not sure where the man was.
"So what is the plan?" Parker asked the Mastermind.
"Well Parker I don't actually have one yet." Nate admitted to her. "The first thing I need to do is to draw Moreau out, get him to make a move."
"So in other words hang yourself out for bait." Sterling said looking at the man intently.
"Well I don't know where he is, and he does not know where I am so there is that." Nate smiled at his friend.
"I will find him." Hardison said looking at Nate.
"I don't doubt it Hardison." Nate nodded at the Hacker. "So…"
"So now the plan is you are going to take it easy, Eliot is going to make us some dinner and then you are going to get some rest." Sophie told him.
"Good plan." Parker smiled looking at Eliot who nodded and smiled back at her. "Hardison will find him Nate, and until then we just lay low here and you can get some of your strength back before we take him on."
Nate looked at the woman and smiled. It was not a suggestion he realised it was an order and he was in no position to argue with her. He did not want to argue with her he realised. He sat back and took a sip of his whiskey, his family were not about to let him do this alone, no matter what he was planning to do and even though he had tried to avoid them being involved they were and in a way he was grateful to have them here.
The evening passed without incident and after dinner Nate retired to his room with Sophie and was soon asleep. Sophie lay awake watching him and thinking about what was to come, how this could all play out. She was afraid for them and for Nate, this could all go wrong very quickly, and they could all end up dead. She sighed and lay down cuddling up to her husband and then closing her eyes quickly drifting off to sleep.