Chapter 22

A week later they were all seated in the living room of Nate's safehouse. Nothing had happened up to then, but Nate had not been allowed out of the house, or out of sight of one of them at any time. It was not too difficult to do as Nate was still very weak, he should still have been in the hospital but had insisted on leaving siting that if Moreau's man came at him there then innocent people would be in danger and he was not about to allow that. They had acquiesced to his demands however unhappily.

"We can't keep doing this you know guys." Nate said quietly. They could not stay here forever, they had to make a move to bring this to an end.

"Nate you are in no way ready to do anything. You are still weak, and you are not, I repeat not going to do anything understand." Sophie said looking at her husband.

"So what do you want to do stay here for weeks on end and hope it all goes away?" Nate asked.

"No." Sophie said. "But if it is what we have to do to keep you safe then it is what we will do. Nate you can barely walk from the bedroom without getting out of breath not to mention the fact that the doctor said you had to take it easy because your body is still healing and you could cause yourself harm if you don't. You are still supposed to be in that hospital, so no, you are not doing anything and there is nothing to do except stay here."

Nate frowned at her and then turned to Eliot seeing that he was not going to get anywhere with him either. Parker and Hardison nodded in agreement and Sterling just smiled at him. He sighed and sat back taking another sip of his whiskey. They were right, he was still weak, he still had a fair amount of pain too and struggled even to take a shower. But he could not keep doing this and if whoever it was that Moreau had sent came after him here, then they were going to all be in danger. He however had no idea how to solve the problem either. Moreau was still in prison and they had no idea who he had sent after him.

"Are you sure Moreau has sent somebody?" Nate asked Eliot.

"Nate I know him, and this is what he does, and this is what I did for him. He has sent somebody." Eliot told him.

"Ok well he won't come at me here and we are going to get nowhere just sitting here waiting."

"Nathan Ford get it through your thick head that you are not going to do anything except take the time to heal. Now we are safe here and this is where we are going to stay. You need time and time we have, so just accept it and live with it." Sophie said her anger rising in her at him. Then she took a deep breath. "Sorry. But you have to see sense Nate."

Nate looked at her and smiled taking her hand and squeezing it gently.

"Ok…Ok I do nothing except rest." He said softly. He could hear the anger, but the angst outweighed that, and he did not like that he was doing this to her. "Now I think I will start doing that 'nothing' you were talking about straight away." He said as he stood up. Sophie stood with him and he leaned in for a kiss before turning and heading for the bedroom.

Nate entered the room and sat down on the bed. Sophie was wrong in one way, the only way to end this was for him to do something. Whoever the somebody was that Moreau had sent was after him and they could not stay here forever. The problem was he did not know what to do or how he was going to do whatever he had to do. He sighed and lay back on the bed his back propped up against the wall and closed his eyes.

Nate had just drifted into a light sleep when all hell broke loose. He woke with a start and rolled off the bed as he heard the quickfire of an automatic weapon and windows breaking. Sophie he thought as he crawled towards the door. Then it was over, and silence settled over the house.

"Sophie…Sophie…" Nate called out as he pushed himself up ignoring the pain it caused and ran into the living area.

"Nate…" Sophie said as she rose from behind the sofa. "Nate are you ok?"

"I'm fine." He said breathlessly as he pulled her into a hug.

"Par…Parker." Hardison said as he rose and looked at the young blonde woman who lay unmoving on the floor.

"Parker." Nate said pulling away from Sophie and rushing over to her side. Nate dropped to her side and examined her.

"Eliot…" Sterling said as he saw the man rise from where he had fallen and saw the blood on the front of his shirt. He immediately moved over and helped him sit again. Then pulled out his phone and dialled 911.

The ambulance arrived ten minutes later and worked on both Parker who had a gash on her head and a shoulder wound and Eliot who had taken a bullet in the shoulder and one in the chest. Hardison rode with Parker and Sophie with Eliot leaving Sterling and Nate to watch them leave.

"Back inside now Nate." Sterling said pushing the Mastermind back into the house. "I am organising a safehouse for us but until then we stay here." He said then turned to one of his team members who he had also called, telling them to keep a good perimeter watch.

"I have to get to the hospital Sterling." Nate protested.

"You are in no condition to go anywhere Nate." Sterling said looking at the man. He was sweating profusely and breathing heavily, he looked as white as a ghost and like he was about to collapse. "Sophie and Hardison will let us know what's happening. We stay here." Sterling said closing the door behind him. "Now back into the room please, you need to lie down before you fall down." Sterling said steering the Mastermind to the bedroom at the back of the house.

Nate allowed him to push him into the room and sit him down on the bed and then accepted the glass of whiskey he handed him. His mind was consumed with the fact that Eliot and Parker where shot and that Sophie could also have been hurt.

"Nate I know this is hard, but you can't go out there." Sterling said sipping his own whiskey. "He did this to make you come out, he did this to ensure he could get to you, and you are in no condition to go anywhere anyway it would be suicide to try anything now."

Nate said nothing he just sipped his whiskey and closed his eyes. Sterling was right, this was because whoever it was Moreau had sent was getting tired of waiting. That meant he might do it again and who else was going to get injured, Hardison, Sterling or God forbid Sophie. He had no option now, he had to act.

"Nate are you hearing me?"

"I hear you." Nate said.

Just then Nate's phone rang, and he immediately picked it up.

"Sophie."

"Nate they are fine, both of them are going to be fine." Sophie said quickly trying to lay the man's mind at rest.

"Good." Nate said softly. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine Nate really." She said hearing the concern in his voice. "How are you?"

"I'm fine Sophie."

"Ok well Hardison and I are going to stay here for a while. Sterling is organising another safe house for us and we will see you there ok?"

"Fine." Nate said his voice flat. "Be careful Sophie."

"I will and you too." Sophie said her heart clenching at the sound of his voice, flat and emotionless. "I love you Nate."

"I love you too Sophie, very much." He said then hung up the phone.

"They ok?" Sterling asked as Nate put the phone down.

"They are both fine so are Hardison and Sophie." Nate told him and Sterling could also hear that Nate's tone had changed. It was full of weariness, concern and completely flat and emotionless. He sighed heavily and told Nate he had to go and talk to his team and that he would be back.

Nate watched him leave and then sat back in the bed. He was tired, his body was sore, and he could feel his anger growing, at Moreau and the entire situation.