A/N: I told you we were on the home stretch. Enjoy these last two chapters!
"Nate, we've got him," Eliot called.
The mastermind closed his eyes in relief. He quickly checked Sam's gun and made certain it was working properly. The grifter was staring at him with concern. She was clinging to her boy with fear actually on her features. She was eyeing the gun like it was a threat. The mastermind rolled his eyes and watched her roll her eyes in return.
"We found him," Nate explained.
Her face was perfectly void of emotion as she nodded in understanding. Sam looked towards her with confused eyebrows but she shook her head. Nate motioned for them to go ahead and she quickly obliged, pushing her son in front of her as she went. Then she suddenly pulled the boy behind her and pushed him into a corner.
Nate pointed the gun towards the area the grifter was staring at. Hardison was standing in the doorway with a gun in his hands. He looked towards the grifter with a demented smile on his face. Then he took note of his boss and lowered the gun slightly.
"Dammit Hardison," Nate growled, "Put the gun down. I thought you were one of Moreau's men for a minute there."
"Whoa man," Hardison pulled the gun away, "That's cold. Telling your trusty hacker that he's one of Moreau's men after everything I told you. I'm gonna remember this when this is all over."
"First Damien Moreau then we'll find your Nana," Nate promised softly. He couldn't help the slight edge to his voice. There was something wrong with his hacker. The tiny prickles on the back of his neck were telling him that much. He couldn't quite place it but there was something unnatural resting under the surface with him.
The mastermind shook his head. He would have to worry about that later. There were more important matters to think about. He waved the hacker to go ahead of him. Then he turned towards the grifter and her child. The grifter's eyes were wide with fear while her son looked on in confusion.
"What?" Nate asked.
"If my husband stole his Nana away then she is dead," Charlotte explained softly.
"Dad doesn't kill," Sam said, staring at his mother in confusion.
Charlotte stared at her boy with pity. She lightly ruffled his hair and nodded. She smiled and pushed him towards the exit. Then she realized the hacker was still waiting for them, not too far away. She went through the door first. Her eyes sent a silent plea towards the mastermind. He didn't know how but he had earned her trust as far as her child was concerned.
The mastermind took a deep breath and joined them in exiting the building. The hacker was leading them to the pier behind the safe house. Moreau's men were lying everywhere. There wasn't a single one of them that was left conscious, or alive. Eliot did his job to the fullest. He made certain his team wouldn't be harmed by any member of the enemy's team. He had no idea how honored Nate felt to have that kind of loyalty. But when all of this was over, he was going to make certain of it.
Moreau was being held by Parker and Eliot. There were handcuffs on his wrists and a chain in his mouth. He looked firmly displeased and Nate couldn't blame him. Apparently the man had royally ticked off his thief. That was always a disgracing sign. And unnecessary, if the unconscious pilot and bodyguard had anything to say about it.
"Release him," Nate ordered softly.
The thief obeyed him immediately and removed the chain from Moreau's mouth. The hitter remained unmoved.
"I can't let him go, Nate," he explained, "He'll kill you. I won't let that happen."
"It's alright, Eliot," the mastermind replied, slowly raising the gun in his hand, "I'll be fine."
The hitter acknowledged the order with a bob of his head. He released Moreau's cuffs and walked to his new boss' side. He crossed his arms as he watched his old boss. He was stating his side.
Damien laughed. He looked around him a laughed at the small group that ruined him. He laughed harder when he took note of the scrawny hacker to the mastermind's right. He tried to stop the laughter when his black eyes fell on the tiny blonde who managed to capture him. The laughter just kept coming when he finally took note of his old and new enemy.
"Dad," Sam called.
The laughter stopped. The features on his face fell. He turned towards his wife and child with true fear in his eyes. Then his evil eyes fell on his wife. They narrowed and a growl started ripping through his throat.
"I should have known," he said.
"Charlotte didn't plan this," Nate shouted towards the man.
The quake of anger in his voice wasn't fake. He knew Charlotte and Sophie had one rule in common. They would never cheat on their relationship, even if the other was doing so. That was why she threw herself at him to begin with. Rape was protocol. If she pretended she was cheating it would act as something she deserved. As her husband, Damien Moreau should have known that.
"So that was your plan," Damien grinned, still staring at his wife and child in hatred. "You're taking my family away from me. But who did I take from you?"
Nate expected the question to appear. He even practiced an answer for the occasion. He was all set to answer. He even had his mouth wide open and ready to speak. But somebody decided to beat him to it.
"Jimmy Ford," Charlotte explained, "Apparently the man was his father. I told you we should have fired that hacker of yours. He didn't even bother to see if the man had someone to extract revenge before we blew him up."
Nate stared at the grifter in awe. Her son seemed to be doing the same thing. Both were astounded by her simple way of speaking about a dead old man. She didn't even flinch at the mention of his name. Poor Sam looked sick from the information. He was starting to figure out exactly what kind of people his parents really were. He looked so devastated, like Sophie after a failed play.
"I saw the picture in your wallet right behind your ex-wife," Charlotte said. There was even the smallest hint of apology in her voice. That made the mastermind's heart soar. It was impossible, but she was changing. There was still hope.
"So this is just old-fashioned revenge," Moreau huffed, "I'm kind of disappointed. I was hoping for something more self-righteous."
"Actually that was last time," Nate shrugged, "I decided to be a little less subtle this time around."
"You call kidnapping my wife, invading my home and stealing my son subtle?" Moreau laughed, "You need a new definition."
"Nate," Parker hissed.
"I know, Parker," Nate nodded, "I know."
"So what happens next?" Moreau demanded nonchalantly, "Are you going to kill me?"
"I'm thinking about it," the mastermind replied, "but I kind of promised your son I wouldn't. Nice touch ordering him to try and kill me by the way. Too scared to do it yourself?"
"He's almost a man," Moreau huffed, "It's time he started learning the truth about the family business, don't you think?"
"He's fourteen!" Nate hissed, "He shouldn't even be around guns. He should be worrying about getting good grades in school, girls and getting ready for college. Not playing with people's lives."
"Ooh, you are a self-righteous bastard, aren't you?" Moreau laughed, "Tell me, do you practice what you preach? Have you left my wife untouched?"
"Stop," Sam begged, breaking away from his mother's hold just enough to step in between his father and the gun. Charlotte was there in seconds, pulling him away.
"Please, just let him go," he said.
"No, Sam," Charlotte ordered. She pulled him into her embrace again. Then she forced him towards the sidelines and refused to let go.
"You just missed your shot, Ford," Moreau sighed, "Because now I know you're bluffing."
The mastermind fired the gun into the air. He smiled and pointed it back at his enemy. He shrugged and waited for the next stage of the game.
"Are you sure?" Nate asked, "Because I've got four bullets left if I counted right. You gave your son a revolver for protection. What kind of man does that? It's my father's too if memory serves correctly."
"Go ahead," Moreau sneered, "Make it interesting. I'm sure you can make me suffer with my family watching by the edge of the pier."
"Dad, no!" Sam shouted. He stretched out his hand towards his father imploringly. Yet, his mother's nails forced him to stay where he was this time around.
"Please," Charlotte begged with actual fear in her voice again. She was gripping Sam's shoulders tightly, her knuckles white. Her eyes were glued to the gun pointing at her husband. "Not in front of his son. I'll do anything you want just not in front of his son."
Nate stared at the grifter for a few moments. He felt the now all too familiar twinge of jealousy at the way she feared her current lover's death. Then his eyes fell on the bright brown eyes of her son. The child was staring at him with horror all over his features. He was shaking in his mother's arms and gripping her white hands tightly. He looked so much like his mother at that moment it was astounding. Her cheeks, her lips, he even had the grifter's warm eyes. Everything else seemed to be dominated by Damien Moreau but that face was all Sophie Devereaux.
Nate looked back to his greatest enemy and sighed. "Parker," he said, "Please take Sam somewhere safe and away from here. Charlotte's right. He shouldn't have to watch this."
He felt more than saw the thief's nod at his instructions. Children were always her weakness, just like Eliot. She couldn't hurt them because they were so similar to her. She would protect an heir to evil because he was innocent.
He turned his eyes on the boy and noticed the way the grifter held him so tight to her chest. The love was still there, buried deep within her heart she was still the same whether she was aware of it or not. Sam just looked between his mother, his father and the man with the gun in fear of what was happening. There was acceptance as well if only because his mother was pushing him towards it but he still seemed upset about losing his father. That spoke volumes about the kind of parents Charlotte and Damien were. It was important.
Nate waited until the thief had taken the boy safely away before he continued. He stared his enemy directly in the eyes and made a very important decision about himself. "I'm not going to kill you," he said, "But I am going to punish you."
"Punish me?" Moreau laughed, "And how do you plan on doing that without killing me?"
"Prison," Nate remarked, "And where I will be sending you is not going to be pleasant."
"You're not going to kill him?" Hardison growled, "He's a known terrorist, man!"
"He's also a father," Nate hollered, "and because of that I can't kill him. Besides, the absolute worst thing I can do is send him away in a prison with people he put there in some way or another."
"Where would that be?" Moreau demanded, "I have men all over the world willing to help me. Where could you possibly send me that isn't in my loyalty?"
"San Lorenzo," the mastermind replied.
Moreau's jaw dropped and even Charlotte had to gasp at the suggestion. His cocky smile was gone as his arrogance was flaring. Everything about the man and the way he was acting suggested just how riled up he was by the simple suggestion.
"Even as we speak Ribera is being removed from office," Nate smiled at his plan. "His enemy is moving in and as a special favor to me he will be signing a document for your arrest. Eliot and the rest of my crew will be taking you there immediately."
"You can't do this!" Moreau howled, "I own their papers, I own their government! You can't remove me."
"What's the best way to remove a King from his throne?" Eliot countered. Moreau stared at him with betrayal flaming in his eyes. The hitter just rolled his eyes and grinned. "You declare Independence. San Lorenzo doesn't want to belong to you anymore."
"So it's your choice," Nate explained, "You can stay here and get arrested and try your chance in the U.S. with extradition treaties with every single one of the countries looking forward to killing you. Or San Lorenzo where everybody will forget you."
Moreau took a deep breath and glared at the mastermind. "Well-played," he said.
Nate smiled at the distant sound of a private jet in the air. He lowered his gun but he refused to move it from his enemy's sight. He needed to make certain Moreau got on that plane. He couldn't afford failing Sam, not when Sophie was his mother. The boy deserved to live outside of his father's shadow, to choose his own path.
"The jet's ready," Hardison called.
"May I say good-bye?"
Charlotte's voice filtered through the air like a soft, velvet wind. She sounded professional but sad too. She knew she was losing her husband but she wasn't losing her son. She was mainly upset over the loss of power and the fact that she and her husband were outsmarted by an unforeseen force.
Nate allowed his eyes to meet hers. The coldness was softer now but those brown eyes were still charcoal black. He nodded his head and watched as the woman moved effortlessly towards her husband. Even in this reality she still moved like a queen.
Moreau watched his wife as she moved towards him. There was a worried little frown on his face and nervousness in his every stance. But his eyes did sparkle at her close proximity. She stood before him and his hands immediately found her waist. Her hands were on his cheeks instantly. Their mouths became one as they shared a passionate kiss.
The mastermind felt his heart squeeze at the reaction. The two were clicking their tongues together with absolutely no consideration for what was going on around them. Moreau was probably aware of everything going on too. Nate wasn't exactly good at hiding his feelings from everybody in this world.
A shot rang out and echoed through the whole pier. Nate's gun dropped at the horrendous sound. His heart stopped and sweat began to spout from every pore in his body. Time stood still as he felt a horrendous scream threaten to tear its way out of his mouth. Moreau and his wife were too entangled in one another to figure out who fired the weapon.