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Parker vanished exactly forty seven seconds after they began to climb the embankment.
Gone.
Eliot didn't flinch, keeping his eyes forward as he climbed, trying to give her as much time as possible before the sniper realised he had his cross hairs settled on an abandoned jacket draped over an overhanging branch.
Man she was lightning. A surge of pride coursed through him, that she knew to react so quickly, knowing that the steep incline was their best option to attempt escape as the snipers were hampered by the scrub and overhanging branches in the deepening dark of the evening.
That's my girl, he thought. Even as murderous intentions fuelled his veins, he knew it was true. She was his girl. The bastard who had aimed a bullet toward her brain was going to discover what a stupid life choice that had been very soon. Parker was smart and quick. She let him do his thing on jobs mostly, stepping back from the spray of limbs, sometimes acting as a distraction if needed, or applying a swift heel to a skull on occasion. She trusted him to do his work; even when they clashed, both respected the others skills. That worked for them now.
She had an advantage with the dark jacket, but had traded the camouflage it gave for the chance it afforded and he approved.
There were a dozen questions he wanted to bark at Scarlet but he kept silent praying that Parker had found a safe spot to hole up in.
He only had a short window to act in, since the sniper would detect the trick in a matter of seconds.
Pooling the centre of calm he required, he channelled his breathing and counted. On three, he dropped and rolled into the brush to his right, snagging his skin on the sharp branches, and ignoring the sharp bite of torn skin. His paranoia reared it's head when no shot rang out in his wake. He schooled it, since it wouldn't help immediate matters. Heart rate settling into a beat he knew well, he lost the waistcoat and shirt, since the white would be a luminous sign in the dark and crawled on his stomach up the steep slope using the undergrowth as cover. Eliot was aware that he may kill. That the choice may not be his. He made peace with it matter of factly. The snipers were not window dressing. The sickening crack of a shot fired into the glade below caused his lungs to crash, imagining Parker, bloodied, wounded, worse. He refused to believe she had been caught. It was a warning. Well bring it on he thought grimly, smiling to himself in the dark. He knew where one of the bastards was hiding now.
He approached from behind, stealth itself, and caught the enemy combatant in a choke hold, his arm muscles straining as the guy responded with clawed fingers. Eliot kneed him in the back and sent him sprawling face first, kicking the rifle from its position and booting the sniper in the face with a crunch of bone in the same fluid movement. He felt utterly still inside, as he always did when violence took over and his instincts battered his skin bloody from within. It was always a fine line between discipline and destruction. He had crossed it before, but wouldn't again.
The black clad figure now prone on the forest floor had the hair on his neck standing however as he took in the clothing and the sniper nest set up. His gut squeezed. The rifle was dissembled in short order, and useless in seconds. A thread of panic edged his control now, now he understood. He couldn't allow this to escalate. Had to ensure Parker didn't get embroiled in this shit. Oh man this was a bad situation. Very bad.
He slipped the guys ear piece from his unconscious body and tried to decipher what if anything, could be heard. Static. Shit. Crouching down he removed the black jacket from the body and slipped it on, checking the man's pulse as he did so. Not dead. Good. Last thing he needed was them having that to hang over him. Stay down Parker he thought, willing her to hear him where ever she was. Stay down and shut up till this is done. He fought the swell of emotion just thinking of the blonde thief inspired, and clamped it tight. Cold. Calm. Machine. That's what he was when needed, and that's what he would be now. Scarlet could kiss his ass he decided as he crept through the shadowy undergrowth of the forest clinging to the incline.
The second sniper caught him on approach, and they traded blows in the half light, rifle clattered away to the floor impatiently by Eliot's swift hands. The wound on his arm was taking a battering as he defended against punches and split open again. An uppercut to the guys jaw should have took him down but the dude was tough, and not backing down. Eliot found his zone, balanced and quick as he avoided the other guys fists and feet, swooping his head to avoid a sharp kick and using the mistimed attack to step in and elbow the guys thigh, and smash a blow to his solar plexus with the heel of his palm. Fucker felt that. Still gasping as he fell to his knees Eliot cracked him in the head with a swift sharp back handed fist as he walked away, knowing from the impact, the guy was out.
Torso torn and scratched from the spiky twigs and branches choking the space between the tree trunks and shrubs, he could feel his side ache from a blow the bastard landed. His head pounded. Where was Scarlet? And where was Parker? He made sure to render the rifle the guy had trained on them minutes before, inoperable. He really disliked guns.
A female cry pierced the whispering forest hush and he abandoned the sniper's comatose body and his search of it and sped in the direction of the noise. Not Parker. It would not be Parker. His brain blanked out as he reached the source, from relief or horror he wasn't sure. So much for Parker not getting involved. She really was feisty his thief.
Scarlet was standing at the top of the track, looking down into the glade, her skin pale and her hands at her red dress. Her even redder red dress. Fuck. He could see the skewer protruding from her shoulder from a few feet away, and as he approached on silent feet, she looked at him glassy eyed.
"She stabbed me!"
He glanced around furtively, wondering where she was. His sexy blonde stabber of people. It made him grin involuntarily and Scarlet winced but got her game face on as she noted the smirk.
"Considering I could deport her to Yemen with a phone call, I would wipe that damn smile off your face Spencer." He raised an eyebrow and looked at her, thinking, fucking try it lady.
"So you guys resorting to this shit now? Spying and abduction?"
"Ironic I know. According to the file that's actually what you did for us isn't it?" She clutched her hand to her shoulder and the blood seemed to stop gushing, and he was pretty confidant she wouldn't bleed to death. Not a hundred percent but you know, shit happened in the woods. People fell onto abandoned meat skewers and pierced an artery all the time. Yessir they did.
He narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms as he decided she could spin before he got engaged in any smack talk over who was guiltier, him, or the government who had managed him for a while. The black jacket he had borrowed strained over his biceps, too tight.
Parker must be close. He wasn't entirely comfortable with her listening, not sure he wanted her knowing any more about his fucked up past and endless list of enemies. The team were aware of the hits out on his head already. Needn't add these ass holes to the list.
"What's with the Damien crap?"
She shrugged then winced and he smirked.
"A test."
"Oh? And did I pass?" He didn't give a damn but whatever this was he needed to know so he could tell her to get lost and report to her bosses that Eliot Spencer no longer did their dirty work. Hell no. One of the supposed snipers stumbled up the steep path and Eliot winked at him.
"With flying colours actually. I needed you off kilter. I was worried about the woman...Parker isn't it? I thought your skills would be diminished by concern for her in these circumstances but you are still the man whose file I read about five years ago. A heartless killer. You still don't get attached. It'll work."
"Couple'a things lady." Eliot raised his middle index finger at her."One, who the fuck are you?"
She met that with a stony face and he cocked his head, raising a second finger and offering her the two fingered salute.
"Two, Parker can take care of herself just fine. She handled you didn't she? Or have you not noticed the profuse bleeding and skewer currently sticking out of your right shoulder?" He chewed his lip, eyebrows raised as he waited for an answer not immediately forthcoming. The implication that he had just left Parker without a thought or concern really pissed him off. Jesus, she hadn't waited, just organised her own escape, the invisibility trick she could perform always impressive. It was hot as hell too. Being described as a heartless killer wasn't cool either. He found his gut tightening, as he pictured Parker hanging on a tree top somewhere above, listening to the redheads words. Then realised what a terrible mistake his own words had been. Oh man, what a rookie mistake. He wanted to kick himself as Scarlet zeroed in on him with a calculating stare. Nice one Eliot.
"I'm Agent Scarlet," yeah Eliot thought, what a crock,"and you, were a bonus discovery if you want the truth. The reason why-"
"Truth?" He barked an unpleasant chuckle, feeling hemmed in and annoyed."That'd be a first from an agent. I'll pass on the whys and settle for goodbyes. Fuck off."
"We'll expect you to answer when we call Spencer." She threw him a cell. He tossed it away.
"I am not your bitch. I'm done with that. So forget you ever found me. That's not a freakin' request either."
"Oh I don't think so. Not now we have leverage. Do the job we need you to do, or I will shop Parker to the highest bidder, what is it, nine countries she's wanted in? My hasn't she been a busy little bee?" She was a stone cold bitch this one. He appraised her, wondering how the hell she had gotten the job of handler.
"How'd a judges daughter get a gig like this darlin'? Not enough excitement at your bridge nights?"
"Hardly your business Spencer." She was getting colour back in her cheeks now, looking less waxy from blood loss. Then she glanced over his shoulder and he knew the second henchman was back on the scene. Test over, there would be no more violence. At least if they played nice. Which wasn't guaranteed. "I'm not a handler Spencer, I don't have the patience for it. What I am is a recruiter. You lone wolf types seem to enjoy acting like mountaineers when you aren't working. Cliché but true. I have no intention of letting the opportunity to bring Eliot Spencer back into the fold pass me by."
"So why not before huh? Why now?" He had met Scarlet a handful of times at events in the area when he was on down time, and figured her a predatory single woman intent on getting him into bed. Not interested he had swatted her off. He should have paid more attention damn it. His background checks on his neighbours had thrown up all sorts of hinky shit, these folks were others with pasts they wanted to forget, and living off the grid in the national park fit the bill. A recruiter in the locale made sense, yet he hadn't seen it coming. And certainly not the red head living off her daddies estate. Fuck it he had messed up. No point dwellin' on it now.
"People change Spencer. I wasn't entirely sure you were still suitable for our requirements and had no cause to push to find out." Man she talked about this shit like it was normal. Like people were chess pieces to be manoeuvred and sacrificed at will. Fucking agency could go jump. He was not being put on a leash again. Not being a pet monster. Never again. "I have a mission in the works and saw tonight as an opportunity I couldn't miss. Eliot Spencer bringing a woman to his bolt hole? Well I couldn't not poke that with a stick now could I?"
He clamped his teeth together, wishing he hadn't bought Parker here. Wishing a million things.
"And now we know." She smiled, and one of her guys had stepped up from behind Eliot and begun cleaning her shoulder. He glanced at Eliot who was wearing his jacket. Eliot willed him to ask for it back so he could bust his head again. Violence clawing inside him for release.
"You know nothing lady, so take your Uncle Sam rhetoric and find another guy to be your puppet. I cut my strings along time ago now." Painfully too. Being back on their radar sucked. He shouldn't have made his little speech about Parker. No freakin' way. Scarlet had rankled him with her pointed comments that he was heartless and like a schmuck he had bit. Since when did he give a shit what they thought? And he swallowed at his own stupidity, knowing damn well it was Parker's little ears somewhere in the forest he had been speaking to. Her opinion of him that mattered so much he had royally screwed it.
"Oh come off it Spencer. Enough. We both know you'll comply. A background check on your girlfriend-"
"She's not my girlfriend." Gritted teeth and a deep rage tore through him. She wasn't. Yet he had still managed to put her in danger because of him.
"Really? What are we Spencer fourteen? You play ball or Parker becomes my agencies number one priority. Do you know how many doors I could open with her as a bargaining chip for the countries she has humiliated? She took their national treasures, I could make my career from her capture alone. "
"But you won't." The agency did not work with other governments in an official capacity. They didn't need thieves on the payroll. They were that by trade themselves. No. They needed the Eliot's of the world for their particular missions.
"Not if you comply. I value the work you could do for us more highly at this time. That can always change of course."
Eliot wondered if his life would ever be his own again. He wondered if he would have signed up back then if he had known half the shit he did now. Then he wondered why he was wasting time thinking about what ifs. He bent down and retrieved the cell, and she smiled. He ignored the nausea in his stomach. The cage around him once more so tight he had to fight to breathe. Fuck him.
"Excellent. Answer when I call." The other goon had collected the destroyed weaponry and now both flanked Scarlet. Killing her would do no good. She had known he was here. Had ran checks on Parker. There was a trail that her death would encourage others to follow now. His fists cramped he held them so tightly. Despite his efforts to stop it, the memory of Parker, naked and wet, riding him in the pool slammed into his chest. Her smile and kisses and uncertainty, her ninja swiftness and propensity to find joy in a fucking piñata all crashed into his heart and brain and he knew he had to do whatever it took to keep her safe. Had to do what was necessary whilst he found a way to scrub her from their database. Which would take time. Parker knew how to run. Hell they all knew how to drop off the edge of the world when required. But could he do that? Force her to leave behind the team and give up the family she had discovered just to let him live his own life from under their thumb?
The answer was sharp and resounding as it screamed through his blood.
"If you run Eliot, we won't chase you. We'll chase her. And since the bitch stabbed me I am not sure what status I may apply to that order. To detain or delete? Such a tricky decision to make." Scarlet threw that parting shot over her shoulder and he stilled, his expression neutral. She vanished into the woods at the lip of the incline with her men. He stood and let the night sounds and scents wash over him. Man, what a weekend.
He didn't turn when he sensed Parker behind him, dropping from god knows where to the forest floor with a gentle thud. He didn't want to see the accusation in her eyes, or the disappointment. Shit, he had made love to her, and it had scored his soul and now she was going to regret it forever and it stung sharper than the cage bars being sprung about him to think that such a perfect memory could be so damn tainted. Selfish selfish bastard to want her to cherish it like he would, despite the consequences.
"Eliot." She stepped up to his back and put a hand on his shoulder. He didn't know what to say. Sorry didn't really cut it. And he wasn't sorry for what they had done, so the words would be a lie.
To his eternal shock, her small hands slipped around his waist and she pressed her cheek to his shoulder, her frame wrapping about him from behind, and he froze, thrown through a loop. Expecting anger and resentment and getting hugged instead short circuited his thoughts. She never did what he expected. His thief.
"Parker I-" He closed his eyes and let her hands on his heart ease the knot there, selfishly wanting this to last because it was all over before it began and he hadn't realised how much he had only wanted this to be the beginning till the choice had been snatched from him.
"I'm so sorry Eliot. I'm so sorry." Tears. He heard tears in her voice and felt like a monster. Why was she sorry? This wasn't her fault it was his. All his. For being arrogant enough to want things he had no right to, given his past and its ugliness. He turned and stroked her damp hair, letting her head nestle at his throat and she clung to him tight, ignoring the cuts and bruises beneath his jacket that her body against his pressed into.
"Nothing to be sorry for sweetheart. It's okay. I swear I will get you out of this. I'll find a way to get you-"
"What are you talking about?" She leant back in his arms and looked into his eyes, her own bright and sapphire sharp in the pervading moonlight. "I have to run Eliot. I'll vanish. I'm good at it don't worry. There's a reason none of those countries have me yet you know."
Eliot thought his heart couldn't break more than it had but damn it, it splintered in his chest and he gripped her tighter, rubbing his jaw against her hair. Remembering what it looked like fanned out in the pool as he pounded into her. Fuck him he was an animal. He had never felt less worthy of anything his whole life.
"Parker you can't run. You want to leave the team behind? Nate, Sophie, Hardison?" He wanted to add me ?, but stopped himself. He had done enough damage. She was so better off without these complications it was untrue. This was over and it hurt to admit more than he was willing to 'fess up to. "If we ran-"
"You can't run. The team need you. Nate needs you. If you disappear Scarlet will use Cory and Maria and anyone else she can to get you back so you need to stick around to stop her. To keep them safe." Her words sparked new fears, but he was confidant that Scarlet would avoid using citizens in her manipulations. Parker had a weight in the world that meant Scarlet could target her legitimately. It was clean and orderly, and the agency liked clean and orderly. But the fact Parker worried about them tugged at him, and regret was poison in his veins. He was back on their radar all right but Boston appeared safe for now. Sterling wouldn't deal with these guys, so his silence whilst not assured, was not an issue. Not since they had so much shit on him for the Fabergé Egg job that had got him so much fucking attention anyhow.
"You want to be alone Parker? You really want to lose the life you've made? No. You don't. So stop talking about it 'cos it ain't happenin'." He swore, as she went quiet in his arms, and sighed, knowing the full implications had hit her and that the anger was bound to erupt any second. He wanted her to be angry at him. Wanted her to beat him with those hands curled at his back because it's what he deserved, not her sympathy or empathy. Things he would never have even thought Parker capable of once, but wasn't he a dick for that assumption?
"I don't want to leave Eliot." She sighed at his throat, her breathe tickling him, and his gut clenched because the urge to kiss her and take her was still there, live in his veins. What an ass hole he was.
She tipped back again to find his eyes, and he knew his desire was raw in them, feeling ashamed at the knowledge. "But I'd rather be alone than the reason you are owned by them. I couldn't live with it."
And Eliot Spencer stared down at his thief and swallowed past the lump in his throat, all out of words once more, as he realised that he was already owned. Completely. Her heart was bigger than anyone knew, and the fact she would sacrifice such things for him, well he couldn't comprehend such loyalty. He wasn't sure what he had done to earn it, or deserve it. And cherished it anyway.
He kissed her, letting his lips move over hers with all the emotion swelling inside, transforming the rage into something sweet and lush and she opened up, kissing him back, as if he weren't all the dark things in the shadows, but the light chasing them away and he knew it was a goodbye. She was soft and firm and he wanted her again with a fierceness that shook him. He'd just have to live with that.
This was all it could be. He held her tight and took his time, teasing her and playing with her, letting her smiles into the kiss and nips on his lips imprint on his memory. Back in Boston, he would not get to do this. This was a goodbye to a road he wouldn't walk down again. She would not want the man he needed to be in order to keep her safe.
And he would. He would be that man in a heartbeat.