Chapter 2: Gone
Hardison and Parker left the scene with a name. They decided to call the office, if anything, to give Nate a little more hope. Hardison pulled a disposable cell out of his jacket pocket and dialed.
"Got anything Hardison?" Eliot sounded rougher than usual but Hardison decided that it could be from being stuck with a very despondent Nate.
"Yea we got a name, Vladamire Gorbachev from Russia. Got here yesterday. Must have grabbed her right after getting off the plane."
There was a long silence before Eliot spoke again. "Any idea why he took her?"
"Cops said she probably got involved with the wrong type of guy. Let Nate know alright?"
"Got it. Look Gorbachev up before you get back, call when you know more."
"Yea sure."
They both hung up at the same time. Hardison spent a little while thinking before he realized he wasn't being interrupted. He looked over to the driver's seat and realized Parker was not in the car. He panicked for a second before he saw her across the street licking a massive amount of relish off a hotdog. It's amazing how clueless parker is when it comes to how to act around people. Before his mind could start to wander he honked the horn to call her over. She threw out the now plain hotdog and skipped over to the car leaving a stunned hotdog vendor in her wake.
*~*~*~*
Eliot snapped his phone shut and shoved it into his pocket. Truth was, he was not going to tell Nate the name. He was not going to be here when Hardison called again. Hardison could call the office after he finds more information and then he can tell Nate. Eliot knew the name and while Hardison and Parker were out he found an address. He stayed in the office for the night to avoid a fight. But the idiot took Maggie. No idea why he took her but Eliot did not care.
He walked out of his office and through the conference room. "Need to go take care of something," Eliot said in the direction of Sophie and Nate who were still sitting quietly on the couch. They didn't reply as Eliot shut the front door behind him.
*~*~*~*
Fifteen minutes went by in the office neither of them saying a word, before the phone rang. Sophie picked up, "Hello".
"Soph? Hey, I found more info on our guy. He got here yesterday under the name of his-"
Sophie cut him off, "Hardison, wait, what are you talking about?"
"What? Eliot was supposed to tell you we got a name. Where is he? I need to give him a firm talking to."
"You got a name? That's fantastic, tell me what you know and we'll tell Eliot to head over when he gets back."
"Where'd he go?"
"I don't know. He left about 15 or 20 minutes ago, said he had to take care of something." Her growing frustration with Hardison's questions and Nate watching her hopefully made her miss the panic in Hardison's voice.
"Yea alright." He got Sophie caught up and said goodbye. He quickly called Eliot's cell and hung up when it went straight to voice mail.
"What's wrong?" Parker tilted her head in concern and confusion.
"Eliot left right after we gave him the name. You think the guy that took Maggie is the 'friend' Eliot was avoiding last night?"
"Sound like it's possible. His phone must be off of you wouldn't look this freaked. We can see if we can find where Gorbachev is when we get back to the office ok?"
Hardison nodded as they sped down random quiet side streets home. "Right, it's not like he can't take care of himself. Right?" He tried to convince himself that nothing was wrong but he could not imagine someone so bad that Eliot would hide from him.