A/N: Hi everybody! Sorry this chapter is out so late. The story took a bit of a detour and I had to get it back on track. The rest should be out in regular intervals now, though I make no promises.

I don't own Leverage or any of the characters in these pages, except for those of my own creation. I write for fun and not for profit. I don't write slash. I hope you enjoy the chapter, and that you drop in to let me know what you think. Thank you.

Chapter 21

The tension in the room was so thick Eliot thought he could probably get out his knife and cut it. If he were honest with himself, he had to admit that Doc had helped the team considerably, and he knew he should be grateful to her for that. He knew he was being childish getting angry that she stepped in while he was unconscious to see that they were protected, but he couldn't help it.

Doc pulled him out of his reverie when she spoke.

"How's Parker?"

"I don't know. Parker's hard to read sometimes. I should probably be asking you that."

"You know her better than I do, but I'll know more after we've talked."

"Fair enough." He fell silent, and Doc knew he was still angry.

A moment later, the door opened and Parker came through it, looking as small as Eliot had ever seen her. Without a word, she sat down next to Eliot, who put his arm around her shoulders and whispered something in Parker's ear—something Doc couldn't make out.

Doc leaned forward and looked Parker in the eyes. "Are you ready?"

She nodded, and didn't speak.

"Tell me what you remember about Kelley."

"He was just a boy. I don't know. I didn't know there was gonna be a quiz later."

"Close your eyes." Parker stared at her. Doc stared back, impassively. Parker closed her eyes.

"Picture him in your mind. What did he look like?"

"He was beautiful—fluid and graceful but also handsome and strong. He had chestnut brown hair that shone like spider's silk, and golden brown eyes. He had a manner about him that drew other street kids to him. He protected me, like he was my big brother. I felt safe with him."

"Why?"

"He protected me from other boys on the street—made sure I had a place to sleep near his, shared food with me, let me hang out with his group of older kids, taught me how to survive on the street."

"For how long?"

"About a month. Maybe two. I had just run away from my last foster home, and wasn't used to living on the streets."

"How old were you?"

"Twelve. Thirteen, maybe."

"Wait," Eliot interrupted. "I thought you met Archie at 13."

Parker nodded. "I did. I was almost fourteen. I had just gotten out of Juvie when I met Archie."

"How old was Kelley?" Eliot asked.

"Seventeen."

"Were there other girls in Kelley's group?" Doc asked quietly.

"A few. Not many. And they never stayed long."

Doc and Eliot exchanged glances and he wore a very forbidding expression.

"What makes you think it was Kelley who abducted you?"

"I knew him." She saw the way they were looking at her, and continued. "I know it sounds strange. I mean, I only spent a month with him when he was a boy, and never saw him again after that, but I know it was him. The only explanation I have is that I had to learn to survive on the streets, and that taught me how to read a person's body language—their intentions—their mannerisms very well. Those things are more unique to individuals than you might think."

Eliot nodded at Doc and she nodded back. What Parker said made sense. It was the same reason Eliot could tell what a person had done in almost any branch of the military by some distinctive feature of that person's physicality or appearance. When your survival depended on knowing things about people, it was wise to learn quickly.

"And he called me by name," Parker said, pulling them out of their thoughts.

"What happened while you were being held recently?"

Parker hung her head and didn't answer. Doc's eyes bored a hole in her. Eliot reached out to touch her, and Doc shook her head sternly and he pulled his hand back like she had slapped it.

"Parker?" Doc asked. Parker didn't look up. Nor did she speak.

"Parker, look at me." Slowly, Parker raised her head and looked at Doc, and it was then that both Eliot and Doc saw the silent tears tracing paths down her cheeks. "You need to say it, to take away any power it has over you." Doc nodded to Eliot, who reached out and took Parker's hands in his.

She looked as though she was trying to form the words, and then she shook her head and folded in on herself. "Parker?" Eliot asked softly. "We just want to help you, Darlin'. Will you tell me what happened?" She tried. She really did. But she just couldn't do it. She couldn't explain to the man she considered a big brother that she had allowed herself to be abducted and raped and hadn't successfully fought them off. Her cheeks flushed with shame and embarrassment, and not really stopping to think too much about what she was doing, she rose and fairly ran from the room, making a small, high pitched squeaking sound as she went.

(0o0)

Hardison was hard at work and completely in his element doing the evil-genius-y things that he often complained the team took for granted. Truth be told, he wouldn't be anywhere else at this point, nor would he want to be doing anything else, but it never hurt to remind the team of his contributions. There were over 300 Kelleys spread across the state, but he managed to eliminate most of them by filtering out the ones who were too old or too young and those who were female. Finally, after several hours of work, he had the list narrowed down to fifteen names. Then, he eliminated the ones who could not possibly be where the women abducted were at the time the incidents happened, and also the ones whose geographic location was too remote to make them the likely abductors. He sat staring at the list of seven names for a long time.

"Is this the short list?" Nate's voice pulled him out of his reverie with a start, handing him a fresh orange soda and cradling his own coffee.

"Yes, but I don't know where to go from here. All of them seem equally likely."

"We go into their histories—find out if one particular person frequents the area where we found Parker more than the others do. We go into their backgrounds—make sure they've all existed before now, and have legitimate records to back up those statements. As a last resort, we talk to all of them—give them enough rope to hang themselves. We find those bastards and bring them to justice. For Parker. That's where we go from here."

A few moments later, Hardison yelped with glee and practically danced over to the printer, retrieving the paper in the tray and waving it above his head in glee. "Found him. Bam."

Nate couldn't believe it. "I'm sorry, but did you just say you found him?"

Hardison nodded, grinning from ear to ear. He handed the paper to Nate and said, "Well, what are you waiting for man? Let's go."

"Not so fast. What makes you think this is the place?"

"You really don't appreciate what I do, do you? None of you."

"Hardison," Nate growled, feeling like he was channeling Eliot as he did so.

"A'ight. Look bra, this Kelley," he said, pointing to a picture on the screen, "he appeared not long after this one vanished, or died, as the story goes. The warehouse district is his stomping ground. It's a double whammy." He looked sideways at Nate when he realized the mastermind wasn't rushing out the door, and in fact, hadn't made a move to leave. "What are you waiting for, an engraved invitation? I've done my job. Now it's time for the cavalry to go rushing in."

"Say, just say for a moment that you're right. We can't just go rushing in, as you say. They've been way too careful on this job. They'll spot us coming a mile away, and hunker down somewhere to wait it out. No, we have to take them by surprise."

"And exactly how do you propose we do that?" Hardison asked.

"Eliot!" The two men said together.