Disclaimer: I don't know why I have to keep doing this! I just told you earlier that I don't own Leverage, and that didn't change in the course of five hours! Oh well…I don't own Leverage…forgive me Timothy Hutton…forgive me…
A/N: Okay guys, this is the longest chapter yet…and my favorite…aside from the first one…It answers a lot of questions…even though someone guessed it right…am I that obvious?! Oh well, enjoy!
Chapter 3: Getting Help
Five days later and Sophie's day started out very much the same, but when she ended up at the café for lunch and was sitting outside, enjoying her salad, something didn't feel quite right. It almost felt as though she was being watched. Looking around, she didn't see anything out of place and yet she couldn't quite shake that feeling.
She ate a little faster and instead of walking around for a while decided to just go back home. While she drove down the country road, she noticed a black car about a hundred feet behind her. Normally, she would have brushed this off as a couple on a day trip, except that Sophie realized something. That car had been across the street from the restaurant. Her pulse quickened involuntarily and she pressed down on the gas pedal a little harder.
Sophie breathed a sigh of relief when she pulled into her drive and the black car drove by without even slowing down. She sat in her car a minute, calming down, before climbing out and going inside. The first place she went? The kitchen…she needed a cup of tea.
Tea in hand, Sophie grabbed a book, Romeo and Juliet, from her bedroom and stepped out onto the patio. She sat back in her chair, basking in the warmth of the sun before picking up the play and beginning to read.
Sophie jerked awake, book open on her lap, and the sun was a little lower in the sky. She looked around, searching for what had woken her up. Turning towards the house, she noticed that one of the glass doors was slightly ajar.
Freezing in place, Sophie listened, but could not hear anything. She stood and slowly made her way into the houses. Walking into the kitchen she saw the refrigerator door was open and there was a pair of jeans peeking out underneath. Sophie was about to scream, to demand what this person was doing there, when a voice issued forth in a southern drawl.
"You got any bottled water in here darlin'?"
Sophie almost collapsed when the door closed and her eyes met Eliot's.
"What on earth are you doing here? I told Nate not to try and find me," she said, walking over to the fridge and opening the other side, pulling out a bottle and handing it to him.
"Nate…Nate didn't have anything to do with this. We need your help Sophie," Eliot said, twisting open the cap and taking a large drink.
"Who's 'we'?" Sophie asked slowly, leaning against the counter.
"Me and Hardison…and Nate and Parker," he finished, sighing and rubbing his eyes.
"Where are they?" she asked.
"Hardison's passed out in your living room, sorry, didn't know where else to put him. And the other two…we're not one hundred percent sure, but we know what city they're in."
Sophie paused, staring at Eliot as he met her gaze. "I think you had better tell me what is going on," she said carefully.
Eliot sighed and looked at her sadly. "Sophie, it would be easier for me to show you, but it's going to be hard to watch."
"Eliot, show me, tell me, I don't care, just let me know what's going on!" Sophie exclaimed. He looked her over , sizing her up, before nodding and leading her to the living room.
Hardison was sitting on the couch, head thrown back, snoring loudly. The grifter walked over and while Eliot snatched up a duffle bag at Hardison's feet, she pulled the blanket off the back of the couch and draped it over the younger man gently.
"Come on," she whispered, "we can go in my study."
Leading Eliot down the hall, Sophie pushed open one of the doors and ushered him into her sanctuary.
It was like a small library, with various paintings and sculptures scattered around the room for décor. Against the wall to the right were a couple chairs, a couch and in front of them was a large plasma screen television set with a full entertainment system.
"I'm guessing it's security footage," Sophie said, taking the DVD case Eliot offered her and walking over to the system, popping it into the six DVD changer.
"You might want to sit down," Eliot suggested as he himself too one of the chairs.
"I'll stand, thank you Eliot," she retorted, snapping at him a bit. His behavior was starting to freak her out and she didn't react well when she was freaking out. Instead, the grifter stood there, arms crossed over her chest as she watched the footage.
She felt her eyes well up with tears as she watched Nate be overtaken by a brute in a suit, crying out in shock and pain when another man hit him over the head with the butt of a gun, causing him to go limp.
Four other men walked in, bringing the total of invaders to six. Nate was released and fell to the floor like a rag doll. Two of the men walked over and picked Nate up, carrying him towards the door.
All of a sudden, a black and gold blur slid onto the screen and knocked the thug to the ground. Sophie realized it was Parker as the thief took down one of them en carrying Nate and grabbed her boss, slinging him over her shoulder and running down the hall. The screen cut to black and shifted to footage of the screening room.
One of the men had moved there and was in the room just inside the doorway. When Parker tried to move through the room, this man struck her, sending her and Nate to the floor. Sophie watched as Parker crouched and spread her arms wide, protecting Nate. Blood was streaming from Parker's nose as the man who had hit her walked forward, crouched down in front of her and paused for a few moments before punching Parker in the side of the head and sending her to the floor unconscious.
The screen cut to black and this time stayed that way. Sophie stood there, shocked into silence, and she heard footsteps cross the floor and she was turned around and embraced by a pair of strong arms.
"We're gonna get them back," he said firmly. "They're gonna be fine."
Sophie nodded and collected herself. "When did this happen?" she asked.
"Six days ago."
"You said you knew where they are. Where?" she asked, pulling back. "And what took you so long to get here?!" she exclaimed, slapping his arm.
"You're hard to track when you don't want to be found. Luckily though, I figured you would be in Paris, so we just drove around trying to spot you. Finally, we did."
"The black car?"
"Yeah, we figured you would be freaked if we just pulled in, so we circled back around."
"Eliot, where are they?" Sophie demanded.
"Kiev," the retrieval specialist replied. "They were taken to Kiev."
"As in…the Butcher of Kiev?" she whispered.
Eliot sighed, nodding. "Actually, it's his son. He wants revenge for me killing his dad at the Mosconi wedding. We should just be glad that I wasn't at the office when they attacked," he muttered.
"Why?"
"Because we wouldn't be having this conversation right now. I don't think I could have taken down six of those guys, not in a surprise attack like this, and Sophie, they wouldn't have taken prisoners. That's the cold hard truth."
They stood there in silence and Sophie finally shivered, seeming to break out of a trance. "Alright, this is what we're going to do. We're going to book a flight to Kiev for first thing in the morning," she said, taking a deep breath in order to remain calm and think clearly. She trembled for a moment and went on. "I'm betting you two haven't gotten sufficient food or rest since this started, as proven by the passed out hacker on my couch. So, I'm going to get you some real food, some new clothes and you're going to get some rest. We'll need to be at our best for tomorrow," Sophie said, and even to Eliot, her tone left no room for argument.
"Alright Sophie," Eliot replied, nodding his head.
"Now go on upstairs, the guest bedroom are on the left. Get some rest. I'll book the tickets, order food and come wake you up when it gets here. Go."
Eliot nodded and left the study, leaving Sophie to her thoughts. As soon as she knew he was gone, she sank into a chair and buried her face in her hands and started to cry.
Who knew what they were doing to Nate and Parker while they were being held captive.
"Oh Nate, I'm so sorry I left you…" she sobbed quietly. "I'm so sorry."
It took a while of her sitting there to finally calm her down. Then, she steeled herself and left the study, going to do everything she needed to in order to get ready.
It was two in the morning and Sophie was lying in bed, wide awake. She couldn't sleep, she couldn't stop thinking about Nate. If she closed her eyes, she saw him on the video, struggling for breath or unconscious on the floor and it hurt. She felt like her heart was being ripped from her chest.
She was curled up on her side, tear tracks on her cheeks the only evidence that she had cried until there were no tears left to shed.
Slowly, Sophie reached over and picked the photo up from the nightstand and hugged it to her chest. She curled around it as much as was possible, trying to find some comfort.
She tried to imagine that day again, them laughing in the sun on a rock wall in Tuscany. She had been there stealing another couple paintings for her collections and he of course had been there to 'stop her'…if stopping her included taking her out to dinner and out for a night on the town.
Sophie imagined him laughing as he held her tight, and there in her bed, she could feel his arms wrapping around her, pulling her against his chest.
"Nate," she whispered into the darkness.
"Sleep Sophie, just sleep," she heard him whisper in her ear.
The grifter sighed, hugging the photo to her tighter as she finally drifted off into a fairly peaceful sleep.
The next morning found three fifths of the team boarding a plane to fly to Kiev. Eliot and Sophie were acting as an aunt and her nephew while Hardison was you normal everyday passenger…who just so happened to have won the lottery and was flying first class.
"When this is resolved Hardison, your butt's mine," Eliot muttered.
Sophie gave a sad grin and stared out the window, touching the cool glass. "We're on our way you two, just hold on," she whispered. "Please Nate, just hold on."
A/N: There's chapter 3, review and show me you love me!
