Sophie pressed her hands down covering the expanding crimson stain on the white shirt. Her hands were soon covered in blood, but she didn't care, she needed to stop it. She needed…

"Eliot" she called in pain. "I need help"

One hour before…

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Sophie asked nervously as she watched Nate zip the duffle bag closed. The money was safely tucked inside, it hadn't been difficult to put the sum together, they all had a secret stash for emergencies.

"It has to work" he answered picking up the bag. "Has anyone of my plans ever failed?" he replied humoring her.

She eyed him with her eyebrow raised. "Do you I really need to answer that?" she knew he was trying to relax her and she was grateful for that, but it didn't help with the bad feeling she had in the pit of her stomach.

"Everything is set up" Hardison suddenly exclaimed from his position. They all put their ear buds and got ready.

"Let's go!" Nate finally announced opening the door of his apartment.

The warehouse where Travis Black had set the exchange wasn't so far. They had all the time for Eliot and Parker to hide and assess the situation. They arrived with both the van and a car. Hardison was monitoring all frequencies from the van hidden behind a second building while Nate and Sophie were sitting in the car waiting for Black to show up.

"You know we can just give him the money and let him go" Sophie said turning her head towards Nate.

"He's not going to leave us alone. He will ask for more money. I know his type." Nate commented without taking his eyes off the warehouse. "Also, he's not getting away for whatever he has done to our daughter."

"Sometimes I hate your sense for revenge." She muttered back.

This time he turned around to face her. "What's your problem, Sophie?" he couldn't understand why she had been so against his plan.

She shook her head. "I don't know… I just have the…"

In that moment Travis van arrived and parked the vehicle right in front of the warehouse. The man got out and looked around.

"You stay in the car" Nate ordered Sophie while he got out, the duffle bag in his hand. He slowly approached the other man.

"Oh, it's mister Daddy!" Travis grinned.

"Where's Amy?" Nate shouted at him.

"She's in the back of the van. Is that my money?" he pointed at the bag eagerly waiting for it.

"I want to see Amy first"

Travis gave him an evil smile. "You think you're in charge here. Okay, I'll humor you… for now" He opened the back door of the van. "Get out!" he ordered the girl.

Soon Amy scrambled outside. She still had her pajamas on and she was shivering form the cold weather. She had tried to stay strong, but now she was scared. She knew what Travis was capable of.

"Nate" she cried when she saw her father. She tried to go to him, put Travis grabbed her arm.

"No so fast, girl"

Nate's fist tightened. He so wanted to punch the guy. "Amy, are you okay?" he asked gently.

The girl slowly nodded. "I want to go home" she sniffed.

"Soon, I promise" he smiled at her.

"Okay, enough with the family reunion. I want my money!" Black shouted.

Nate glared at him, but then he threw the bag at the man's feet. Travis kneeled down to open the bag with one hand while he the other was still around Amy's arm. He smiled when he saw the bills. "I trust I don't have to count these"

"You have our money… now let Amy go"

"You know… I'm quite impressed with the way you came with all this money so fast… I wonder if you have more… I mean, this will only get me out of trouble, why not have something for my… retirement."

"That was not the deal!" Nate hissed angrily.

"Yes well…" the man shrugged. "The deal is off. I want another quarter of a million" he said taking a gun out from behind his back and pointing it first at Nate then at Amy "or she dies."

"Nate, just give us the go!" the mastermind heard Eliot through comms. "I'm ready to break all the bones in his body"

Nate saw the hitter's head peak from behind Travis's van. Eliot had managed to get in position during Nate and Travis's exchange.

"Not yet" he whispered. He didn't want to take a risk while the man had a gun pointed out at his daughter.

"Hmm… guys…" they suddenly heard Hardison. "we have company."

In that moment three cars came rushing towards them. The tires making loud noise on the ground lifting a veil of dirt and sand.

"Who is this?" Travis shouted "Did you call the police?"

"I don't know what you're talking about" Nate was caught by surprise, this was definitely not in the plan.

Soon the men came out of the car and Travis panicked when he recognized who it was.

"Travis, my man!" a muscular tall tattooed man stepped closer to him. He had a thick Spanish accent and Eliot soon told them they were from a gang, probably a drug cartel.

"Julio" Travis stammered. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, one of my men just flees town without paying or give me the drugs back. Where else would I be?" He smirked sarcastically. "Are you enjoying Boston?"

"Nate, we need to get Amy away from there." Sophie told him.

"I'm working on it" he knew the situation was about to escalate and he didn't want Amy in the cross fire. "Look," he approached the group trying to get closer to Amy. "I don't know what the proble is here. I paid you and now I want my daughter back"

Suddenly six guns were pointed at him "Who are you?" the man called Julio shouted at him.

Nate put his hands up in surrender "I'm just a concerned father. Travis here kidnapped my daughter and demand money. I paid him and now I just want her back. We'll just leave here and you can continue. I don't want trouble, just go home"

Julio looked from Nate to Travis and finally he noticed the scared little girl. "So now you're into kidnaping little innocent girls, Travis!" Julio pointed the gun at the man.

Travis finally let go of Amy's arm and Nate slightly mentioned to her to walk backwards. Parker was waiting for her to take her away safely.

"Julio, it's not like that" his voice trembled. "She was my foster child. It's her fault your drugs went missing. Look" he dropped on his knees and opened the bag. "Here is your money. He is rich, we can ask for more. Just…" he turned around a saw that the girl was missing. "Where is she?" he shouted. "Where…" he turned angrily towards Nate. "You played me, you…"

That's when the first shot rang out. Soon everyone was shooting at everything and nothing. Eliot jumped from behind his hiding place and started knocking the gang men down. Julio was the last one to go down, followed by Travis who had finished the bullets in his gun.

"Don't you ever touch my niece!" Eliot exclaimed before punching the man so hard he fell on the floor hard rolling on his side.

Sophie had got out from her car and rushed towards Nate. The man was lying on the floor unconscious. She quickly saw the blood on his chest and tried to stop it.

"Eliot, I need help!" she got the hitter's attention.

Once they were sure things were quiet, Parker and Amy came out of their secure place.

"Daddy" the girl shouted when she saw her father bleeding. "Daddy" she whispered kneeled next to her mother.

"It's going to be okay" Sophie tried to reassure her. "It's alright"

"We need to take his to a hospital" Eliot told them.

"You guys can take the van while Parker and I stay here to deal with the police" Hardison took the FBI badges and jackets from the car. "They'll be here soon."

Eliot carefully lifted up the still unconscious mastermind and laid him in the back of the van's floor. Sophie and Amy climbed right behind him.

"Be careful" he told the hacker and the thief before taking the driver's seat.

They both nodded. "Just let us know how he's doing"

They saw the black van drive off and soon after they heard the police sirens coming towards them. They hoped that the mastermind was going to make it through.

A/N Here's an update, sorry it took me so long. Will Nate make it? How will Sophie and Amy react? Thanks for reading and reviewing, more to come soon :D