You better keep your distance
In this tangled shape I`m in
Now no one had better touch me right now
Rattle Snake Smile - Christian Kane

Katie's hands shook and she felt sick. When she sat down in the chair, everyone stared at her in shock. After a few moments, Nate got up and went into the kitchen, returning with a large glass of whiskey for her.

"Thanks," she muttered before guzzling half the glass.

Nate watched her for a few minutes then said, "I know it's hard to believe, but you did the right thing."

"I hope so. Been doing a lot of wrong things lately and I'm not even sure I can tell the difference anymore."

"Proof that you're not a criminal," Nate replied. "If it was easy and you got a rush from doing the wrong thing, then you'd really have a problem."

"So why do you do it? For the rush?"

He smiled. "We do the wrong thing for the right reasons."

"If anything happens to him because I listened to you, I'll make you pay," she warned, even though she knew her threat wasn't exactly intimidating.

"We care about him too," Sophie replied.

Katie leveled her eyes at the grifter. "He's all I have left."

Sophie nodded her understanding.

"Katie." Eliot stood in the doorway. "Come here."

She hesitated for a moment and then rose. When she began walking in there, Eliot told the others, "You guys need to make some arrangements. We'll meet up and leave town in two hours."

Relief flooded her system even though she could tell by his eyes he was still furious. Nate's words stopped her in her tracks though. "Fine, I'll go meet with Sterling."

"What?" They all yelled at the same time.

"Look, he's got the bar staked out and probably my condo as well. I need to stall him. If he doesn't realize that she is here yet then we know we've got more time to make plans." Nate spoke like he was talking about the weather and Katie began to wonder about his sanity.

"And if he does?" Sophie asked.

"Then we'll know what to prepare ourselves for. Either way, monitor the coms and if he knows, don't wait for me. Just leave town." Nate walked towards the door only to be stopped by Eliot.

"No way in hell," Eliot replied, his temper close to boiling over again. "Either you're with the team or the team doesn't go. I'll get Katie out of town by myself and you guys can scatter."

"Do all your plans start out so crazy?" Katie asked, feeling on the verge of a mental breakdown. "You convince me that we all need to stick together, now you want us to separate. Oh, and if you end up getting detained by someone who obviously wants to lock you up, then we should soldier on without you. I know I might not be a criminal but I'm starting to think I'm the only sane one here and that's fucking scary."

"Sterling won't lock me up. He'll either believe me or he won't but either way, he'll assume he can use me to his advantage. I just have to convince him that it's to his advantage to let us clear this mess up for him. In the end, he just doesn't want to pay the insurance claim. Sterling will do anything to avoid paying the check."

"Nate's right about that," Sophie pointed out.

"You know what?" Katie laughed. "You are all crazy. I don't pretend to know what the fuck we should do but hey, you people might be crazy enough to pull this off."

"Oh, we are." Parker jumped up. "Where are we meeting? It has to be someplace Sterling wouldn't think of."

"Seriously? Are you seriously going to meet with Sterling? Isn't there a Plan B?" Hardison replied throwing his head back to look at the ceiling.

"Katie, who's laptop is that?" Nate suddenly asked.

"It's John's. His has the business information. Why?"

"Hardison, take the laptop. After you've gotten your stuff packed, you and Parker go get the van. Parker can drive while you see what you can get off his laptop that might help us," Nate said before turning to Katie. "You don't mind, do you?"

Katie shook her head, still confused about his plan.

"Monitor the coms and I'll see you in two hours at Sophie's place." Nate slipped out the door quickly before Eliot could attempt to stop him again.

"Damnit! This plan is stupid," Eliot dragged his hands through his hair.

"That's why he's in charge." Parker shrugged. Katie glanced at her, baffled, then realized the blonde thought what she'd said made sense. No one else seemed to notice her confusion so she just went back into the bedroom.

oOooOo

After he closed and locked the door, Eliot returned to the bedroom. Katie had packed her stuff and was sitting on the bed.

"I'm going to take a shower, in case we end up not being able to stop for the night," she said, not looking at him. Grabbing a small bag, she went into the bathroom to shower.

Sighing, Eliot threw the rest of his stuff into bags. He had some time to kill so he walked over to her bag and found the envelope of pictures she'd had out earlier. He grinned when he saw that she had packed the dress and shoes that had pissed him off earlier. Little smartass would probably throw that in his face later. He opened the envelope and began to look through the pictures.

So many memories; happy memories of long ago. Pictures of the three of them swimming in the pool or riding horses made him smile. He practically lived at their house all through middle and high school. Then there were pictures of Katie and her friends; parties, society events, and days at Vanderbilt University. Young, beautiful and rich, on the surface she seemed to have everything. He remembered that she'd had a rich fiancé then as well. But she dropped everything soon after graduation when John's drinking had gotten out of control. He'd almost forgotten that it was Katie who had to get him sober.

The pictures of her parents made him realize that once they died, it had all changed for everyone. Eliot had left town to see the world. John couldn't come with him because he was Katie's guardian. She had to grow up without her parents.

He wondered what his life would have been like if he'd stayed. Would he be married with a couple of kids now, training horses? John had insisted he go ahead without him but he often wondered if John envied his freedom, even while Eliot envied John's stability. But John had so much responsibility thrust on him at once. Eliot remembered how overwhelmed he seemed at the funerals. Katie had been so lost; she turned her grief inwards.

A drunk driver had hit their car, killing their mother instantly. Their father remained in a coma for close to a month before he was declared brain-dead. John had been left to decide to turn off life support. It'd been Katie that convinced him to shut the machines off. She knew her father wouldn't want to remain that way. Plus for him to be an organ donor, they couldn't prolong it for long. They'd called Eliot to allow him to say goodbye as well. He was surprised he'd never noticed it before but she frequently had been the stronger of the two siblings when it came down to the hard decisions.

Although they hadn't done enough digging into the crash, Eliot was pretty sure that John hadn't been drunk. There had to be some kind of mistake or cover up. Even when he was a raging alcoholic, he never drove drunk. There was no way he'd do that after his parents were killed. Eliot would have to get Hardison to look further into that.

Eliot didn't hear the shower turn off so he was surprised to see her standing in the bathroom door, watching him. He put the pictures down and walked over to her. Her hair wet, wrapped in a towel, she looked and smelled like heaven.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't be taking everything out on you," he whispered, trailing his fingers down her arms. Her skin was still warm from the shower and so soft.

"I'm a big girl. I can handle it."

"I know you can, but you shouldn't have to." He moved his hands to cradle her face tenderly. "Tell me the truth. I need to know for my own selfish reasons. Were you happy the last twelve years?"

There was a flicker of surprise in her eyes before she answered. "Sometimes. Things were never the same after my parents died. I felt guilty for having so much, but I never really cared about the money. Then again, no one except John really expected me to do anything but marry well."

"And you left your fiancé when John was trying to get sober right?"

Katie shook her head. "In all honesty, I called off the wedding a few weeks before that."

"Why?"

"I went home to meet his family and they were everything I hated about rich people. His father talked about how I came from a good bloodline, except of course my mother marrying someone 'outside her class'. They talked about our future children like we were two champion horses breeding. I honesty though that Thomas wasn't like that, but then I saw him interact with the staff on their estate, like they were so far beneath him they didn't deserve any decency," Katie replied with disgust. "He came to the funeral, tried to comfort me but he's revolting."

"Your family was always different from the rest of the old money crowd. They were good people. Your mama was a bit uptight but both of them raised you and John right."

"Then why is one of us dead and one of us on the run from the law? Why have millions of dollars of old Stanton-Williams money gone to the mob?"

Eliot kissed her. "That's what we're going to find out. We'll get your money back, don't worry about that."

"I don't care about the money. The horses and the house are already gone. I just want mine and John's name cleared. And I want whoever did this to pay, I want them to suffer." Katie's eyes showed the anger and betrayal she'd been repressing. He worried that her desire for revenge would put her at risk.

He watched her get dressed, trying to focus on their mission, but his mind was elsewhere. He could see it in the way she carried herself that the adrenaline was the only thing keeping her going now. She'd also drank a lot considering that she hadn't eaten yet. He'd have to remember to grab some food at Sophie's.

The rest of the team had been gone an hour. Nate would be meeting with Sterling soon so they needed go. He put his com in, grabbed his bags and took one last look around the bedroom. Always knowing it could be the last time, he made sure that he had anything of value with him.

"Are you ready?" she asked, her bag and purse thrown over her shoulder.

oOooOo

After Eliot locked the door, they began walking down the hall. Katie was surprised when she heard a woman's voice saying his name with a thick foreign accent. Turning around, a beautiful woman was standing at his door watching them.

"Eliot, it's been a long time," she said with a smile.

Jealousy flared in Katie by the intimate way the woman was watching Eliot, obviously knowing him very well. She silently reminded herself she had no right to be jealous. Eliot wasn't even hers. So what if this gorgeous exotic woman was undressing him with her eyes? Oh my God, she actually licked her lips as she checked Eliot out! Katie closed her eyes and took several deep breaths.

"Mikel Dayan." Eliot murmured under his breath. It took Katie a moment to realize that he wasn't happy to see this woman.

Her eyes flew open when Eliot dropped his bags and pushed her against the wall. She noticed then a guy standing in front of them at the elevator. Eliot was watching both of them but seemed more concerned about the woman.

"When they told me you were involved, I was happy to take the job. She hardly seems worth the $500,000, but I'll give you a couple of thousand, if you don't interfere," the woman said advancing on the two of them. The man at the elevator pulled a gun, pointing it at Katie.

"You know what he said. Don't kill her yet," he told the woman.

"I know, but no one said I couldn't have any fun," Mikel replied, sizing up Katie. "Then Eliot and I can catch up."

She said something to Eliot in another language. The man with the gun took a few steps toward them.

Katie froze in terror. She waited for any sign from Eliot as to what she was supposed to do. He pushed her behind him towards the guy with the gun as he responded to the woman. She really wished she knew what was being said and why the hell Eliot was pushing her towards the man with a gun! He backed away from the woman, putting Katie even closer to the gun.

"Need some help?" Parker appeared out of nowhere and before Katie knew what was happening, she jumped up, grabbing a bar above her head and kicked the gun from the man's hand. The man jumped towards the gun, but the blonde knocked him down before he could reach it.

Eliot said something else to the woman and she laughed. He shoved Katie hard and she stumbled away from him. Parker wrestled with the guy on the floor so Katie reached for the gun. The thief grabbed it from her hand and held it to the man's head with a triumphant smile before she hit him with the butt of the gun, knocking him out.

Parker proceeded to roll the guy over, removing his phone and wallet from his pants. As she continued to search him, Katie watched Eliot charge the other woman, easily slamming her into wall. But then the woman punched him hard in his side, the side with the hurt ribs.

"There's no one with them," Hardison yelled as he burst out of the stairwell.

"Get her out of here!" Eliot yelled as the woman kicked him hard enough to knock him against the wall.

"No!" Katie argued, attempting to take the gun from Parker. What the hell was wrong with these people? They had a gun! Why didn't they use it? Parker put the gun in the back waistband of her pants, and then went to grab their bags.

Hardison grabbed Katie around the waist. Though she tried to put up a fight, between the two of them, Hardison and Parker got her into the stairwell.

"Are you crazy?" she yelled at the hacker. "Go help him."

"Trust us. He's got this and, if we try to help him, there will be too many players involved. Besides, this is what he does."

Parker grabbed her arm and began trying to steer her down the stairs. Katie attempted to weasel away but the blonde held her firm. Parker looked at her with amusement in her eyes before she said, "Do you want to go downstairs on your feet or over Hardison's shoulder?"

Once again, Katie attempted to pull her arm from Parker. Hardison appeared to be ready to pick her up and she growled under her breath. "Fine!" She let them lead her downstairs and push her into the back of a dark van.

"How did you know we were in trouble?" she asked, throwing her stuff behind her.

Parker pointed to her ear and mouthed the word 'Coms', then put her finger to her lips. Realizing they could hear Eliot, Katie leaned toward the front seats to see if she could hear too.

"Eliot, we got company," Hardison said, looking in the rear view mirror and starting the van. A few minutes passed but no one got out of the car behind them. He warned her, "Katie, keep your head down."

"Go!" Eliot yelled as he flung open the side door, diving into the van with a grunt.

As Hardison peeled out into traffic, Katie checked Eliot out. His breathing was raspy and his face and fists were covered in blood. She reached into her bag and grabbed a t-shirt, attempting to wipe up his face.

"There's a first aid kit in that box." Parker pointed to a large box.

Apparently this was a frequent enough occurrence that they came prepared. She grabbed some hydrogen peroxide and gauze pads. When she once again tried to clean him up, he jerked up and yelled at Hardison to take the next left.

"Let him drive!" Katie yelled pushing against his shoulders, trying to make him relax. He glared but let her work. When he coughed and spit out blood, he held his ribs tightly.

"You need to go to the hospital. Your ribs are obviously broken and you might…"

"It looks worse than it is," he replied dismissively. He hissed in pain when she pressed too hard on the cut above his eye.

"Sorry! Jesus Christ, I can't believe you do this for a living," she exclaimed. Hardison took a sharp turn and she was thrown across Eliot's lap, almost hitting her head on the door.

"Call Sophie. Tell her, we're not stopping and to meet us downstairs," Eliot ordered Parker and helped Katie regain her balance. When Hardison slammed on the brakes though, they both flew forward.

"Fuck, Hardison! You're more dangerous behind the wheel than Parker."

"You're welcome. I'll have you know I just single handedly saved you from becoming one with that train," Hardison shot back.

"Take the side road," Eliot ordered. "I think we lost them."

"Of course I did."

"Shush! Nate is meeting with Sterling," Parker said, holding onto the 'oh shit' bar when Hardison took a sharp left.

Katie was quiet as she finished cleaning up Eliot's face then moved on to his fists. When she was finished, he pulled her chin to face him. His eye was swollen shut now and she cringed.

'Stop worrying,' he mouthed to her. She let him take her hand in his, bringing it to his mouth to kiss.

"Parker, take the wheel," Hardison said and Katie watched nervously as the two switched places while still driving. She shook her head, realizing these people were either crazy or a bunch of daredevils.

Hardison climbed in the back and began typing away on his laptop. "Yeah Nate, he's telling the truth. The car was ticketed about two hours ago."

Katie cringed again when she realized he meant her car, which had been parked on the road in front of the bar. 'Sorry.' She mouthed to Eliot and he squeezed her hand.

"Katie, do you have any credit cards in your purse?" Hardison asked.

Reaching into her purse, she pulled out her wallet and handed him a few cards.

"Which one has the highest limit?" he asked, turning back to the keyboard.

"I think the Visa does. But I thought using my cards was a bad idea?"

"I'm booking you and Eliot flights out of Boston," Hardison replied, simply. "It'll throw them off a bit. There's a flight leaving in 20 minutes from Logan to Cancun."

"No, Sterling would never believe I'd head to a tourist trap in Mexico. Use one of my aliases and book a few indirect flights to somewhere in Europe," Eliot said and winced as he moved. "Wait, Katie wouldn't be able to book online if she's on the move."

"Let her use her phone to call for the tickets. I can redirect the cell phone signal off a tower closer to the airport," Hardison reached into a bag and withdrew Katie's phone. "There's a commuter flight to New York in an hour, then there is a flight that goes to Los Angeles. From there, she can book a hotel room for the night. The earliest flight tomorrow morning is to München." He turned on the phone and did some fiddling with it, then punched in a number and handed it to her.

A woman answered the phone with some travel agency's name. Katie looked at the screen in front of Hardison to see what the information was. Using her snottiest voice and pouring on her southern accent, she said, "I'd like to book two tickets on a flight from Boston to New York tonight. Then I'd like to fly to Los Angeles from there."

The woman offered her a direct flight to Los Angeles. "No, if I wanted direct, I would have said that. And get me a room at a hotel in Los Angeles. Actually, book me a suite at the Beverly Hills Wilshire. And we'll need a limo to take us there." Hardison glanced over at her and she tried not to laugh aloud.

"Yes. What's the earliest flight from Los Angeles to München? Of course, we have my passports already." The van had slowed down and she heard the front door open as Sophie got in. "The names are Katherine Rose Stanton-Williams and…Lucas Benjamin Winters." She rattled off her credit card number and hung up the phone.

"The Beverly Hills Wilshire?" Hardison smirked.

"What? I just remembered it from Pretty Woman. I was improvising," Katie shrugged.

"Next time, improvise a little closer to the airport." Eliot smirked.

"What do you care? It's a fake trip." she chuckled. Parker took off again and Hardison took back her phone. Attaching some things to it, he grabbed another phone out of his bag to attach to the other end.

"Here, I've downloaded your contacts and settings to this phone," he handed her the new phone.

"How are we going to get Nate out of there?" Sophie asked from the front seat.

"Simple, I'll go in and bust Sterling's head," Eliot grunted.

"He's about to get a text from his assistant about the flight Katie just booked," Hardison said, typing away.

Everyone waited in tense silence before Sophie sighed. She explained to Katie, "He's going to meet us at his car."

Hardison took over driving again and Parker sat in the back with Katie and Eliot. When they stopped, Nate climbed into the van.

"We're going to need a few days to make plans. Hardison, do you remember that hotel in that town outside Newark?" Nate asked.

"The no-tell-motel that charged by the week? Yeah, unfortunately."

"Go there. It had an easily monitored layout for security and it's near the highway. The diner wasn't too bad either," Nate sat back. "We need to rent a car first. I'm not riding in the van for hours."

"Eliot needs a doctor," Katie replied. "I think his ribs are broken and he might have punctured a lung."

"We can't exactly stop at the local emergency room," Eliot murmured.

"I have a doctor friend in Hartford. It's on the way," Katie insisted.

"It's too risky. My lung isn't punctured. Nate can help bind my ribs when we stop for the night." When she started to argue, he put his fingers over her lips. "Don't argue. It hurts."

Reluctantly, she nodded then sat beside him, letting him rest against her. She noticed Nate watching them. She sensed his disapproval, but she was too tired to care.