Now no one had better touch me right now
In this cold-blooded thick skin
Rattle Snake Smile ~ Christian Kane
Katie turned to see what Hardison was talking about but Parker jerked her out of sight.
"Dark sedan with three men just pulled in, side door," Parker told the others. "Two men in suits are getting out. The man in the backseat doesn't appear to be joining them."
Nervously, Katie peered around the seat. Seeing three guys exiting from a huge pickup truck on the street, she whispered, "Umm…Parker?" She pointed to the truck.
"And we have three burly cowboys with plaid shirts and shit-kicking boots joining the party as well," Parker relayed the message. "You want me to try to stall them or something?"
"Too dangerous. The suits are probably the mob, shit-kickers would be Thomas' father's men. Any sign of either of them?" Eliot replied over the com. Katie was surprised at how unconcerned he seemed. Five or six guys? Could Nate and Eliot take them alone?
"Do you recognize anyone?" Parker asked her and Katie studied the men, shaking her head.
"They look like local boys though. Big and mean local boys…" she whispered, throwing back a glance of concern to Hardison, who didn't seem overly worried, just alert.
"Parker, can you get to the rental and pull it around to the back door without crossing their paths?"
"Not yet. They're kind of standing right behind it."
"When I take some out, you get to the car if you can but be careful. Pick up Sophie and Nate." Eliot's tone indicated he was in 'all business' mode, which worried the hell out of Katie.
"Nate's not going to help him? There are five guys out there." Wide-eyed, Katie stared at Parker. There was something seriously wrong with this plan.
"I got this." Eliot snapped at her. "Don't you dare get out of that van."
"She's not going anywhere," Parker replied, giving her a warning glare. What was the point in arguing this? But she was seriously going to hurt someone if Eliot got beaten up again. Right now the three burly guys were surrounding the front door to the building, but the two suits seemed to be watching more than doing. They were talking to the man that remained in the car through a window that was cracked a few inches.
Her attention returned to the door just when Eliot came through alone. The three men spread out around him but he simply stood there and watched them. She bit her lip so hard she tasted blood because she knew if she uttered a word it would distract him.
One of the men, the smallest one, raised his hand up and Katie realized he had a thick metal bar. He swung it at Eliot in a threatening manner. Just as he swung it again, the guy on the other side of Eliot swung his fist towards him, which Eliot easily ducked before he barreled into him, knocking him off center.
Feeling sure she was going to scream at any moment, Katie rushed to jerk the com out of her ear, covering it with her hand. All three men were throwing punches and kicks in Eliot's direction but he ducked and weaved efficiently and he avoided most hits, while still delivering punches and kicks of his own. Grabbing the biggest guy, Eliot shot an elbow to his nose, obviously breaking it, before grabbing his arm and spinning the much heavier guy around, slamming him into the brick wall of the building. The guy fell to his knees where he covered his nose with his hand but blood was already pouring from it.
"No guns," Parker reassured her in a soft voice, not taking her eyes off the hitter. "He'll be fine."
"The two suits are just watching," Hardison noted quietly, probably talking to Nate and Sophie.
Eliot got a knee to his face, then tackled and pinned against a car. Covering her mouth, she counted to herself, trying not to freak out and scream. The metal bar came swinging at his head but Eliot managed to catch it before it hit him, jerking the guy forward, then kicking him hard enough in the side that the guy flew back about five feet before falling onto the pavement. The guy on top of him had him pinned down pretty securely as he delivered blow after blow to Eliot's ribs and stomach. She tensed and Parker grabbed her arm, like she was afraid Katie was about to try to leave. The thought had crossed her mind but she was too afraid she'd get him hurt worse.
The big guy recovered from his impact with the wall and moved towards the other two. Eliot grabbed the guy that had him pinned by the throat, forcing the man off him, before he flipped him around and held him in a choke hold. The man tried to arch back and get the hitter off but Eliot merely lifted him into the air and shoved him face down onto the car. The guy didn't get a chance to recover. Eliot slammed his fist into the man's head so powerfully that the blow knocked the man out cold.
Before he could even catch a breath, the big guy tackled him to the pavement, landing all 350 or so pounds on him. Both Katie and Parker sat up higher to see, and even Hardison moved forward. Katie didn't need to have a com anymore. The sounds of the fight were clearly discernable in the van. Some of the blows sounded like they were hard enough to break bones or at least cause internal bleeding.
Katie cringed when Eliot head-butted the guy then tried to grapple him into a wrestling hold with his legs. The iron bar guy was back up again and Eliot was vulnerable causing her to chant to herself, "OhGodOhGodOhGod." Hardison gave her a worried look.
"Parker, don't you still have that gun?" she whispered urgently.
"No guns. He doesn't like guns," the blonde answered, absentmindedly. "Oh shit."
The big guy still had Eliot pinned down under his weight but now had the metal bar pressed across his throat. Hardison grabbed Katie when she tried to get out of the van, holding her firmly with his hand over her mouth. Katie gave Hardison a quick shake of her head letting him know that she was fine. When she looked up again, Eliot had somehow managed to flip the man over so that he was on top. Blood was all over the place and she really felt nauseous and upset, knowing how hurt he must be. The smaller guy kicked him in the back, but Eliot turned to grab his foot, flipping the guy back on the ground while he remained where he was, pinning the big guy beneath him. Eliot continued to bash the big guy's face in repeatedly.
When the guy stopped struggling, Eliot stumbled back and picked up the metal bar as he stood. All Katie could do was stare in shock, amazed that he had managed to take two much heavier guys down in a relatively short time.
"Parker, I think it's safe to get the car now," Hardison said in a low voice, letting go of Katie.
The thief opened the side door of the van and suddenly she flew back at them, knocking Hardison down. Katie saw that crazy chick that fought with Eliot last week grab Parker's leg and jerk her from the van like she only weighed ten pounds. The blonde twisted mid air and, rather than crashing down, rolled lightly onto the ground. She sprung back up quickly just as the woman punched Hardison in the face and jumped in the van.
Katie tried to pull away when Mikel grabbed her, then yelped when the other woman pressed a gun to her head. Parker and Hardison both froze. Mikel held out her other hand to Hardison. "I'm sure you have a com in your ear so hand it over and I won't shoot it out of your head."
After a brief pause, Hardison reluctantly removed the com from his ear and handed it to her. She threw it to the ground beside Parker.
Looking at the blonde thief, she said, "Tell Spencer, I take it very personally when people fuck with my income. If he pays me the money that I lost, I won't kill her or your hacker." Mikel sneered at Parker as she slammed the van door shut and locked it. Looking to Hardison, she ordered him to drive. There was some banging against the van and it swayed before Hardison took off. "Go straight through town until I tell you to turn."
Realizing she had her com still clenched in her hand, Katie grinned a little and flipped her hand over so the woman couldn't see it. She hoped it was sensitive enough to pick up their voices.
"You're smiling with a gun to your head?" Mikel asked her. The woman crouched before her, still pointing the gun at her, an amused smile on her face.
"I'm just thinking about how fun it's going to be when Eliot gets his hands on you," Katie shrugged.
"I'll be long gone before Eliot even finds your body," Mikel raised her eyebrows with a sadistic grin. "Maybe you should practice begging for your life."
Katie leaned back casually and returned Mikel's smile. "You're taking it pretty personally for a one night stand. Can't handle rejection?"
The woman chuckled and patted Katie on the knee.
"Do you honestly think that's what this is about?" She raised her hair away from her face and Katie saw a newly formed scar along her hairline. "This is what makes it personal. I don't like scars on my face. And I don't like it when he gets one of my contracts canceled."
Clucking her tongue Katie shook her head. "I think it's more than that. I know for a fact the mob called off the hit on me. So it's not about money. Now why you'd want someone so badly that you'd risk getting yourself killed over it, I'm not sure."
"Katie, please don't upset the woman with the gun pointed at you," Hardison replied from the front, giving her a look in the rear view mirror.
"It's not my fault she's obsessed with wanting something she can't have." She shrugged and smiled sweetly at Mikel. "Buy a vibrator sweetie, it'll be less dangerous."
"You honestly think I'm going to play this game with you, little girl; that I'll stoop to trading insults with you?"
"I'm still trying to figure out why the hell Eliot slept with someone like you, personally. Just how drunk was he?" Katie retorted.
"Try handcuffs. He likes them." Mikel winked then told Hardison to turn right.
"Oh, that explains it. You handcuffed him and he had no choice but to fuck your skank ass."
That earned her a punch in the jaw. When her ears stopped ringing, Katie noticed they were near the lake and tried to drop a hint over the com, in case they could hear. "Sorry, that was a low blow. Speaking of low blows, you should have seen what I did to him by the lake this morning. Damn." Hardison looked at her like she was crazy, knowing they hadn't been anywhere near the lake that morning, and not knowing she still had her com.
"Do you honestly think I'm going to get jealous? You seriously don't get it, do you?" Mikel laughed out loud at that and Katie did realize how very high school she had gotten considering the fact that the woman was holding a gun on her. But she didn't want Mikel to realize how scared she was. The other woman studied her for a few moments before she chuckled.
"And here I thought Eliot'd gone soft and would be willing to pay a couple of hundred thousand for you in a little bidding war with my new client but now I see exactly how he's conning you. You're actually in love with him. Guess he fucked his way to your money rather than earning it honestly."
Okay now, this chick was just pissing Katie off! But she managed to well up some tears in her eyes like she believed what she was saying. Mikel got really close to her and brushed the hair from her face and she had to resist the urge to slap her hand away. "This is adorable; you poor sweet, innocent, naïve child. How much money did he get from you?"
Katie feigned a hurt look and attempted to turn away. Mikel chuckled again. "You really need to learn the difference between love and sex. But given your past track record with men, you're nothing but a sad, perpetual victim. I guess once a mark, always a mark."
Mikel reminding her of how she'd been conned by Thomas enraged her and she did the stupidest thing she's done in a long time. Well, at least in the last week. Katie shot a right hook at the other woman's face and tried to knock the gun from her hand. The next thing she knew she was on the floor of the van with Mikel's hands around her throat, struggling to breathe and not pass out. Hardison swerved a couple of times, yelling back at them, and the woman jerked her head toward him. "Keep it on the road, hacker, or I snap her neck."
oOooOo
Eliot attempted to catch his breath after dropping the last guy. The two men in suits walked over to him slowly, as the man in the back seat exited the car; an average non-descript looking man, one he wouldn't have glanced at twice on the street. The two thugs spread out to either side of Eliot and the third man walked forward, as the hitter prepared to take them on as well.
"Very impressive, Mr. Spencer. Your reputation doesn't do you justice," the man said. "You should work for me. I could use a man with your skills."
"I don't work for the mob," Eliot spit out a mouthful of blood but didn't let down his guard. "Got a name?"
"Ah…we don't use names in this kind of business, do we?" the man said easily. "But you can call me 'Mr. Black', if you like."
"It doesn't matter to me what your name is." Eliot eyed the other two men warily. "Don't need names to take you out."
"Hmm. So what is your plan to get the truth out of Thomas?" the man in charge, 'Mr. Black', asked him.
"We also don't share plans in our business," Eliot smirked.
"Eliot, we have a big problem." Nate's voice was stressed and Eliot noticed Parker running towards him out of the corner of his eye. The two thugs visibly tensed up, preparing to take on Eliot if Parker intruded on their business.
"She's with me," he said simply to the man and Mr. Black signaled the other two men to stand down.
He backed away from them, then pulled Parker to the side, making sure he stood in between her and the men and said under his breath, "What happened?"
"Mikel Dayan," she said in between trying to catch her breath. "She was waiting outside the van and grabbed Katie and Hardison, threw out Hardison's com." She handed him the com with a worried expression. "I tried…"
"Okay Parker, you need to clear out. This guy double crossed me…"
"No!" Nate yelled in his ear. "Katie must still have her com or it's in the van. I can still hear her a little bit.
Eliot strained to hear her but there was too much noise from the cars driving by to hear anything. Parker shook her head indicating that she couldn't hear either. "Eliot, Mikel had a message for you. She said 'Tell Spencer that she takes it personally when people fuck with her income. And that if you pay her the money that she lost, she won't kill Katie or Hardison'."
Eliot turned and stared at 'Mr. Black' for a few moments. "You canceled the hit?"
"I gave you my word." The man was watching him sternly. "I think it's a better bargain considering your talents."
"Mikel just said you got her contract canceled," Nate confirmed. "But she mentioned a new client: Thomas, I assume."
"I'm not going to be working for you," Eliot warned the mobster. "I'm going to prove that Thomas Whitehall and his father were conning you."
"Agreed. I'm still waiting for this proof."
Eliot took Hardison's com from Parker's hand and tossed it to the man. "Listen for yourself. I'll get it out of him when I find him."
Nate and Sophie were walking up slowly. The man turned to them and tilted his head to the side. "Mr. Ford, I presume?"
"We need to find the rest of our team, if you'll excuse us," Nate replied, putting his arm around Sophie protectively and walking past the three men. He glanced to Parker and muttered, "You two wait in the car."
"Mr. Spencer, if you'll join me, we can discuss things further," the man said, signaling his car, and Eliot shook his head.
"I'm leaving with my team now, one way or another. You let me do the job I promised to do or I'll put you down first. Either way works for me," he stated simply. The other two men in suits whipped out guns, training them on him. He was too far from them to disarm them, so he had to wait for the opportunity.
Mr. Black studied him for a few moments then nodded once. The suits lowered their guns but didn't put them away.
"You now have twenty-four hours, Mr. Spencer. I'll be listening and checking up on you," the man smiled. "Good day, Mr. Ford."
Nate walked to the car as Eliot backed away from the two men slowly. He knew deep down, they wanted to kick his ass anyway, he could see it in their eyes. But he really needed to find Katie and Hardison now. Getting in the front seat with Nate, Eliot continued to watch them to assure they had a clear exit.
"Where in the hell are Katie and Hardison?" he turned to Nate. Sophie shushed him and Nate started the car, backing out of their spot.
"Left," Parker announced. She leaned forward and tried to check Eliot's face out. He waved her away, wiping the blood on his shirt, while he tried to hear Katie.
'Oh that explains it. You handcuffed him and he had no choice but to fuck your skank ass.' He heard her say over the com right before he heard a thud that was obviously Mikel hitting her. What the hell was she doing? Trying to get herself killed?
"Dammit, Katie," he muttered to himself. "Parker, do you remember how to track the coms with your phone?"
"I can try but…I'm not sure," she pulled out her phone and began pressing buttons.
'Sorry, that was a low blow. Speaking of low blows, you should have seen what I did to him by the lake this morning. Damn.'
"The lake? Since I'm pretty sure you two didn't go anywhere this morning, she must be trying to give you a hint of some kind and not just trying to piss off her assassin," Sophie asked looking out the window. "Is there a lake nearby?"
"Toward the ranch," Eliot replied and wondered if that's where Mikel was going.
"We have company," Nate nodded to the rearview mirror. "I don't think your mob friend trusts us."
"Imagine the mob not trusting us," Parker muttered under her breath.
"They can hear us, remember?" The grifter reminded her, but the thief only shrugged.
"Hush," Eliot snapped, hearing a lot of noise from the com.
His blood ran cold when he heard Mikel tell Hardison, 'Keep it on the road, hacker, or I snap her neck.'
oOooOo
"Wake up," Mikel slapped Katie once across the face.
Guess the not passing out thing hadn't worked. Katie coughed a few times when she sat up, her neck killing her from Mikel's choking. Glancing out the window she saw they were at the ranch. They were a good distance from the burned out shell of the house, near one of the back buildings. It was doubtful anyone would hear her even if they were around when she screamed.
"Welcome home," the woman told her. "Get up. You need to make a phone call."
Hardison was sitting in the back as well now, his hands were bound in front of him and he watched Katie warily when she shook her head. She wasn't going to help this bitch. Let her do her own dirty work.
Mikel cocked the gun and put it up to Hardison's head with a look that told her she would kill him. "Call Eliot Spencer now." She handed her a phone.
"I don't know his number by heart," she answered honestly and Mikel backhanded her hard across the mouth. She bit her tongue so she didn't yelp then took a deep breath before telling her, "No, I really don't. At least not the number of the phone he has with him."
"Hacker?"
Alec glared at her before reluctantly telling Katie the number.
"What?" Eliot answered the phone sharply. She breathed a sigh of relief hearing his voice.
"It's me," she answered, tears burning her eyes. She blinked them quickly away, not wanting Mikel to see them.
"Are you two okay?"
Mikel grabbed the phone away from her and held it out to Hardison. "Tell him you're still alive."
"So you don't want me to tell him we're at the…" Mikel punched him, jerking the phone away.
She put the phone to her ear and began speaking in that other foreign language again. Hardison glared at Mikel as he wiped his bloody lip across his shoulder. Eventually the conversation between the two of them got heated because Mikel yelled something at him before hanging up.
"Guess he's not willing to pay to get either of you back," the woman replied. "I thought at least the hacker would be worth it to him."
"I'm replaceable," Hardison shrugged and Katie nervously watched Mikel weighing her options.
"Fine, then I'll just kill you and be done with it now. My other buyer won't be interested."
"Please don't," Katie pleaded with Mikel, tears escaping her eyes. "Besides, if you shoot him out here, everyone will hear it. People aren't allowed to hunt anywhere near here, so a gunshot going off would let everyone know where you are."
Mikel studied her for a moment, giving her a bit of hope so she made something up randomly. "If its money you want, Hardison has a million dollars of my money in one of his accounts. How do you think Eliot got my money anyway? Alec Hardison is the only one who knows where all of the money is."
"Is that why you want to save him? Because he has your money or because you're just weak enough to not watch someone get killed?" Mikel asked with a mocking smile before she saw something outside. "Well, it doesn't matter now. My other buyer is here." She opened the door and shoved Hardison through it so he landed on the ground before Mikel jerked Katie up by her arm.
Katie stopped to help Hardison to his feet and pressed the com into one of his hands. His eyes flashed surprise but he didn't acknowledge her action. Mikel pulled her arm again so she stumbled forward.
"Go inside," she ordered and Katie reluctantly walked toward the building. Of all the buildings she could have picked, this had to be the one.
"What is this place?" Hardison muttered when they walked through the door.
"It used to be a slaughterhouse before the Stanton family stopped herding cattle. I thought it was a fitting place for our little reunion. Hello Kate," Thomas strolled into view and Katie felt murderous rage build up in her blood. He leered at her, pulling her forward and kissing her on the mouth, his tongue forcing in aggressively.
Not even thinking about the consequences, Katie bit down on his tongue, shoved away her brother's killer, then attacked him. He tried to push her away, grabbing at her hair but she punched him in the face, before kneeing him in the nuts. When he dropped to the ground, she pulled her foot back to kick him but rough hands grabbed her and threw her in the other direction, where she crashed down hard and skidded across the ground.