Chapter 23

Their eyes held. It had been so long that they looked at each other.

No words seemed to fit the moment as they sat huddled close in the back seat of the taxi.

He noted that she looked small…and delicate. Sadness had etched itself into the curves of her face, but she was still beautiful. So breathtakingly beautiful.

Her gaze caught the streak of silver gray hair at his temples, and how they seemed to come straight out of the laugh lines that crinkled his face when he smiled.

She wondered strangely how many of his smiles she had missed.

He squeezed her hand, held firmly in his and she pressed a little tighter into his side.

They each silently swore they'd never be separated again.

"We're here," the taxi driver called into their interlude, "1550 Brixton End. That'll be… £22."

Nate looked out of the window to confirm they were indeed at the location of Alec's hideout before he reached into his pocket for the money.

He'd given the driver the address for the building two doors down from Alec's place- just to be on the safe side. And he'd made the driver circle the block once. He couldn't admit to himself whether he was just being cautious or prolonging his time alone with Sophie. He knew once they met with Alec and Parker they'd be on 'go' time until the whole sordid mess had been worked out.

While he settled the bill with the driver, Sophie looked both ways along the dark street for any sign that they were either followed or being watched. Paranoia was something she couldn't shake, not even in the midst of the overwhelming joy and relief she felt at being at Nate's side again. Three years of constant and unyielding vigilance could make anyone feel as though even the trees had eyes.

She realized that Nate had left the car when she felt the coolness of his absence settle against her leg. She'd gotten quickly lost in her caution and watchfulness but the sight of his hand reaching out to help her exit the car brought her back to him and the small measure of freedom she felt once again.

They stood on the sidewalk and Nate pulled her into a sudden embrace, taking her off-guard but only just. She saw the way his eyes travelled stealthily along the rows of parked cars as the taxi drove away. Their cocoon was gone and they were once again thrust into the cold night and all the dangers that lurked.

A chill shook her and his eyes once again found hers.

"Are you okay?" he asked rubbing his hands along her slender shoulders. He'd long since offered his jacket but he knew her gold cocktail dress wasn't enough of ward off the cold of a London night.

She nodded and tried to manage a reassuring smile. He smiled back and kissed her cheek in earnest before taking her hand and leading her to the hideout.

He was satisfied that if anyone were to attack they'd have done it already. His only concern was what they'd find when they met the others inside.

"Mr. Spencer, where are you?" Eliot gripped his cell phone a little tighter. He heard her question but there was something lacking in her tone: genuine concern.

He pulled the blanket higher over Joshua's chest and walked lightly away from the sleeping child.

"There was an evacuation order at the hotel," he responded, keeping his voice even despite the rising annoyance he had started feeling at how long it took anyone to contact him.

"We know. Mr. Caesar's meeting had to be cut short," she said.

He couldn't hold his tongue any longer.

"The kid's fine by the way," the sarcasm dripped icily off of his words.

She laughed nervously- a high, insincere sound.

"Of course he is, Mr. Spencer. We had no doubt. We know that Joshua is safe in your hands…Where are you?" Her voice changed very subtly and he heard the hitch, the loaded edge to her words. He'd been around too long and had seen too much to ignore the way his hackles rose.

"Where's Caesar?" he asked, blatantly ignoring her question.

"Mr. Caesar had to return to the States," she answered stiffly. Her voice didn't waver or hesitate but he immediately knew something was wrong.

There was no remorse, no regret that the man had to leave his child behind. She spoke her words almost as a challenge.

His mind raced and he reached the realization that she'd likely been in charge from the very beginning.

"Where are you Mr. Spencer?" she asked again attempting levity but he sensed there was a sinister motive for her curiosity.

"How about I just come to you? I think it would be easier," he offered expectantly. He knew he'd find out what he needed to know by how she answered.

"No," she responded softly yet firmly, "that won't be necessary. You and Joshua just rest until morning. He's probably so tired from all of the excitement of today. I'll just phone you in the morning and we'll arrange for a car to collect you both. How does that sound?"

The cheeriness was back in her voice as well as the syrupy sweet concern for the little boy. Eliot wasn't buying it.

"Sounds like a plan," he answered and clicked the phone shut without another word. He looked at the timed display for the length of the call. Just a little over 3 minutes. He wondered if that was enough time for her to trace him. It didn't matter. He knew he was compromised. He didn't know exactly what was going on but whatever it was, he and Joshua were not safe in his old Army buddy's London flat.

He'd hoped the man would have been there but by the level of dust that coated everything in the room, Eliot suspected that no one had been there for at least six months. It was probably for the best, he didn't want to get anyone else involved in whatever it was that was happening.

He folded his arms over his chest and looked back over to the couch where the little boy was still sleeping soundly.

What's going on? Something's seriously not right here.

They had to leave. He knew a retrieval team could be scrambling to his location already and he couldn't fight his way free with Joshua on his hip.

But where could he go?

It was sheer luck that his old friend left the key to the flat in the same place that they'd always agreed upon. Everyone from their old Army unit was free to use the space in a pinch. It was one of the benefits of being a part of a team and he'd been lucky to know the unconditional loyalty of such a connection twice in his life.

Dammit- No time to walk down the memory lane of 'whatifs' and 'ifonlys'; He had to move.

He turned the phone off completely and removed the battery and SIM card rendering the machine untraceable and then he gathered the sleeping child.

"I'm really sorry bud. This probably has been the longest day ever. But we'll stop moving soon," he offered softly against the boy's head.

Joshua was none the wiser and his unconscious head rolled limply from side to side as Eliot gently jostled him into his little jacket and covered him with the blanket.

He sighed heavily as he lifted the child and made his way out of the flat.

He stopped when he reached outside and pushed the old style key back into the earth at the base of the hedge that lined the front of the tiny house. He said a silent thank you to his gracious friend and looked along the street for his quarry.

He found what he was looking for in a roughly twenty year old Mercedes Benz, parked three cars away from where he stood. They car looked just worn enough to be in working order but not secured with any fancy alarms.

Eliot looked up and down the street and walked stealthily over toward the vehicle.

As he reached it, he once again looked along the street and skimmed the houses close by before leaning against the passenger window. He eased Joshua higher on his shoulder, holding the boy tight as he pressed a splayed palm against the glass and applied just enough strength to force the window open wide enough to slip his hand in and open the door.

He paused when he heard the small pop of the door latch releasing so he could look around once again. Joshua was still fast asleep and Eliot was truly in awe of the little boy's ability to sleep so soundly.

Assured that no one was looking on or that there was no alarm he reached into the back and unlocked the door so he could deposit his resting charge. Once he secured the child he set about accessing the car's wires so he could start it without the keys.

In less than two minutes the car was revving and they were on their way.

"Okay," he whispered to himself, the words squeezing themselves between his clenched teeth, "this is the last place I really want to go but…" he looked at the little bundle wrapped warmly in the back seat, "it's my only option at this point."

A quick moving procession of three heavily tinted black cars caught his attention as they drove past him and toward the house he'd just left. His gaze followed them as they stopped in front of his friend's house and approximately seven men rushed the compound from all sides.

They could have been there for anyone of his friends who visited the house. They'd all made their share of enemies over time through their various after-discharge private missions but he knew this particular recon team was sent for him. The goons had the look of pay-to-play hired muscle, not soldiers. Their stance gave them away.

He watched them as long as he could until he reached the end of the side street and had to turn onto the main road. He hoped against hope that his next stop would be safe and that he could finally begin to get some answers.

Orange. F.A.T.H.E.R. Faith. Friend.

Nate silently read the words scribbled hastily in Alec's handwriting on the door and alarm bells sounded in his head immediately.

"Orange," Sophie whispered to his back as she scanned the dim hallway, "that's never good."

Nate shook his head and knelt to retrieve the door's access card from his sock. He was grateful Alec insisted they each had their own key to reenter the room even though none of them could have predicted the night would have turned out the way it had.

The note was obviously a code; He only hoped his mind and Alec's were still in sync after all this time.

The key card opened the door and he and Sophie entered the empty room quickly. Nate immediately went to Alec's computer.

"Do you think they were together?" Sophie asked him softly. She was still reeling from the fact that Nate, Alec, and Parker were still alive- had been alive all this time. Nate explained as much as he could as they made their way through the city running from the security team that had chased them from the hotel.

She thought about all that she'd had to endure for the past three years alone and how much of it she did simply because she'd stopped caring. If she'd only known that there was hope…

"I really don't know," his answer jarred her out of her thoughts, "we all lost communication at the hotel. Parker should have been able to make it back to the van but I don't know…she's…different."

Sophie couldn't imagine this strange new Parker as Nate described. An unstable, amnesiac, who may or may not be under someone's control? It all seemed so strange. But after all that she'd done and seen in the last few years, she couldn't put anything past anyone.

She walked over to Nate and stood beside him as he logged into Alec's computer. Her need to be near him as potent as it had always been; renewed with vigor after so many years apart.

"What do you suppose he meant by the code on the door?" she asked him as the computer finally readied for his instruction.

"It's a Roman Room access with answers only I would know, I suppose, in case anyone else found this place before we did."

"So how do we figure out where we enter the answers?" she asked as she looked around the desktop blindly.

Nate was silent for a moment until he remembered that Alec had reached an entirely new level of security with his computers.

"Code Orange," he announced loudly and Sophie startled and looked at him strangely.

"Wha…" she began but was interrupted by the computer's verbal response.

"Code Orange has been initiated," the automated voice called back and the desktop screen faded to black with an orange blinking cursor line.

Sophie sat stunned and awed by the hacker's ability to always go beyond the expected. She had missed him, not his gadgets or geeky, awkward intelligence but the caring, sensitive person she'd come to know during their time together.

"Nathan Ford, voice match. Hello Nathan Ford," the computer greeted him, "Code Orange has been initiated. Enter answer sequence."

"Umm…father," Nate repeated and he typed 'Jimmy' onto the blinking orange line.

"Invalid entry," the automated voice rebuffed and Nate looked at Sophie. Sophie shrugged her shoulders in futility and Nate looked at the screen thinking hard about what else the answer could be.

"Dammit Hardison," he muttered to himself as no other answers came to mind.

"Wait a minute," Sophie interrupted, "maybe it's not what you enter but how."

Nate looked at her, his confusion clear.

"Look, remember the word father was written differently. It was capitalized and initialized. Perhaps you're supposed to enter your answer that way."

Nate nodded and shrugged, he supposed anything was worth a try.

J.I.M.M.Y.

The computer didn't say anything but the orange cursor began blinking on the second line.

"That was it," Nate smiled and looked over to Sophie, who was leaning on the desk beside him, her eyes excitedly wide at the simple pleasure of working out the puzzle. It was small and intimate and it was worth more to him than anything. He reached out and held her hand. She stilled at the touch and looked into his eyes. Nothing needed to be said. It was understood by them both.

"So…," Sophie said softly, "faith?"

"That's easy," Nate replied and set about entering his answer, "Hardison knows I was an Altar boy back in the old neighborhood."

roman catholic

He entered the words just as the clue was written and again the computer didn't respond. The orange cursor began blinking on the third line.

"One more," Sophie urged.

"Yeah but that's a tough one," Nate responded. "Who's my friend?"

He thought for a second and then typed in sophie but the automated voice rejected his choice.

Sophie smiled and shook her head, "I'm flattered but no. You have to think as Hardison does."

Nate looked at her, the expression on his face telling her he didn't understand.

"Here…" she leaned in close to him and sat on his lap.

Nate didn't know what she was doing but he wasn't about to question it.

Sophie smiled at him then she turned to the computer and typed in the word booze.

The black screen on the computer faded to white and several file windows opened layered on top of each other. Nate could make out a few of the top most window titles. They were called De Casto bio; Hastings Institute; and Domino.

And then the video Hardison left them opened automatically.

Nate and Sophie huddled close and viewed the short recording each noting the hacker's look of determination and when he informed them that Eliot was still alive and that he was at the very hotel they escaped from that night they both took a sharp breath.

The entire situation was getting murkier by the minute.

Then they viewed a few of the files and some pieces began to fit but there were still gaping holes. Neither Nate nor Sophie could see a definitive direct link to the team to answer why they were targeted.

They had to find Hardison. Nate knew that should be his next step. He accessed the comm tracking program like he'd seen Alec do so many times and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the red blinking light that signaled Alec's location. He noticed that his and Parker's comms were both off line. He knew his would be as he ditched it as soon as it went silent. He feared that he and Sophie could have been tracked if someone locked into their signal. But Parker's wasn't beeping, or blinking and he desperately wanted to believe she'd simply had the same idea that he did and that nothing more sinister had happened to her. He took a deep breath but didn't bother to relate his fears to Sophie.

He clicked on the comm link and it instantly opened a dialogue box.

"Hardison?" he called loudly into the computer.

"Nate," Alec answered back, the relief palpable in his voice, "Are you okay? How's Sophie? I take it you guys made out the code?"

"Uhh, yes. Hardison, listen, Sophie and I, we're fine," Nate spoke in the rapid-fire way he did when his mind kicked into high gear. "We've seen the files. I don't know where to begin."

"Tell me about it," Alec offered ruefully, "Nate, I think they have Parker, or something. I just know something's wrong."

Nate and Sophie looked at each other, knowing fully what the other was thinking. Something wasn't right at all and they knew that Hardison would blindly risk himself for Parker if he felt he had no choice.

"Where are you, Hardison?" Sophie asked softly and the hacker felt a shot of joy.

"Hey Soph," he greeted her and she smiled shyly at the warmth in his tone, "It's good to hear your voice."

"Same here," she answered softly, her throat getting tight.

"Hardison, what's really going on here?" Nate cut into their exchange.

"As far as I've been able to make out, the short story is that Sonia's working with Hastings and some heavy hitters on securing some political power and they are using a machine called Domino to do it."

"Domino," Sophie repeated and she clicked onto the file of the same name, "what does it do?"

"I don't know," Alec responded honestly, "you can see from the file, I can't gather that much information about it because there's not much to gather. I've never seen security like this for anything. It's almost as though the thing doesn't exist. Only it clearly does."

"Yeah, I've heard about this Domino project," Nate chimed in, "It was created in the sixties, but they kept each facet of the development totally separate. Separate engineers working on separate parts at separate times. Going so far as to disband the staff each year and starting fresh just so that no one really knows what's going on in its entirety. It was part of something the government had been working on since the Space Race called the Noah project."

"How do you know this," Sophie asked impressed as always with Nate's vast knowledge.

Nate simply shrugged, "When scientists go to bars and drink too much their lips get loose just like everyone else."

"So, this is a secret government machine, huh," Alec thought out loud, "why did this have to get just that much more difficult?"

"Hardison, where are you?" Nate asked.

The hacker took a moment before he answered, "I just arrived at the hotel," he replied evenly, "I have to find her, Nate," he offered further, fully expecting Nate to try to change his mind. But if Nate had any concerns he didn't voice them.

"What do you need us to do?" the mastermind asked instead. His question caught the younger man by surprise.

"Uh, well," Alec stuttered, "I've gone over the information I left you with a fine tooth come and I still can't quite figure out the full story. Maybe you guys would have better luck."

Nate looked back to the files and then to Sophie, "Yeah we can do that. Just…be careful."

"Thanks Nate," Alec replied and almost disconnected the comm until he realized he didn't ask them if they'd heard about his major discovery earlier.

"Oh wait, Nate, I saw Eliot tonight…at least I really think it was Eliot," Alec flustered, taken aback that he'd almost forgotten to mention something so significant even sooner.

"Yes, we saw it," Nate replied and both he and Sophie nodded.

"Yeah, I saw him leaving the hotel tonight during the evacuation," Alec related excitedly, "he was as the end of the alley and I couldn't get to him in time. He didn't see me but I think…no I know it was him,"

"Okay," Nate said thoughtfully as he rubbed his fingertips over the first strains of stubble growing there. He was at a loss. Whoever was behind this whole thing knew each member of his team, studied them. No con seemed to fit. They'd be found out- or worse- immediately. It seemed fairly lucky they'd made it this far. He knew they'd have to seek out the assistance of someone no one would think of as their ally. Someone with the kind of pull to get them the answers they need, someone who owed them a favor.

"I have an idea Hardison? But it would mean than Sophie and I would be off comms for a little while." Nate said, looking at Sophie reassuringly.

Alec sighed, "Good luck," the two little words carried infinite weight.

"Good luck to you too," Nate responded hoping his face didn't betray the worry he felt.

"Be careful, Hardison," Sophie injected, trying desperately to keep her voice even, "get her back."

Nate and Sophie watched as Alec nodded and reached out to turn off the tiny dashboard monitor he'd been talking into.

His screen went black and he was gone.

Sophie sighed heavily and turned to Nate, "Do you think he'll be okay?"

Nate nodded his head quickly, "Hardison's a lot stronger than even he thinks; he'll be fine. In the meanwhile the best way we can help him is to get some answers, and try to find Eliot."

Sophie nodded slowly and tried to think positively even as the doubts began crowding her mind. She looked at all of the files that pertained to the situation they found themselves embroiled in and shook her head.

"My goodness, this is all a mess isn't it?" she exhaled, "And who is this De Castro woman?"

Nate looked at her quizzically, "Sonia, Sylvia, Carmen…"

Sophie shook her head with the mention of each name and Nate's curiosity grew. He scrolled her bio file for a photo convinced that the woman presented herself to Sophie under a different alias.

When Sophie shook her head to indicate she didn't recognize the woman Nate was floored.

"She ingratiated herself into all of our lives, presenting herself as someone else. She was the one who kept me in Ireland by promising to keep you safe. She fooled Hardison into thinking she was his only friend when he was in the hospital and she was the one who'd changed Parker. How is it that she didn't work her way into your life?"

Nate's brain was furiously trying to work the angle as was Sophie's.

"My handler was a business man named Nicaro Caesar," she offered hopeful that the name would ring a bell for Nate, "I worked for him for nearly two years."

The name was unfamiliar but the statement caught his attention, "Two years? Where did they have you before?"

Sophie's mind travelled back to the hell on earth she endured in the months leading up to her high-class serfdom with Nicaro. She vowed she wouldn't burden Nate with what she went through during that time.

She smiled and touched his face, "Just a little bit more of the same."

His eyebrows furrowed immediately and she reached for the hand on his face, "I know that tone Sophie, don't try to con me." His voice was soft but it was firm and she knew he could detect the smallest iota of untruth in her. It was the blessing and the curse of their partnership.

"Nate, please," she implored sincerely, "there are much more important things at hand. Could we please just leave this one thing unexplored?"

He studied her for a moment before he nodded his head in agreement and his face relaxed, "…for now."

He reached for her face and leaned into her, kissing her softly.

The past three years for him were a blur of trying to ensure her safety. He could only imagine what she must have been going through.

There'd be time for that discussion, he promised himself as they ended their kiss.

Right now they had work to do and seemingly little time to do it.