A/N: Here's chapter 8. Thanks to those who are reading and following along, and a special thank you to those who review. I hope you are enjoying this story as much as I am enjoying writing it for you. I don't own Leverage or any recognizable characters thereof. I do this for fun and make no profit. Please read and review; reviews make my day. Next chapter should start to get really interesting. Thank you.

Chapter 8

For the three days since Parker left, the periods of screaming and thrashing had been fewer, and they had slowly grown shorter and further apart. Finally, he grew quiet for a full day, and Master Yu was confident he would wake soon. The silence, after the screaming, felt strange, and the rest of the team felt the need to be sure Eliot was all right, so they took turns sitting with him. Master Yu wasn't eager to leave him either, and so he and Nate sat together.

An hour later, Nate saw movement out of the corner of his eye, and looked up to see Master Yu moving to the side of Eliot's bunk. Eliot tried to sit up, and Master Yu put out a hand to stop him. He briefly examined the hitter, and drew another blood sample. Afterwards, he removed the restraints and helped Eliot sit up.

"How are you feeling, my friend?"

Eliot tried to answer, but nothing more than a whisper came out of his mouth. Handing him a cup, Yu said, "Don't try to talk. Your voice will likely be in pretty bad shape for a few days."

Eliot took several sips of water, and tried again. His voice was raspy, but he managed to say, "Why?"

"What do you remember?"

He shook his head. Eliot Spencer kept his own counsel on certain matters. After a moment, he looked at Master Yu. "I need to get cleaned up."

"You may feel some of the effects of this for a few weeks yet, and I want you to take it easy for a few days. Other than that, I think you are well enough for me to leave you on your own now. Call me if you need me. If I don't hear from you before, I'll expect to see you in the gym next week."

"Definitely. Thank you, Master. I owe you one."

Nate went to see Master Yu out, and when he returned, Eliot was no longer on the bunk. A bit puzzled, Nate started to walk back out into the living room, and through the apartment, until he heard the water running in the shower.

A few minutes later, Eliot walked out into the main part of Nate's apartment, bringing the bed linens with him. As he came through, he said, "I cleaned up the store room, Nate." He started the washer, and came back into the living room, where he was instantly surrounded by Sophie, Hardison, and Nate. "Where's Parker?" he asked.

Nate looked uncomfortable. "She was visiting you, and something happened. She wouldn't tell me what it was. She left. We haven't been able to find her."

"Damn it, Nate. When are you going to learn I have a reason for everything I say? I told you I didn't want the girls to see this. Have you tried to track her?"

"She destroyed or ditched all of the tracking devices I had for her, and she's turned off her phone. She's in the wind, man," Hardison said, looking unhappy.

Eliot rose and moved toward the door.

"Where are you going? Master Yu said you needed to take it easy."

"I need some fresh air. I'll be back." Without another word, he stalked out the front door, closing it behind him.

(0o0)

Eliot did his best thinking when he was doing something physical. Since martial arts were out for the time being, he decided that a visit to the stable where he boarded his horse was in order. He knew he was going to have to go after Conrad, and he needed to think through the best way to do that. One did not just go straight up against the CIA.

The beauty of horses in a pasture never ceased to amaze him. He walked to the gate and whistled, and a chestnut mare came trotting up to the fence. Taking an apple out of his pocket, he held it flat in his palm, and smiled as the velvet of her nose tickled his hand. Placing his boot on the lower rail of the fence, he swung the other leg over to the other side, and then stepped down to the ground. A moment later, he mounted the horse, bare-backed, and was riding across the pasture toward one of the riding trails. It should be safe enough to make some plans in the middle of the woods.

Stopping for a moment, he pulled his phone out of his pocket, and sent a quick text message, before he lost service, and then took off down the trail. Two hours later, he was riding through a neighboring pasture, toward a different barn. As soon as he got there, hands took his Lady and began brushing her down, while he walked over to an old beat up pickup parked on the grass next to the boundary fence to the farmer's pasture, and opened the passenger door and climbed in.

"I'm assuming you chose this one because there are no electronics that can be tracked in a truck this old. Did you sweep it for attached tracking devices before you came?"

"Of course. So what's the plan?"

"You have to ask, Vance? I'm going after Conrad. That bastard tried to kill me by releasing nerve gas in my cell. On a civilian college campus. Whether the attack was intended just for me or for everyone in those cells, I can't not respond to this. He's putting innocent people in danger, besides the fact that he'll think he can do whatever he wants with me…and with the people on my team. The next little "accident" may not be aimed at me, and they are less equipped to deal with it."

"I agree—you have to respond." He handed Eliot an envelope. "Let me help with this. God knows, you've helped me enough when I needed it."

"I want your help. I want to keep the team out of this. The less they know, the better. It's a two man job. You and me. Go in, give him a few good reasons never to bother us again, and get out." Eliot's face was hard, and he had a wolfish grin—a grin Vance had seen before. Right before the other man unleashed the calculating, ruthless assassin inside himself. "And if that fails, blow his ass up."

"Should we call in some backup for this one—just in case it goes south?"

"No. The more people who know, the better the chance he'll catch wind of what we're planning. I'm sure he's expecting me to do something, but I'd rather make sure he doesn't know what until it is happening."

"So, I'm guessing I should call my wife and tell her I won't be home for dinner."

"Something like that. Conrad's schedule?"

"In the envelope."

"Good." They made one stop, to a storage building on the outskirts of town, where Eliot moved aside a patch of well concealed false wall and withdrew a long, leather bag with handles. He placed in on a nearby table, and immediately unzipped it to make sure it was all still intact, or maybe he just checked it from force of habit. It was there, and just as deadly as ever. He resisted the urge to pat the rifle that had stood him in such good stead before, withdrew two boxes of ammo and some explosives, and placed them in the bag, on top of the rifle, before zipping the bag back up, and shouldering it, moving quickly back toward the truck.

They would camp out tonight, like they had done so many times before, and tomorrow, the fun would begin. Eliot thought briefly about Parker as he built the camp fire, wondering where she was and making a mental note to talk to her once he tracked her down. And he would track her down. It was just a matter of time.

Vance knew that Eliot was still recovering from what was done to him, so he volunteered to take the first watch, agreeing to wake Eliot in 3 hours, if his 90 minute instincts didn't kick in before then. Within minutes, Eliot, who was still fighting somewhat the medications in his system, was asleep within minutes.