Chapter 14
"What were you thinking, Nate? You should never have promised him that."
The team sat around the Brewpub bar, out of Eliot's earshot. They needed to discuss the future of Leverage International and where ex-hitter's new role fits in.
As the owner of the bar, Hardison stood behind it, serving drinks to his teammates and cleaning glasses left from that night's customers. Parker was actually perched on top of the drinks station, sipping the latest batch of 'thief juice', which was somehow even more of a mouth crime than the previous renditions. Sophie and Nate were both sticking to soda in comradery to their friend and his inability to drink. The former of the two had barely taken a sip before going into her rant.
"I mean, what happened to taking some time off, seeing how things are in six months or so?"
"I know what I said, Soph. But you didn't see him earlier, he was so broken and this was the only thing I could think of that may help."
After they had their heart-to-heart, Nate managed to get a bit of food down Eliot so he could take his pain medication along with a sleeping pill that his doctor had recently prescribed. Now the hitter was catching up on some much-needed sleep whilst the mastermind broke the news.
"But he isn't ready Nate," the grifter sighed, putting a soft hand on her husband's shoulder. "He's barely been functioning these past couple of weeks, and that was doing just basic tasks. How will he cope on a con?"
"We haven't even figured out what he can do, now that he ain't a hitter," Hardison chimed in.
Nate took a deep breath, pulling himself straight as if he was about to pitch a job to the team. "Eliot has been struggling lately, yes, but that's because he has nothing to focus on. He thinks he has no place here anymore, and it's messing with his head." He stopped to take in the three despairing faces looking back at him. "If we carry on like this, I don't think he'll ever come back to us."
"So, what do we do?" It was Parker's voice that meekly spoke up from the right of him.
"We find him a new role on the team and as he gets better, we'll give him more to do so he always has a challenge left to face." He paused a moment making sure he had everyone's attention. "He's still Eliot, the man who never backs down from a fight."
"It won't be easy, Nate. He's going to find things that he can't do and it will upset him." Sophie, ever the voice of reason grasped the mastermind's hand.
"I know." He smiled at her gently, retrieving an equally warm grin in return. "But as a team, I know we can get through this."
"For Eliot," the thief interrupted, raising her glass in a toast as the others joined.
"FOR ELIOT!"
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A couple of days later, Nate had found them a new client and had even come up with some plans on how to help the young botanist whose research had been stolen.
It seemed that just the promise of having a job to do raised the hitter's mood greatly. That first afternoon he managed to sleep for four uninterrupted hours and then joined the team for a light-hearted meal that more than made up for the past two weeks. Eliot was still catching up on some much-needed rest, so he went to bed early that night with the help of another sleeping pill and an hour hooked up to a TENS machine. When Nate came to switch the contraption off, he was pleased to see his friend completely relaxed and snoring softly.
Two days later, after a "much better than previous" trip to the rehab centre, Nate believed that the hitter was ready to explore his new role.
"I thought that maybe to start with, you could help me with the planning." The mastermind opened up a large manila file containing blueprints and security details for their upcoming heist. "All my plans require a hitter, but I've looked and I can't get one I trust in time. If you could find a way in and out that doesn't require... well you, that would be a huge help."
Eliot awkwardly reached over and picked up the stack of papers. Arranging them in a way that would keep them on his lap, he then proceeded to push himself slowly over to a desk that had been custom built to fit his wheelchair under. There, he started to go through the documents, encountering the same problems the mastermind did.
For five hours he scanned and rescanned the files searching for a solution to their problem, only stopping when a plate of food was shoved forcefully in front of his face.
"Eat, El. Or we stop this whole thing right now."
Surprisingly, it was Hardison making the ultimatum as he pushed the cheese and pickle sandwich closer to the hitter's nose. Now that he mentioned it, Eliot was really hungry and that would explain the rumbling sounds he'd heard earlier. He'd just been so focused, trying to figure out whatever he was missing.
"Fine, just please tell me it wasn't you that made that." He pointed at the plate, a disgusted snarl marring his face.
"Nah man, I know you won't touch anything I made. Nate made it and put it in the fridge about an hour and a half ago. He was hoping that you'd stop once you got hungry and go looking for food." The hacker sighed, throwing his hands in his jacket pockets. "But I could tell you weren't coming and you need your food and pills if you want to stay functional."
Eliot just growled in response but took the food and his pill box without hesitation.
By the evening when dinner was served, he was still no closer to finding the answer and it had put a serious dampener on his mood. His head was pounding from the stress and even with his glasses, his eyes were struggling to focus. Seemingly, the head trauma had caused his vision to worsen, and now he needed a new prescription. He should probably mention that to Nate or his Doctor, but for now, he just wanted to ignore the fact that there was yet another problem for him to deal with.
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Parker was running down a corridor.
Her exit had been cut off by a guard going on rotation early.
Her only hope was an elevator shaft that posed far too many risks for Eliot's liking.
"Nate, I'm trapped. The only option is 'Plan H'."
There was silence for a moment as the mastermind considered this information.
"Do it!"
The thief took no time prying open the doors and hooking herself to the line she placed in the elevator shaft earlier. Climbing up ropes was a lot harder than sliding down, and a lot less fun, but she started her ascent with ease, using specialist gloves to keep her grip on the wire.
"Parker, status report!" Nate was using his 'the bad guy is right next to me so I can't talk' whisper as he tried to keep track of his team.
"I'm almost there, just another floor to go."
Just as she finished talking, a sound that all of them had been dreading rumbled below her. It appeared that one of the guards was going against protocol and taking the fastest route back to his station. The cabin that hung only two floors below her shook back to life and quickly made its way to the top of the building.
"Parker!" The hacker's voice made her jump as it came through suddenly in the stark quiet. "You need to get out of there now, I have no control over that elevator and it's heading all the way up." The fear in his tone was obvious as he watched helplessly from his chair in Lucile.
"Fuck!" Was all she had as a response as she scrambled further up the building, sweat and nerves making it harder to climb the very thin wire.
Through the coms, all the team could hear was quick panting as the groan of old metal got closer and closer. Sophie held her breath, as Nate and Hardison both muttered prayers to their respective gods. They couldn't know what happened next, whether the cabin caught up with her, the guideline broke, or maybe she just slipped in the panic. All they heard was a loud...
BANG!
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Parker was running down a corridor.
A guard had found her equipment on the roof after sneaking out there for a smoke break.
Alerting his colleagues to his discovery, the guard issued a full lockdown as well as a search of the surrounding area.
The team was aware of this protocol, but they'd written it off deciding that they had other more important things to think about over the safety of their hacker. He'd be fine in his van out of the way of any real danger.
The problem was, the lockdown was silent and the first Hardison and the others would hear of it would be a gun to the back of their heads, or handcuffs slapped on their wrists.
Parker was safe. She'd made it down to the lobby where Nate and Sophie were both disguised as party guests. The thief had donned a white shirt and black vest that hid her well with the rest of the catering staff. To finish the look she wore a gold nameplate with the name Penny engraved on it.
Thinking that the team was safe and the heist complete, Hardison leaned back into his chair, chugging half a bottle of celebratory soda in a toast to his genius. He didn't even hear the heavy footfalls that surrounded Lucile, or the click as the door's catch popped out of place. No, the last thing he saw was a large shadow spread across his screen before...
BANG!
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Parker was running down a corridor.
She'd successfully retrieved the stolen documents and was now making her way down to the lobby.
Nate and Sophie were doing an excellent job playing two rival business owners who both wanted contracts with the marks company. Their role had been to keep the man out of his office long enough for Parker to complete the heist. It was one of those cons where the simplest answer was the best. They couldn't see anything going wrong from this point on, all they needed to do was slip out one at a time and meet at Lucile.
What they didn't see coming, was the gun pointed directly at Nate's face as the mark mumbled something about "filthy con artists trying to steal his money." Before they could ask what was going on, the firearm was cocked and the trigger was pressed with mind splitting...
BANG!
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"El, wake up. Wake up, it's all right, you're safe, we're all safe." Nate's voice was soothing as he stroked the sweat-soaked brow of his teammate. Rocking backwards and forwards, he tried to calm the breathless hitter in his arms.
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Eliot was back at it the next day, hunched over his desk looking over file after file, still not seeing an answer that will let him sleep at night.
That morning had been a challenge. Eliot was so tired he couldn't concentrate enough to get himself dressed properly, eventually heading out for breakfast in a hoody that draped over his right arm, no shirt, and a pair of beat-up old sweats. Food was picked at, and he almost dozed off a couple of times right there at the table. The only thing that seemed to get his attention, was the piles of papers stacked high on his desk.
"Nate, I don't think this is working. I know what you said, but it's obviously stressing him out and it's making things worse." The grifter spoke quietly as she joined her husband in the quaint little reading nook on the upstairs balcony.
The mastermind had been trying to read a novel, but his concern over the hitter had him way too distracted. He hadn't even managed a single page in the past hour. Blowing out a heavy breath, Nate placed his book back on its shelf and went to sit down next to his wife.
"I know. Last night was rough, I've never seen him get that bad." He tucked the grifter up under his arm, holding her tightly as he spoke. "I don't know what went wrong, these past few days he'd been getting better. Having something to focus on was what he wanted, but now it's like he can't see anything else but the job, and it's affecting his health."
Sophie lifted her head to look into a pair of blue-grey eyes. "I don't think the job is the problem... It's the fact that he can't do it." She scooted herself around a bit, letting her hands rest on Nate's. "His greatest fear after the accident was not being able to do his job. And now we've given him a new job and he can't even complete that. It doesn't matter that there may just not be a solution, he still thinks it's an issue with him."
"So, what do we do?" Nate's whole body was pleading with the grifter for answers. His hands gripped her tightly, rubbing a thumb over soft silky knuckles. His lips reddened as he bit and chewed on them, trying to relieve some of the anxiety that had built up over the day. And moister collected in his eyes as he held back tears.
"He needs to be pulled off the team again. He isn't ready and he needs to understand that." She really didn't want to say it, but it was the hard truth. Until Eliot was in a better place with his health, he needed to avoid stressful situations that could make his symptoms worse. There was no point in giving him what he asks for if it was taking away what he needs.
"I'll go down there and explain it to him." Nate's shoulders slumped as he stood up, ready to face the hitter.
"No, we are going down there to explain things." Sophie pushed herself up, standing tall next to her husband, hand in hand.
"You don't have..."
She interrupted him with a long lingering kiss. "Yes, I do. That's what being married means."
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Downstairs, Eliot was neck-deep in security rosters, blueprints and personal files. A voice in his head was telling him that he missed something, but it was being drowned out by the marching band drumming a beat inside his skull. Why do I even take those damn migraine meds? There had to be some way to pull off this heist without a hitter.
Nate and Sophie slowly approached their friend, careful not to startle him when his mind was so focused somewhere else.
"Eliot, we need to talk about..."
"I GOT IT!" The hitter's outburst stopped Nate in his tracks.
"Got what, El?"
"The solution." He looked at his boss like it was the only possible answer he could give. "I know what we need to do to keep you guys safe without a hitter."
"Really?" The mastermind launched himself at the desk, his previous reason for being there completely forgotten.
"Yeah, we just need to keep this guy from working that night so they bring this guy in and that will..."
"Oh yeah I see," he interrupted, the pieces falling together like a puzzle in his head. "That should solve the issue with..."
"Yeah, and..."
The two men were so completely engaged with their strategic planning that they didn't see or hear the grifter as she walked away chuckling.