NEW LEVERAGE FIC
TITLE: Birds of a Feather Flock Together
TEAM FIC
SPOILERS FOR UP TO MALTESE FALCON
No man left behind. Takes place after Maltese Falcon.
Chapter One: Eagle Eye
“Hey,” Eliot was watching Nate out the window. “Hey!”
“What, man?” Hardison asked, he was half curled around Parker. “What are you yellin’ about?”
“He’s bleedin’.” Eliot said, a little unsure. “Can you get any closer with this thing?” He shouted to the driver.
The driver tilted the chopper enough that The window got a look of the deck and the chaos on it. And, yes, there was Nate, the leader of the band of thieves, collapsed on the deck. Sophie’s attention was caught by the angle not the conversation as she was lost in angry sad thoughts of her and Nathan. But the view of Nate pulled her back to the moment.
There he was, cuffed to the railing with one hand the other hand falling limply to the side, palm red with blood. Sterling, of all bastards, was ripping open Nate’s shirt to revile a gunshot wound in lower abdomen. It didn’t look too bad but…
“Hardison?” Sophie started softly. “Tap into the cell phones, see which hospital there taking him to.”
Hardison’s eye widened, that wasn’t going to be easy, nor would that lead to anything good, but he wasn’t going to question Sophie. Not now.
Sophie told the helicopter engineer something, but no one else heard it. Then she continued her instructions. “Parker, phone.” Sophie requested. It took the blonde a moment to realize what Sophie wanted but she quickly presented it to her. “Thanks. Now, Eliot, Parker,” She called the two team members to her. “When we land I’ll need a few things.” They nodded. “We need fresh clothes for all six of us, we need any of your repelling gear you can find, disposable razors,” she had been searching through Parker’s phone for something, and had found it because she had was now waiting for them to pick up.” We’ve only got as long it takes to get our intel together. So Hardison?” She turned back to the hacker. “Where are they taking him?”
Hardison had to smile a little. “Boston General.”
“The one we took over before?” Sophie asked, tilting the phone away from her mouth. Hardison nodded. “Good. Parker, Eliot, any questions?”
“There’s only five of us.” Parker asked, or stated she wasn’t sure.
Sophie held up a finger. “Hey, how far out are you? …I need you to come back…Nate’s been shot, bad…I don’t know, before you left.” Sophie argued. “Please, I’ll owe you…That’s my girl, Tara…Nate’s, I think it’s clear…We’ll find out, okay? Oh, do we need anything for-Got it.” She’s flipped Parker’s phone closed and handed it back to Parker. “She’ll meet us there.”
The helicopter hit the roof hard and stopped. They all piled out and got to work. “Get everything on the list plus a large pair of scissors, and hair dye.” Sophie told two collecting supplies. “Just get it, be careful, and bring it back. I’ll start on a plan.”
When Parker and Eliot returned, Tara was already there. Hardison had a floor plan of the hospital (all levels) displayed on the TV screens. Tara was perched on the arm of the coach and Hardison was sitting on the edge of the cushion both surveying papers of some type, while Sophie was pulled back into a chair. Tara tilted her chin up at the two in greeting as they joined the group.
“Miss us?” Parker asked, dropping the bags on the sofa next to Tara, recognizing her leadership in the plan. “How’s this gonna play?”
Sophie gave Parker a look. She had really changed. “We go in, we get Nate, we out. We don’t get caught.” Sophie saw the terrified looks on the others’ faces. “Tara? Fill them in.”
Tara started checking the bags Eliot and Parker brought in, only just recognizing the name on the plastic. She would have killed to see Eliot drag Parker through Wal-Mart. They had, none the less, bought everything she’d asked for, even the weird stuff. “Okay, we’re running the Wounded Herring: One of us will be admitted with a genuine injury, it’s the decoy’s job to distract Sterling. Parker, while Sterling’s distracted you plant cameras everywhere. Hardison will watch the footage. He will also be finding the best for you, Eliot,” she turned to the retrieval specialist. “To retrieve Nate.
“Sophie will be here, ready to fill in for anything we missed, fix any mistakes, and coach us through the tough stuff.” She paused, “We’ve done this type of thing before, we know how. But this time,” Tara looked down, her voice dropping. “it’s personal.”
Tara cleared her throat. “Since you and Sophie will more than likely be in plain sight,” Tara looked to Eliot, “Sophie will be cutting her hair. And you…” she threw a box to Eliot. “How do you feel about ginger?”
“Hell no.” Eliot growled. “Ain’t. Gonna. Happen.” He threw the box back at Tara, she managed to catch it, but not happily.
Sophie had been curled into the corner sectional, silent. But she finally spoke. Saying simply and solemnly, “It’s for Nate.”
Eliot looked between the sorrowful brunette and the blond. “It says temporary, right?” Tara smirked. “Fine.”
“Good.” Tara nodded, “Hardison, find Nate so I can start-“
Hardison held up a hand. “I’m on it, a man needs time. I can’t just hack into hospital records and-Room one-forty-seven.” He smiled.
“Okay. I’ll be near there, that’s intensive. They’ll need to treat me for at least eight to twelve hours before the transfer me.” She stood, looking back at the map. “That gives you five hours to get Nate. You don’t need to worry about me much. I can get out on my own.”
The room had been full of agreeing faces up to there. “Wait,” Parker objected.”You are going in with a real injury?”
Eliot was clearly uncomfortable. “No. We can’t do that.” He shook his head. “There’s gotta be another way.”
Tara shook her head. “It’s fine. I’ve done it before. Last time I did it was when Sophie and I ran it. I did a concussion.” She was thinking of the last time. “That scar, Eliot? It’s from that. I’m not doing that again I need a story…” She looked at the scissors in the bag, picked them up. “Okay, let’s get this ready. We’ve got maybe an hour, then I’ll go in and you guys start.”
“What are you gonna do?” Parker asked.
Tara smiled, a bittersweet smile. “You are going to try to kill me.”