Leverage Fic: Like the Gun - Regroup

[whimoffate]

Title:  Like the Gun - Regroup
Author:  whimoffate 
Characters:  Maggie, The Team, Nate
Word Count: 3816
Rating: PG (some language)
Beta:  
Spoilers: Up to Two Horse Job, then it becomes AU
Warning(s): None.
Disclaimer: I am just a rank amateur trying to pass the time
 Summary: The Team locates Sophie and Nate and Maggie have it out


Nate made his way to his office. He flipped on the light and sat behind the desk. Leaning in, he booted up his computer, but his mind was elsewhere. Trying to get information seemed like the right place to start, but if he was honest, he didn't even know what he was looking for. After a few frustrating minutes, he realized that this was not his area and if he was going to have any luck finding Sophie, he was going to have to call the team. If anyone could find her, it would be Hardison.

Right? Surely there was evidence on some camera somewhere of Sterling snatching Sophie.

He was wasting time thinking about it.

Taking a deep breath, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed Hardison, “Hey. Get the team. We've got a problem. I'm at the office.”

Without waiting for a response, Nate hung up the phone. He got up and started pacing around the room. He could hear his heart thumping in his chest. It was all he could do not to scream. Where could she be?

Nate walked back to his desk, reached down and opened the bottom drawer. Inside was a half-empty bottle of Jack and a glass. He pulled the glass out, placed it on the desktop. His hand shaking, he reached for the bottle. He felt the weight and considered pouring a glass.

Just as he was about to unscrew the top, his cell rang. Abandoning the bottle, he answered the phone with a brusque, “Hello?”

“Nate, is that you?”

“Maggie? What's wrong?” Nate was almost shaking with nervous energy. Had Sterling done something to her, as well? This was spiraling out of control at an alarming rate.

“I got the most unusual package today.” Maggie's voice sounded concerned, but not frightened. That was a good sign. “It was from your old co-worker, Jim Sterling.”

“What was it?” Nate began to pace around the office. Where the hell's the team?

“There was a bunch of pictures of a woman and a note. What's going on?” Nate could hear Maggie flipping through the photos over the phone.

“Is there any way you can have everything sent to me? No, better yet, bring them to me. I'm in L.A.”

Nate heard the front door of the Leverage offices open. Eliot's voice called out, “We're here, man! What's going on?”

“We're not all here.” Parker interjected. “Hardison couldn't get Sophie on the phone. And when I broke in to her place, it was empty. She's a horrible housekeeper.” Parker whispered the last part, like she was trying to keep a secret.

“No, she's not.” Eliot growled a bit. “I told ya when we were at her place that it looks like there was a struggle. I think somebody took her.”

All three of the remaining team members rounded the corner, entering Nate's office practically at the same time. Seeing them in the doorway, Nate lifted one finger to silence them, turning this attention back to the conversation he was having with Maggie.

“I don't know, Nate. If these are real, you may want to call the police.”

“Maggie, please.” Nate softened his voice, trying to take some of the command out of it. Maggie never responded well to him telling her what to do, even when it was for her own good. “Sterling isn't playing very sane and I need to see what he sent you. And, well, I would feel better if I knew that you were safe.”

If felt like an eternity before Maggie finally agreed. Nate texted her the address of the offices and turned his focus back to the team.

Herding them out of his office, talking rapidly as he went, they headed to the conference room.

“I had a visitor tonight. Sterling. He says that he has Sophie. He, uh, gave me this.” Nate's hands shook as he took out the letter that Sophie had written him, smoothing out the page carefully. “It doesn't say anything that could help us find her, but I know that this is her handwriting, her style. I've known Sophie a long time and, yeah, this is her.”

Nate kept running his hand over the paper, smoothing it out. He barely even noticed the eyes on him. Shaking his head a bit, Nate looked up at them. He didn't have time to get lost in the fear, he had to act.

“So, what do we know?” Eliot's voice helped to cut through Nate's fog.

Parker spoke up, “We know that he grabbed her at her place.” Turning to face Eliot she said, “I guess you were right about there being a struggle.”

“She definitely put up a fight.” Eliot smirked a bit, “Nate, you shoulda seen the place. There wasn't an upright piece of furniture in the joint. Whoever grabbed her must be sporting some nasty bruises.”

“Or Sophie is.” Parker's plainly stated observation hit them all with more force than she intended.

“Hardison, get looking for some footage. They had to have been caught on camera, somewhere, taking her out of there.”

“On it.” The hacker's fingers were already flying over his laptop keyboard. The screens behind Nate lit up, information blazing across the screen in a dizzying fashion.

After a few minutes, with Nate pacing behind them the whole time, Hardison was able to access a security camera across the street from Sophie's apartment building. Everyone was absolutely silent as the grainy film showed three men dragging Sophie's struggling body out of an alley on the side of the building and forcing her into a car. All three men got in and the car drove away. Hardison tracked the car for several miles, before he lost it near the docks.

“As far as I can tell, it looks like they took her to the warehouse district near the port. We're going to have a hell of a time finding her there.”

“She hurt 'em, Nate.” His voice was rough with fear and pride. “One of the guys had a limp and I'm pretty sure she dislocated the shoulder of the bigger guy. I don't know how, she must have hit him with a chair, but she definitely made an impression.” Eliot smiled. “I gotta say, I didn't think the Princess had that kind of fight in her.”

“Sophie's always been able to handle herself. Sure, she usually talks her way out of it, but she's not going to just let someone walk in and drag her off without getting a few kicks.” Nate smiled a bit to himself. “She shot me, once, and she liked me, I don't even want to think about what she did to a bunch of men wrecking her place.”

Parker laughed, loud and sudden, then it was gone.

“Hardison, start accessing the video feeds in the area and see if you can pick up the car. Maybe you should start going through ship manifests. I don't know if he's going to take her out of the country, but we don't want him to have too much of a lead if he does.”

“You got it.”

Hardison let his fingers fly. Eliot and Parker stared blankly at the rapid-fire images on the screen.

The front door of the offices opened. Maggie's voice called out, “Nate? Are you here?”

“In here, Maggie!” Nate nervously re-tucked his shirt in and ran a hand through his unruly hair. This was not how he wanted to see his ex-wife, again, after all this time.

Maggie's elegant form entered the conference room. She was holding an envelope in her hand. Blue eyes flicked to the people sitting around the table, before resting on Nate's face. He could see her curiosity. There was a bit of fear, too.

“Nate, what's going on? I get this,” she waved the bulging envelope at him, “and you tell me to come here. I don't know what to make of any of this.”

Nate walked over and took the package from her. As he was opening it, he said, “I can explain.” He dumped out the contents, letting the pictures cascade out on the to surface of the table. Shifting through them quickly, he found the note Sterling had written to Maggie.

M~

I had this little problem taken care of for you. I hope you don't mind.

Sterling

“This is the note? That's all he said?” Nate turned, handing the brief card to Eliot so that he could read it. The hitter flicked his eyes over the page before handing it to Parker.

“What did he think he took care of, Nate? Who is the woman in the photographs?” Maggie walked over to stand next to Nate. Picking up one of the pictures she continued, “This one looks eight years old.” Tapping the photograph with one finger she said, “I remember this jacket.”

Nate looked down. The image was of him and Sophie sitting at a cafe. She's smiling and he's frowning, between them was a satchel. He remembered that it held a painting. Sophie had agreed to return the painting if he agreed to meet her for lunch. He'd gone, but he wasn't happy about it. They had a surprisingly pleasant luncheon. Sophie had managed to draw him in to conversation with the finesse you'd expect of a professional grifter. He remembered allowing himself to be impressed by her skill, instead of annoyed that she'd managed to win that particular round.

Saying nothing, Nate picked up another photo. This time it was just Sophie. She was leaving a hotel in Prague, wearing a long coat and sunglasses, looking entirely too much like the International Art Thief persona he knew that “Sophie Devereaux” represented. He remembered his stay in that hotel. It was four years ago, before things got bad with Sam, and he had gotten so very close to being carried away by the game he and Sophie were playing.

Flipping through the stack Nate noticed that they weren't in any particular order, but they seemed to go back to practically the beginning of his friendship with Sophie. Sometimes it was a picture of the two of them together, sometimes it was just her, doing whatever it was that she did when he wasn't around.

He could feel Maggie's eyes on him, but he wasn't ready to talk, just yet. He'd found the image that he'd been fearing. There, at the bottom of the stack, was a photo of Sophie. She was handcuffed to a chair. There were several bruises on her face and arms. There was a cut on her cheek and bottom lip, both bleeding.

Nate let himself be scared, for just a moment, but afterward he was able to see that she wasn't crying. There was no fear on her face. Her dark eyes were staring directly in to the camera, determination radiating from every pore.

“That's my girl,” he murmured to himself, a soft smile on his lips.

Tapping the photograph, he handed it to Hardison, “Get this on the screens. We need to see if there's anything that will tell us where she's at in the background.”

“Dammit, Nate, tell me what's going on.” Maggie grabbed his arm and swung him around to face her. “Who is this woman? Why would Sterling send me these photos? It doesn't make any sense!”

“Her name is Sophie Devereaux.” He paused, “Well, that's not true. I have no idea what her name is, but I know her as Sophie Devereaux.”

“The art thief? You had me come down here because some art thief got nabbed? You've got to be kidding me!” Maggie turned on her heel and headed for the door.

“You say 'thief' like it's a bad thing.” Parker's voice stopped Maggie in her tracks.

Maggie slowly turned back to face the team and Nate. “Isn't it?”

“It depends on who you ask.” Nate shrugged. “I should introduce you. Alec Hardison, Eliot Spencer and Parker.” As he introduced each member of his team, they nodded slightly to his ex-wife. Her eyes widened as she recognized the names that went with the faces in the room.

“I know that we've been out of touch, but are you so far gone that you're a criminal, now, Nate?” Maggie's voice was not terribly surprised, but very disapproving.

“It's complicated.”

“When isn't it with you? Jesus, what is going on?”

Seeing the very curious faces of the other members of the team watching as he and Maggie went back and forth, Nate gestured for her to follow him through the glass door to his office. “Perhaps we should talk in here.”

The two of them moved quickly to Nate's office, not saying a word. He could still feel their eyes on them as he started to close the door. Fixing them with a hard stare, Nate said, “Get to work. We need to find Sophie. You better have something before I come back.”

The three of them quickly started to talk amongst themselves, analyzing what they could see in the photo of Sophie that was now on the screens in the conference room. Feeling satisfied that they would put their focus on what was important, rather than on their curiosity, Nate turned to face Maggie.

It was strange to see her standing in his office. She looked good, but she always did. There was something about Maggie that was both intelligent and innocent. Maybe it was the sharp features that were softened by her deep dimples, but Nate couldn't help but feel like she was not meant to be part of this world, his world. He remembered how lucky he'd felt when she agreed to marry him, like he'd gotten away with something and he would have done anything to keep her happy. It was a foolish dream and he should have known, then, that it wouldn't last.

“Nate, talk to me.” Maggie's voice was soft, pleading. It was so reminiscent of the way she used to beg him to talk to her after Sam's death that he almost stopped breathing. He couldn't afford to go down that path.

“We help people.”

Maggie rolled her eyes, “By breaking the law? Don't think I don't know who those people are, Nate. You've got thieves and killers sitting in the other room like it's an after school program for criminals and you expect me to believe that they're helping people?” Shooting him a scathing glare, she continued, “You haven't been out of the game that long and you sure as hell can't be that drunk.”

“Maggie, please, I'm telling the truth. They're on the right side. Yes, we, uh, let's say, bend the law, a bit, but it's always for the right reason. Sometimes the world works wrong and we're able to fix it.” Nate perched on the edge of his desk. He was nervous, but he knew that if he paced right now, it would be the last straw for Maggie. His ex-wife had always loathed his inability to sit still in emotionally charged situations. Of course, she had a bad habit of walking away during a fight, but he didn't see that happening since his team was only a few feet away. For once, staying and having it out with Nate was going to be her safer option.

Huffing, Maggie sat down in the chair near the door. “Fine, we'll just skip over the part where you're a criminal and you can explain to me why Sterling took another criminal hostage, seemingly as a favor to me, which is weird because I've never met her.” Nate looked down at his hands, nervous. “But, it would seem that you have met her before. More than met her. There were nearly two dozen photographs in that envelope. Nearly all of them go back to when we were married, so, is there something you want to tell me?”

“It wasn't like that, Maggie. Sophie is...a friend. We work together, now.” Nate tried to make eye contact, but Maggie's glare made it impossible.

“How exciting for you.”

Nate pinched the bridge of his nose. Maggie was really, really fired up about this and it was the last thing he needed to be dealing with right now. It wasn't like he'd done anything wrong, but trying to explain that he had a decade-long friendship with a woman that he'd never mentioned wasn't going to go over well with Maggie at all. Not that he blamed her, but it was highly inconvenient. He would have preferred to wait until, say, Armageddon, before having this conversation with Maggie.

“Yes, Sophie and I were friends when we were married. Well, not friends, but not enemies, either. It's complicated.”

“There's that word again, Nate.” Sighing, Maggie continued, her voice tired and her eyes closed, “Just skip over the part that makes you look like a cheating asshole and tell me why Sterling is involved. And, do I have to be worried?”

“I never cheated on you, Maggie.” Nate's voice was low, intense.

Maggie opened one eye, smiled sadly, and said, “I don't doubt that you were physically faithful, but there are other ways of carrying on an affair.”

There was a knock on the door. Looking up Nate saw Hardison standing there, looking nervous. Nate bit back a smile. He could practically see Hardison's knees knocking together. Nate hopped off the desk, walked over and opened the door.

“You find something?”

“Yeah, and, it ain't good.” The younger man's eyes darted nervously around the room, trying not to look Nate in the face. “I hacked in to Sterling's email account. He contacted a warlord in Vietnam about the, uh, opportunity to seek revenge on a certain grifter. Apparently Sophie had run a con on this guy a few years ago and wiped him fairly clean. He's been trying to find her ever since.” Clearing his throat, Hardison continued, “Sterling is shipping her out in twenty-four hours.”

“But she's not gone, yet?”

“No, we think they're holding her in container at the ports. We can still find her.”

“Then do it.”

Hardison nodded, shooting Nate a worried glance before going back in to the conference room.

Turning slowly, Nate faced Maggie. “I really should get back to this.” Maggie made no move to leave. “We're running short on time.”

Maggie continued to sit in the chair, her icy blue eyes boring into his more stormy blue ones, saying nothing.

Nate made an irritated gesture with his arm, silently trying to usher her out of the office. Sighing with frustration, Nate said, “What?”

“You're not getting out of this conversation. We need to talk about this woman. I have the right to know.” Maggie's crossed leg began to twitch with irritation, her body rocking with the anger Nate was pretty sure she wasn't aware she had.

“I don't think so. You lost that right when you filed for divorce.” It was like a sickness in him. He couldn't help but to go for the jugular. Maggie's eyes widened, slightly, and she inhaled sharply. It was obvious she wasn't expecting him to fall so rapidly into old patterns.

“I don't understand you!” Maggie's voice could be heard all the way in the conference room. The team raised their heads, looked in the direction of the office, but at Nate's glare quickly turned back to what they were doing. “I thought I knew who you were, then Sam died. I made peace with the fact that I didn't just lose my son that day, I lost you as well.” Maggie stood, walked over to where Nate was standing at the door. Lowering her voice she continued, “I was okay with all of the loss because I still had the memories of our life together. Things weren't perfect, but I knew that you loved us and that made it all better.” Tears were forming in her eyes, tiny pools of liquid he knew she was desperately trying to hold back, “Now I find out that even our marriage was a lie. You kept this whole part of yourself away from me.”

Nate took Maggie's hand in his own before whispering, “That's not true.”

“It is true, Nate. You kept a whole person away from me.” Maggie yanked her hand out of his grasp, turning away from him.

“I gave you all the parts that really mattered.” It was so hard to have this out with Maggie's back, but Nate was afraid to make eye contact, again. The two of them stood there, the silence becoming a thing of its own, keeping Nate from pushing forward. He was reluctant to take control of the situation. He knew, instinctively, that Maggie needed to be the one to call the shots on how this went.

At least, that's what he told himself.

“Your wasting time with me. That woman is going to be missing, for good, if you don't move fast.” Maggie walked to the door, back stiff and steps faltering only slightly as she made her way to the front of the office and out the door. Nate's eyes followed her, their blue depths murky with regret and self-loathing, until she was out of sight.

The front door clicked shut, shaking Nate's foggy mind awake, and he headed to the conference room.

“Have you guys come up with anything else?”

Hardison jumped, whether it was from nerves or sugar-induced was anyone's guess. “Yeah, I've got the container. It's here.” Using the mouse on the laptop, he illuminated the box they were looking for. “And we shouldn't have much trouble getting to it. I hacked in to the security feed and there are a couple of mean guys guarding it, but I think Eliot can handle them.”

Growling softly Eliot said, “Yeah, Hardison, I can handle two guys. I handled the Butcher of Kiev with an appetizer, I can handle two goons in suits.”

“You're just not going to let that go, are you? Man, it was one time. You're like a one-trick pony with pine nuts and lemon zest. Whoop-di-do.”

“Fine. Maybe I should try it again. Wanna volunteer?” Eliot half stood from his chair at the table, glaring menacingly at the younger man from his only slightly higher position.

“Enough. Sophie's out there. We need to get to her before anything can happen to her.” Nate's voice, sharp and commanding, pulled the two men out of their escalating bickering.

Parker stood, throwing things into a bag that no one could remember her bringing in to the room. Feeling Nate's eyes on her, she turned, “What?” Nate raised one eyebrow, looking pointedly at the bag that was rapidly being filled with gear and explosives. Smiling, “You've got to be prepared. You never know when you're going to need a distraction.”

Zipping the bag before hitching it over her right shoulder, Parker grinned, “Let's go get our grifter.”