"We are not friends," I remind Saul. He was my friend once, one of the best. Things change because they have to, not because we want them too. He looks up at me.
"Right. 'Cuz you have so many of them." He gives me an odd half-bow, acknowledging the truth we both have to live with now. "Incoming." My name's Nate Ford now and he's Eliot Spencer. He went off to Croatia after Wolfe. That was for me. For our friendship. And because I couldn't. I had a wife.
Sophie flirts me into helping me with her ear-piece and for a moment, I miss who she was when she was just Lily. I miss the days before Maggie and Sam. Before Wolfe disappeared on me and Saul, Fritz, Lily, and the rest of us figured out how to scatter and become new people. I hope to God that one day I'm not actively working against one of them. It's so much easier to hide who you are on the wrong side of the law. My heart just isn't in it.
Hardison slides by, giving me a chiding look. I can't tell if it's because of Sophie or Eliot. I don't know how good our identities are to him. Eliot got them for a price. I've never asked what it was and he's always had free access to the safe. I finish my beer and go looking for something a little harder to calm down my memories in Hardison's darkened apartment. Parker has curled up on the couch like a tired cat. Hardison is in his element, planning and executing his next crime, or maybe just doing some random research. Sophie's sleeping in the guest room. "There's milk," Eliot says, not looking up from the book he's reading. The glasses surprise me. He used to hide them. I guess it's part of how he's made himself into Eliot. "Or more beer. Sandwiches on the top shelf. Get me one of the roast beef."
There's no reason not to do it. Nate Ford and Eliot Spencer have worked together before. They know each other's quirks. Sterling never could figure out how I managed to get my intelligence. Of course, he never had to anticipate the needs of a pure genius. I sit down a little too close to my friend and set the plate of sandwiches between us. "Saul, I'm sorry."
His eyes crinkle at the edges the way they always did. "Always were too emotional, Arch. How are you, really this time?"
I snort. "It still hurts. I'm still angry. And I can't be the guy who'd go out and do something about it."
"You could bring them down. Blackmail's still an option."
"Something I need to know?"
He shakes his head and takes a bite of roast beef on rye. I snag the other half of it. "You had any news?"
I chew meditatively waiting for my stomach to be ready to accept something solid. It was like old times for a minute. The two of us in the kitchen after a long day. Sandwiches left by Fitz for whenever we made it back. "No." I leave it at that and he accepts it. It isn't like we haven't looked, but Wolfe's a genius. He knows how to hide. He knows where to hide. And he can change himself enough that even I wouldn't recognize him. It's been more than twenty years. Not that he'll have any newer wrinkles than I do. I close my eyes and picture him, resplendent in yellow silk and surrounded by orchids in the tropical room.
"You and L... Sophie still off and on?"
I open my eyes and glare at him. "She's the one who suddenly decided to change the agreement. It was supposed to be non-exclusive."
"With Lily. Sophie's a whole new ballgame." He smirks at me with a smile he stole off of my face the same time he stole my midwestern background.
I return it with a sly smile I stole along with his city mouse ways. "Be careful. She's not the woman she was."
"Neither are you."
"Hey!"
He just laughs softly at me. Hell, it shouldn't surprise me. He's always teased me with my own jealousy. "Night, Nate." He hesitates before touching my shoulder. "We're still going to make it, Archie," he says softly. "You know he'll be back when it's safe and we'll still be waiting for him. I keep up with everyone. He'll know how to find us."
I nod. He leaves and the small, doubting voice in the back of my head whispers that he could be dead or he could have changed too much to come back. It sounds like Zeck. I swallow down the last of my roast beef. Then I guzzle a glass of milk, since I know Saul bought it for us.
After all, Hardison doesn't eat cereal for breakfast.
End The Nigerian Job