Eliot got the phone call from Savannah, and the email. He'd spent the last couple of days holed up in his hotel room for as long as he could stand, poking at the laptop and cell phone with Hardison making snarky comments in his mind. Neither the phone or the laptop ended up in pieces, so Eliot counted that as progress. The laptop was easier to pick up on than the phone. What was wrong with a telephone that just made calls?
He'd also spent some extra time tailing Parker at a distance so she wouldn't notice him. After the Cheerleader Speech, he'd wanted confirmation from someone he trusted about a few things. What he'd got was that Parker had made friends and was taking the whole ICIS thing seriously. Which meant that Eliot had to chose between taking off or throwing his hat into the ring.
Eliot never ran from a fight.
Dressed in thrift store blue jeans and a cotton blue checked shirt, rolled at the sleeves, Eliot made his way to where the barbecue was being held (courtesy of Savannah's detailed and long-winded directions). The weather was nice and Eliot squinted in the sun as he went around the house to the backyard.