![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
First things first: I'm so sorry for keeping you waiting so long for a new chapter in this story, but I have good news: (a) my computer finally complies to me and (b) the story is almost finished! XD
Enjoy this chapter, which turned out a bit longer!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trinity Hospital
For the second time that day, Peter Burke entered the hospital. Only this time, the lobby and the adjoining Emergency Room was technically deserted, only a few people were sitting around. And even they turned out to be FBI agents in disguise. What the heck had happened?
“Agent Burke!”
Peter looked up to see Dr. Grant approaching him, worry etched deep into his features.
“Dr. Grant, care to share what has happened?”
The two men shook hands before Dr. Grant turned on the heel and started to head back to the Neurological Ward, Peter following closely.
“Honestly? I have no idea.” They entered the elevator. “You barely had left when Jody paged me back. When I came back, a man was standing outside Sara’s room, claiming that he was with the U.S. Marshals and that they would take her to a safe house.”
“But she’s still here?”
“Of course. I told the man that (a) Sara wasn’t in any condition to travel and that (b) I would have to clarify it with you.”
Peter motioned to the blood on the white coat.
“I take it he didn’t take it nicely that you said no?”
“You could say so.” Dr. Grant noticed the worried look on Peter’s face. “Some people are hurt, but none too bad. Thanks to your agent, by the way. He shot the man before he could do any serious harm.”
“Is the man still alive?”
“Unfortunately yes, if I might say.” They stepped out of the elevator. “Don’t get me wrong, Agent Burke, but with some folks, I prefer them lying cold and dead down in the morgue than anything else.”
Peter only nodded, his mind wheeling with all the new information. If Neal’s kidnappers were willing to kill Sara, despite her amnesia, what did that mean for Neal? Was he even still alive? Was time running out on him?
The two men turned the corner, and amidst the colorful chaos of various shades of blue scrubs, white lab coats and blood stains, Peter spotted Penelope almost immediately. She was sitting on one of the hallway chairs, trying to make herself as small as possible for the crime scene unit.
“Penelope!”
She looked up, and before Peter knew it, she was by his side, hooking her arm with his.
“Thank God you’re here!”
“What about Jones? Where is he?”
“Your agent is in OR 2,” one of the nurses said in passing, shock still evident on her face. She stopped and looked up to Peter. “He probably saved all our lives.”
Sensing that Peter wanted to get more details, Penelope pulled him over to the family room, where she sat them down on the couch.
“Penelope, what exactly happened?”
“I don’t know everything, but what I got was that the assailant wanted to take Sara to someplace else, which the doctor denied. And then, all hell broke loose. Clint just ordered me to take cover with Sara, then he was out in the hallway, and all we heard were the shots ringing out. Then it was totally quiet for some time, before one of the nurses came in and told us that both men were down.”
“How did Sara take this all?”
“She was shocked of course, but I think that somehow that triggered another breach in the dyke. She didn’t say a word, but her eyes showed some kind of recognition.”
“What about you? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. You probably don’t know that, but several years ago I got shot by a man I was dating and who turned out to be a psychopathic killer. One of my teammates shot him dead, right in the head.”
They sat silent for several minutes, both of them lost in their own thoughts, before a nurse approached them and told Peter that his agent was out of the OR and that the injury was half as bad as it initially had looked. She offered him to take them to him, but Peter denied. Instead, he sent Penelope to Jones. He knew his agent well enough to know that the man would give their colleagues a very detailed report of the events.
Penelope barely had left the room, when a young doctor came in, introducing herself as Dr. Browning. She had operated on the assailant, as she told Peter. The man was, for the moment, out of the woods, so to speak, though Jones had got him nicely in the upper body. Apparently, she didn’t know any details about Sara’s case, but she knew that Peter probably wanted to talk to the man. Peter only could affirm that. The man was the best lead to solving the case, and most of all, bringing Neal finally back to them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unknown location
Ever since he was brought into the room that morning, Neal was diligently working on the forgeries. At this point, he didn’t even care for details on the papers, not anymore. Instead, he opted for shifting his attention on the two kidnappers. If Peter really managed to free him (which he hoped would happen better sooner than later), he wanted to give him as much details as possible, in case the two men decided to flee.
Neal knew that both men were familiar to him. If nothing else, the fact that they were constantly wearing black masks when they were around him was a dead giveaway. Which prompted the next question: Did he know them from his time as a full-time con man, or did he get on their radar in his job as CI for Peter? And was he the main target or just a pawn in a game meant for Peter?
From what he could tell, the smaller man was the more collected one of the two, if only by a thin line. Sure, he had read a lot of FBI-related books since he started working for Peter, and he knew that they might as well play a game with him. One of them was acting as the brutal one, the other acted as if Neal was still a human being. Right now, it didn’t matter to Neal if it was genuine or just an act, this was the only way to tell them apart. The smaller man was the one to bring him food and water, and if he remembered correctly, the first one to agree to his suggestion of Sara’s dumping location.
Suddenly, while he was still playing that last fact around is his head, Neal had kind of an inspiration. He DID know the smaller man. Since this guy obviously cared for Sara, judging by how quick he agreed to Neal’s suggestion, it only could be Bryan McKenzie. But the last thing Neal knew about the guy was that he waiting for his trial at the prison over in Rikers. Why on God’s green Earth was he free? And why was Bryan targeting Neal now?
Neal’s train of thought was interrupted by the second kidnapper, who entered the room, displaying all kinds of anger right, left and center. Having learned his lesson over the last few days, Neal didn’t stop what he was doing, while trying to pay attention to anything the man might say. He didn’t have to wait for long.
“He has failed,” the taller man said.
“What?” the other answered with incredulity lacing his voice.
“Yeah, he got shot, and for all we know, Burke is questioning him right now.”
“Damn it!” the smaller man exclaimed, punching the wall on Neal’s right side for emphasis, and for a few fleeting seconds, Neal thought the two of them had swapped personalities.
The next few minutes were spent with the two kidnappers discussing various strategies, while Neal tried to finish his latest forgery and listen to their heated talk simultaneously. It ended with the smaller man leaving the room, while the taller waited for Neal to finish before punching him repeatedly between the shoulder blades and the upper part of his spine. The pain was excruciating, but the stubborn part of Neal didn’t give the man the satisfaction of screaming out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trinity Hospital
Sara’s new room
After the tragic turn of events earlier that day, Sara was transferred to another room, where the FBI could post more guards outside without disturbing the daily work in a hospital too much. She couldn’t care less about it. And yes, she was of course shocked by the attempted assassination and the displayed violence.
As soon as she was settled in the new room, Jody offered her a sleeping pill, which Sara took gratefully. Her mind was wheeling, even more since the shooting, and she couldn’t quite shake the feeling that the man had come to the hospital with the intention to kill her, not to take her to a safer place. With her thoughts still swirling around that, she finally fell asleep.
She is lying in a bed. It’s night, and the light of a streetlamp is breaching the darkness in the room. Suddenly, she hears someone coming into the apartment. Whoever it is, the person tries to be as quiet as possible, but the panels in the lobby give him or her away nonetheless.
Sara’s hand wanders over to her night desk. She grabs the gun that’s lying there, prepares herself for a confrontation with the intruder. After a few heartbeats, she hears the door to the bedroom opening. She doesn’t wait for the intruder to come closer, she leaps out of the bed and draws the gun.
The intruder takes one step forward, and to her big surprise, it’s the handsome man with the striking blue eyes. He puts the gun down on top of the drawer next to him, holds his hands up in surrender, and tries to talk her down.
“Sara, please, it’s not what it’s looking like. I’m undercover, and there’s a man outside, waiting for me to do the job. If he doesn’t see gunfire or hear gunshots in the near future, he will come in and finish us both off.”
“Why should I believe you, Caffrey!?”
Sara jerked awake. So she really knew the man. Was he a criminal? Before she could think more about it, sleep once again claimed her wholly.
She’s back in the room, which apparently belongs to her apartment. Her gun is still trained on “Caffrey,” who is rooted to the spot, his whole body language pleading to her to do the right thing – preferably without shooting him. Suddenly, the phone on her night desk begins to ring. “Caffrey” urges her to answer, and as she does, Agent Burke is on the other end of the line, telling her that Neal really is undercover, and that what they first assumed to be a courier for the bonds is actually a hired hand, assigned to kill her for digging around in Halbridge’s past.
Once again, Sara jerked awake, but this time, her brain was more alert than the first time. Just like the other day, the dream had opened another gate in her brain. She saw Neal in the courtroom, watching her intensely as she was in the witness stand; she saw glimpses of the two of them sitting in a library-like room, going through old documents and pictures; she saw them on a shopping spree, spending a small fortune in various shops all around New York. The last batch of mental images were of her watching a warehouse through a camera on a computer, filled to the brim with paintings, jewelry, statues and other art-related things. Sara felt that her old self was shocked to see it, apparently she didn’t expect it. Last but not least she saw herself leaving the apartment (which she assumed was Neal’s) after giving him one last kiss and pleading him to be careful.
“Sara? Are you okay?”
Sara looked up to see the slightly worried face of Nurse Jody.
“Yes, I am. Do you know by chance if Agent Burke is still here? I know that he left before the shooting, but maybe…”
“Yeah, Sara, he is here. I see if I can get him to you.”
“Please do, and tell him that I somehow have opened another gate in my brain. I know who the handsome man is.”
Jody’s eyes widened, and she hurried out of the room, in the general direction of the Intensive Care Unit. Head Nurse Meredith had told her that Peter was on his way to interrogate the assailant.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the same moment, Peter finally made it to the room of the shooter. He had a short talk to Jones, who assured him that he was fine and that the wound wasn’t as bad as it might look. Dr. Browning was standing in the doorway to the other room, waiting for Peter, a serious, non-nonsense expression on her face. Though she was quite smaller than Peter, she managed to block the entry effectively.
“Agent Burke, I have to warn you. He’s still in critical condition, so I only allow you to ask him a few questions.”
“Dr. Browning, I only have one question for this man”, Peter motioned to the man lying in the bed.
Dr. Browning seemed to be convinced, and after a few seconds of hesitation, she stepped aside and gave Peter a silent “okay” to enter the room.
As if on cue, the man in the bed turned his head around as soon as Peter entered the room. A small action, especially for a patient in a hospital and in critical condition, and yet it caused Peter to stop dead in his tracks.
“Deckard? John Deckard, US Marshals?”
“Burke.” Deckard let out a chuckle. “Of course, your CI is causing trouble, and you go and play a pain in the ass on a wounded man.” He paused and took a breath. “And for your information, I’m no longer with the Marshals.”
Peter felt his blood boiling. How dare this man to insult Neal, who was ten times a better man than Deckard. In different circumstances, he probably would have attacked the man, but he didn’t want to be pulled from the case for not keeping his cool. Instead, he opted for closing the distance to the bed.
“And yet you showed your badge at the reception desk.” Peter leaned in closer. “You tried to shoot a witness, wounded an agent and several other people. But that’s peanuts in my eyes.” For the first time since entering the room, Peter saw something akin to fear on Deckard’s face. “They will get you for all of that, but most of all for kidnapping an FBI consultant.”
Deckard took a deep breath, and Peter was glad to see that the fear still was evident on his face.
“If… If I tell you everything, will you make a deal for me?”
Peter laughed out. Could Deckard really be so stupid to believe that Peter does deals with just everyone?
“Me?” Peter pointed at himself. “Making a deal for you?” He paused and let the smile spread on his face. “No, Deckard, mostly because you’re not worth a deal, but also because I simply can’t stand you.” Peter finally sat down on the plastic chair standing next to the bed.
“But you made a deal with Caffrey!”
“You actually compare your situation with Neal’s? You have chutzpa, that I have to admit. But let me tell you something about Neal. He’s a way better man than you will ever be. And his situation was completely different. He deserved a second chance, he still does – which you don’t.” Peter got up again and leaned close into Deckard’s face. “For all I care, you can die in here. I only need to know: where do they keep Neal captured?”
For some long seconds, Peter and Deckard just stared at each other, before Deckard turned around in the bed, effectively ending the conversation.
Sensing that he wouldn’t get out of Deckard, Peter left the room and pulled out his mobile. Within seconds, Diana picked up.
“Diana, we need a full activity check on former U.S. Marshal John Deckard.”
“Deckard? Boss, are we talking about the same guy we arrested in the Franklin case?”
“Exactly the same. He was the one who tried to assassinate Sara. And I’m dead sure he is working with the kidnapper."
“I’m on it.”
Before Peter could say anything else, Diana hung up, and Peter didn’t need a lot of imagination to see her ordering some of the other agents to get the checks running while informing Hughes about this new turn of events at the same time.
“Agent Burke?”
Peter whipped his head around and saw Nurse Jody standing a few feet away from him. Her whole body language told him that she was somewhat excited about something.
“Jody, right?” She nodded. “Something wrong?”
“No, not at all. Sara wants to see you. I don’t know what really has happened, but she told me that she knows who the handsome man with the blue eyes is now.”
Peter didn’t need to hear more. With Jody hot on his heels, he all but ran back all the way through the hospital to Sara’s new room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unknown Location
While working on yet another forgery, Neal realized that time was a fleeting concept. Soon after the initial kidnapping, they took his watch and since then, he had trouble to keep track of time. Sure, he had some hints from the way the sunrays fell into his “prison”, but other than that, he drew a blank. Neal knew that he was here for quite some time now, but only for the way his unwashed hair stuck up in all directions. He still had hope for Peter to find him, preferably any time soon, but with every new day, this hope seemed to simmer down a fraction.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trinity Hospital
Sara’s room
Peter couldn’t quite keep the smile from his face. The woman in front of him more and more became the Sara he used to know. Her eyes gradually got their light, their fire back, and her whole body language finally changed from a dejected, lost one to a ready-to-tackle-on-the world one. If there was ever any bit of doubt that she wouldn’t make a full recovery, that grain was out of the window by now.
“Sara, Nurse Jody told me you know who the handsome man is?”
“Yeah, Peter, I do.” She locked her gaze with him. “His name is Neal Caffrey. He and I have quite a rocky relationship, right?”
“Yes, you have, Sara, but we will get to all details one at a time.”
To his surprise, Sara only nodded. She had made great process since waking up, but there was still a long and possible tricky road ahead of her.
“Tell me something, Peter – is Neal in danger?”
“What makes you think so?”
“Before I woke up, I saw him sitting in a quite dark, dirty room. And he absolutely wasn’t happy to be there. I saw two other silhouettes, but I couldn’t make out any faces. I can’t put the pieces together, yet, but I’m sure that Neal’s time is running out on him.”
Peter was stunned. Sure, he knew for some time now that Sara was yet another remarkable woman in both his and Neal’s life, but now she managed to surprise him.
“Yeah, Sara, Neal is in trouble. Big trouble even.” Peter took a deep breath. “The two of you were kidnapped ten days ago. Then they dumped you in an alley near the hospital, beaten and drugged. You were taken here, and after three days in a medically-induced coma, you woke up with complete amnesia.”
Though she could remember waking up and knowing nothing, not even the tiniest bit about herself, Sara couldn’t help but gasp. Who on Earth would want to hurt Neal and her so badly?
“Peter, the man who claimed to be with the Marshals, is he also linked to the case?”
She hoped that Peter would deny it, but this hope was very short-lived when she saw him nodding.
“Yeah, and my team already had the ʻhonorʼ to arrest this guy once in the past.”
“So what does that mean?”
“I honestly don’t know, but I think that you were just collateral damage, so to speak. Neal was the target, and you just happened to be there.”
For several minutes, the room was shrouded in silence, while Sara tried to comprehend all this new information and maybe access some more memories about her and Neal’s common past.
“Peter, one more thing: are Neal and I in love?”
She was a bit surprised to see a slight blush making its way up Peter’s neck. Apparently, this was a sensitive topic for him.
“You were together for some time. That’s as much as I know. For all his outgoing personality, Neal can be pretty reserved when it comes to his personal life.”
“But you and he are friends?”
“Yes, yes, we are. Though we had a rough patch recently, mostly due to the fact that I forgot to follow my gut and trust him instead of other people who doesn’t know him as good as I do.”
“Peter, you will find Neal, and you will get the chance to right any wrong you did in the past, of that I’m sure,” Sara said while she grabbed his hand and looked him right in the eye.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unknown Location
Within the last few minutes or so, his two kidnappers became more and more agitated. Neal guessed that something bigger was about to start and that their plan was somewhat thwarted by their accomplice failing in killing Sara. A failing for which he was so grateful. Getting somehow back to her, back to the woman he was in love with, the woman he could picture having a future with was what kept him going, despite the nagging voice in his head that told him otherwise.
“Hey, Caffrey!”
The taller one of the kidnappers was standing next to him, and Neal cursed himself inwardly for not paying attention to them.
“Yeah, what do you need now? Another forgery?”
“No, they were just for keeping you busy,” the man said, but Neal could read between the lines. All these forgeries were also made to incriminate him further, even if they would kill him. If any agent would find them, they had solid proof that Neal Caffrey couldn’t change, that the criminal life was rooted so deep inside of him that him being dead was the best for all parties involved.
The man pulled him up and out of the room, causing Neal to stumble after him. For the first time in all these days, Neal was brought to the outside of his prison, and finally, he could pinpoint the sound he heard almost every night – a foghorn from one of the big container ships in the New York Harbor.
The two men finally made it down to the riverbank beneath the warehouse, and Neal could feel dread creeping up his spine. Usually, being pulled out of your prison cell and down to a riverbank never meant any good.
“Hey, what the heck are you doing?”
Kidnapper #2, the one Neal labeled ʻBryanʼ in his mind, approached them, and once again, they apparently were back to their ʻgood kidnapper, bad kidnapperʼ routine.
“What does it look like to you?”
“Why do you want to kill him and why now?”
The man in his back uttered a groan, and despite all that had happened previously, Neal somehow could relate to him. This wasn’t the first time that Bryan acted like a little child, and in any case, Neal would have dubbed the whole thing “How To Be A Criminal 101”.
“With Burke on the case, and John’s failure, he’s becoming a risk. And I’m not going back to Rikers.”
Neal felt the gun pressing into the bottom of his head, and with a final look on ʻhisʼ city, he closed his eyes. Only heartbeats later, a single gunshot echoed through the air.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Coming soon: The team finally connects the dots, but what happened to Neal on the riverbank?
And a little bonus for your patience:
Enjoy this chapter, which turned out a bit longer!
Trinity Hospital
For the second time that day, Peter Burke entered the hospital. Only this time, the lobby and the adjoining Emergency Room was technically deserted, only a few people were sitting around. And even they turned out to be FBI agents in disguise. What the heck had happened?
“Agent Burke!”
Peter looked up to see Dr. Grant approaching him, worry etched deep into his features.
“Dr. Grant, care to share what has happened?”
The two men shook hands before Dr. Grant turned on the heel and started to head back to the Neurological Ward, Peter following closely.
“Honestly? I have no idea.” They entered the elevator. “You barely had left when Jody paged me back. When I came back, a man was standing outside Sara’s room, claiming that he was with the U.S. Marshals and that they would take her to a safe house.”
“But she’s still here?”
“Of course. I told the man that (a) Sara wasn’t in any condition to travel and that (b) I would have to clarify it with you.”
Peter motioned to the blood on the white coat.
“I take it he didn’t take it nicely that you said no?”
“You could say so.” Dr. Grant noticed the worried look on Peter’s face. “Some people are hurt, but none too bad. Thanks to your agent, by the way. He shot the man before he could do any serious harm.”
“Is the man still alive?”
“Unfortunately yes, if I might say.” They stepped out of the elevator. “Don’t get me wrong, Agent Burke, but with some folks, I prefer them lying cold and dead down in the morgue than anything else.”
Peter only nodded, his mind wheeling with all the new information. If Neal’s kidnappers were willing to kill Sara, despite her amnesia, what did that mean for Neal? Was he even still alive? Was time running out on him?
The two men turned the corner, and amidst the colorful chaos of various shades of blue scrubs, white lab coats and blood stains, Peter spotted Penelope almost immediately. She was sitting on one of the hallway chairs, trying to make herself as small as possible for the crime scene unit.
“Penelope!”
She looked up, and before Peter knew it, she was by his side, hooking her arm with his.
“Thank God you’re here!”
“What about Jones? Where is he?”
“Your agent is in OR 2,” one of the nurses said in passing, shock still evident on her face. She stopped and looked up to Peter. “He probably saved all our lives.”
Sensing that Peter wanted to get more details, Penelope pulled him over to the family room, where she sat them down on the couch.
“Penelope, what exactly happened?”
“I don’t know everything, but what I got was that the assailant wanted to take Sara to someplace else, which the doctor denied. And then, all hell broke loose. Clint just ordered me to take cover with Sara, then he was out in the hallway, and all we heard were the shots ringing out. Then it was totally quiet for some time, before one of the nurses came in and told us that both men were down.”
“How did Sara take this all?”
“She was shocked of course, but I think that somehow that triggered another breach in the dyke. She didn’t say a word, but her eyes showed some kind of recognition.”
“What about you? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. You probably don’t know that, but several years ago I got shot by a man I was dating and who turned out to be a psychopathic killer. One of my teammates shot him dead, right in the head.”
They sat silent for several minutes, both of them lost in their own thoughts, before a nurse approached them and told Peter that his agent was out of the OR and that the injury was half as bad as it initially had looked. She offered him to take them to him, but Peter denied. Instead, he sent Penelope to Jones. He knew his agent well enough to know that the man would give their colleagues a very detailed report of the events.
Penelope barely had left the room, when a young doctor came in, introducing herself as Dr. Browning. She had operated on the assailant, as she told Peter. The man was, for the moment, out of the woods, so to speak, though Jones had got him nicely in the upper body. Apparently, she didn’t know any details about Sara’s case, but she knew that Peter probably wanted to talk to the man. Peter only could affirm that. The man was the best lead to solving the case, and most of all, bringing Neal finally back to them.
Unknown location
Ever since he was brought into the room that morning, Neal was diligently working on the forgeries. At this point, he didn’t even care for details on the papers, not anymore. Instead, he opted for shifting his attention on the two kidnappers. If Peter really managed to free him (which he hoped would happen better sooner than later), he wanted to give him as much details as possible, in case the two men decided to flee.
Neal knew that both men were familiar to him. If nothing else, the fact that they were constantly wearing black masks when they were around him was a dead giveaway. Which prompted the next question: Did he know them from his time as a full-time con man, or did he get on their radar in his job as CI for Peter? And was he the main target or just a pawn in a game meant for Peter?
From what he could tell, the smaller man was the more collected one of the two, if only by a thin line. Sure, he had read a lot of FBI-related books since he started working for Peter, and he knew that they might as well play a game with him. One of them was acting as the brutal one, the other acted as if Neal was still a human being. Right now, it didn’t matter to Neal if it was genuine or just an act, this was the only way to tell them apart. The smaller man was the one to bring him food and water, and if he remembered correctly, the first one to agree to his suggestion of Sara’s dumping location.
Suddenly, while he was still playing that last fact around is his head, Neal had kind of an inspiration. He DID know the smaller man. Since this guy obviously cared for Sara, judging by how quick he agreed to Neal’s suggestion, it only could be Bryan McKenzie. But the last thing Neal knew about the guy was that he waiting for his trial at the prison over in Rikers. Why on God’s green Earth was he free? And why was Bryan targeting Neal now?
Neal’s train of thought was interrupted by the second kidnapper, who entered the room, displaying all kinds of anger right, left and center. Having learned his lesson over the last few days, Neal didn’t stop what he was doing, while trying to pay attention to anything the man might say. He didn’t have to wait for long.
“He has failed,” the taller man said.
“What?” the other answered with incredulity lacing his voice.
“Yeah, he got shot, and for all we know, Burke is questioning him right now.”
“Damn it!” the smaller man exclaimed, punching the wall on Neal’s right side for emphasis, and for a few fleeting seconds, Neal thought the two of them had swapped personalities.
The next few minutes were spent with the two kidnappers discussing various strategies, while Neal tried to finish his latest forgery and listen to their heated talk simultaneously. It ended with the smaller man leaving the room, while the taller waited for Neal to finish before punching him repeatedly between the shoulder blades and the upper part of his spine. The pain was excruciating, but the stubborn part of Neal didn’t give the man the satisfaction of screaming out.
Trinity Hospital
Sara’s new room
After the tragic turn of events earlier that day, Sara was transferred to another room, where the FBI could post more guards outside without disturbing the daily work in a hospital too much. She couldn’t care less about it. And yes, she was of course shocked by the attempted assassination and the displayed violence.
As soon as she was settled in the new room, Jody offered her a sleeping pill, which Sara took gratefully. Her mind was wheeling, even more since the shooting, and she couldn’t quite shake the feeling that the man had come to the hospital with the intention to kill her, not to take her to a safer place. With her thoughts still swirling around that, she finally fell asleep.
She is lying in a bed. It’s night, and the light of a streetlamp is breaching the darkness in the room. Suddenly, she hears someone coming into the apartment. Whoever it is, the person tries to be as quiet as possible, but the panels in the lobby give him or her away nonetheless.
Sara’s hand wanders over to her night desk. She grabs the gun that’s lying there, prepares herself for a confrontation with the intruder. After a few heartbeats, she hears the door to the bedroom opening. She doesn’t wait for the intruder to come closer, she leaps out of the bed and draws the gun.
The intruder takes one step forward, and to her big surprise, it’s the handsome man with the striking blue eyes. He puts the gun down on top of the drawer next to him, holds his hands up in surrender, and tries to talk her down.
“Sara, please, it’s not what it’s looking like. I’m undercover, and there’s a man outside, waiting for me to do the job. If he doesn’t see gunfire or hear gunshots in the near future, he will come in and finish us both off.”
“Why should I believe you, Caffrey!?”
Sara jerked awake. So she really knew the man. Was he a criminal? Before she could think more about it, sleep once again claimed her wholly.
She’s back in the room, which apparently belongs to her apartment. Her gun is still trained on “Caffrey,” who is rooted to the spot, his whole body language pleading to her to do the right thing – preferably without shooting him. Suddenly, the phone on her night desk begins to ring. “Caffrey” urges her to answer, and as she does, Agent Burke is on the other end of the line, telling her that Neal really is undercover, and that what they first assumed to be a courier for the bonds is actually a hired hand, assigned to kill her for digging around in Halbridge’s past.
Once again, Sara jerked awake, but this time, her brain was more alert than the first time. Just like the other day, the dream had opened another gate in her brain. She saw Neal in the courtroom, watching her intensely as she was in the witness stand; she saw glimpses of the two of them sitting in a library-like room, going through old documents and pictures; she saw them on a shopping spree, spending a small fortune in various shops all around New York. The last batch of mental images were of her watching a warehouse through a camera on a computer, filled to the brim with paintings, jewelry, statues and other art-related things. Sara felt that her old self was shocked to see it, apparently she didn’t expect it. Last but not least she saw herself leaving the apartment (which she assumed was Neal’s) after giving him one last kiss and pleading him to be careful.
“Sara? Are you okay?”
Sara looked up to see the slightly worried face of Nurse Jody.
“Yes, I am. Do you know by chance if Agent Burke is still here? I know that he left before the shooting, but maybe…”
“Yeah, Sara, he is here. I see if I can get him to you.”
“Please do, and tell him that I somehow have opened another gate in my brain. I know who the handsome man is.”
Jody’s eyes widened, and she hurried out of the room, in the general direction of the Intensive Care Unit. Head Nurse Meredith had told her that Peter was on his way to interrogate the assailant.
At the same moment, Peter finally made it to the room of the shooter. He had a short talk to Jones, who assured him that he was fine and that the wound wasn’t as bad as it might look. Dr. Browning was standing in the doorway to the other room, waiting for Peter, a serious, non-nonsense expression on her face. Though she was quite smaller than Peter, she managed to block the entry effectively.
“Agent Burke, I have to warn you. He’s still in critical condition, so I only allow you to ask him a few questions.”
“Dr. Browning, I only have one question for this man”, Peter motioned to the man lying in the bed.
Dr. Browning seemed to be convinced, and after a few seconds of hesitation, she stepped aside and gave Peter a silent “okay” to enter the room.
As if on cue, the man in the bed turned his head around as soon as Peter entered the room. A small action, especially for a patient in a hospital and in critical condition, and yet it caused Peter to stop dead in his tracks.
“Deckard? John Deckard, US Marshals?”
“Burke.” Deckard let out a chuckle. “Of course, your CI is causing trouble, and you go and play a pain in the ass on a wounded man.” He paused and took a breath. “And for your information, I’m no longer with the Marshals.”
Peter felt his blood boiling. How dare this man to insult Neal, who was ten times a better man than Deckard. In different circumstances, he probably would have attacked the man, but he didn’t want to be pulled from the case for not keeping his cool. Instead, he opted for closing the distance to the bed.
“And yet you showed your badge at the reception desk.” Peter leaned in closer. “You tried to shoot a witness, wounded an agent and several other people. But that’s peanuts in my eyes.” For the first time since entering the room, Peter saw something akin to fear on Deckard’s face. “They will get you for all of that, but most of all for kidnapping an FBI consultant.”
Deckard took a deep breath, and Peter was glad to see that the fear still was evident on his face.
“If… If I tell you everything, will you make a deal for me?”
Peter laughed out. Could Deckard really be so stupid to believe that Peter does deals with just everyone?
“Me?” Peter pointed at himself. “Making a deal for you?” He paused and let the smile spread on his face. “No, Deckard, mostly because you’re not worth a deal, but also because I simply can’t stand you.” Peter finally sat down on the plastic chair standing next to the bed.
“But you made a deal with Caffrey!”
“You actually compare your situation with Neal’s? You have chutzpa, that I have to admit. But let me tell you something about Neal. He’s a way better man than you will ever be. And his situation was completely different. He deserved a second chance, he still does – which you don’t.” Peter got up again and leaned close into Deckard’s face. “For all I care, you can die in here. I only need to know: where do they keep Neal captured?”
For some long seconds, Peter and Deckard just stared at each other, before Deckard turned around in the bed, effectively ending the conversation.
Sensing that he wouldn’t get out of Deckard, Peter left the room and pulled out his mobile. Within seconds, Diana picked up.
“Diana, we need a full activity check on former U.S. Marshal John Deckard.”
“Deckard? Boss, are we talking about the same guy we arrested in the Franklin case?”
“Exactly the same. He was the one who tried to assassinate Sara. And I’m dead sure he is working with the kidnapper."
“I’m on it.”
Before Peter could say anything else, Diana hung up, and Peter didn’t need a lot of imagination to see her ordering some of the other agents to get the checks running while informing Hughes about this new turn of events at the same time.
“Agent Burke?”
Peter whipped his head around and saw Nurse Jody standing a few feet away from him. Her whole body language told him that she was somewhat excited about something.
“Jody, right?” She nodded. “Something wrong?”
“No, not at all. Sara wants to see you. I don’t know what really has happened, but she told me that she knows who the handsome man with the blue eyes is now.”
Peter didn’t need to hear more. With Jody hot on his heels, he all but ran back all the way through the hospital to Sara’s new room.
Unknown Location
While working on yet another forgery, Neal realized that time was a fleeting concept. Soon after the initial kidnapping, they took his watch and since then, he had trouble to keep track of time. Sure, he had some hints from the way the sunrays fell into his “prison”, but other than that, he drew a blank. Neal knew that he was here for quite some time now, but only for the way his unwashed hair stuck up in all directions. He still had hope for Peter to find him, preferably any time soon, but with every new day, this hope seemed to simmer down a fraction.
Trinity Hospital
Sara’s room
Peter couldn’t quite keep the smile from his face. The woman in front of him more and more became the Sara he used to know. Her eyes gradually got their light, their fire back, and her whole body language finally changed from a dejected, lost one to a ready-to-tackle-on-the world one. If there was ever any bit of doubt that she wouldn’t make a full recovery, that grain was out of the window by now.
“Sara, Nurse Jody told me you know who the handsome man is?”
“Yeah, Peter, I do.” She locked her gaze with him. “His name is Neal Caffrey. He and I have quite a rocky relationship, right?”
“Yes, you have, Sara, but we will get to all details one at a time.”
To his surprise, Sara only nodded. She had made great process since waking up, but there was still a long and possible tricky road ahead of her.
“Tell me something, Peter – is Neal in danger?”
“What makes you think so?”
“Before I woke up, I saw him sitting in a quite dark, dirty room. And he absolutely wasn’t happy to be there. I saw two other silhouettes, but I couldn’t make out any faces. I can’t put the pieces together, yet, but I’m sure that Neal’s time is running out on him.”
Peter was stunned. Sure, he knew for some time now that Sara was yet another remarkable woman in both his and Neal’s life, but now she managed to surprise him.
“Yeah, Sara, Neal is in trouble. Big trouble even.” Peter took a deep breath. “The two of you were kidnapped ten days ago. Then they dumped you in an alley near the hospital, beaten and drugged. You were taken here, and after three days in a medically-induced coma, you woke up with complete amnesia.”
Though she could remember waking up and knowing nothing, not even the tiniest bit about herself, Sara couldn’t help but gasp. Who on Earth would want to hurt Neal and her so badly?
“Peter, the man who claimed to be with the Marshals, is he also linked to the case?”
She hoped that Peter would deny it, but this hope was very short-lived when she saw him nodding.
“Yeah, and my team already had the ʻhonorʼ to arrest this guy once in the past.”
“So what does that mean?”
“I honestly don’t know, but I think that you were just collateral damage, so to speak. Neal was the target, and you just happened to be there.”
For several minutes, the room was shrouded in silence, while Sara tried to comprehend all this new information and maybe access some more memories about her and Neal’s common past.
“Peter, one more thing: are Neal and I in love?”
She was a bit surprised to see a slight blush making its way up Peter’s neck. Apparently, this was a sensitive topic for him.
“You were together for some time. That’s as much as I know. For all his outgoing personality, Neal can be pretty reserved when it comes to his personal life.”
“But you and he are friends?”
“Yes, yes, we are. Though we had a rough patch recently, mostly due to the fact that I forgot to follow my gut and trust him instead of other people who doesn’t know him as good as I do.”
“Peter, you will find Neal, and you will get the chance to right any wrong you did in the past, of that I’m sure,” Sara said while she grabbed his hand and looked him right in the eye.
Unknown Location
Within the last few minutes or so, his two kidnappers became more and more agitated. Neal guessed that something bigger was about to start and that their plan was somewhat thwarted by their accomplice failing in killing Sara. A failing for which he was so grateful. Getting somehow back to her, back to the woman he was in love with, the woman he could picture having a future with was what kept him going, despite the nagging voice in his head that told him otherwise.
“Hey, Caffrey!”
The taller one of the kidnappers was standing next to him, and Neal cursed himself inwardly for not paying attention to them.
“Yeah, what do you need now? Another forgery?”
“No, they were just for keeping you busy,” the man said, but Neal could read between the lines. All these forgeries were also made to incriminate him further, even if they would kill him. If any agent would find them, they had solid proof that Neal Caffrey couldn’t change, that the criminal life was rooted so deep inside of him that him being dead was the best for all parties involved.
The man pulled him up and out of the room, causing Neal to stumble after him. For the first time in all these days, Neal was brought to the outside of his prison, and finally, he could pinpoint the sound he heard almost every night – a foghorn from one of the big container ships in the New York Harbor.
The two men finally made it down to the riverbank beneath the warehouse, and Neal could feel dread creeping up his spine. Usually, being pulled out of your prison cell and down to a riverbank never meant any good.
“Hey, what the heck are you doing?”
Kidnapper #2, the one Neal labeled ʻBryanʼ in his mind, approached them, and once again, they apparently were back to their ʻgood kidnapper, bad kidnapperʼ routine.
“What does it look like to you?”
“Why do you want to kill him and why now?”
The man in his back uttered a groan, and despite all that had happened previously, Neal somehow could relate to him. This wasn’t the first time that Bryan acted like a little child, and in any case, Neal would have dubbed the whole thing “How To Be A Criminal 101”.
“With Burke on the case, and John’s failure, he’s becoming a risk. And I’m not going back to Rikers.”
Neal felt the gun pressing into the bottom of his head, and with a final look on ʻhisʼ city, he closed his eyes. Only heartbeats later, a single gunshot echoed through the air.
Coming soon: The team finally connects the dots, but what happened to Neal on the riverbank?
And a little bonus for your patience:
(no subject)
Date: 2015-10-04 05:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-10-04 05:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-10-04 06:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-10-04 06:13 pm (UTC)Well, he's almost six years old, which is quite the age for a computer (a notebook nonetheless), so I've started saving money for a new one, even though the guy who played "doctor" on this one said that it was still in an overall good shape.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-10-04 06:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-10-06 07:52 am (UTC)But poor Neal, getting beaten repeatedly... and then dragged to the riverbank to be killed. Your are even more evil than the writers, LOL, your cliffies are waaaay more frustrating, LOL. Can't wait for the next chapter :D \o/\
And yay for the GIF, yummmmmm... I think it's from one of the extras or something cuz the camera angle seems different... but zomg, what a view *melts*
That being said, I just saw you mentioning an email to me in the comments and I never got anything /o\ I was actually thinking of sending your a PM... of course with my dead brain it never occurred to me to check the spam folder (which I usually do) and eureka, I just found both of your emails there *kicks gmail repeatedly* /o\ I'm so sorry about that, gonna answer right now *hugs*
(no subject)
Date: 2015-10-06 06:26 pm (UTC)About the gif - took me some time to find it in an appropriate size, thanks to tumblr I finally did *melts with you* saw it first on twitter and like Neal, I just had to have it, if only to marvel on and on about Matty's flexibility XD
Next chapter will probably be up in a couple of days, but today I will post the story to your "Cursed" artwork. Hope you like it!