The shake of Neal's head should have been enough for anybody with half the brain to turn around, call the FBI and run away.
Yet he found himself incapable of doing so.
Instead of running away he walked towards the limo where undoubted Vincent Adler – or one of his goons – was waiting for him.
But seeing Neal sitting there he decided that he could take whatever Adler would throw at him, Neal was his partner now.
His feet felt quite heavy as he walked towards the limo, the feeling of his gun shifting around in his suit jacket was different than when he was walking towards the elevator.
In the elevator there weren't criminals, waiting to take him and his partner out, in the limo was.
He sent up a quick prayer to god that Elizabeth would be fine and stepped into the limo, immediately a gun was pressed into his face and he glanced at Neal.
Neal who was sternly looking at the guy with the gun with a look of utter distaste, the goon ordered him to give him the gun and practically surrender like a good little boy.
The urge to grab his gun and shoot the guy was big, but he wasn't sitting in the limo by himself – he would never forgive himself if Neal got shot because of him.
Soon afterwards he finally saw Vincent Adler in the flesh.
Vincent Adler who had made Neal who he was today, Adler who was cruelty himself, also in his eyes a big opportunist and a great con man.
He saw how Adler's eyes roomed over Neal's body, a possessive glint to the elder man's eyes, one he didn't like.
Then Adler propositioned for Neal and him to drink a beverage containing several chemicals all of them designed to knock you out or get shot.
He actually preferred option three, get the hell out of there, but unfortunately that wasn't going to happen.
He watched as Neal drank the substance with a congested face, and sat back with a shocked look.
He knew that the choice had been made for him now, he picked up the glass and drank – it tasted mostly like ice tea which he had already hated even before today but the chemical substances in the drink were also there.
He swallowed harshly and sat back too, he looked next to him to Neal whose eyes were closing fast.
His instincts screamed at him to do something – preferably call an ambulance – and get Neal some help.
But he couldn't, he was stuck in this limo with an unconscious Neal, a goon pointing his gun at him and Vincent Adler conman extraordinaire.
The last thing he saw before his world too blacked out was Adler, Adler whose eyes had an evil glint in them as he watched Neal in the same possessive way.
He had decided that he didn't like that one bit, but what was he to do?
Exactly, nothing.