Peter froze as the guns swung in his direction as he heard the shots he felt regret as he thought of Elizabeth. He tried to duck knowing it was futile as something hit him knocking him backwards into the safe. For a confused second he thought he had been shot before he realised Neal had launched himself into Peter. They tumbled together into the vault, bullets still whizzing past them. Neal hit the emergency close button and the vault door slammed shut.
"That was close. Peter gasped leaning back against the wall looking up at Neal trying to get his heart to stop hammering "Thanks." He told the other man simply.
"you're welcome" Neal grinned at him then he looked down Peter looked down too, there was a wet stain spreading across Neal's blue shirt. He touched his side, his hand came away bloody. He looked at Peter and gave ac crooked smile "Oops" he told Peter, before sliding to the floor. Peter rushed over, stripping off his jacket and wadding up his shirt and pressing it to the wound.
"You've been working out" Neal commented.
"Hold on" he ordered Neal "help will be here soon" he told him.
Neal nodded.
"You'll be okay" Peter told him.
"I know, it's okay Peter" Neal reassured him. Peter tried his mobile but the signal wasn't able to get through the thick walls.
"Looks like our friends aren't going anywhere." Neal pointed out looking over Peter's shoulder at the monitor in the vault. They could see the men hammering at the door and arguing amongst themselves.
"They seem upset" Neal commented. Peter grunted concentrating on Neal's wound. There was an entry wound but no exit wound which meant the bullet was still inside and there was no way to know what damage it had caused or was causing. They could see Diego jumping around in his fury pointing his gun at his team mates and then firing at the vault doors in his frustration.
"That guy really hates you" Neal
Where was SWAT? Diana and Jones should have alerted them by now. Surely they heard the gunfire and were on their way. He looked at the monitors willing SWAT to appear.
"What did you do to annoy him so much?" Neal asked. Peter heard the strain in his voice, he looked back at Neal, he was white faced and sweating. He wanted a distraction Peter realised.
"Come on, there's nothing we can do until the cavalry arrives, you might as well tell me." Neal cajoled with a smile.
"Actually I arrested him during his wedding" Peter told Neal sitting next to him so he could watch the monitor.
"really?" Neal said surprised
Peter couldn't help smiling, it wasn't often he was able to surprise Neal. He checked Neal's wound, the shirt was soaked through but the bleeding was slowing, he applied more pressure again. Making Neal wince and try and pull away.
"I've got to keep pressure on" Peter told him apologetically.
"So right during the ceremony?" Neal asked going back to the story.
"Yep, just as the priest asked if anyone had any objections" Peter confirmed.
"Great timing. I can see why he'd be upset" Neal commented.
"Well I thought the bride should know all the facts about the man she was about to marry" Peter explained.
"I assume from his reaction, they didn't live happily ever after?" Neal asked
"No, she ended up marrying one of the officers from the local sheriff's department".
"and Diego went to prison?"
"Yep" Peter confirmed
"I can see why he's not happy with you" Neal closed his eyes.
"Neal you have to stay awake, open your eyes" Peter told him firmly.
Neal's eyes opened and he focused back on Peter
"It that an order?" he asked
"It's an order" Peter confirmed.
Neal looked over 's shoulder and gave a small smile
"The Cavalry's here"
Peter looked at the screen and gave a sigh of relief as he watched SWAT descending on the team in the vault. It was surreal watching the whole thing on TV knowing it was only happening on the side of the door. Jones and Diana appeared they were clearly searching for them. The bank robbers didn't seemed inclined to be helpful. They saw Jones and Diana looking at the vault doors.
"time to get out of here" Peter told Neal and got up and hit the emergency button again. The door didn't open. Peter hit it again, once, twice. Nothing happened.
"Why won't it open?" Peter asked.
"The electrics might have been damaged in the gunfire" Neal said.
"Help me up" He held out his hand to Peter who hesitated. He didn't think Neal should move but he wouldn't even know where to start to work out what was wrong. He walked over and tried to help Neal up as gently as he could. Even so, there was a nasty moment when he thought the younger man was going to black out but he managed to hold it together.
Using the wall as a support Neal examined the lock while Peter hovered ready to grab him if he fell.
"You should try the internal phone" Neal suggested and Peter was glad of the distraction. He hadn't even realised there was a phone. .
Peter picked it up and called the lobby. They watched as Jones picked up the received in the lobby.
"Jones. We're trapped in the vault. Neal's been shot get an ambulance here now". He could hear Jones telling Diana and shouting orders.
"EMT's and bank staff are on the way we'll have you out of there soon"
Neal interrupted from where he was examining the mechanism "The emergency button has been disconnected."
"Can you pick it?" Peter asked him.
"Of course." Neal said defiantly, then admitted "If I was out there, with all my tools. From in here, now? probably not. " he admitted more truthfully. "Mozz might be able to help" He suggested to Peter.
"How can we get hold of him?" Peter asked, knowing Moz changed mobile number faster than some people changed underwear.
"He and Elizabeth were meeting for lunch today" Neal told Peter casually.
Peter nearly choked as he relayed this to Jones.
"Uh oh" Neal said.
"What?" Peter asked with trepidation
"The good news is that I don't think there is anything wrong with the lock Peter."
"Okay. Good. What's the bad news"
"This is a time lock. This door is not going to open for another eight hours". Neal started to slide down to the floor Peter grabbed his arm and helped him sit back down and slid back down next to him. All they could do was wait.
Elizabeth and Mozzie were just sitting down to lunch in an outside bistro when Jones called.
"So what are you up to these days Mozz?"
"You know how it is Mrs Suit, this and that. Doing what I have to. I understand you and Neal have a new venture into the world of art"
"He's a very talented artist. I think other people should see that" El confirmed
El's phone rang, she looked at it and frowned. Agent Jones wouldn't be calling her unless it was something to do with Peter.
"Hello" She answered trying to resist the urge to demand if Peter was alright not wanting to show how much she worried.
"Mrs Burke. Its Agent Berigan. Is Mozzie with you?" She let out a breath of relief and handed the phone out to Mozzie who took it with a frown.
"Hello?" He asked
"This is Agent Berigan We need you to come to First Union Bank on 221 55th St. Neal and Peter need your help."
"Where is Neal?" Mozzie asked suspiciously.
"He and Peter are trapped in the bank vault, it's got a time lock with 8 hours left to run and Neal's been shot". No one could blame Diana of beating around the bush.
"Neal's been shot again?!" Mozzie was outraged. "Is he okay?" El demanded.
"How bad?" Mozzie asked holding out the phone so El could hear.
"He's holding on but he needs your help. " Diana told him.
"I'm on my way" Mozzie told her hanging up and handing Elizabeth back her phone. "Sorry Mrs Suit, I need to postpone our lunch, Neal's in trouble again" he told her.
"If Neal's in trouble I'm coming with you" El told him. Mozzie nodded, we'll need to pick up some tools on the way.
Neal was definitely starting to feel like he'd been shot. He was freezing and he felt breathless like he had been running. At least last time he was shot it he was in a warm climate. He shivered and pulled his jacket closer. Peter noticed and whipped his jacket off the floor and wrapped it around Neal's shoulders. Neal nodded gratefully and tried to pull it closer but his arms weren't full cooperating.
"It not a good fit" Peter joked
"It's the polyester I object to" Neal replied smiling weakly.
"Peter, I just wanted to thank you..."
Peter shook his head vehemently
"Those sort of conversations should be when we've had several beers. We've been in worse spots than this".
"True, at least we have more than five minutes of oxygen this time" Neal commented
They were both silent for a moment reminiscing.
"Mozzie" Neal said.
"Look after him?" Peter asked
"no look Mozzie and Elizabeth are here." Neal nodded at the screen.
Peter jumped up as the phone rang in the vault.
It took less than 20 minutes for Mozzie and Elizabeth to get there, the lobby of the bank was filled with FBI, SWAT, EMTs and the management and bank experts.
"How are they?" El demanded. Diana and Jones took them to one side.
"Peter is fine. You can speak to him on the internal phone." vault Jones told them. "The experts are saying there's no way to circumvent the time lock."
"That is the whole point of them. " Mozzie agreed "To open at set times"
"So there's nothing we can do?" Jones asked
"I didn't say that." Mozzie corrected him. "Let me see it"
They were taken to the vault and Peter and Elizabeth spoke while Mozzie examined the door.
"Are you okay?" El asked Peter quietly. It was hard to have a personal conversation in front of all these people , but Peter and Elizabeth had always been good at creating their own little world among the chaos of their lives.
"I'm okay honey." Peter reassured her
"How's Neal?" she asked
"He's hanging in there" he told her. He was really worried but he didn't want to scare Neal or El about how desperate the situation was. Neal was getting worse by the minute. Peter didn't want to think about what would happen if they had to wait 7 and half more hours for that door to open.
"Let me speak to Neal" Mozzie demanded imperiously Elizabeth handed him the phone
"Neal can't come to the phone right now" Peter told Mozzie.
"I'm here Mozz" Neal called out he started to try to get up but Peter waved at him to stay put frowning at him. "I'll relay your messages Peter told Mozzie. Can you get us out of here"
"It's a Pillard time lock" Mozzie told them. Neal groaned.
"They never make it easy" he said
"Life at any time can become difficult: life at any time can become easy. It all depends upon how one adjusts oneself to life" Mozzie pronounced
"I'm not relaying that" Peter told him "can we focus on getting us out of here". Peter told Mozzie, who was liable to go off on tangents if you didn't keep him focused.
"any ideas?" he asked them both
"We'll were not going to be able to open it by picking it and cutting the power will just make it go onto the back up..." Neal puzzled aloud
"Unless we can cut the power to the back up simultaneously …" Mozzie continued
"causing the lock to reset and the door to open." Neal finished
"Or to freeze up and never open." Mozzie countered.
"So let me get this straight we can either wait 8 hours for the door to definitely open or try and cut the power to the lock which will either make the door open or lock it so it won't ever open."
Neal nodded "that's about the size of it"
"any other options"
"Cutting through the door"
"how long will that take?" Peter asked
There was silence for a few minutes "3 or 4 hours" Neal guessed
Mozzie said "more like 5 or 6 hours" this is a 20 inch reinforced steel door. Neal nodded reluctant agreement.
"Okay so we try the power cut thing and get them started on cutting their way in as a back up." Peter suggested. Neal nodded agreement.
"Cutting the external power shouldn't be a problem, but the back up will be up to you". Mozzie told them. Peter raised his eyebrows at Neal.
"We got it Mozz" Neal assured them both.
"I'll let you know when we're ready"
"We have to hurry." Mozzie told the others.
"what's wrong"
"Neal go the maths wrong" he explained as he hurried with his tools to start work on the power to the vault "He was selling the power cut option to Peter and he got the maths wrong on how long it would take to get the door cut open"
"What does that mean?" El asked worried.
"Neil doesn't make mistakes like that it was a message. We can't wait for that timer to open, we have to try and cut the power right now."
"Let's get to work" Neal said trying to smile. He tried to pull himself up but found he couldn't get his legs to move and only succeeded in straightening up a little which pulled at the wound that burned in his side. He tried to hide how much it hurt while Peter tried to hide his concern both knowing it wouldn't help. Neal would stay strong as long as he thought he had to put on a brave face for Peter so Peter would pretend to believe him as long as Neal could keep it up.
"You get us out of here and maybe I'll let you goto that exhibition you wanted to see." Peter told him
"Cowboy up right?" Neal chuckled
"That's right" Peter told him gripping his shoulder.
"I think you'll have to be my leg man on this one" Neal told him.
"No problem" Peter told him confidently standing up straight.
"We need to find the back up power generator, it's probably at the back of the vault near the air vent." Peter made his way through the vault past all the safety deposit boxes.
"Found it, I think" Peter told Neal.
"I need to see it" Neal told Peter. Neal went even paler as he was pulled up and wasn't able to support his own weight this time. Peter dragged him over to the box and put him down as gently as he could. Neal had to close his eyes for a minute to block out the pain and stop from passing out.
"Neal stay with me" Peter called urgently trying to resist the urge to shake the badly injured man.
"I'm still here" Neal told him shakily, he looked up at Peter, his eyes were even bluer than usual in his pale face and he was having trouble focusing.
They had to get this done quickly.
"Open the cover" Neal ordered handing Peter his pick set so Peter could undo the screws. Peter got to work. Once he had the cover off he glanced over at Neal who had closed his eyes again
"Hey, stay awake. You can't drift off now and leave me to do all the work"
"I just closed my eyes for a second" Neal protested.
"You should know I'm always keeping an eye on you" Peter joked "especially in here"
Neal chuckled "You know, on paper I guess this wouldn't be such a bad way to die, surrounded by gold and art and good friends."
Peter gave him a worried look
"I've got the cover off but I don't know what I'm looking at". He told Neal.
Neal opened his eyes and tried to focus on the contents of the box.
"Okay, this is do-able. Do you remember when you got out of that cage when Keller kidnapped you?"
"Yes" Peter said enthusiastically
"well this is nothing like that" Neal joked.
Peter smiled, more that Neal was still able to quip than at the bad joke.
"We need to cut the black cable but it's got 220 volts running through it so we're going to find a way to cut it without electrocuting you." Neal told him. We'll need something sharp and some rubber insulation so you can protect yourself. Peter searched the vault. There wasn't a lot in sight, everything was locked away in safety deposit boxes. Neither of them carried a knife though Neal had his picks they wouldn't cut through the thick cable. Diana called to let them know that Mozzie was ready.
"Maybe we could shoot it" Neal suggested hazily, it was getting harder to stay awake.
Peter checked his gun he did have 2 bullets left, there was only problems with that plan. It was a very small target and if he missed there was a good chance the bullet could ricochet and hit one of them. Neal was fading quickly now.
"Peter, I meant it before. Thank you, for having faith in me." Neal muttered as Peter tried to think desperately what to do.
"Don't think you are getting away that easily" Peter told him firmly "You still owe me."
Peter looked at Neal, his eyes were flickering open and closed as he tried to stay awake but he was losing the battle. Peter took his arms and dragged him to the door away from the power box. He only reacted by groaning a little. There was no more time. He shouted orders down the phone then as he watched Jones signalled a five second countdown on his fingers, aimed at the power cable and fired.
There was a minor explosion, Peter threw himself shield Neal with his body as sparks and smoke filled the room. Peter stared at the closed door through the smoke, his eyes tearing up, willing it to open for a terrible second he thought they were both going to die in here and then the lock disengaged and the door swung open. Peter's eyes kept watering this time in relief.
The next few hours seemed simultaneously instantaneous and to take forever. Paramedics came in and quickly got Neal on oxygen and onto a stretcher to the hospital. Peter was made to go in a separate one and had his own treatment to occupy him while they operated on Neil. He had a couple of bad burns from where the electricity had arched and a little smoke damage to his lungs but otherwise had got away pretty unscathed. The surgeon appeared and gave them the good news. The bullet hadn't done any serious damage, it was the blood loss which had given them most concern but they had pumped as much into him as they could and he was stable. He was going to be fine. Peter felt the tears rolling down his face, the tension he had been bottling up finally released, his tears matching those running down's El's face as they hugged. Neal was going to be fine.