Heartfelt thanks to all those who are still reading this story :-)

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Peter was back in the bureau after his team had done surveillance of Neal's home. Nothing much had come out of it except some unknown cash and a few passports with Neal's pictures with different names. He definitely was going to have a long talk with his friend. That is if and when he found him safe and sound. His team was gathering in the conference room to discuss about Neal and he had a few minutes spare, so he decided to call El and ask her if she got in touch with the eccentric guy. After giving an answer in negative, El showered her own questions,

"What is it Peter? What are you not telling me?.. Why is it that you desperately need to get in touch with Mozzie?.. Is Neal alright?"

Wow! El definitely was a smart woman, Peter thought. So he told her about everything that transpired from last night to this hour. El had expressed her confusion, surprise, shock , concern and doubt at the right parts. They were still talking when Jones came in notifying him that everyone was there in the conference room waiting for him.

"El, I gotta go now." Peter said nodding at Jones indicating that he was coming .

"Yeah..yeah Peter, you go.. I will keep trying and get in touch with Moz. Love you hon. "

"Yeah ..Me too El. "

"Peter..?.."

"Yeah..?"

"You will find him, okay. He will be fine ."

"Yeah.. I know " Peter smiled. His wife definitely knew him. She knew he wouldn't be okay until he found Neal. He clicked his phone shut and made way to the conference room.

*********************.

"So this is all we got and that is nothing." Said Peter feeling so frustrated that he banged his fist on the table and some agents present there actually jumped. The team of agents were present at the conference room with Peter and Hughes standing at the head of the table with their backs to the large picture of Neal Caffrey on the screen.

"Jones..check out Neal's tracker from yesterday night.. After we left the building to head home.. And Diana, yesterday night at around three something, Neal had called from his cell.. I want the location of it at that time."

"On it already Boss." Diana answered.

"Boss..?.. " Jones called out and Peter came over to him . " Caffrey's tracker is showing that after you guys exited the building, he probably hired a cab. He is in constant motion here, you see?" Jones looked over his shoulder and met Peter's eyes and Peter nodded. " it seems from here that he went straight to June's and he's been there all night and the entire morning too , that is until you went there looking for him."

Peter rolled his eyes " Yeah..well, we all know who we found there resting in Neal's bed." Peter said dryly.

"Boss.." Diana started " I can't find the location of Caffrey's mobile. Must have removed the GPS chip somehow." She finished raising her eyebrow.

"Mo... " Peter stopped himself before he could speak Mozzie's name. He didn't know for sure whether Neal ran or not. But his heart was definitely in favour of Neal, telling him he did not run voluntarily. So he didn't want to give away Neal's friend's name. If truth be told, even though his and Mozzie's relationship was little awkward, he considered him as his friend too. He knew Mozzie would never let him rest in peace if his name was in the system.

Peter gestured to Diana and Jones to keep hush too. " don't worry, Boss , we will find Caffrey, you know it better, you caught him twice." Diana said

"Yeah.." Peter rubbed a hand over his face. " I just hope that we find him in time."

Before he could say anything further his mobile rang. "Burke"..he paused..

"Oh hey Len.." He left the conference room but not before gesturing his team to keep working.

**************************.

Neal had returned to the world of living moments before Leonard Miller had arrived back from wherever hell he had gone. He had awakened to the familiar pounding of his head, only this time it was worse. The nausea had returned too. But he held himself. And he was very thirsty and hungry. Hunger he could cope up with but his thirst was intensifying with each passing second. He knew dehydration was setting in. He was already feeling a little lightheaded.

He had just managed to get his bearings back when he suddenly heard the door click open. Not able to do anything else Neal had decided to play dead in front of his kidnappers. When Len and Raees came through the door he did his level best to keep his breathing even and tried his hardest to not flinch when Len grasped his chin or tapped his cheeks. It was getting difficult to keep up his act as he could literally feel his abductors eyes on him. He listened to their conversation and held back a gasp when he heard Len telling Raees that he and Peter were having lunch together.

When he thought that he was just about to give up, Len and Raees finally departed. For a few seconds or minutes he didnt dare open his eyes, afraid that the psycho and his henchman will return. When he thought it was safe enough he finally opened his eyes. His heart was beating real fast. He had heard his kidnappers talk. They were planning to do something and he was required for that. But he sure wasn't planning on sticking around to find out what.

Peter must have finally realised that he was missing. Would he be looking for him? Neal chuckled, ofcourse Peter would look for him. But what would he think? Would Peter think that he ran or would he think that he was in trouble and did not run? Peter had not taken him seriously yesterday night when he had been forced to call him. What would Peter do now that he really was missing? Would he take his warning seriously? Or he will believe that his friend is in some danger?

Whatever decision Peter would arrive at...Neal knew Peter will move heaven and earth to find him. He had once told Peter that he trusted him the most and because of this trust only he knew Peter would find him but did Peter trust him? He laughed sadly. He had always given Peter the reasons not to trust him. Trust or no trust , Peter had always helped him. So yes, Neal thought, Peter would definitely rescue him.

His thoughts went back to the conversation he had heard a few minutes ago. He really couldn't understand why had Len kidnapped him. He had never met that guy before. He was Peter's friend, so was it possible he was holding some grudge against him and now was looking for revenge? But Len had never mentioned any such thing. Infact he was surprised when he had heard that Peter and Len were meeting for lunch. His head was spinning more now with all these thoughts. He had to get out of here. Peter would definitely find him but he wasn't sure when so he decided to plan his own rescue attempt.

For making a break for it, he had to get out of those tight ropes with which he was tied. He knew they were too tight but he had to at least try. So he began twisting and turning the ropes. The more he tried to loosen them the more they dug into his skin and he could feel blood trickling down his wrists. The task was daunting but he was not deterred. He kept trying it. He was also careful to feign unconsciousness when true to his words, Raees had come in every fifteen minutes.

Raees would come in every fifteen minutes, walk up to Neal , shake him to be sure he was still out and leave. Neal was getting tired by the second and he felt like the ropes wouldn't give away. He was about to give up when he finally felt the ropes loosening. He knew he was rewarded for his hard work when the ropes finally fell. He sighed in relief "thank god! thank god!"

He brought his hands forward slowly and rolled his shoulders for blood circulation. He then saw the condition of his wrists and so horrified to see how bloody and torn they were. But he knew if he didn't get out of here, his wrists will not be the only problem. He stood up and was hit by a wave of dizziness and his legs buckled too.

He sat back down and clutched his head with both his hands to stop the spinning.

After he felt a little better he looked around to see how was he going to escape. There was nothing but the door and to get past that he had to face Raees who would be coming in any minute. He mentally prepared himself and took a deep breath and waited.

"Come on, come on, Raees!"

*********************.

"The lunch was delicious, El, thank you." Len said smiling.

"Well, thank you ..Len for coming over. And I'm glad you enjoyed the meal." El replied sweetly.

Leonard Miller and Peter both had arrived to the Burke home a little before an hour. El was already present and the house was filled with delicious aroma. After the introductions all three of them sat and had lunch , chatting amicably. Even though it was very clear to Len that both El and Peter were trying to act normal while inside they were real worried about a certain CI. Infact he was sure that the Burkes had not avoided the lunch with him today just so keep them diverted from their pain.

"Why don't you guys sit on the couch and talk. I will clean up here and join you." El said, already clearing the dishes. Peter and Len both nodded in agreement.

"So Len, you didn't say much about your wife? " Peter asked after settling on the couch.

"Um..yeah.. Sarah was an angel." Len paused as his face looked like he was in extreme pain. " she is no more." He took a seat beside Peter.

"Oh..I am so sorry, Lenny..." Peter said sympathetically.

"Hey..it's okay, Peter.. I'm fine now. I mean I miss her but yeah I'm okay."

"So.. You have any kids?"

Len looked at Peter as if he had asked him if had murdered anyone. Even if Peter noticed it, he didn't comment yet..

Finally after several seconds Len answered " Um..um..yeah.. I got a son Peter. He's going to be sixteen next month..." He was starting to shake a little .

"Oh that's nice, Len.. What's his name? " Peter asked sensing that something was wrong with his friend.

"Joseph..Joe... He's my life Peter. I have no one but only him"

Before Peter could ask anything else he his friend, El came and joined them. "So.. Anything special you guys talking about? " she asked.

"Yeah..yeah.. I was thinking why don't you guys have any kids yet." Len expertly directed the question to them to distract Peter.

The couple was silent for a moment but Peter answered " well.. Really didn't give much thought about it..my work and her work.. It's actually crazy..."

"And plus we have Neal!.." El interrupted Peter, relieving him to say anything more about the sensitive topic. She had just said it to lighten her husband's mood.

Peter laughed.." Actually, El's right.. We have Neal.." Smiling fondly thinking about his friend. He knew El was trying to cheer him up because not having kids even after these many years of marriage was a very emotional topic. But deep down he knew, El knew too, that Neal was definitely like a son to them.

Len raised his eyebrows "Neal..who? Your CI?"

"Yeah.. You know half the gray hair Peter has is because of Neal." El replied laughing.

"Wow! Never saw a handler and CI relationship like this." Len was genuinely surprised.

Peter shook his head laughing lightly " yeah..well..it's actually complicated.. Which started out as a criminal and FBI agent who was gunning for him.. Changed into a handler CI thing. But as time went by.. Neal became more like a friend, like a younger brother and also a son sometimes, and mind you, a very rebellious one at that." Peter stopped talking suddenly and then managing to choke out " just hope he's alright. He's my responsibility, Len.. If anything happens to him... " he couldn't continue. His eyes shone brightly.

El came over to him and gently rubbed his shoulders. " honey.. I'm sure he's alright.. You will find. Just like you always do right. " Peter just nodded.

Len watched the couple silently, their concern for Neal was so strong. He felt his heart ache too but he was helpless, he couldn't do anything about it..

***********************************.

As the fifteen minutes were up, Raees walked into the room and neared Neal. To him his captive was still unconscious. When he was only a foot far from Neal, the latter suddenly lashed out his leg and kicked Raees hard on his kneecap. Raees's leg gave out and he was on the floor on his knees. Neal quickly got to his feet and ignoring his weakness and dizziness. Before he could do anything, Raees punched him in the stomach and he doubled over in pain. Again he was hit hard and he definitely heard a crack. Damn! His ribs had taken a hit, he just prayed that they weren't broken. Yup, definitely the muscle man could win a gold medal, Neal thought. He was sweating now and his entire front was hurting. But he recovered before Raees could do anymore damage and punched him repeatedly and only stopped when Raees stopped moving.

He bent down and searched Raees's pockets for his cell. He had to call Peter. He didn't find it and decided to get out of there as soon as possible. When he would be out he would try calling Peter. He knew his friend would come immediately to get him..

Clutching his hurting stomach, Neal stumbled out of the room. The room in which he was held was at the end of the corridor, so he had to cover a good distance before coming to a set of stairs leading downwards towards the main door. The drugs, the dehydration the punch, everything was making it difficult to walk in a straight line. He kept stumbling. Finally he reached downstairs and made his way to the door.

He reached the door to his freedom after what felt like hours. His hand gripped the handle when ...

"Hey... Pretty face! " Raees shouted from the top stairs.

Neal froze and cursed under his breath. He turned to face Raees who was seething in anger.

Raees wiped the blood on his nose thanks to Neal with his sleeve and pointed his gun at Neal and said coldly " wrong move."

Before Neal could let the words sink in, a shot was fired. His eyes widened with shock first and then he felt blinding pain as his legs refused to support his body. He dropped to his knees and he clutched the wound where he was shot with his left hand. He looked down to his right side where the bullet had pierced his upper arm. Blood started seeping through his fingers and was staining his shirt rapidly.

He looked up and saw Raees standing upstairs with an evil smirk on his face. Neal could only think of one thing, 'he shot me. he shot me.' His vision tunnelled and world started spinning and he lost any balance he had and fell to the floor hitting his head hard . His eyes closed involuntarily as darkness decided to claim him mercifully..