The Box Chapter 4
Disclaimer; I don't own White Collar. If I did, it would be more of a struggle for Neal to take the treasure and run.
He could see only a few feet in front of him. There was a faint noise in the distance. He turned to the sound, moving blindly in the direction. Shards of glass and sheared metal biting into his hands, he crawled in the claustrophobic space. The dust began to settle and the shifting building stilled. Then he saw it, the flashing red dot of Ryan's earpiece. As he edged closer lifting it into his hand, the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. It was covered in blood.
"Ryan, Ryan, he shouted, his voice barely able to contain the panic he felt. "It's Burke, can you hear me?"
"Here, over here."
This can't be happening he thought. He could barely make him out, he was buried up to his chest in the rubble. God. A pool of black blood was spreading outward from his body. He shoved his way forward until he reached his side.
"Ryan," he said, more softly.
"Don't look so worried, Burke. There's nothing you can do."
He knew it was true, but for that moment he couldn't let himself entertain the reality. He placed his hand on his chest, it rose slowly. He could feel the tremors rippling through muscle and flesh, as Ryan struggled to breathe.
"Do you see an opening?" he managed to choke out.
"Save your energy, Ryan."
"For what? I am a dead man and you know it. Where's the rest of my team?"
The fog in his brain was clearing, as well as his recollection of the two men. There was a wall of rubble now separating him and the two men who flanked him seconds before. If they had survived.
"I'm not sure but they have to be on the other side of this. The charge brought down the back pillars and it looks like it opened a connection to the elevator core."
Ryan started to gasp and wheeze as his own blood pooled at the back of his throat. He jerked a little and reflexively tried to sit, seemingly unaware that most of his body was pinned tight.
"Take it easy, buddy," Peter struggled to lay him down. His upper body was powerful and he was determined.
"You know what you have to do, he stared at Peter with those unblinking blue eyes. You're wasting time, time your people don't have. Go," he said.
"I can't leave you like this."
"Why not?"
"Because your..." he couldn't get the words out.
"Dying. I know. We're all dying. I just know the time and the place. I'm OK with it."
"It's not supposed to be like this." Peter managed.
"It never is."
Ryan's face was calm, peaceful; as if he was already gone. Damn it, he wanted him to fight; fight for a life he knew was already gone. Time was moving, yet everything seemed to stand still. He knew he needed to get to Diana and Neal, but for the moment he hadn't the will to move.
()()()()()()()()
Her heart was drumming in her chest. Exactly when she started to sprint, she didn't know. The crowd ahead had spilled out of the plaza and onto Vessey. Elbowing her way through the throng, she made it to the front. A wall of NYPD blocked further access.
"Miss, please stay back. You have to stand back."
She caught her breath.
"Hey Doc, is that you? What are you doing down here?"
She heard a familiar voice in the crowd. It was an EMT from the late shift. Ricky or was it Ronnie, her mind was a blur. Ronnie she decided, it sounded familiar.
"Ronnie, hey," she said breathing fast.
"Yeah Doc, I thought your shift ended earlier. They must be calling in everyone tonight. If this goes bad, we can use all the help we can get."
"Sure, where are you guys set up?"
"Come on, I'll take you to the staging center. You want to let her thru buddy. She's one of us."
She was waved through a sea of paramedics, EMT's and emergency responders from all across the city. Many she recognized from her stint in the ER.
"Wait here Doc, I'll get you signed up."
Her gut tightened as she thought about Diana, her Diana trapped in the building just 50 feet away. Breathe she told herself. She did, gasping in air. She hadn't been fully able to fill her lungs since she heard on the news that Diana was trapped in the building ahead. She didn't feel Ronnie take her arm.
"Doc, we gotta move. A friend of mine with NYPD says the building might go anytime. They're pushing the perimeter back. Good luck with that," as he looked over to the crowd. She couldn't move, her feet felt frozen in place.
"Doc, you OK?"
"What about the agents trapped inside?"
"I guess we move from rescue to recovery mode. Anyway it goes, it's going to be a long night. The feds commandeered the bar a block down; some of the guys are holed up there. I can get you in, if you want. Trust me, you don't want to wait out here in the cold."
He led her to the wine bar. There wasn't a sound in the room, all eyes were fixed on the big screen above the bar and the two agents huddled in the dark.
()()()()()()()()()
"Elizabeth, let me have someone take you home, you've been out here for hours.
"Reese, how long have we known each other?"
"Long time."
"Then you know, I am not leaving here without my husband."
"I promise, the first news we get. I'll have someone pick you up."
"What's going on? What aren't you telling me?" she said, her eyes searching his.
"They are moving the perimeter back."
"Why, what's wrong?"
"The briefing just came down. The most recent structural assessment is indicating imminent collapse."
Tears welled in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. Hughes squeezed her shoulder and drew her close.
"Peter's been in a lot of tough scrapes… if there is anyone I trust to get those agents out of there it's him. I would trust him with my life."
"Reese, I can't leave him," her voice began to break.
"Look, I can't get you into the command center. Only people with the highest national security clearance are allowed. I had to cash in all my chips to get this Intel. They've set up a satellite operation in a commandeered bar a few blocks away. How about you wait there. I promise I'll come for you if anything develops." She nodded silently.
Although the room was crowded with emergency responders, you could hear a pin drop. No one was talking. Everyone was focused on the big screen above the bar. It was Diana and Neal. Her heart stopped. She moved forward to an empty seat at the corner, when she recognized a familiar face.
"Christy?"
"Oh my God, Elizabeth."
The younger woman wrapped her arms tightly about her. Fighting back tears, they stood together for what seemed the longest time.
"What have you heard?"
"Not much, Reese has been updating me as much as he can. Peter's in there with an ATTF team. They've located Neal and Diana, but there is so much debris to clear it's making it difficult to reach them."
"One of the EMT's said the building could go anytime. I… I don't know what I'll do, if I lose her. I can't imagine…." her voice trailed off as she looked desperately at the screen.
"Diana's strong and smart as they come. If anyone can get through this it's her. Peter trusts her completely. We're not giving up on them."
But Christie knew her well; she felt the fear she was trying so hard to disguise. It was something she was unaccustomed to seeing in Elizabeth and it panicked her. Before she could catch herself she said,
"Elizabeth, I walked out on Diana tonight. I said some pretty awful stuff."
"Oh, honey. Loving someone is the most natural thing, and yet the hardest sometimes. I know. Tell me what happened," she saw something ease in those intelligent dark eyes searching hers.
"She's the most amazing person I know, but she is so afraid of losing me. She shuts me out. There is always that bit of distance and reserve. I know she loves me and how much it took to step outside her comfort zone to live a life with me. But is it wrong to want everything from her?
"No sweetheart, it's not," she rubbed her hand gently. There is a reason she and Peter get on so well. In some ways they are like mirror images, strong, loyal,smart and incredibly stubborn. There was a time I didn't think we would make it."
"I can't believe you guys were ever in trouble. Di and I joke all the time, when we grow up we want the kind of marriage you and Peter have."
"Well, it was after 9/11. We were here that day. We would have been in the Twin Towers when they collapsed. Windows on the World was one of my favorite places. Peter planned to meet me for breakfast to celebrate a promotion I'd gotten. I was late. I stopped to pick him up a new tie. He was interviewing later for a position with the White Collar Division. That day changed everything."
She took a moment. She didn't think she made any sound.
"Are you OK? You look a little pale,"Christie said anxiously.
"Yes, I'm fine." You know how it hits you sometimes, just how much you love someone. I knew something was eating at Peter. He refused counseling, he wouldn't talk to me. I knew this man and I knew he was holding something back from me. It was in his touch, his kiss... My love couldn't balance out the emotional wall he put up. I told him either talk to me or I was leaving."
"You threatened him."
"I guess I did, it worked. He though he had lost me that day thought he saw me fall. He was terrified of losing me again, so he pulled back in self preservation."
"What happened?"
"Once he began talking, it was like a damn opened. If he hadn't we wouldn't be here now. Honey, give Diana time."
Time was what they needed now. Her heart beat liked thunder in her chest, time was not on their side.
()()()()()()()()
"Diana, what's happening?"
"I'm not sure. They were planting a small charge to force an opening in the floor beneath us. But something's gone wrong. Really wrong. Nothing's coming through this useless device they left us."
The ache in his belly turned into an agony that was spreading through every cell of his body. He wasn't sure how long he could hold on. Soon he was going to pass out or vomit.
"Can you see the opening?"
"Yeah, the space has definitely opened up."
"Listen. You should go. Come back for me."
"I don't understand you. Why are you so willing to throw yourself away. You matter."
"I'm responsible for you and Peter being here. If I didn't give you reason to not trust me, you wouldn't be here. Kate died and it should have been me. It should be me now. I got you and Peter into this mess. He might be dead and you will be, if you don't leave."
"I'm not leaving Caffrey. You didn't do anything wrong and we wanted to make sure you wouldn't. I stayed because I care about you. We care about each other and if the shoe was on the other foot you would do it for me, do it for Peter. You know you would."
He lived in a world where people lied all the time, he was trained to know the difference between a lie and the truth. She meant it, he could see the care and concern in her face. He knew it was true, that if the shoe was on the other foot.. Having roots, people that cared about him, complicated things. Running was easy, this was hard. All his mistakes were coming home to haunt him.
"You don't understand."
"You bet your ass I do. You're scared, I get it. I know. But you can't keep making choices out of fear."
He tried to put Kate out of his mind, out of his heart. He wanted to concentrate on the life he had now, who he had now. Kate had made him happy. He recalled the first time he saw her at Vincent Adler's affair. Just remembering it recreated the feeling that flooded through him then. He could feel it even now, despite the gnawing pain in his belly. Like a door opening and sunshine flooding in.
"Neal, where are you?"
"I've been moving so long. Ties were a challenge to be beat. I wanted to keep moving. It's in my blood, maybe deep in my blood. Kate changed my life and I don't know if I wanted her to. It almost killed me when she died."
"But it didn't. You have to choose, on the road or off the road. You can't give up, Caffrey."
"I'm so tired," his voice was small and strained. Read me something."
She picked up the box and leafed through the letters until she came across one signed, Neal. It was his original letter. It was Neal, not some dead poet or famous classic. Her heart trembled slightly as she read...
I sit in my self-imposed cell, next to gray walls marked in pieces of time, pieces of me. But I am not alone. I have journeyed. Journeyed through fire and rain, until I found the gift of you. You gave me a history. It is possible to rest in you. I can rest here. I've arrived. In your love, I am home.
While he lied quietly, his head on her lap, she yearned for the woman she loved and might never see again. Her thoughts were wrenched from her control as Neal's body convulsed. He gripped his stomach, pale fingers quivering from the pain. With horror she watched as a red bloom of blood sprouted over his leg.
"Peter, if you can hear this, I need you."
()()()()()()()()()
Ryan's voice was calm and measured. The rhythm of his breathing hitched a bit, the only sign that indicated he was dying.
"Peter, listen to me. We are way past the allotted time to extricate your friends. No one will be coming for us."
He felt the vibration in his ear before the actual sound came through. The device was working again. For the moment. He could hear Diana. Thank God, they were still alive. She was still reading to Neal. That was a good sign, he was alert. Peter paused for a moment to listen. He looked over at Ryan, his eyes were half closed.
"Ryan,"he said with some urgency.
"Listen," Burke.
The words filled the silent space.
…... I have journeyed. Journeyed through fire and rain, until I found the gift of you. You gave me a history. It is possible to rest in you. I can rest here. I've arrived. In your love, I am home.
As he listened to the young man's letter, letters he had never written flashed through his brain. Letters he would never write. The letter to his father, when he went off to war. Telling him not to worry, because he had taught him to be a man. The letters to his wife, who breathed life back into him when he thought he was lost. Finally the letter to himself, "it was worth it all." He reached out and caught Peter's hand.
"We don't let the bad guys win. Don't let Vincent Adler win. Promise me, Burke."
" I promise," Peter whispered.
His blue eyes were open and his face turned toward him... and then he was gone.
The red dot flickered green.
"Peter, if you can hear me I need you."
"Diana, I'm here. I am coming to get you and Neal.
At that instant it became a race against time.
TBC
Author's notes: Thank you so much for all the kind reviews. It's very much appreciated and a much needed source of support sometimes to keep working, when a story seems to get away from you.
