Chapter 4

Sarah tapped her foot angrily. She had listened to the conversation between her and Agent Burke over and over and couldn't figure out what Peter had gained from it.

"Do you think he actually intended for you to go and talk to June?" Chuck questioned.

Casey didn't really agree however, "you should at least talk to her to keep your cover of someone interested in capturing Neal Caffrey."

Sarah sighed, right when there was a knock on the van door. The three spies shared glances. Casey pulled out a gun and Chuck shook his head. Sarah reached for the knife concealed in her boot. Chuck placed a hand on her shoulder before going to open the van door.

"Oi, you idiot!" Casey grumbled in a quiet hiss.

"Hello?" Chuck said loudly enough to hide Casey's impolite comment. Standing outside the van was Elizabeth Burke. Chuck was surprised. "Should you be talking to us?"

"I ask myself the same question," El said. "I assume you are agents or some kind."

"FBI, ma'am."

El gave Casey a cool look. "Nice try."

"We could be here because of Kramer," Chuck pointed out. "Or because of Neal running."

"So you might be looking for Neal?"

"Not so much 'looking for' as 'keeping an eye on'."

"You're not doing a good job if you're here while he's not," El pointed out.

Chuck laughed.

"Oh great. He's making friends with the FBI wives now," Casey whispered to Sarah.

"Please, if you think you can help Peter find him, could you?" El pleaded. "Peter feels responsible for everything that happened and it'll destroy him if something happens to Neal before he can find him."

"What makes you think we'll do that? No offence Mrs. Burke, but I've spoken to your husband twice. Why do you think I'll help him?"

"Not you," El said to Sarah. She turned to Chuck. "You." She pulled out a picture and handed it to him.

Chuck opened the picture and his eyes widened right before he folded it quickly up.

"Where did you get this?"

"It's a photo of an old man who is supposedly in WITSEC. However, Peter had been watching his place before he left."

Chuck shook his head. Watching someone in WITSEC was a dangerous move. "Let me talk to Agent Burke," he said to El.

Chuck promised to go to the Burkes' house shortly after Peter returned home and closed the van door.

"Did you flash?" Casey asked.

Chuck nodded.

"What was it?" Sarah asked. "Should we change our course of action?"

Chuck shook his head. "I flashed on the old man in the picture. Let's just say there's something Neal didn't tell us."

"What's that?"

"The man was an SOE operative."

"What?" Sarah gasped. That was an old British spy organisation. How did Neal have connections to someone like that?

"It be bad for Larkin if the CIA caught wind of that," Casey pointed out in a pleased tone. "It calls his loyalties into question."

Sarah glared at him. "Bryce is many things, but he's not a traitor," she said.

Casey huffed and muttered about how he knew that.

Peter was surprised to open the door and find the blond Agent Carmichael standing next to a tall dark haired man. However, where Neal was suave and handsome, this man appeared more awkward and approachable.

"Agent Burke, this is my husband, also known as Agent Carmichael."

"Hi, you can call me Chuck," Chuck said, shaking Peter's hand. "We're here to help you find Neal."

Peter was baffled. A couple of hours ago, he had still been playing games of push and pull with Agent Carmichael and now she was showing up with another agent to help?

"What's going on?" he questioned.

"Your wife does a good 'good cop'," Chuck said.

"Chuck, that's not how good cop works."

"Yes, it does. She gave us a choice. That it was in our favour makes her a good cop."

Peter called back to his wife. "El, what did you do?"

"Nothing too special. Just showed them that photo Jones took." El looked smug. She invited the two agents in. "Although I'm surprised you agreed to help."

"Neal has told us a lot about you. He's really hoping to return to your side some day, although he doesn't expect it to be as Neal Caffrey."

"Considering what the FBI did, that's to be expected," Agent Carmichael said to her husband.

"Let's focus on finding Neal," Peter said, not really sure he wanted to know what they meant. "You're going to help?"

"Yes. You let him run. It saved him in the short term and left us with a problem for the long term," Agent Carmichael said.

"I'm sure we can find a way to fix it. Let's start with finding Neal," Chuck said. "I'm willing to help because there's something I need to talk to him about and I'm not good enough to locate him. Trust me, I've tried."

Chuck placed a pager on the table and explained that he used the pager to send a phone number to Neal when needed to talk to him. Neal would then call and they would talk. However, Neal was careful to hide all clues of where he was.

"So he's safe?" Peter asked.

Chuck smiled and nodded. It seemed trusting Peter was the right call.

Peter quickly put together a plan.

Something buzzed. Mar'i tried to ignore it and it buzzed again. It was coming from the bedside table.

She elbowed the warm body next to her. "Pager," she grumbled, something someone of her generation shouldn't have to say. However, the older the technology was, the less likely it was for someone unintended to gain access.

Damian grumbled and grabbed the pager. With how quickly he moved, Mar'i was certain that he had woken up at the first buzz and just tried to ignore it. Once Damian was gone, she rolled over and drifted back to sleep.

No such luck for Damian though. The pager displayed a number he hadn't seen before.

Had something bad happened?

He grabbed one of the burner phones Mozzie kept around for this reason and dialled.

Thunder rumbled in the distance and Damian decided he would have to be quick. He didn't want to stand out in the rain.

The person on the other end answered. "Chuck?"

"Hi, Neal."

Peter. Neal chuckled. "Guess this makes you 3 and 0."

"2 and 1. Haven't found you yet."

"Chuck gave you the pager number?"

"Yeah. He's worried."

"He does that."

"Neal, the DOJ has got someone looking for you."

"If they didn't, I'd be insulted."

"He means business."

Peter told Neal about Collins. However, Neal wasn't worried and told Peter as much. He and Chuck could stop worrying.

"I'm safe here. And I'm happy."

They talked a little more and then said goodbye. Neal stared at the phone for a while, coming back to reality after the little taste of what had been.

Jones looked over at Casey, who was sitting on the couch behind them. Diana's computer was set up on the Burkes' dining table with Peter's map spread out before them.

"Are you and El hosting something today? Because we can come back later," he commented to Peter.

"Chuck and his team are helping."

"Helping who?" Diana commented.

"Peter," Chuck answered from Peter's other side. "And Neal. Even though Neal won't admit he needs help."

Next to Chuck, Sarah nodded in agreement.

Next to Jones, Diana shrugged. She didn't care as long as Peter was okay with it.

"I had a friend at Quantico slip the recording to the Digital Evidence Exploitation Unit and she isolated three distinct background elements of Neal's call. Listen." She hit the button to play the sounds.

A ringing sound echoed through the room.

"Church bells," Casey piped up from the couch.

"Four in a row," Diana added. "There's more."

Waves sounded and everyone was confused for a moment. Why were they important?

"Listen again," Diana said. "That fourth sound is not a wave, it's thunder."

Peter grinned. "Alright. We've got church bells and a storm. It's a start, right?"

Casey stared in disbelief at Peter's back. Chuck grinned. There was a reason this guy had managed to catch Neal.

"Four bells gives us four o'clock," Sarah mused. "And a storm."

Chuck and Jones typed away on their own computers. Jones found information first.

"Storm activity at 4pm gives us Vladivostok, Russia."

"Mozzie's afraid of bears," Peter commented. "Try 4am."

"Cape Verde islands."

"No extradition but dozens of tiny islands," Sarah mused. "Where do we start?"

"Diana, what about the bells?"

"Analysis says they're Spanish Brass but, the islands in that area were colonised by Portugal, not Spain."

"Spanish Bells," Sarah mused. Chuck and Jones both typed away, trying to find something that matched.

"Yes!" Chuck cheered first. "I think I have something!"

"What do you have?" Jones questioned.

"1798, a bell was recovered from the wreckage of a Spanish ship and hung in the St. Christopher church. The church is in the port city of Santa Maria, Cape Verde!" Chuck laughed.

Jones frowned a little at his loss while everyone else was just glad they had a location.

"There's even a recording online of the bells." Chuck turned the computer sound up and clicked the recording. The sound of bells filled the room.

"An exact match," Casey said from the couch with interest.

"He has perfect pitch," Sarah explained to Diana.

"We got him!" Peter cheered, circling the location on the map. "Now we just need a plan to bring him home!"