Thanks again to everyone who read/reviewed this story. The ending seems a bit tacked on, but I'm running out of ideas here!
One of my reviewers said I was using too much narrative, so I've tried to address that in this chapter, and hopefully it'll flow better.
I've kind of started a new job, with horrible working hours, so it'll be a good while until my next update L
I don't own white collar or its characters.
At first Peter thought he was still dreaming. He was sleeping peacefully for the first time in days, so when his office was invaded with people shouting at him about coffee and a kidnapping, it took a him a moment to realise that they were talking about Neal.
"Everyone, stop talking. I can't understand half of what you're saying." Peter sat upright in the chair, and tried not to look as tired as he felt. "Diana, do you want to explain what the hell's going on."
Diana stepped forward, the calm amongst the storm, and Peter realised just how much he had missed her when she'd been in Washington.
"We got a call from the coffee house across the street, the one Neal likes." Peter vaguely remembered how Neal had offered to get him coffee and he'd been too tired to properly object that that place was ridiculously expensive, which was why each day they walked a few blocks to one that wouldn't break the bank.
"The owner happens to be a fan of Neal. She saw him crossing the street and watched him get stopped by a man in a van, who had a gun. He put Neal in the back of the van and drove off. She knows he works for us, so she called us."
"Dammit, Neal. We could've done without the coffee." Diana loaded up a CCTV video, showing Demetri load Neal into the back of a van and drive off, though the licence plates of the van were obscured.
"I'm gonna guess that the van disappeared and we have no idea where Demetri went?"
Everyone answered him with silence and Peter's tiredness turned to despair. Demetri had obviously found out that Rachel was at the FBI, and assumed that she was arrested, rather than turning snitch. Peter could almost hear him, "I gave you fair warning. You go after mine, I'm going after yours."
"What about Rachel?"
"We checked on her. She's still at the safe house, but we're moving her to another just to be sure," Jones answered. He pulled a clear evidence bag from his pocket and passed it to Peter. "But we still have her phone with Demetri's number in it. We couldn't track him but it still seems to be active."
Peter thanked them and dismissed most of the team, only Jones and Diana remaining behind.
"What about the warehouses Rachel gave us?"
"There's been no movement all day. Wherever he's gone with Neal, it isn't there." Jones rubbed his eyes, concern etched on his face. He and Neal had become good friends since he'd joined the bureau, and had been one of the few people Peter trusted to help find Neal when he'd ran after Kate's death, and when Neal returned he was also one of the few who didn't treat him any differently.
They joined Hughes in the conference room to discuss their options. They needed to make contact with Demetri but Peter knew that Demetri would want Rachel back and they couldn't give him that. They needed time to figure out a plan but it seemed their luck had run out, and Rachel's phone began to ring.
Peter flipped it open but remained silent.
"Rachel?" Demetri's voice was so soft and full of concern that Peter almost didn't recognise it.
"No, this is Agent Burke. I'm afraid Rachel isn't able to take calls at the minute."
"I told you Burke. I told you to leave her alone." He was angry but he appeared oddly detached. "Where is she? I want you to hand her over."
"She's in the custody of the FBI, and I'm afraid I can't do that. She's -"
"Fuck you, Burke. I want her back, you hear me?"
"I didn't go after her. She handed herself in to the FBI. Doesn't that tell you something? She wants this to be over. The best thing for you to do is to give me back my agent, and hand yourself in."
Demetri remained silent for a long time, before answering.
"No Pete, I don't think I will." He sighed as though disappointed with himself. "Remember I've got your little friend Caffrey as my get out of jail free card. I'm gonna phone again later and you're gonna have Rachel ready to be released, or I'm gonna put a bullet in Caffrey's head."
Peter was relieved that Neal was still alive but a chill went up his spine when Demetri spoke again.
"I don't know how you put up with him. He's a whiner. Do you know who much he cried when we cut his fingers off? I mean it was only two fingers." He laughed into the phone. "Did you get my package yet? I didn't bother putting them on ice cos its probably too late to reattach them, but thought you might like them as a keepsake. I'll phone in two hours."
He hung up the phone and Peter punched the wall in frustration.
"Sir?" One of the new interns had entered the office and passed Peter a small box. "This was just delivered for you. It said urgent on it."
Peter read the label and almost dropped the box on the table. It was addressed to himself from Demetri, and as Peter shakily tried to open, it he fought the urge to cry for this friend.
Neal had had enough. He was a lover, not a fighter, and despite his rotten childhood, cons gone wrong and a jail sentence, he had not developed any techniques for staying calm under torture.
He was sure most of the bones in his right hand were broken, and three fingers on his left hand definitely were, and were now sitting at odd angles to the others. Between the intense pain, the swelling and his inability to use half of his fingers, he had not been able to wriggle free of the ropes that bound him to the chair. Then again, he thought, it didn't matter, as he was so small and in such pain that he wouldn't be able to take down the ginormotron that was Frank.
He was unable to see his own reflection, but he was sure that his face was beaten beyond recognition. His left eye was swollen shut and his right eye was very blurred. He had spat out a loose tooth after the first punch, but his mouth still continued to bleed. He was sure he had broken ribs on his left side, and his breathing had become shallow to avoid the sharp pain that shot through him. Thankfully though, his legs had been left virtually untouched, and he hoped he would get the chance to make a run for it.
Neal braced himself for another punch when Demetri walked in to the warehouse, interrupting Frank's momentum. He looked at Neal's battered and bruised face and smiled.
"I knew Frank was the best man for this job." He slapped Frank on the shoulder and motioned for him to take a break. "They're gonna have Rachel ready soon. Then you can go back to your stupid little life, with your stupid little team. Or you can join my team if you want, we could use a guy like you?"
"Screw you." Neal spat out a mouthful of blood as he spoke.
"Then again I suppose your team needs you again, now that they're another man down." Neal looked up and tried to decipher the lies from the truth, while Demetri shrugged at him. "Attractive looking African-American gentleman? A little slow to draw his weapon? Didn't get a chance to ask his name before I shot him, but the way they cried over his demise, he must have been one of the good ones."
Neal chose to believe that Demetri was lying. Jones was a good friend to him, and he refused to believe that he was dead unless he saw a body or heard it from Peter.
Frank and Demetri whispered in the corner. In any other circumstances, Neal knew he would have been able to eavesdrop or lip-read their conversation, but at the moment he could barely see and was struggling to remain conscious. He was drifting off when a slap across his face brought him back again.
"Get him ready." Demetri said, nodding to Frank, as he took out his phone. "Its almost showtime."
Peter was relieved to find that the box Demetri sent him only contained a small, untraceable phone, and thankfully no appendages of Neals. They had had no leads from the box and the two hours Demetri had given them were almost up.
When she had been moved to a different safe house, Rachel had been told about their new situation and had volunteered to hand herself over to Demetri. They assured her that they didn't negotiate or pay ransom, but as Peter left her, he could still hear her insisting to the others that she would be the only way.
The phone Demetri had sent rang exactly two hours after he had hung up.
"Hello, Agent Burke. I take it you received my package." He laughed and Peter imagined himself punching that smug grin off his face.
"What do you want Demetri?"
"Straight to business, now? You must be pissed off." Peter could hear a chair scraping on a floor before Demetri spoke again. "I want Rachel. I want you - you, Agent Burke, no one else - to take her to the 42nd street subway station. When I spot you, I'll phone again and make the exchange."
"We can't do that. We don't -"
"We don't negotiate. Yeah, yeah I've heard it before. But if you want Neal back, you will."
"Let me speak to him. We need to know he's alive." Peter held his breath while waiting on Demetri to answer. There was a lot of shuffling and grunting, before anyone spoke.
"Peter?" Neal sounded weak and terrified. "Don't give him what he - " There was a loud groan from Neal and Demetri came back on the line.
"I'll be at the subway in 20 minutes. If you're not there, Caffrey dies."
"God dammit." Peter shouted as Demetri ended another call, still holding all the cards and calling the shots. The silence in the room was interrupted by a familiar but unwelcome voice.
"I don't think God can you help you." Rachel said as she walked into Hughes office. "But I can."
"How the hell did you get past the security?" Peter demanded. They had positioned extra agents outside her new safe house, to ensure that she didn't run, but obviously they had failed.
"Um, hello? Con artist here," she said. "I haven't been at this long, but I'm a fast learner."
She pulled up a chair and joined them all at the table.
"You really don't have a choice here. Demetri is in super puppy-dog love with me. He isn't going to stop until he has me back. I'd have handed myself over already, but this way we might actually be able to save your agent." Peter wondered how she could be so calm and collected knowing that her murderous boyfriend, whom she had just recently betrayed, was stopping at nothing to get her back.
"We've been through this." Hughes spoke up this time, trying to get some sense into her. "We give him what he wants and he'll shoot Neal anyway. That's not acceptable to us."
"Well, grumpy Gus, I happen to have an actual plan."
"Don't even bother - " Hughes began but was silenced by Rachel.
"Hear me out before interrupting please. Demetri wants to meet at the subway station right? That's cos he knows that place inside and out, all the back tunnels and maintenance areas that no-one else knows about - except maybe me. How do you think we got away from our heists so fast? You take me down there. You can have all the undercover agents you want working this job too. Demetri sees me, hands Neal over, and we take him down. Or in the unlikely event that Demetri did find someway to grab me, I can make a break for it down one of the tunnels. Either way, both me and Neal are free, and you have your guy. I'm not going back to that safe house, so whether you're with me or not, I'm going to that station."
It didn't sound like the best of plans but they had nothing else, and time was almost up.
"Well then," Hughes said. "We better get you fitted with a Kevlar vest. Peter, get SWAT down immediately and get all our agents on this. We've got about ten minutes or things are gonna go bust."
Arranging a hostage exchange in the busiest subway station in New York was ingenious and dangerous for both sides. The crowds meant there were more people to recognise Demetri, but then again there were so many people he could walk out relatively easily. For Peter, he could put as many undercover agents in as he wanted, but then the large influx of people meant the casualties could be huge.
Rachel and Peter had just entered the crowded terminal when Peters phone rang again.
"I want you to move to the centre of the terminal." Peter tried to hear any identifying sounds of where Demetri was standing but could hear none. "Stay on the line."
Peter did as he was told and stood protectively in front of Rachel. He scanned the crowds but couldn't see either Neal or Demetri. He held the phone against his shoulder and spoke into his two-way radio.
"Anyone see anything?" Everyone answered negative and Peter began to feel uneasy.
"You still there Demetri?" He was answered with silence and his heart pounded in his chest. Rachel, who was usually the epitome of calm, looked tense, though who could blame her, he thought. He spoke into his radio again.
"I think this is a setup. Everyone keep - "
He was interrupted when a gunshot echoed through the terminal, and all hell broke loose.
