AN: Sorry for the wait guys.

Disclaimer: I own Hugo by default. That's it though…sigh.

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"All good things must come to an end, but all bad things can continue forever." -Anonymous

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Neal dragged in a painful breath…then another one. Neal closed his eyes as he realized that his entire life depended on dragging in painful breaths. A part of him, a part he was constantly fighting in the back of his mind, was telling him to give up; to stop taking these painful breaths and get some peace. But Neal had never been one to give up; he dragged in another breath.

The door opened and Wilkes and Hugo stepped inside. "Caffrey. You look, well, you look awful."

"Flattery will get you everywhere." Neal said.

Wilkes shook his head. "Witty to the very end."

"One of my better qualities don't you think?" Neal said.

Wilkes replied. "No. I don't think so."

Hugo pulled out the switchblade again. "Should I stab him again?"

"No." Wilkes replied. "I'm afraid you'll kill him."

"Isn't that kind of the plan?" Neal asked.

"That's the end game Caffrey." Wilkes said. "I want your suffering to last a long time before that."

"Are you going to break another rib?" Neal asked.

Wilkes smiled. "Do you want me to?"

"What are my other choices?" Neal asked

"This isn't a multiple choice test Caffrey." Wilkes said.

Neal smiled. "Damn. I really thought I was going to ace it too."

Hugo reared his fist back and Neal flinched. Wilkes laughed. "I think another round ought to teach him a lesson Hugo."

"Another round of what?" Neal asked.

Wilkes shrugged. "Whatever Hugo wants. Keep him alive Hugo."

"How long do I have?" Hugo asked him.

"Plenty of time." Wilkes said. "The Feds won't find him until the insects have taken what's left. We have all the time in the world."

Hugo smiled as Wilkes left. Neal dragged in another breath.

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Peter pulled into the parking lot of one middle class home. It even had a little gnome in the front yard. Mozzie said, "The enemy of society is middle class."

"Orson Welles." June said quickly.

Mozzie smiled and nodded his head. "I am impressed."

"Slums may be the breeding grounds of crime, but middle class suburbs are incubators of apathy and delirium." June said.

"Disraeli?" Mozzie asked.

"Cyril Connolly." Alex corrected and then added. "The middle class, that prisoner of the barbarian 20th century."

"Sinclair Lewis." Mozzie said.

"Wise men make proverbs, but fools repeat them." Peter said. "Samuel Palmer."

Mozzie raised his eyebrows. "Touché Suit, touché."

"Get out of the car. All of you." Peter said. He was pulled up next to the other red Taurus. It was an eerie feeling to know that only yesterday Neal had been trapped in this car with a gun pointed at him. "Let's go knock on the door."

Diana stood next to him on the front porch. Both looked back at the crowd behind them: Jones, June, Agent Cruz, Bancroft, Agent Rice, Alex Hunter, Sara Ellis, Mozzie, Agent Ruiz, Agent Jack Franklin, Rebecca Vidal, and May Lin. "Do you know what this reminds me of Boss?"

"No, what?" Peter asked her.

"Do you remember when Larson tried to frame you?" She asked.

"Yes of course. What about it?" He said.

"Well, do you remember when we all got together and planned that con?" Diana asked.

Peter smiled. "Yeah, not one of my finer moments."

"Well, this kind of feels like that." Diana said.

"Like it's not one of my finer moments?" Peter said.

"No, no." Diana replied. "Like we're all together to save one of our own."

"That's because we are Diana." Peter said.

The door opened and a middle-aged man stood before them. "Hello there. Can I help you…all?" The man looked around the agents on his doorstep at the twelve people behind them."

Peter showed the man his FBI badge. "My name is Agent Peter Burke. I'm with the FBI. I'd like to ask you some questions about the red Taurus in your driveway."

The man looked out. "Which one?"

Peter ground his teeth together. "The one on the right."

The man sighed. "I tried to warn her that this would happen."

"You knew the FBI would show up on your doorstep?" Diana asked.

"Not this exactly but something like this." The man said. He shook his head. "We never should have traded the cars."

"Traded the cars?" Peter asked.

The man nodded. "About a week ago a man came to the door with a proposition. He would take our beat up old van and in exchange we could have his red Taurus."

"And you didn't think that was weird?" Peter asked.

"Of course I thought it was weird but, you see, my wife thinks she has woman's intuition or some nonsense like that and she said that she was getting a trustworthy vibe from this guy." The man said. "I don't argue with my wife."

Peter nodded because marriage was something he understood. He motioned Agent Rice forward. "Show him the picture."

Agent Rice pulled out a picture of Wilkes. "Is this the man you saw?"

"No." The man replied.

Agent Rice pulled out a picture of Hugo. "Is this the man you saw?"

The man nodded. "Yes, that's him. Hey, what did these guys do?"

Peter pulled a picture of Neal out. "They kidnapped this man."

"Oh golly." The man said. "I'm sorry. If I had known…"

"You didn't argue with your wife." Peter said. "I get it."

"You must be married Agent Burke." The man said. "I'm guessing you need the Taurus."

"It's evidence." Peter confirmed.

The man sighed. "I've got to go call the rental agency. If there's anything else you need?"

"No. That'll be all for now. Someone will be here soon to take your statement." Peter said. "If you could just tell me what the van looked like and such."

"I'll do you one better." The man said. "I've got pictures."

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Neal stood but he's legs were trembling. This was Hugo's new game. Stand at the wall; don't move. Any movement resulted in a debilitating kick and more kicks until you stood back up. Neal was quickly losing his fondness for games. Neal lost control of his right legs which twitched.

For such a large man Hugo sure moved quickly. Neal was down on ground within seconds and more blows were being rained down continuously. Neal stood up because he knew that's what Peter would have done. What Peter would have wanted Neal to do.

The pain in his body was immense. Soon there would be a time when Neal could no longer continue to stay conscious. He was hoping that time would be soon. What he would give to lose consciousness right now?

Another twitch dropped him to the ground. There were several kicks and then…darkness.

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The Director called in some favors. Burke and his new team could dig as deep as they wanted but the red tape would set them back for quite awhile. He smiled, pleased with his accomplishment. This is what had landed him the position of FBI Director. He was resourceful.

Apparently that would work just as well outside of the law as it had in it.

The Director knew that Burke knew. He could tell the White Collar agent was informed of the Director's involvement by the heated glares Burke sent him. He would glare at the Director, curl his hands into fists, and then go back to searching for Caffrey. Who knew that a con artist would cause such a man-hunt. He picked up the phone and called Wilkes. "I buried Burke in a mountain of red tape."

"Good." Wilkes said. "That should stall him for awhile."

"I have to warn you that he's working with some criminals and no amount of red tape will affect them." The Director said.

Wilkes was silent for a moment before saying. "Then get them out of the way."

"With pleasure." The Director said.

They hung up.

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AN: I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did. Sorry for the wait. Please note that I have another story up by the name of Anything You Can Do. It's more humorous than angsty but I think you'll enjoy it. By the way, I want to reach 100 reviews at least. We're at 82. We've got over 5000 hits and over 1000 visitors. Let's keep improving those numbers! Thanks again!