NOTE: Sorry about the wait...I've been soooo tired when I've been getting home from work lately.
Chapter Twelve
"Agent down!"
"No...no, I'm good." Jones groaned.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah...just...need a minute." Jones replied weakly as he tried to sit up. "Damn that hurts."
"Just breathe." Diana suggested.
"Working on it..."
Diana searched out the slug that was embedded in the bullet proof vest that Jones was wearing. This time when he refused to stay down she helped him to his feet. EMTs and additional law enforcement were already swarming the small apartment in a chaotic storm. There was a great deal of confusion between Jones getting shot, the brief fire fight, Alistair being taken down, and the smoke from some sort of device that he had set off to destroy his myriad computer devices.
"Anything broken?" Diana asked Jones in concern.
"I don't think so, just bruised."
Ignoring his own pain Jones looked around the tiny mostly unfurnished apartment of full of destroyed electronics with dismay. Diana was having the same thought, it didn't take more than a glance around the studio to see that Peter wasn't being held here. Unlike the sadistic show Neal had been watching the FBI hadn't been given any kind of proof of life. Either Alistair had Peter elsewhere, had already murdered him, or there was always a chance that the tip was bad in the first place and Alistair was up to some other random criminal activity and the real kidnapers had just used the FBI to take down some competition. Diana was just about to ask Jones what he felt they should do next when her phone chirped with another text. Pulling out the phone she furrowed her brow.
"Diana?"
"Unknown number again, it's an address down by the docks."
"Same tipper? Think it's Neal and he's found Peter?"
"Or Moz..." Diana paused as the phone chirped again. "'Hurry, bring paramedic, Suit down.'."
"Definitely Mozzie. Let's go."
Diana rounded up five of the ten Agents that were present, and three of the LEOs to help with back up. There was secondary paramedic team waiting street level that she ordered to follow along. They had no idea what would really be waiting for them at the address. Roaring through the city they made their ways as quickly as they could towards the docks, but with traffic it took a good fifteen minutes that felt like an eternity. As they approached they had all the vehicles turn off their lights and sirens. Minutes before their arrival Diana's phone chirped again.
"'All clear, just get in there.'." Diana read out loud.
Despite the 'all clear' they approached the warehouse cautiously with weapons drawn. With his vest ruined by the previous shot he'd taken Jones should have hung back but Diana didn't say anything when he stepped up to help her cover the rusty metal door that was slightly ajar. The rest of the team took up flanking positions. Diana held up her hand to request everyone hold for a moment while she listened for some clue as to what they were about to walk in on. The only sound was an oddly rhythmic panting that sounded like someone in pain trying to catch their breath. When Diana gave Jones a quick nod he kicked the door fully open and the team swarmed the warehouse, preparing to take it by force if need be.
"FBI!"
Diana had barked the warning in case anyone was thinking of challenging them. The scene however held no immediate threats. Stripped from the waist up with sweat rolling off his skin Neal was kneeling over Peter desperately throwing all of his effort into pushing down on Peter's chest. There was blood dripping down the side of Neal's face from where he'd hit the pavement earlier that morning, the steristrips had long since fallen off allowing the wound to bleed freely again. Neal glanced up at Diana, but he didn't bother calling out for help. In fact he barely reacted to their arrival at all, he just went back to concentrating on the chest compressions. Quality CPR was an energetic work out that quickly exhausted even a well trained rescuer. Trying to administer at least a 100 compressions per minute was no simple task and under ideal conditions rescuers traded off compression work every two minutes to help avoid fatigue. Neal had been keeping Peter alive for almost twenty minute on his own and was nearing collapse himself.
Diana let Jones take over on ensuring the area remained secure while she alerted the paramedics that they could enter. Already standing at the ready at the door the medical team was ready to pounce. The first task was pulling Neal away from his still critical patient. Acting like he didn't understand that help had arrived it took the firm hand of one of the paramedics to force Neal back. Once relieved of his task Neal sat down heavily on the concrete floor panting heavily for breath with a slightly glazed look in his eyes.
"Neal?" Diana asked concerned.
"I...I think I broke his ribs..." Neal whispered in horror.
"That just means you're doing it right." The paramedic informed seriously. "We'll take it from here, you did good. Take a break."
Neal just nodded and the paramedic eyed him suspiciously for a moment but his attention was drawn away when one of the other three paramedics called for his help. They were already busy continuing CPR and setting up the AED. It hadn't take them more than a brief assessment to realize they were dealing with a complicated hypothermic case despite the record summer heat. The freezer with the broken door was still working although now that it was open the ice had melted as the hot air rushed in. The fourth paramedic turned to help the others get a rhythm leaving Diana to attend to Neal.
Diana encouraged Neal to back up further to allow the paramedics more room to work. Rather than get all the way to his feet Neal just rolled over onto his hands and knees and crawled about ten feet away before sitting back down. Diana followed him and knelt down in front of him with increasing concern, Neal was looking less lucid by the second. His skin that had been dripping in sweat a minute ago had suddenly gone oddly dry and laced in crystalline salt. He swallowed convulsively a few times against an obviously dry throat.
"Neal?" Diana snapped her fingers when Neal didn't respond to his name. "Neal? You with me?"
Still fighting for breath Neal slowly tilted his head back and stared blankly at the rusting ceiling, completely ignoring Diana's attempts to gain his attention. When she put her hand on his shoulder she was shocked by the amount of heat that was radiating off his skin. Neal jerked away from her before clumsily lashing out at nothing in particular. Trying to get to his feet Neal quickly crashed back to the floor with a cry of pain.
"Neal!"
Jones was already rushing over to help as Neal thrashed in an uncoordinated attempt to get back up while Diana tried to keep him calm. The fourth paramedic that had spoken to Neal before looked over his shoulder and instantly recognized that they had now had two critical patients. They still didn't have a rhythm on Peter and were preparing to move him while continuing CPR. In hypothermic cases it was protocol to only shock the heart once before giving in in favor of getting the patient warm before forcing the heart to work. One of the local cops that had come as back up stepped forward as having basic EMT training and took on the paramedic's position to allow him to switch his focus. Crying out again Neal fought bitterly against Jones and Diana for a moment before passing out.
"Heat stroke." The paramedic announced without even needing to touch him. "Get him in the freezer, we need to bring his temp down now."
Jones winced from his bruised chest but he lifted Neal up off the floor and carried him into the freezer that he'd fought all day to free Peter from. Diana stepped inside the small space as Jones laid Neal out on the cold wet metal floor. Diana's blood chilled at the thought of waking trapped in the claustrophobic box. The grate in the far corner was pushing out freezing air as it tried to battle against the heat loss from the broken door. Severely dehydrated and overheating Neal twitched sickeningly as his muscles cramped in response to the electrolyte imbalance.
"Stay with Peter," Diana told Jones "I'll stay with Neal."
Jones nodded and stepped out to allow the paramedic inside. Armed with a towel and a bag of IV fluids the paramedic gave the towel to Diana. Not needing any instruction Diana knelt down and soaked the towel in the condensation and melt on the floor and used the wet cloth to try to wick some of the heat away from Neal's skin. After sinking the IV needle in the back of Neal's hand the paramedic held the bag over his head to allow gravity to drip the fluids into Neal's blood.
Diana continued to cool Neal off with the towel while the paramedic kept close tabs on his general condition. It didn't take very long for him to start breathing easier as the environment that had threatened to kill Peter worked to save him. Diana was cleaning the salt off Neal's arm when she suddenly noticed a small splash of bright blue staining the outside edge of his wrist. Diana stared at the damning stain that directly connected Neal to the bank robbery for a full minute before she used the towel to try and remove it. It quickly became clear that it would take a lot more than just water to clean it away.
"I have something that will take that off of there if you want..." The paramedic used his free hand to fish around in his pockets until he found a few individually wrapped pads. "Here you go."
"Uh...thank you." Diana took the packages and opened one.
"Bank dye is notoriously stubborn, but that stuff will take the stripes off a tiger."
Looking up at the paramedic with a guilty expression Diana hesitated to remove the evidence, she had been hoping that the man didn't know what the stain was. The paramedic smiled at her warmly.
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." He assured. "I know how it is, you gotta protect your own."
"Something like that."
Diana looked down at Neal. She hadn't ever really considered him to be one of them, but there was no denying that Peter would have most likely died if he hadn't gone rouge. If they had taken much longer getting down to the docks there was also a high probability that they would have lost them both. Neal had literally run himself into the ground working to save Peter. Using the powerful smelling adhesive remover that the paramedic had given her Diana destroyed the evidence that would have automatically sent Neal back to prison. There was still no guarantee that he wouldn't just end up there anyway, but at least this way he'd have reasonable doubt of his guilt. Diana made sure there was no other dye on Neal before putting the now blue cleaning pad into her pocket.
"I've never seen a case of hypo and hyperthermia right next to one another like this." The paramedic mused conversationally.
"If they survive it the irony of the situation will not be lost on them." Diana replied with a slight smile. "They practically pride themselves in being opposites."
"We've got your Agent on his way to the hospital and another ambulance on route here, but right now this is actually the best place for him. In fact he probably wouldn't have survived if this wasn't here."
"He'll be okay?"
"He's going to wake with one hell of a headache, but he should be okay."
"What about Peter? Did you get his heart started?"
"No, but he still has a fighting chance. When it comes to hypothermia no one is dead until they are warm and dead."