Part 14
It almost felt like a normal day, back before secret agents and even more secret government computers decided to mess with Peter's life, when he opened the door to find Bryce standing there with his hat in his hands.
"So, I, uh, I've been looking into who killed Ellen," he said, looking Peter in the eye as he spoke. He pulled out an envelope from inside his jacket. "This is all I've managed to get. I was hoping that maybe Chuck could gleam something from it that I couldn't."
Peter frowned but let him in. He wasn't surprised that Bryce had been looking into it. He was a little disappointed that Bryce hadn't come to him for help, just to talk to the guy currently sleeping in their guest bed.
Although, he considered it was good that Bryce had come to one of them instead of trying to solve it himself.
Bryce sat down at the breakfast table. A few moments later, he had grabbed the cereal box and started looking through it.
"N-Bryce?" El questioned, not used to calling Neal by the agent's name. She hadn't seen much of him since the personality intersect had been removed. "I could get you a bowl."
"That'd be great, thanks," Bryce responded, rolling the box around in his hands. The cereal rustled as it moved and finally, the noise annoyed Peter enough to speak up.
"If you're looking for the prize, I already took it," he said calmly.
Bryce froze.
"Uh, I wasn't-"
"So what were you doing then? Looking for mind control chips mixed in with the cereal?" Peter quested with a small smirk. When Bryce didn't respond he added, "please tell me Mozzie was wrong about that."
"I don't even understand the point of mind control chips, let alone in cereal," Bryce said with distaste.
Seeing his expression, starting to close off while his focus jumped around the room, Peter realised that it probably hit a little too close to home for Bryce. He had spent years thinking he was another person because of government control. Not the same as what he had been joking about or what Mozzie believed but still, he had not been in control of his own life.
"So the prize was a little toy ring," Peter said, trying to direct the conversation back to safe waters.
"What kind of toy ring?" Bryce questioned in a disinterested tone. However, he had turned to box so that he could see pictures of the prizes.
"Something pink," Peter shrugged.
"Hmm, that would have been nice for June's granddaughter, maybe." Bryce frowned. "I'm not sure whether she likes pink."
"Why don't you find out?" Peter asked, tossing him something which he caught on reflex.
Bryce stared at the little plastic ring and then back to Peter.
"What am I going to do with a little pink ring?" Peter responded.
El smiled as she handed Bryce the bowl.
"We had been planning to give it June anyway. As much as I would love to see Peter wearing it."
Bryce snickered at the image.
"Hey!"
Chuck went through the photographs one by one. He made sure to look carefully even though it didn't really mean anything to him besides helping out an old friend.
Peter was watching carefully as Bryce has mentioned the Intersect and he wanted to see how it worked. El had ducked out to a meeting. Bryce grabbed the photos he was done with and looked through them again.
Chuck picked up another photo of Neal visiting, revealing the one under it of Peter.
Peter picked it up. He looked at the time and date stamped on it.
He frowned.
"What is it?" Bryce asked, catching the expression.
"How certain are you of the validity of these photographs?" Peter asked Bryce.
"Fairly certain. I was kidnapped over them." As far as he could tell. "So, there must be something hidden in them which can help us."
Peter placed the photo on the table and looked up at them.
"This can't be me. I didn't visit El at this time because I was on a case. With Neal."
"What?" Bryce snatched up the photograph and then looked at Peter. The person in the photo looked exactly like him, except, he was wearing a leather jacket.
Peter didn't own a leather jacket. He had no use for one.
"That's not me," Peter repeated. Bryce placed the photo back down, giving Chuck a glimpse.
"Ryker," Chuck breathed, shock in his voice.
"What?" Peter and Bryce said in unison.
"If that's not Peter then... his name is Kieran Ryker. He's, well, he's your twin," Chuck said to Peter.
Peter blinked.
"I'm sorry, what?" Bryce questioned, looking between Chuck and Peter.
"I thought he was dead," they said in unison before staring at each other.
Bryce raised an eyebrow and rested his head on his right hand.
"Uh-huh."
"Look, this wasn't a case of Casey shooting him, this was stabbed through the heart and pulse gone." Pause. "I assume."
"You assume?"
"Sarah stabbed him through the heart, we left it for the clean-up crew."
"You didn't check for a pulse?" Peter questioned sceptically.
"Stabbed. Through. Heart."
Bryce raised his other hand and reminded Chuck, "shot through gut, stopped breathing in front of you, still here."
"Yeah. Thanks for that little reminder," Chuck grumbled.
"Let's just get over the 'how' and move on to the 'why'."
Bryce couldn't think of any reason Ryker would do this beyond being a hired assassin. Because Ryker looked like Peter, he could kill E and anyone who came looking would be put on Peter Burke's trail, if they even realised that the person in the photo had something to do with Ellen's death.
There was the off chance that it had something to do with the Intersect but, he didn't know enough about Ryker to theorise what that might be.
"Is there anyone we can ask?" Peter asked.
Chuck nodded and pulled out his phone. He called Sarah.
Bryce started talking with Peter as Sarah, via video chat, scolded Chuck out for missing his flight, again.
"You know, I somehow forgot how bad it could be to make her mad," Bryce commented as Chuck made a number of wincing expressions at the phone. He tried to explain but was cut off a number of times for Sarah to grumble at him.
Bryce smirked when he heard her scold him for probably using this time to catch up with him. Also, she probably wasn't happy about missing out on this unsanctioned mission.
"Yes, I wish you could had come too. It would certainly make this easier," Chuck said.
"Look, I worked with Ryker for a while. That doesn't mean I know anything about what he might be up to now. Especially not after how he went for my little sister."
"You're not happy he's alive. Okay. I can live with that. But, you don't know anything that will help Peter and Bryce get him?"
"Oh, I'm sure I can think of something."
"You know," Bryce said when Sarah hung up, "she wasn't prone to dramatics like that until she met you."
"Says the guy who held a giant needle to my throat and speaks in cryptic whenever it suits him."
"Part of the job," Bryce responded with a shrug.
"Really? And it has nothing with you being a theatre geek."
"I take offence to that. I have social skills and fashion sense. Therefore, I cannot be a geek."
"I think I need to record this conversation for El," Peter commented, "she'll never believe it otherwise."
"I think I can arrange a meeting," Sarah said. Three sets of eyes turned to the phone.
"Uh, what?" Chuck questioned as his hand started to tremble.
"I guess she's still as good as I remember," Bryce mused.
"Can you arrange it on our terms?" Peter demanded to know.
"Not if you want him to come," Sarah responded flatly.
"We'll meet on his terms and go from there," Bryce decided.
"Why does this sound like a bad idea?" Chuck said to no one in particular.