NOTE: I had way too much fun writing this chapter.
Chapter Twenty-five
"Let me come with you."
"No."
"Peter..."
"No. Stay in the van."
"I hate the van, it's so dull." Neal sighed. "No offense, Jones, Diana."
"None taken." Jones shrugged as he did some fine tuning on the surveillance equipment.
"Some taken." Diana added.
"You're staying here or I'm having someone escort you back to the office."
"Fine. Good luck explaining the finer points of the Kandinsky to Fisher."
Peter looked over at the large thin case that held the valuable painting. As the office Agent in Charge Peter had the power to approve the use of the actual Kandinsky for the operation, but that also meant he took full responsibility if something happened to the painting while it was in the field. Neal had hinted that he might have access to a Robert Delaunay forgery if not too many questions were asked. Peter had turned him down, not wanting to deal with the complications of such an offer at the moment.
"We have a solution for that." Jones reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box that he handed to Peter. "Brand new from the tech department. It's amazing how tiny they are making stuff these days."
Peter and Neal exchanged a quick glance as they were both reminded of the video camera that Mozzie had found in Peter's living room. Yesterday while waiting for the Fisher meet up Neal, Mozzie and Peter had systematically torn through Neal's apartment, but they didn't find anything similar.
Taking the box from Jones Peter opened it up and knit his brow together as he looked at the small device inside made of a combination of clear and flesh coloured plastics. Taking it out carefully in his forefingers he held it up, it was only slightly larger than a pea. Neal stepped up for a closer look.
"Is that an ear piece?" Neal asked impressed.
"It is." Jones nodded. "It goes completely into the ear canal, invisible from the outside."
"How am I supposed to get this thing back out of my ear?" Peter asked as he looked at the tiny device warily.
"Actually you'll need someone else with a pair of tweezers and a steady hand to get it out for you." Jones admitted. "There is a little tab on it specifically for pulling it back out again. It may be a pain in the ass to remove, but unless someone shines an otoscope in your ear no one is going to see it."
Knowing that there wasn't much time before the meet Peter resigned himself to trying out the new piece. He winced as he pushed the small piece of plastic deep into his ear, it didn't fit like the traditional receiver that he was used to, it felt more like when he got water stuck in his ear. He also instantly noticed how it made him slightly deaf on the one side which he didn't like at all. He shook his head a few times once it was in to make sure it wasn't just going to fall out again.
"How's that feel?" Jones asked with a smile.
"If I have to go to the ER to get this thing out you're driving me there."
"It looks great." Neal commented. "I can't see it at all."
Peter took a step back annoyed as Neal peered at his ear. Jones brought out a small box with a wire that held a microphone with a clip on the end of it. He handed the box to Neal who turned it over in his hands a few times before figuring out how to turn it on.
"This is the transmitter end." Jones said unnecessarily.
"Can you hear me now?" Neal chuckled into the microphone.
Peter jerked away from the painful high pitched squeal that mixed with Neal's voice from the device in his ear. He reached out and snatched the microphone away from Neal and switched it off.
"What happened?" Neal asked concerned.
"Feedback." Peter complained.
"Oh, sorry, Peter. I forgot." Jones apologized "still ironing that bit out, it doesn't like being too close to the audio source. It's small, but it's powerful and has a very impressive range, but that makes it a little sensitive to interference."
"Are we ready to go?" Peter asked taking one last look around.
"Ready, Boss." Diana confirmed.
"I still can't believe Fisher is going to be at the buy, it's kind of sloppy of him." Neal said. "He should go through a middle man, less chance of getting caught."
"More chance of getting your money stolen. Finding middle men you can trust with several million dollars is difficult."
"Finding anyone to trust with anything can be difficult."
Peter paused at the somber tone Neal's voice had taken, but Neal seemed to have quickly recovered and was smiling brightly again.
"Go make a sale, I want to see what else Fisher has in his collection." Neal said. "He shows good taste with the Kandinsky, most of these guys only want Romantic Era stuff. Nice to see someone branching out."
Shaking his head sadly Peter picked up the case that held the Kandinsky and headed out of the van. The meet was happening on the 32nd floor of a large downtown office building. Fisher owned floors 28 through 33 of the skyscraper. The 32nd and 33rd floors were both currently under renovations, but the crew was working on 33 today so they had an empty floor to meet on. They had parked the van a block away, and being up on the 32nd floor meant that the response time to something going wrong was not going to be great.
Walking into the office building Peter looked a bit out of place in his plain shirt, jeans, and light weight black leather jacket, but the point wasn't to look like a businessman since that wouldn't be what Fisher was expecting. He went to one of the front receptionists and introduced himself as 'Peter Tanvor' to see Fisher. After a moment he was given an visitor pass that said 28th floor on it. Getting to the elevator he got on and pressed the button for the 32nd floor.
'Peter?' Neal's voice joined him on the elevator. 'Can you hear me?'
"I can." Peter replied, the transmitter in his watch relayed his voice back to Neal and the others.
'Good. Remember Kandinsky is all about the inner resonance of art, the main draw of his work is the spiritual effect that his color choice and pattern has on the viewer. So make sure that you set up somewhere with good light when you first show it to Fisher. Natural light will give a better impression than artificial.'
"Got it."
'Good luck.'
Peter didn't respond as he was getting close to the 32nd floor. The doors to the elevator opened revealing a man about Peter's age and height but with a good thirty extra pounds on him standing directly in front of the door. The man had the look of someone who had spent his earlier years as hired muscle who had now switched into security and bodyguarding. The man put his foot just inside the elevator door to keep it from closing and looked Peter over critically for a moment to see if he was a direct threat.
"I assume I am expected." Peter said when the man didn't move out of the way.
"Step out of the elevator and hold your arms out." The man motioned Peter forward and then reached for the painting case. "I will take that."
"This stays with me." Peter said firmly as he pulled it away.
"No way, hand it over."
"It's fine, Riley, let him keep it." Fisher said as he approached the elevator.
Riley didn't look particularly happy with letting Peter win this round but he allowed Peter to keep the case. Stepping off the elevator Peter lifted up his arms slightly to allow Riley to search him for weapons. There was one other man in the room who said nothing, he looked like classic security. Riley also ran his hand down the front of Peter's chest and stomach and across his shoulders and back looking for any evidence of a wire. Continuing the search Riley invaded Peter's pockets.
"Take this any further and I'm going to expect you to buy me dinner." Peter warned.
"Shut up." Riley growled as he continued the search by kneeling down and bringing his hand up from Peter's ankle towards his inseam.
"Get off me." Peter snarled as he batted Riley away when his touch threatened to get too intimate.
"That's enough, Riley." Fisher added.
"He's clean, but I don't like him." Riley said point blank as he stood back up. "My gut tells me he's dirty, he looks like a cop."
"I'm not a cop."
"They all say that." Riley hissed. "You've got law-boy written all over you."
"You calling me a liar?" Peter returned the same level of aggression.
"I guess I am. I don't think you've ever broken a rule let alone a law."
Peter spent a split second thinking about his options for reacting to Riley's accusation. It was clear that the man had some street smarts and was used to pushing people to see how they would push back. Fisher hadn't stepped in to smooth things over so it was clear that he at least took Riley's opinion under advisement. Coming to a decision based on the personality type of the guy they had caught who had agreed to set up this meeting Peter suddenly lashed out and punched Riley across the bridge of the nose.
Riley stumbled back in shock more than anything else, the other man in the room stepped closer to intervene if he had to but didn't look like he really wanted to get into it. Peter had hit Riley with a good deal of force, but not nearly hard enough to break bone or even cause a bloody nose. It was more a show that he was willing to be violent if that's what it took. It had been a risky move, but he knew that men like Riley tended to only respond to displays of power.
"How's that for 'police brutality'?" Peter snarled at Riley.
'Did you just throw a punch?' Neal chuckled in Peter's ear.
Riley had just gotten his bearings back and he was about to throw himself at Peter when Fisher finally stepped between the two men. Riley backed down but kept a close eye on Peter.
"Gentlemen," Fisher sighed "can we keep this to business?"
"I'm not the one who is running his mouth with accusations." Peter replied still sounding irritated. "If you want to do business, let's do business."
"You've got the Kandinsky?"
"No," Peter held up the case "it's a poster sized picture of a kitten in a tree. Just because you're wasting my time doesn't mean I'm here to waste yours."
"Of course not." Fisher forced a smile. "You can set up on the table here."
Most of the walls on the floor had been removed which allowed a good deal of natural light to stream in through the floor to ceiling windows. There was a set of saw horses with a large piece of plywood over them that the construction crew had been using as a table near the elevator. Fisher had Riley and the other man clear off a portion of the table so that Peter could set the case down flat. Peter unzipped the case and opened it for Fisher to inspect.
Fisher stepped up and looked down on the abstract painting with a bright smile. Peter still couldn't really appreciate the work, but he admired it with Fisher to try and help seal the deal. Fisher reached out to touch it and Peter stopped him.
"You buy it and you can put your fingerprints all over it, but until then I'd rather you not touch it."
"It really is a magnificent piece." Fisher said.
'The central aspect of all Kandinsky's work was his devotion to the inner beauty and the spiritual desire of art which he used the boldness of his pallet to convey.' Neal offered helpfully.
Peter parroted Neal's words for Fisher and did his best to sound as passionate about it as Neal did, but even to his own ear it sounded forced.
"You read that in an art book somewhere?" Fisher asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Wikipedia." Peter admitted. "I just move the art, I don't really stop to appreciate it."
"Honesty." Fisher nodded. "I like that."
'Nice save, Peter.'
"So, we got a deal?" Peter asked casually.
"I don't know yet."
"Okay..." Peter replied confused. "When do you think you might come to a decision? I don't like these house calls to take longer than they have to."
"My art expert is running late."
"Your art expert?"
"I never do a deal without him, I need him to verify that this isn't a forgery." Fisher said. "He'll be here soon."
"I don't have all day to wait around for your guy."
"He will be here." Fisher said confidently. "Give him a few more minutes."
'Peter,' Neal said urgently in Peter's ear 'I don't like this, I think he's stalling while his security people down stairs try to run a background on you now that they can pull a picture of you off the security camera. Depending on what software they have access to they might find you. Push this sale now or get out of there.'
"I don't know you and so far I don't like the company you keep." Peter motioned his head towards Riley. "I'm only doing this sale as a favor to Tony, but I'm starting to think that he's jerking me around by sending me here."
"I assure you I'm a serious buyer."
"Then stop wasting my goddamn time." Peter growled. "I didn't get where I am today by dealing in forgeries."
"Well it certainly looks authentic, but I need to be sure. Let me call the front desk, see if they have an update. He should be in the building by now."
"Fine."
'Peter, no' Neal advised 'tell him the deal is off, I don't like this. Something isn't right.'
Peter was inclined to agree, but he had the feeling that it wouldn't be as simple as packing up the painting and leaving anyway at this point, plus then they wouldn't have anything on Fisher and he'd be harder to get to a second time. Before Fisher could even reach for his phone the elevator chimed as it arrived and the doors open. An elderly and somewhat frail looking gentleman stepped off the elevator and apologized for being late. Peter was a little surprised to find that the art expert existed.
"It's real and it's beautiful." The older man announced after a careful inspection of the painting. "Almost as spectacular a find as the Fa..."
"That's enough." Fisher interrupted before turning to Peter. "Well, Mr. Tanvor, it looks like we have a deal. I'll have my man bring up the cash."
'We got that five by five.' Neal announced. 'Diana and Jones are heading up to make the arrests.'
"Hurry it up." Peter answered Fisher and Neal at the same time.
Fisher reached into his blazer and pulled out an older cell phone that had the 'push to talk' feature. Peter hadn't even been aware that anyone still made them anymore, he used to hear the annoying chirp that the phones made all the time. Jones always claimed that they caused cancer and although Peter didn't believe him Jones had shown him once how if you got one too close to a computer monitor the screen would flicker. Something about how the push to talk connected caused interference.
Even having the thought about how powerful the phones could be Peter was not prepared for it to set off the receiver in his ear in much the same way that Neal had in the van. Fisher pressed the button and the sudden piercing squeal caused Peter to automatically jerk away in pain. Fisher didn't seem to think much of Peter's flinch, but Riley pounced on Peter in a heart beat. Riley rushed up and grabbed a fist full of Peter's hair in one hand and Peter's wrist in the other. Riley yanked Peter's head back as he forced his arm back up between his shoulder blades to pin him.
"Key that thing again!" Riley ordered.
Fisher looked down at the press to talk in his hands in confusion for a moment before he pressed the contact again. Braced for the noise this time Peter was able to avoid reacting to the ear splitting sound, however it didn't matter Riley could hear the feedback squealing himself. He shoved Peter away and drew a 9mm handgun that he aimed at Peter's chest.
"He's no cop, he's a Fed!" Riley spat. "He's wired with something real high tech."
"Fisher," Peter said calmly as he raised his hands slightly "you are alrea..."
Peter stopped as Riley took an aggressive step toward him with the gun still level with his heart. Fisher was still looking a little shell shocked about everything that had just happened, however Riley looked angry and ready to kill. Even though Jones and Diana had started moving his way as soon as the deal was made they would still be six to eight minutes away.
It wasn't just Riley who posed a threat, the other security man who so far had said nothing was flanking Peter as well, although from the quick glance Peter gave him he didn't seem to be armed. When Riley took a step to the side to bring everyone into his line of sight Peter got the distinct feeling that Riley was only loyal to himself and seconds away from killing everyone in the room so he could run.
Riley cocked his weapon to take the first shot at Peter near point blank when the elevator chimed again. Peter didn't believe for a second that Jones and Diana had arrived so quickly, but he didn't really care who was at the elevator. All he cared about was the fact that the noise distracted Riley for a critical moment. When Riley glanced at the elevator Peter took the chance and lunged forward to grab Riley's wrist and jerk him forward. The gun went off close enough for Peter to feel the pressure wave, but there was no pain so he ran on the assumption that he had managed to not get shot.
Keeping a firm hold on Riley's wrist Peter drew back his free hand and slammed the heal of his palm against Riley's face. This time he did hit the man with enough force to break the bone. As Riley fell to his knees Peter took the opportunity to take the gun away from him as he released him. Peter backed up so that he could control the remaining people in the room more easily.
A quick assessment told Peter that there were no immediate threat left in the room. Riley was on his knees with his hands clutched to his bleeding face, Fisher had also dropped to floor at the sound of the gun shot, the secondary security guard was standing between Peter and Fisher with his hands raised peacefully, and the art expert had backed away also with his hands up.
Standing in front of the elevator was a man around Neal's age with gray-blue eyes and blonde hair that fell into his face. He was wearing a middle range business suit and appeared to have either a hand-rolled cigaret or more likely a joint dangling from his lips and a lighter in his hand. He had a very shocked expression on his face as he stared at Peter. Standing in the elevator door frame his body was preventing the door from closing. Frost's friend, Bryant, smiled at Peter as he reached up and took the burning joint from between his lips.
"Uh...hi guys..." Bryant said awkwardly as he pushed his hair out of his eyes.
"Who are you?" Peter demanded. "Keep your hands where I can see them."
"Me? I'm Ryan from accounting...just came up to smoke a quick 'J'." Bryant chuckled nervously as he took a step back on to the elevator. "I'll...uh...I'll just get back to work, you look busy."
"Don't lea..." Peter didn't bother finishing as the elevator doors closed.
Peter ground his teeth in frustration as the mysterious stoner disappeared. With everything mostly under control Peter took a moment to look down and make sure that he wasn't dripping in blood. He had heard of people getting shot in the mists of a confrontation and the adrenaline of the moment kept them from feeling the pain. He breathed a quick sigh of relief when he confirmed that he hadn't been injured.
Diana and Jones were on the scene quickly and began making the arrests. Neal had been right with them despite his orders to stay in the van. They had been able to hear what was going on, but the receiver still tucked into Peter's ear had stopped working after the the squealing had shorted it out. Peter let Jones and Diana handle things as his adrenaline wore off.
Neal came up with an anxious expression holding his arm close to his chest. Peter was starting to pick up on the fact that when Neal was stressed his shoulder became more of an issue for him, which made sense when he thought about it. Peter gave Neal a description of the action to match with the audio that Neal already knew. Neal reached out and pulled the lightweight leather jacket that Peter was wearing away from his body to reveal the hole that went through it from the bullet's path.
"Peter...that was really close."
"Don't tell El." Peter said seriously.
"I wouldn't dare tell her. That really was an amazing stroke of luck."
"I honestly think that this would have been a bloodbath if that guy hadn't stepped off the elevator at that exact moment."
"So 'Ryan' from accounting saved your life because he decided to take a break and go to the floor that's under construction to get high at just the right time?" Neal asked doubtfully.
"Sounds absurd when you say it like that."
"You know what I'm thinking don't you?"
"No. I don't think I ever know what you're thinking. I'm grateful for that fact."
"I'm thinking that maybe I'm not the only one on the protection list."