What He Does Best

Chapter 37

Neal had no idea how long he listened to the cries of his partner, although it seemed like an eternity. Every grunt and every moan of pain sent a sharp pain through him, making him feel like he himself was being stabbed with a knife.

He struggled to get to his feet, to go and help Peter, but between the hands that held him down and his own weakness, he couldn't do it. Cursing himself for being so weak and not knowing what else to do, he pleaded with Dmitri to stop the beating. Deep down, he knew that wasn't going to work, but his mind wouldn't focus enough to come up with a better plan.

Instead, he was forced to continue to listen to his best friend's torturous beating.

Eventually, the door to the small room opened and Neal watched in horror as a badly beaten and bloodied body was shoved through the door, landing ten feet away from him. With every ounce of strength he possessed, Neal dragged himself over to his friend. Somehow, he found a way to lift Peter's body, so it was resting uncomfortably, but firmly in his arms.

As tears filled his eyes, Neal felt a hatred surge through him so intense that it took his breath away. Tearing his eyes away from his friend's battered face, he turned his steely gaze onto the two men standing before him. Victor and Dmitri both turned away from him, opening the door to leave. Just as Dmitri was about to close the door, he leaned back into the room and smiled at Neal.

"Maybe seeing your friend in such a state will serve to remind you where you put those diamonds, Danny-boy. I'll check back with you later to see if you're ready to help."

Once the door closed behind him, Neal turned his attention back to Peter.

"Peter! Can you hear me? I'm right here, Peter. I'm here."

When Peter made no move to answer in any way, Neal gathered what little strength he had left and pulled them both over to the wall. Once he felt the wall against his back, he allowed himself to slump down in exhaustion, still clinging desperately to his partner.

When Neal woke up again, he realized that Peter was staring at him closely.

"Peter! How are you doing?" he asked, even though he knew it was a stupid question. The sight of his friend's battered face told him everything he needed to know about how Peter was doing. He was surprised, though, when Peter answered.

"About the same as you, I'm guessing," he said with a small laugh that quickly turned into a painful cough.

Neal gently tried to sit Peter up more, thinking that might help, and then feeling guilty when the man cried out in pain. Eventually, he stopped coughing and Neal helped him to settle into a more comfortable position. Once he was completely settled, he turned his own steely gaze onto Neal.

"What the hell were you thinking, Neal?" he ground out painfully.

Neal really didn't want to have that particular conversation with Peter, but he knew he wasn't going to get around it. Instead, he decided to be completely honest with the man.

"I was thinking about how much I really wanted Dmitri out of my life. And that there was no way you would have gone along with my plan. That's what I was thinking," he replied simply and honestly.

"We could have come up with a different plan, then," Peter answered.

"There wasn't time, Peter," Neal argued. "Don't you think I would have come up with a better plan if I'd had more time? I had to act fast. And I couldn't risk you benching me on this."

Peter glared silently at Neal for several minutes, making him feel like a kid waiting for the wrath of his father to fall upon him. Finally, he sighed deeply.

"So, does that genius brain of yours have any idea of how to get us out of here?"

"I haven't had much time to think about it," Neal answered. "But I'm working on it."

"Maybe you could work a little faster," Peter said. "El's going to kill me if I don't come home soon."

Neal felt a surge of guilt shoot through him. "Peter, I'm sorry," he started, but was quickly cut off.

"Stop it, Neal," Peter ordered. "This isn't the time for apologies. We need to figure out a way to get out of here first. But, trust me, kid….When we get home, you and I are going to be having a very long discussion about your penchant for running off and doing things your way."

Neal really wasn't looking forward to that discussion.

After almost an hour of trying to find a way out of their current situation, Neal and Peter finally fell asleep. They slept huddled against each other, trying to conserve a little body heat between the two of them. They both were jarred awake by the sound of the door slamming open. Within seconds, they were both sitting straight up against the wall as Dmitri, Victor, and another man stepped into the room.

"Well, did you have a nice nap?" Dmitri asked congenially. "It's unfortunate that you fell asleep, because you missed a very nice lunch. I'm sure you would have appreciated the fine selection of wine, Danny-boy."

Peter and Neal sat silently watching the three men. Peter could tell that Neal wanted to respond to his step-father, but the younger man kept silent, encouraged by the pressure of Peter's elbow in his rib cage.

"You've had more than an hour to figure out what your next move is. Have you come to a decision, Danny? Are you ready to tell me where the diamonds are?"

"I can't tell you what I don't know," Neal growled. "How many times do you have to hear me say that before it sinks in, Dmitri?"

Dmitri glared at Neal. "I thought that maybe you truly valued Agent Burke's life, but perhaps I was wrong. Or maybe you just need more convincing of how serious I am. Where are the diamonds, Danny?"

Neal rolled his eyes and laughed. "I knew you were stupid, Dmitri, but I didn't know that you were this stupid."

"Neal," Peter growled, trying to get Neal to stop baiting the man. "Stop."

"You should learn to listen to Agent Burke," Dmitri snarled. "Thanks to you, the poor man is going to have to suffer again while I teach you a lesson. Victor, take Agent Burke into the next room again. Danny and I will be listening closely as you demonstrate why it's not a good idea to insult me."

Victor stepped forward to grab Peter, but Neal suddenly jumped forward, bringing his knee up between the man's legs. As Victor leaned forward in pain, Neal drove his knee upward again, making contact with the man's jaw. Victor flew backward, right into the other man standing beside Dmitri.

"Get him!" Dmitri yelled as he shoved the man forward. Victor fell to the floor, slamming his head against the concrete flooring when he landed. Neal barely had time to stand up before the other man threw a punch at him, landing it against the side of his head.

Staggering sideways, Neal managed to keep his balance despite the ringing in his ears and the dizziness that threatened to overtake him. Peter tried to climb to his feet to help Neal, but the new man turned his attention to him and quickly swept his feet out from under him, causing him to crash back to the floor.

Seconds later, the man was behind Neal and was pinning his arms behind his back. Neal struggled, but he was no match for the man with his head spinning violently with dizziness.

Dmitri opened the door and yelled for someone. Within seconds, another man had entered the room, rushing over to tie Peter up at Dmitri's command. Once Peter was secure, Dmitri turned back to the man that was still holding Neal.

"Hold him still, Sully."

The man's grip tightened on Neal's arm and pulled him up straighter. Neal couldn't do anything to protect himself as Dmitri stepped forward and punched him solidly in the stomach, taking his breath away completely.

Peter yelled at Dmitri to stop, but instead the man landed another punch into Neal's stomach. Neal still hadn't caught his breath from the first one, so with the second one, he could feel his lungs begging for air as his vision grew darker. He knew he was seconds away from completely passing out and he did everything he could to not let that happen.

Just as he felt like he was going to be okay, Dmitri nodded to the man that had tied Peter up. "Take over for me, Lukas. I just had a manicure a few days ago and I don't want to ruin it."

Dmitri stepped back to allow Lukas to take his place in front of Neal. Neal could see out of the corner of his eye that Peter was trying desperately to get to his feet. Unfortunately, with his hands tied behind his back and with his current injuries, he found himself too weak to succeed.

Not having the strength to help Neal, he fell back against the wall and helplessly watched as Lukas and Sully took turns beating the young man. He watched in horror as punch after punch was thrown into Neal's face, stomach, kidneys, and chest. He heard every gasp for air, every grunt of pain, and eventually he heard his own voice begging Dmitri to stop.

"Stop, Dmitri! Please! You're going to kill him!"

Dmitri looked over at Peter almost as if he had forgotten the man was even there. He then turned his attention back to Neal. To Peter's relief, he commanded the two men to stop what they were doing. With a mixture of relief and horror, Peter watched as Neal's body fell to the ground with a solid thud.

"Do you see what I mean, Agent Burke? The kid is nothing but trouble. You have no idea how many times I had to give him a sound thrashing because of his attitude. He never did know when to keep his smart mouth shut."

Peter felt a cold rage flow through him. "Leave him alone, Dmitri," he said. "If you know what's good for you, you'll leave him alone."

Dmitri laughed at Peter's words. "If I knew what was good for me, I would have taken care of the kid for good a long time ago. He's done nothing but bring me trouble since the very first day I met him. And if you knew what was good for you, you would rid yourself of his poisonous presence yourself, Agent Burke. Eventually, you'll learn that he's way more trouble than he's worth."

When Peter didn't answer him, Dmitri turned back to his two men. "You know what to do," he said to them before walking out the door. Peter had no idea what he meant by that, but he knew it couldn't be anything good.

Neal jerked awake when a bucket of ice cold water was suddenly thrown on him. Looking around, he desperately tried to get his bearings, and tried to figure out what the hell was going on. When his frantic gaze finally landed on Peter, everything came rushing back to him and he couldn't help the groan that escaped him.

Before he could say or do anything, another bucket of ice cold water drenched him a second time. His teeth suddenly started chattering, causing his jaw to ache even more agonizingly, and his chest burned as he tried to take in a deep breath.

"Get up!" Victor demanded as he threw a kick into Neal's thigh. Neal tried to push himself up, but his whole body was shaking violently.

"I said, get up!" Victor demanded again.

This time, Neal was able to slowly push himself up, sending waves of pain shooting throughout his body. His eyes burned with tears of pain and his breath was coming only in small gasps, causing him to feel light-headed again. Once he was standing as steadily as he was able to, he worked on taking deeper, slower breaths, knowing that it wouldn't be a good idea to pass out at the moment.

Just as he was beginning to catch his breath, Victor threw several punches at him, causing him to stumble and nearly fall. Fortunately, he stumbled over to where Peter was standing and the older man used his body to try to steady him.

Victor looked like he was going to advance again, clearly ready to dole out a severe pummeling, but was stopped by Dmitri's voice. "That's enough, Victor," he commanded.

"No, it's not," Victor replied angrily. "You saw what he did to me. He knocked out two of my teeth."

"I said that's enough. I did see what he did to you, Victor, and I know you're angry. But, we're running out of time. Your revenge will have to wait until I get what I need."

Victor stepped away from Neal angrily. Dmitri, on the other hand, took a few steps forward, placing himself directly in front of his step-son.

"How about now, Danny? Are you ready to cooperate or do I need to show you once again how unhappy you're making me?"

When Neal didn't answer, Dmitri turned back to Victor. "I guess we're going to have to do this the hard way," he said. "Agent Burke, I regret to inform you that you're going to have to once again pay for Neal's lack of cooperation. Victor will see that he exacts the proper penalty."

Victor grabbed Peter by the arm and started to escort him from the room, but Neal suddenly shot forward.

"No! Wait!" he cried. "Wait, Dmitri. I'll get you the diamonds. Just leave Peter alone!"

With an evil smirk, Dmitri instructed Victor to let go of Peter. "I'm glad to see you've come to your senses, Danny-boy. Now, let's talk."

Author's note: Some of you may have heard of the school shooting at the community college in Oregon this past Thursday. My daughter goes to that college and was in class that day, less than a hundred yards from where the shootings occurred. Because of that, things have been crazy and my mind and emotions have been all over the place. I apologize for the shorter chapter, but it's really all I had in me to do.

I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter, but it is what it is. Thank you all so much for reading. Let me know if there are things that don't make sense in this chapter and I'll try to work it out. And please, please hug your children, your family, your friends tightly and let them know how much you love them. Every single day, every single breath is a gift and should not be taken for granted.