What He Does Best
Chapter 38
Peter couldn't believe what he was hearing. Did Neal really know where the diamonds were? Or was he just pulling another bone-headed stunt that was sure to get him hurt or killed? Peter figured it could actually go either way, but he was definitely leaning toward the latter. Nothing in his investigations of Neal Caffrey had ever pointed in the direction of stolen diamonds. That meant that the kid was trying to steer Dmitri away from him, putting the man's undesirable attention solely back on his own head.
As anger rose up within him, Peter tried desperately to keep Neal from leaving the room with Dmitri. More than anything, he knew that they needed to stay together. He had no idea how they were going to get out of their current predicament, but he knew that they both worked better as a team.
Unfortunately, Dmitri ordered his men to stand guard in the room, informing them of the disagreeable end they would meet if Peter escaped. Peter stood helplessly as Neal followed Dmitri out of the room. At the last second, Neal turned and looked at Peter, giving him his patented "I've got this under control" look that so often meant that the kid had no idea what he was doing.
Fortunately for both of them, Neal was exceptionally good at improvisation. Unfortunately for Peter, that thought didn't make him feel any better.
Neal followed Dmitri out of the room, pausing only to give Peter a last look. He had no idea how he was going to get them out of their current situation, but his one and only goal was to make sure that Peter was safe. He would do anything to make sure that Elizabeth got her husband back in one piece, no matter the cost to himself.
Once they were back in Dmitri's office, Dmitri turned around and faced Neal. Neal almost recoiled from the savage and desperate look on his step-father's face, but was able to stand his ground. He knew that he needed to appear unruffled and calm, so he tried to slow his breathing down as much as he could.
"Well, let's hear it, Danny-boy. Where are my diamonds?" Dmitri finally said.
Neal's head was swimming violently, making him feel like he might pass out. On top of that, his ribs were aching terribly, burning with each inhalation of breath. Not wanting to appear weak in front of the two men, but also not wanting to pass out, Neal walked past Dmitri and sat down in the nearest chair.
Dmitri looked like he was going to say something, but instead he turned and walked behind his desk, taking his own seat. Victor remained standing behind Neal, blocking any escape he might attempt. Neal nearly laughed at the idea of trying to escape, knowing that he would probably only get about two steps in before collapsing to the floor.
Once he brought his thoughts away from any foolish escape plans, he looked up at Dmitri.
"I took the diamonds," he admitted. "I heard you and my mother talking about them that day and I decided to take them so I could get away from you."
"I already know that, Danny," Dmitri said exasperatedly. "And I don't care why you took them. I just want to know where they are."
Neal's mind was working frantically to come up with a plan, causing his head to pound brutally. For several seconds, his stomach turned violently in an attempt to empty itself again. Neal took several deep breaths, trying to quell the nausea that was building. Eventually, the feeling passed and he turned back to Dmitri.
"I don't exactly know where they are at the moment," he said, bracing himself for and explosion. Before Dmitri could explode at his answer, though, he continued. "But, I can get them. I just need to call someone."
"I don't think so," Dmitri answered.
"Dmitri, you know by now that I have a partner that I do these things with. Most jobs require more than one person, so you have to find someone that you can trust implicitly. He's the only one I trust."
"Why does he know where the diamonds are, but you don't?"
"Two years ago, I got into a little bit of trouble and we were preparing to run. Since I was being watched closely by the FBI, he took care of liquidating some of our assets and securing the rest so that when the time came we could take off without hesitation. The diamonds are in a secure place, Dmitri. I just don't know exactly where. But, if I can call him, he can get them for us."
"I don't like this," Dmitri growled.
"I don't like it either," Neal admitted. "I would much rather keep him out of this, but I can't."
Dmitri was silent for several long minutes, but finally turned back to Neal. "What do you need to get in touch with him? How do we make this work?"
"I need my phone," Neal said. "He has a special emergency number I can call, but he won't answer it if it comes from an unknown number. It has to be from my phone."
Dmitri nodded at Victor, who opened the door and said something to the man standing guard outside of it. Once the door was closed again, Dmitri began to spell out the conditions of Neal's use of his phone.
"Do you see this?" he asked as he held up a walkie-talkie. "If you do anything stupid, I'll use this to tell my men to take care of Peter Burke. Is that clear? His life is in your hands."
Neal almost decided to scrap his plan, but he knew that he didn't have a choice. This was their only chance to get out of there safely. He did realize, though, that he needed to do something to ensure that Peter would be safe.
"Listen, Dmitri…. I think I've made it clear that I'm willing to help you. I had nothing to do with the plan going south. I wanted to give you the painting to get you out of my life once and for all, remember? Now, I just want you to take your diamonds and leave me alone. But, I need your word that you won't hurt Peter. Let him go and I'll do whatever you want, I promise."
"Peter Burke is the only reason you'll do whatever I ask, Danny. Having him as leverage is the only thing that's keeping you from doing something stupid."
"Dmitri, please," Neal tried. "He doesn't need to be here. He isn't a part of this. Just let him go."
"Well, isn't that touching?!" Dmitri laughed. "If I didn't know better, I'd think that you actually really do care for the man…that you might actually even love him. How interesting…"
Before Neal could answer, the door opened and a hand reached in to Victor, handing him Neal's phone. Neal reached out for it, but Dmitri immediately stopped him.
"Victor will dial the phone for you, Danny, and hold it while you talk. That way you won't be tempted to send any secret messages. And I promise you that you won't like what happens if you do. Just remember that. You have two minutes once we turn the phone on."
Neal watched as Victor turned on his phone and pulled up his contact list before looking at him expectantly. "It's under Dante," Neal said. "Let it ring three times and then hang up. Wait ten seconds and then call again. Let it ring twice, hang up, wait another ten seconds and then call again. On the third call, he should pick up."
Dmitri and Victor both stared at Neal. "He's a little paranoid," Neal explained.
Seconds later, Victor turned the speaker on and Neal could hear it ringing. He hoped that Mozzie hadn't forgotten their special code. After the third ring, Victor hung up the phone and Neal almost found himself laughing again at the look on the man's face as he counted out the ten seconds. Once he was done, he dialed the phone again, let it ring two times, hung up, waited ten more seconds, and then dialed again. Much to Neal's relief, Mozzie answered on the first ring.
"Neal? Is that you? Where are you? What's going on?"
"Dante," Neal answered quickly. "I don't have much time, so listen. I need the diamonds."
"What diamonds, Neal? What are you talking about?"
"The diamonds, Dante. The ones under the Suit, remember? I need you to find them, wherever they are."
Neal was relieved when Mozzie didn't ask him again what he was talking about. Instead, his friend seemed to catch on to what Neal was doing.
"Oh! Those diamonds. Okay, what do you want me to do once I get them?"
Neal took a piece of paper that Dmitri was waving in front of his face. "I'll text you with further instructions. We don't have much time, so hurry, okay?"
"What about the Suit?" Mozzie asked.
"Don't worry about the Suit," Neal answered. "I'll take care of it. Just get the diamonds."
Victor abruptly hung up the phone and turned it off. Neal slumped down into the chair he was sitting in, hoping that Mozzie had caught on to what he was saying. He knew the man was brilliant, but his hints were ridiculously cryptic.
"What did he mean by "the suit"?" Dmitri asked immediately.
"It's nothing," he answered. "The last time I saw the diamonds they were hidden in the seams of a suit made for Frank Sinatra by Sy Devore. It's a personal favorite of mine, so I'm sure that Dante wants to make sure that the Suit will be okay if he rips the seams open."
Neal relaxed slightly when he realized that Dmitri wasn't going to question him further. "What's next?" he asked minutes later.
"Well, I guess we need to tell him where to leave the diamonds once he gets them, don't we? Victor will scout out a secure location, you'll tell him where to make the drop, and I'll finally get my diamonds back."
"What about Peter and me? What happens to us?"
"That depends entirely on you, Danny-boy. If everything goes as planned, you and Peter Burke can be on your way. If you mess this up….. Well, I don't think you'll like that outcome at all."
Neal couldn't help the small shiver that shot through him. He had absolutely no idea if his plan would work. In fact, he really didn't even have a plan at all. He was banking on the hope that Mozzie would be able to convince the FBI to help him. That in itself was a long shot, to say the least.
Seconds after Mozzie hung up the phone, he dialed another number. After several rings, someone finally answered, much to his relief.
"Mozzie? I'm sorry, but I don't have time to talk right now. I'm meeting with the regional director of the FBI. They might have a new lead on Peter and Neal," Elizabeth rapidly explained.
"Mrs. Suit, wait!" Mozzie yelled into the phone. "I have to talk to you!"
"It'll have to wait, Mozzie," Elizabeth answered. "I'll call you back as soon as we're done, okay?"
"No! Elizabeth, I have a lead myself! I just talked to Neal!"
"What?! Is he okay? Is Peter with him? What did he say?"
"Elizabeth, we don't have much time. I need you to get Jones and Diana and take them to Neal's apartment, okay? I'll meet you there."
"We'll be there in twenty minutes," Elizabeth said and then hung up the phone.
"Okay, explain it to us one more time, Mozzie," Diana said. "What exactly did Neal say?"
Elizabeth, Diana, Jones, and June were all gathered around the table, looking expectantly at Mozzie, who was just about ready to throw his wine glass at the wall.
"I've already explained it to you two times, Lady Suit! What more do you need to know?"
Diana huffed in frustration, rolling her eyes at the short, bald man sitting in front of her. Jones, who was just as frustrated as Diana, spoke up instead.
"So, let me get this straight...Neal told you that he needed you to get the diamonds and you think that by diamonds, he meant us? How did you come up with that?"
"It's obvious," Mozzie growled. "I was just as confused as you at first, but when I asked him what diamonds he was talking about, he said the ones under the Suit. It's obvious that the Suit he was referring to is Peter, therefore the diamonds under the Suit is obviously referring to you. Obviously."
"What if he was talking about actual diamonds?" Jones asked. "What if there wasn't any subterfuge involved and he just needs you to get the actual diamonds?"
"THERE AREN'T ANY ACTUAL DIAMONDS!" Mozzie yelled.
"Okay," Elizabeth said calmly. "Let's all calm down, okay?"
"We don't have time to calm down," Mozzie answered anxiously. "Neal and Peter need our help."
No one commented on the fact that Mozzie had just referred to Peter by his actual name, something that seemed to be happening more and more often.
"What else did Neal say? Did he say anything else about Peter?" Elizabeth asked, despite the fact that Mozzie had already been over it twice with them.
Mozzie gave Elizabeth a gentle smile. "When I asked him about the Suit, he said "Don't worry about the Suit. I'll take care of it.""
June, who up until that point had been unusually quiet, finally spoke up. "I agree with Mozzie. It's obvious that Neal wanted him to gather the two of you up. He has a plan, so we must do whatever we can to help him."
"What do we do now?" Elizabeth asked.
"We wait," Mozzie answered. "Neal said that he would text me with further instructions. He said that we don't have much time, so we need to be ready."
"Ready for what?" Elizabeth asked.
"He'll probably text us with directions to a drop site. Dmitri will make sure that the drop happens quickly after he's given out the directions. He won't want to give anyone time to scout it out before hand," Jones explained.
"And what exactly are we dropping off?" Diana asked. "We don't have actual diamonds, remember? We don't even have an idea of how many diamonds we're supposed to have."
"We'll have to wait for Neal's text. He'll find some way to let us know what he wants," Mozzie explained. "Neal has a plan. He always has a plan."
Neal really, really wished that he had a plan. Dmitri definitely had the advantage and Neal was feeling a bit like a fish out of water. He knew he had to come up with a way to send a message to Mozzie, knowing that the poor man had no idea what Neal expected of him. For that matter, Neal had no idea, either. Somehow, he had to figure out how many diamonds Dmitri was expecting to recover and get a message to Mozzie, so the man could come up with a plan to fool Dmitri. Neal knew that it was a longshot, that there was really no way for any of his barely there plan to work, but what choice did he have? He had to do something.
Dmitri wasn't a stupid man, though. He would easily figure out that something was going on if they weren't careful. Neal had to figure out a way to convince Dmitri that he really did have the diamonds and that he really was planning on turning them over. And he had to do it fast. Dmitri was growing desperate and they were running out of time.
Author's note: I'm so sorry that I took so long to update and that this chapter is shorter than usual. No excuses….Just life, in general, getting in the way. I really hope you enjoyed this chapter and that it made sense to you all, especially the Suit/suit stuff. I don't think I'm good at being cryptic, lol.
I feel like we're heading into the homestretch in this story, which is interesting to me. It seems that my major stories end up being about the same length. Whatever It Takes and Let Your Heart Hold Fast were both 43 chapters, so maybe I'll try to finish this with the same amount.
Thanks for reading and for not giving up on me. I promise that I will not abandon this story. I'm also working on an update for Let Your Heart Hold Fast: Bicycles, Weddings, and Kittens, so be looking for that update soon.
Thanks again. I would love to hear your thoughts on the chapter/story. Take care.