The moment Mozzie left the car to run down the street and buy them more time by engaging Collins in a conversation, Peter got out of the car as well and hurriedly made his way to the jeep, approaching it on the passenger side.
He was anxious to see how Neal was doing. Something clearly had happened that had left Neal bleeding and groggy and it was exactly the reason Peter had wanted to warn Neal about this dangerous and violent agent and to protect him from any harm... and... to bring him home.
The past weeks without his partner and best friend had been bleak. Not knowing when they would see each other again made Peter realize how close they actually were. Neal was family and always would be. Not matter how many impossibly reckless situations the young man would get himself into, he would be there for him. To save his ass over and over again, to make sure he was okay, loved and trusted.
So Peter would be forever grateful to Ellen. Without her help, he wouldn't have found Neal on the Cape Verde islands.
Peter tried to focus on the tasks at hand: Get Neal, expose Dobbs, trade that catch with Collins and re-install Neal's old deal. It sounded complicated but doable. But when he approached the passenger side, he could see why even task one would be quite the challenge.
Peter stopped right in front of Neal's face. His partners head was slumped to the side, his chin touching his shoulder, so Peter's first impulse was to touch Neal's mop of hear lightly, stroking his dark waves while assessing the young man's condition.
His right thigh clearly had been shot and his trousers were sporting a large amount of blood, some dried but most of it fresh, as if the wound had re-opened recently. That bastard! He thought.
Peter tapped Neal's slack face, knowing that time was of the essence.
"Come on, buddy. Wake up."
He dared a glance towards the front of the road and saw that Collins had his back towards the jeep, yelling at Mozzie.
Now or never.
Peter got a knife out of his pocket and cut the zip-ties. Neal's arms fell limply into his lap but the young man seemed to come to with a pained huff, blue eyes opening partially to look at the older man, his brows drawing together in surprise.
"Pt'r?" he slowly raised his head to make sure that it was really his friend coming to his aid, while Peter opened the door, nervously looking between Collin's form in the distance and his injured friend.
"Yeah, buddy. Come on, we need to leave. Now."
Peter was not in the position to consider the amount of pain that Neal clearly was in. It was more important to get him to safety.
So he determinedly grabbed Neal's legs and hoisted them out of the car. Then, he leaned down and wrapped his arms around Neal's body and pulled him forward. His friend seemed a little more alert and hopped down from his seat, cautiously putting weight on his good leg. But the sudden change in position made Neal sway and Peter feared that he would pass out again.
"Neal!" Peter shook him maybe a little too hard as his young friend uttered a grunt and his rag-doll form was jostled from side to side.
"Yeah, Pt'r. 'M here. Let's go."
Peter was half-carrying, half-dragging a stumbling and limping Neal towards their convertible, his heart going out to his friend. He wished he could trade places with him or ease his pain right here and now.
They reached the car and were both panting with the effort to escape Collin's grasp.
Peter sat Neal on the side of the car, so the con could ease himself down across the back-seats.
Instead, at that moment, Neal's weakened body decided to pass-out again.
Like all his stings had been cut, he let out a barely audible 'uh', and started falling sideways.
He would've hit the pavement, if Peter hadn't caught him and steered him in the right direction, lowering him towards the back-seats. He had his arms around Neal's back, his friend's head was tilted backwards and his arms were hanging limply by his side, lips parted, face completely slack. Shit, he's heavy god damn it!
Slowly but surely, Peter leaned into the car with Neal's form, until his friend was laid out across the seats, out cold.
Peter quickly made his way to the driver's side, got in and at that moment he heard Collin's infuriated yell.