NOTE: Thank you guys for being so patient! I am in the home stretch on this story and I will do my best to have the next chapter up very quickly (maybe even by the end of the weekend). Thank you to everyone who had taken this 3 year journey with me!
Chapter Ninety-six
"Did you get what I asked for?"
"Neal, I don't like this." Mozzie complained.
"Did you get what I asked for?" Neal repeated more firmly.
"Of course." Mozzie said before giving Jake a nervous look. "If Peter…"
"Don't worry about Peter." Neal cut Mozzie off quickly.
"Neal…"
"Mozzie, please, this is the only way York is ever going to pay for what he did."
"This isn't you Neal."
"Maybe not in the past, but this is me now."
Mozzie glared at Jake, blaming him directly for Neal's erratic behavior. Looking almost disinterested in the scene Jake didn't react to Mozzie's dirty look. Mozzie attempted a 'please reconsider this' look on Neal but it didn't have any effect on him. Sighing in defeat Mozzie reached in to his pocket and pulled out a 9 mm round. Perking up Jake reached out to take the brass bullet but Mozzie jerked away from him and made a show of handing it to Neal instead.
Taking the bullet Neal put it in his pocket for a moment before he reached back to pull out the gun he had tucked into the back of his waistband. The silver and black Beretta was a little flasher looking than the solid black Glock that Peter carried but it was every bit as powerful. The way Neal's hand trembled slightly as he fished the bullet out of his pocket and loaded the round into the chamber didn't escape Mozzie's critical eye. Doing his best to ignore his friend Neal carefully checked the gun over and made sure the safety was on. Feeling Mozzie's disapproval burning into him and having his own doubts Neal looked up and flashed him a sad resigned smile.
"Neal, don't do this."
"It's going to be okay, Mozzie…trust me."
"You I trust, Neal, it's him I don't like." Mozzie said bluntly.
"I don't expect you to understand but I trust Jake."
"With your life?"
"With my life."
Jake didn't even try to hide the look of surprise at Neal's genuine tone. To emphasize his point further Neal offered Jake the weapon. Jake hesitated to take it at first and when he did he showed he had the same adrenaline rush induced hand tremor that Neal had. Neal discreetly took a deep breath to calm his own nerves before he put his hand on Jake's shoulder reassuringly.
"Are you ready?" Neal asked.
Jake just nodded making Neal realize that he hadn't spoken since they'd met up with Mozzie in the dank subbasement. As hot as Jake had been to face Walker before now that it was actually happening Jake was showing far more fear than excitement. Neal's stomach twisted painfully, a frightened man was just as likely to make a stupid mistake as an angry one. Knowing that there was never going to be a scenario where emotion was eliminated from the situation Neal was forced to press on.
"You're ready for this." Neal stated this time rather than asked.
"I am." Jake replied breaking his silence. "Which ever way it works out, I'm ready."
"Follow my lead exactly and it will work out as planed."
Jake flashed Neal a doubtful look that nearly caused Neal to lose his nerve. Shaking off any dark thoughts Neal turned his attention on Mozzie to make sure he was still wiling to help. Mozzie's expression darkened but he nodded to let Neal know he was staying by his side. Neal glanced down at the watch he had gotten just for timing out tonight and realized they needed to get going.
Intel had revealed that Walker was no longer staying at his home on the Upper West Side. Instead he had taken to spending his nights in the penthouse suite level of the sky scrapper that housed the Light for the Lost headquarters. Walker's thought process was likely that he was safer up high in the mostly commercial building than in the three story mansion he owned. What he didn't realize was that a home in a residential area was easier to secure simply because there were more eyes on it, people questioned strangers sneaking around neighbor's houses. At home in his mansion there would be fewer blind spots and weak points to be exploited.
Isolated on the penthouse floor there was no easy way to call for help and no prying eyes to render aid. Neal and Jake would be on the watch list at the front lobby, but Mozzie had been free to enter the mostly public building and poke around. Walker had a strangle hold on the men who used to pay their debts in the Labyrinth but the poorly paid housekeeping staff didn't have the same loyalty and information was easily purchased off them. Most of Walker's security was stationed in the front lobby thinking that any threat Jake posed could be stopped before it even reached him. He kept an extra guard standing casually by the entrance to the personal elevator that lead up the the few residential floors as an added safe guard.
Ironically the weak point that Walker didn't even think about came from below. The building that Light for the Lost was set up in shared a sub basement with the neighboring tower since they had been built at the same time by the same company. The shared access was mostly utility access and it was a bit of a tight squeeze between the two but nothing compared to the spaces Neal had forced himself through to escape the Labyrinth.
Leaving Mozzie behind but keeping in radio contact for now Neal and Jake snaked their way through the underground maze of piping and cable. Once under the Light for the Lost building there was easy access to the basement level. The main hitch from here was that the private elevator didn't come all the way to the basement as it had been added in later to the side of the main elevator bank. On the basement level the elevators required a special code to call them since the panel inside didn't have access to keep guest from the lower level. Neal looked at his watch again and decided that they were making good time.
"Mozzie, can you bring elevator B to us?"
'Yeah, yeah, hang on.'
"Is now a good time to mention that I hate heights?" Jake asked.
"No, this is a terrible time for that." Neal said seriously.
"Okay, I'll keep it to myself."
'Neal?' Mozzie's voice came over the ear piece. 'Bit of a problem, I can't get into B, I can only get A. I'm bringing it to you now.'
"What about the private C one? Please tell me you can get into that one?"
'Hang on….uh…no. I'm sorry Neal, they must have the others on a different system, probably because they are newer. I wasn't expecting that. You'll have to make do.'
"How serious were you about the heights thing?" Neal asked Jake with a grimace.
"Fairly serious, why?"
"Because we are going to have to jump from A to get on top of the private. It won't be very far across but if we can't control the others there is a good chance that it will be a very long way down."
"I'll do anything to get at York."
Neal nodded as the A elevator arrived and opened. Stepping inside Neal motioned Jake to help him reach the upper access panel. The panel was designed more for rescuers to get into the elevator not for occupants to open it to get out so there was a bit of a trick to it. Luckily Neal knew the trick. Jake crouched down so that Neal could get up on his shoulders and then lifted him up so that he could work open the panel. Once it was open Neal got down off Jake's shoulders and he let Jake use his knee as a step to help him up. With the small amount of help Jake was able to crawl up on top and from there he grabbed Neal's wrist and hauled him up. Once on top of the elevator Neal looked up the large triple shaft and a pit opened up in his stomach when he noticed the private elevator was at least forty stories up. They would have to jump across the gap where the B elevator ran into order to get over to it.
"I don't suppose we could wait for it to come to us?" Jake asked hopefully.
"We have no way of knowing how long that will take." Neal sighed. "Mozzie take us up to forty and we'll see how close we are."
'Hang on.'
"Mozzie I'd like to get this over with before I change my mind, hurry it up."
'I meant physically hang on to something.'
Mozzie made his point clear as the elevator jarred into motion and headed up at an alarming speed. Kneeling down on the roof of the elevator Jake closed his eyes and gripped down on one of the reinforcement bars. Staying on his feet Neal held on to the main cable as the car glided up to the fortieth floor which proved to not be quite high enough. Once there Neal was able to count the doors and guided Mozzie to bring them two and half stories higher so that they were situated just above the elevator that was their goal to make the jump easier. It was only about six feet across but with nothing but forty-two stories of air below them it was a daunting jump.
Deciding against over thinking it Neal took off running and leapt once he came to the edge. Easily making the jump Neal caught a hold of the main cable and turned around to encourage Jake to follow him. Having made the mistake of walking over to the edge of the dizzying height Jake was hesitating to follow Neal. The longer Jake stood on the edge looking over the less likely it was that he was going to jump.
"Jake, Jake come on, don't think about it, just jump."
"I…I can't…"
"Jake," Neal chastised "jump now or this is over. Understand?"
Jake nodded and took a few deep breaths to steel up his courage. Neal held his hand out to help get Jake to jump. Closing his eyes Jake threw himself off the edge just as the private elevator Neal was standing on suddenly jerked down. Jake yelped and landed hard as the surface dropped down further than he had been expecting. Neal lashed out and caught Jake as he nearly lost his balance in his panic. Jake clutched onto Neal showing how shaken he was as they were carried back down.
"We should have just waited." Jake pointed out.
"Hindsight."
Despite the gravity of the situation Jake managed a chuckle. They were forced to wait while the elevator returned to the lobby to pick up its passengers who got off on fiftieth floor. Once the passengers were for they slipped down into the elevator and Neal pressed the button for the top floor. The elevator simply required a key card to call it to the lobby, after that it didn't have any further restrictions since it only went to the floors with apartments on them. With the elevator headed towards York Jake became visibly nervous as he fell silent again. Neal nudged him to get his attention and flashed him a warm smile. Jake relaxed somewhat and smiled back.
Jake was about to say something when the elevator came to stop and doors slid open. Jake closed his jaw with an audible snap as he tensed again. With a determined glare in his dark eyes Jake stalked to the door at the end of the hall that they had learned belonged to Walker. Kneeling down in front of the door Neal checked his watch one last time before realizing he hadn't heard from Mozzie in a while. Reaching up to his ear he discovered that his ear piece had fallen out when he'd jumped from the top of the elevator. Ignoring the loss Neal pulled a small lock pick set from his back pocket and made quick work of the lock.
It was early evening but most of the lights in Walker's apartment were already off. Very slowly opening the door Neal quietly stepped inside with Jake close on his heels. There was a short hallway that opened up into an expansive living room with a breath taking floor to ceiling view of the city beyond. Walker was standing with his back to them enjoying the view with a glass of amber liquor in hand.
Walking into the middle of the living room silently as a ghost Jake stopped and pulled his shoulders back. Lifting up the weapon Neal had given him with a shaky hand Jake cocked it noisily. Walker jolted at the sound and whipped around with his eye wide in shock. For a moment both men's fear reflected perfectly in each others eyes. However Walker was quick to compose himself and stared Jake down defiantly. Neal held his breath knowing that the next few seconds were what was going to steer this encounter down one of two paths, for better or for worse. Panting for breath Jake swallowed hard as he continued to hold the gun with an unsteady aim at the monster that had tormented him for so many years.
"Well?" Walker asked with a smug smile. "What are you waiting for?"
