Everything Old is new Again
By Ldynwaitin
Chapter Eighteen
And that makes Five! Or is it four?
Nolano saw Lilith holding a palette knife in her hands, he knew she meant to hurt Neal, but there was nothing he could do to stop her. If he did try, she would immediately fire him. The only way he could help Neal, was not to help him. He tightly fisted his hands as he saw her stab her nails into his shoulder. He almost stepped into the studio but stopped when he saw Neal managed to make her drop the palette knife. He waited until she left the studio before he rushed in to help Neal.
Holding his shoulder, Neal looked at Nolano. The look on his face told him he was in pain. Nolano opened his shirt and quickly examined him. He saw blood on his bandage.
Neal painfully smiled. "For someone so irreplaceable, I'm not getting much respect."
"I am sorry, Mr. Caffrey. I could not stop her, there are some here that are bullet proof."
Neal tiredly closed his eyes. "Nolano," he softly whispered in a deep voice. "I need to get away from here." He groaned and held his ribs. He'd forgotten to take a pain killer this afternoon. He could still feel a deep ache in his chest.
"I'm so sorry, Mr. Caffrey. But that will never happen, Albert and Lilith will not allow it. I think sleep may help. You'll see, you will have your mountain conquered tomorrow."
With Nolano's help Neal slowly left the studio. Nolano led him out of the parlor. "First I want to check your wound. We will stop at the bathroom on this floor first. It has the first aid kit. I need to fix what Lilith has done to you."
As they walked down the hallway, they ran into one of the guards rushing towards them.
"What's happened?" Nolano asked. He could see that he was distressed about something.
The guard held up his walkie talkie. "Some guy at the gate, Mr. Nolano. One of the guards out front said that they heard someone screaming. They found a man by the gate. They said he's asking for help. He said his car broke down and he can't get it started. I heard him asking to use our phone to call for a pick-up truck, that he thinks his cellphone is dead. I was trying to tell him how bad the reception is here, but he rambled on about how he doesn't like using his cellphone to long because the radiation can give him a brain tumor, and some other stuff. I stopped listening after tumor."
"Well tell the guards to stay with him while you call for a pickup truck," Nolano told him. "You know no one is allowed to come to the house."
"I'll do that, I tell you this Mr. Haversham is a real nut job." The guard spun around and jogged back down the hallway. He was speaking into his walkie talkie.
As soon as Neal heard the name Haversham he perked up. That was an alias that Mozzie used. "Mansel," he whispered. If Mozzie was here, Peter had to be with him. He tried to control his emotions as Nolano took him to the bathroom.
Taking out the first aid kit, Nolano began cleaning up the blood on Neal's shoulder. He saw Lilith broke two of his stitches. He put a butterfly bandage over the broken stitches. He was glad to see he had stopped the bleeding.
He slowly wrapped the wound with a clean gauze bandage. All the time he worked on Neal he noticed that his look seemed distant.
"Are you climbing your mountain, Mr. Caffrey?" Nolano asked him.
Neal couldn't tell him the truth. That he was thinking about how Peter was going to be able to help him escape. He nodded his head and said, "Nearly at the top, Nolano."
"Good, I think I wrapped that better than the doctor. Now let us go." He led Neal back to his room.
"Good night, Mr. Caffrey," Nolano said. He glanced around. "I will make sure Mr. Sullivan is as indisposed as he was last night."
"He's sworn off brandy," Neal said. "But Lilith's liquor cabinet is large enough to keep him busy for a few weeks."
As soon as his door was locked Neal turned off the lights to his room. He quickly put on a fresh shirt and hid the shirt that had blood on it. If Peter was here, he didn't want him to be concerned about his wound. They needed to focus on getting out of here.
Going to his bed he pulled the sheets back. Finding the spot he cut in the mattress he pulled out the jackknife and lock pick Herdrich gave him. Tucking them in his pants pocket, he rushed to his window. As he pulled the window open, he flinched as he felt his ribs ache.
It was already dark outside. He checked his watch. It was almost eight. Looking outside he waited, watched and listened.
Half an hour later he was still waiting, no sign of Peter. Because of Lilith's love tap, the pain in his shoulder had grown worse. Going to his dresser, he opened the pill bottle and shook out two pills. He swallowed them down with a glass of water. With the glass still at his lips he heard the dead bolt sliding. He saw the doorknob starting to turn. Putting the glass down, he expected the door to open. As he saw the knob wiggle again, he could faintly hear someone say, "Neal, are you in there?"
Neal rushed to the door. He whispered, "Peter, is that you?"
"Who else would it be?" Peter hissed. "Get this door open before anyone sees me."
Taking his lock pick out, Neal unlocked the door. As soon as it opened, Peter rushed into the room and closed the door. Neal stared at Peter, he couldn't believe it, Peter was standing in his room. At first he didn't know what to say. He found him, he actually found him.
He happily grinned, and said, "Peter, you found me."
Once the corvette left the post office Peter tried to stay far enough away not to make the driver suspicious. The car led them down the main road then a highway. Twenty minutes later he exited the highway and drove down a paved road. Ten minutes after that he turned onto a side road.
"We're getting close, Suit. I can feel it," Mozzie said. When Peter told him that Neal was missing, he was afraid it was the same person that killed Ellen. When Neal started looking for this 'Sam', he warned him that whoever was after Ellen could be after him too. His fear died down once he read the email. As they rode down the side road, his anger grew knowing that someone was profiting from Neal's skills. He felt the car begin to slow down.
"There's a gate ahead," Peter said. "And a very large wall. Wherever this guy lives, it's behind that wall."
Peter drove the car behind some large trees. Parking the car, they got out and slowly they made their way closer to the wall. Tall thick bushes grew along the wall. Coming to the gate, Peter peeked his head around the wall. He saw heavy tree growth on the left side of the estate. A long-paved driveway led to, well the only word that came to his mind was a mansion. The place was huge.
He felt Mozzie looking from behind him. "Wow," Mozzie said. "Do you think Bruce Wayne lives there?"
"Wish he did," Peter said. "Then we could ask him and Robin to help us find Neal."
"He goes by Nightwing now," Mozzie said. He pulled out a small pair of binoculars.
"Where did you get those?" Peter hissed.
"At the store," Mozzie deadpanned.
"I know that," Peter snapped back.
"Then why did you ask?"
"I can't believe it, I went from being an FBI agent to a straight man," Peter lamented.
Mozzie peered through the binoculars. "I see guards in front of the house, Suit." He focused on the guards. "Four are standing on a circular driveway in front of the house. Oh, I see two more guards coming out from the left side. I guess they have four posted out front and two more making the rounds."
"Can I use them please, Mozzie?"
Mozzie handed him the binoculars. "Since you said please, sure, Suit. And don't worry, I won't charge you."
Pressing the eye piece around his eyes, he began using the focus wheel. He saw four guards standing in the driveway. Two others were walking past them. He slowly scanned the front of the building, it had four floors. The place was huge, he had no idea where to even start looking for Neal. On the second floor he saw something that caught his eye. He focused on a window.
"Mozzie, I think I know where Neal is."
"How, Suit? Do you see him?" Mozzie squinted his eyes, he was hoping to see Neal walking in front of the house.
"No, but of all the windows in the front of the house, this is the only one that has bars on them." Peter handed the binoculars back to Mozzie. He pointed to a window just above the driveway.
Mozzie focused on the widows on the second floor. As he scanned to the left, he saw a window with bars. "I see it, Suit. If they did have Neal in there, they would need them. He can pick anything made. Or it could be an insane homicidal nephew that they locked up in their bedroom to save humanity."
Peter rolled his eyes, "Mozzie, isn't that the movie you were watching last night?"
"Maaaybe," Mozzie slowly said.
Peter moved back and leaned on the stone wall. "The pigments brought us here, now we need to figure a way to sneak inside and find out if Neal of an insane nephew is behind those bars."
Mozzie looked up. "It's too bright right now. Even with that heavy tree growth they'll see us. We need to wait until it's dark."
"You have a plan?" Peter asked him.
Mozzie's index finger tapped the side of his forehead. "Suit, I always have a plan. Some not as good as others, but this one will work for this situation. It's called, Mansel in distress."
"Mansel?" Peter asked.
"Let's get back to the car. I'll explain my plan as we wait for the sun to set."
Once it was dark enough, Peter exited the car. Mozzie sat in the driver's seat. He drove the car next to the wall. He quickly pulled the hood release. Exiting the car, he opened the hood. He needed to give the appearance that the car had broken-down.
Mozzie's plan depended on Peter's height. Peter climbed on top of the roof of the car. Jumping up he grabbed the top of the wall and pulled himself up. Jumping down on the other side, he sprinted to the thick tree growth and slowly moved towards the mansion. Mozzie rushed over to the front gate. He looked through his binoculars. He was searching for the two guards that circled the mansion. Once he saw them, he would begin operation 'Mansel in distress'.
Peter quietly moved from tree to tree. The mansion must have been here a long time. The trees were tall and thick. He was able to get close enough to see the guards in the driveway. Pulling out his gun, he waited for the two guards that circled the mansion. He saw them walking from the left side of the mansion. Once they were in front of the mansion, Mozzie would create a diversion that would help him sneak inside the mansion, he hoped.
As soon as Mozzie saw the two guards walking up the side of the house he took in a deep breath and started screaming.
"Hey in there!" He shouted. "I need some help! HELP! HELP ME!" Mozzie screamed as loud as he could. In seconds he saw two men jogging down the driveway towards the gate, the other two guards remained in front of the house. The two that circled the house continued their rounds.
Fixing his glasses, Mozzie said, "Showtime."
Peter heard Mozzie screaming from where he was hiding. For a small man, he had a very loud voice. Staying low he sprinted out of the forest and towards the left side of the house. He sighed with relief as he made it there without any of the guards seeing him. Keeping close to the side of the building, he searched for a way to get inside.
Coming towards the back he saw a patio. Next to it was what looked like a studio. The wall on the outside was made of glass. Searching inside he saw a canvas on an easel. On the canvas was the sketch of a woman in a long dress. Peter knew he was in the right place when he saw Neal's Degas sitting on another easel.
The only way in was two patio doors. He noticed that one of them was closed, but the other one was slightly open. Slowly he opened the door. He silently moved into the room.
"Almost there," Peter whispered. "Now I just need to find a way to get to the second floor and then locate the room with the bars. After what it took to get here, it'll be a piece of cake."
He walked to a room just outside of the studio. He was thankful that the lights here were turned off. He quietly stepped to a door on the opposite side. Opening the door a crack, he saw a long hallway, in the distance was stairs leading up. That was how he was going to get to the second floor.
Hearing laughter, he slowly closed the door. He moved to hide behind a large couch. Crouching behind the couch, he tightly gripped his gun. The doors slammed open. He held his breath as he heard Sullivan's voice.
