Everything Old is new Again

By Ldynwaitin

Chapter Twenty-One

Exit, stage left!

As soon as Peter saw Neal fall on the ground, he moved to help him, until he was violently shoved to the side. Nolano kneeled on one knee next to Neal, he became alarmed when he saw blood on his shirt.

"The wound, it's opened." He swiftly picked Neal up. Cradling him in his arms, he rolled his head on his shoulder.

"Sass!" Nolano shouted. A dark-haired guard ran up to him. "Go to the house, I want you to find the first aid kit and bring it to the parlor next to the studio."

"Yes, sir," Sass said. Spinning around he ran towards the house.

Nolano looked at Sullivan, then Albert. "This conversation is over, it will resume in the house." Turning around he carried Neal towards the house.

"What the hell did you do to him now, Sullivan?" Albert screeched, as he followed Nolano.

"Just shut the fuck up!" he angrily shouted back.

Peter stayed right behind Nolano, the guard with his gun was by his side. As he carried him to the house, Peter heard Nolano whispering to Neal. "Mr. Caffrey, why did you try to escape? I cannot protect you out here. Look at the trouble you have gotten yourself into."

Coming to the front door, Peter saw the woman from the parlor standing in the entryway. Neal told him that her name was Lilith. Seeing her face, he could tell that she once was a beautiful woman. But those years were long gone. Her face was a mask of rage. "Nolano, how the hell did he get out?"

"Seems to be the question of the moment," Peter said.

Lilith looked him up and down. "Who the hell are you?"

Nolano ignored Lilith, he swiftly walked past her. He was met in the hallway by Sass. He was carrying the first aid kit. Nolano carried Neal to the sitting room next to the studio. As he lay him down on a couch, Neal started waking up. "Neal," Peter said. He was standing behind the couch. His heart skipped a beat when he saw him fall to the ground. "Are you alright?"

Opening his eyes, Neal tried to sit up. Nolano sat down on the coffee table, he pushed him back down, "Please, Mr. Caffrey, you must stay still. I need to treat your wound, it is bleeding again." He quickly took the first aid kit from Sass.

The last thing Neal remembered was seeing the ground coming up fast. Searching around he found that he was where he didn't want to be, in the parlor. He saw Albert, Lilith and Sullivan walk into the room with two of the guards. Laying his hand on his eyes he said, "Aaand I'm back in the house. My shortest escape ever."

Seeing the blood on his shirt, Nolano knew the wound had opened. With Peter's help he quickly pulled Neal's shirt off and began taking off his bandage. He was relieved to find that just the butterfly bandages had released. The rest of the stitches held. He could fix that. Cleaning the blood, he put on new bandages to close the wound.

Peter was thankful that Neal's wound was not as bad as he thought. He was also grateful that it seemed that Neal had a friend in this madhouse. The concern that Nolano had for him was blatantly obvious.

"I tell you, Lilith," Albert argued. "That son of a bitch is making deals with Neal behind our backs. We only promised him a cut of our money, not to take charge."

"Why don't you shut your God damn mouth, or I'll shut it for you," Sullivan angrily spat out.

"He's the one that managed to get Neal here, brother," Lilith countered.

"We wouldn't need Neal here if your new boyfriend didn't kill those four people in the last robbery, dear sister. Now we have him to worry about." Albert pointed to Peter.

"Will someone tell me who the hell is that man?" Lilith asked.

Albert picked up an empty bottle of brandy. "If you'd cut down to one bottle a day, you stupid bitch, you would remember seeing his picture in the folder. That's FBI Agent Peter Burke, he's Neal's handler and friend, and he's here!" He threw the bottle at a wall. It shattered into hundreds of pieces. "He found us!"

"How the hell did he find us?" She looked to Sullivan for an answer.

"What's more important to ask," Albert said. "Is he alone?"

"I know he had an accomplice at the gate," Sullivan said. "But I'm pretty sure that's it."

"Why are you so sure?" Albert barked back.

"I'm sure because Kramer is in charge of looking for Caffrey. He's been after his ass for some time now, a pet project of his. Going to save Peter from himself. If Kramer knew Caffrey was here, then you bet your ass that he and a squad of agents would have been busting the door down.

But they're not, are they. It's just Peter that's here. He's always had a soft spot for his CI. Actually, went to an island on his own to save him from a violent bounty hunter."

Sullivan pleasantly smiled. "My kind of guy. In answer to your question, yeah, he's alone all right, otherwise we'd be up to our asses in agents."

"That still doesn't answer how the hell he found us!" Lilith shouted.

As Albert, Sullivan and Lilith continued their scream fest, Peter saw a twinkle in Neal's eye. He knew that look well, Neal was up to something. Watching Nolano care for Neal's wound, he stuck his hand in his pocket. Neal bought him some time, he waited for the right moment to show his trump card.

Albert noticed that Nolano was almost done wrapping Neal's wound. "Will he be alright?"

Finished dressing Neal's wound, Nolano sat back. "Just a few stitches opened, nothing serious. He'll be fine."

"Good, then Neal, I want you to tell Lilith what kind of deal Sullivan was making with you."

Outside, when Neal saw Albert running towards them an idea came to him. When he tried to pit Lilith and Albert against each other, they found a common cause, him. Now Sullivan was in the picture. Lilith had his claws deep in him. He could see the friction between Albert and Sullivan when they were in the studio. He needed to ignite the fire each had inside of them, and he would be the kindling.

He was going to fake blacking out, but he became alarmed when he actually did. He was happy to find himself waking up on the couch in the parlor in the middle of a scream fest. That meant that the fire had begun burning!

"Look," Neal said. He struggled to sit up, Nolano helped him. Nolano saw pink in his cheeks. He knew he was recovering quickly. He would be weak, but not in any danger. He helped him put on his shirt.

"When you decide who's in charge here, whoever that is." Neal gasped in pain as Nolano tugged his left sleeve on.

"Sorry," Nolano said.

"Whoever is in charge here," Neal continued. "I'll give them my word that I will stay with them and do the paintings. I promise not to try and run. But only as long as Peter is not killed. That was my offer. It's up to you to decide who's taking it."

Immediately Lilith, Albert and Sullivan began shouting at each other.

Hearing the three of them argue, Peter quickly realized what game Neal was playing. Who wants to be King or Queen of the hill? The hill being Neal. Neal was playing them against each other. Peter also knew when it came to that game, Sullivan would be on top.

"You've already been paid more than you asked for to help us," Albert said to Sullivan. "You have no right being here."

"Right, and how was that going, keeping him here? Not even a week and he would have gotten away if it wasn't for me."

"Albert," Lilith said. "He's right, you don't know what you're doing. You just wanted to use the money to buy your new cars, and fly around the world."

Albert now turned his wrath on his sister. "What about you? After father died you pissed away all the money you received from your dead husbands in just a few months. The main reason why you agreed to have him brought here was because you're still obsessed with making him your pet like Sullivan. When are you going to realize that was never going to happen, dear sister? From the first day he entered this house he could see right into your cold heart. He knew that you loved no one but yourself!"

As Albert and Lilith continued to argue, Sullivan noticed one of the guards running into the parlor. "Mr. Sullivan, there's someone on the phone for you. They said it's urgent."

"Fucking pus hole," Sullivan grouched. "Can't even use my cellphone here." Sullivan moved to a small table next to where Peter stood. He picked up the receiver of a phone on the table. Watching the siblings arguing, Peter wondered how far it would go. The room suddenly went silent when Sullivan shouted FUCK, as he slammed the phone's receiver down.

Sullivan's face was a beet red. "Well that fucks it up for all of us. I got a call that the Marshals received an out-of-radius signal alert from an anklet that is registered to a Neal Caffrey. They're coming here, NOW! Burke, what the fuck did you do? How the hell did they find us?"

Peter had no idea who just called Sullivan, but he knew that now was the time to show his trump card. "What do I have here?" Peter asked. He pulled out a ringed object from his jacket pocket.

Peter swung the object in his fingers. It was Neal's anklet. "Neal, you seemed to have lost your last one."

"Not the first time," Neal said.

"Don't worry, I brought a new one with me."

Neal's grin grew as he saw Sullivan's rage increase. "You're the best, Peter."

"Being a good handler, once I found you, I turned it on. Just not on your ankle." Peter looked at the anklet's blinking yellow light. "Love these devices. it uses a satellite to find wherever you are. Oh look, it seems that you're out of your two-mile radius."

"Slightly," Neal said.

The room was deathly silent for a second until it burst with everyone screaming. The guards were the first to leave the room.

"We got to get out of here," Albert frantically blurted out.

"You stupid idiot," Lilith shouted at him. "This is all your fault. If I get caught, I'm telling them this was all your plan."

Peter quickly tried to assess what he could do. They took his gun, he had nothing to protect Neal and himself. He looked at Sullivan. He saw him staring possessively at Neal. He could almost see the wheels turning in his head. He knew his mind was made up when he saw him pull out his gun and point it at him.

Seeing Sullivan pulling his gun out, Neal struggled to stand up. "Don't," he shouted. "The deal I spoke of, I meant every word. Let Peter live, and I'll go with you."

"You're not going with him!" Lilith screeched.

"Lilith, no, it's okay, let them go," Albert said. "If Neal isn't here to tell them what happened, they can't convict us. They'll think he's still on the run. All we have to do is kill Agent Burke and blame it on Neal." Albert pulled out the blade in his cane.

"You're smarter than I thought," Sullivan said.

"I don't need your words of praise," Albert angrily snarled.

"Not a compliment," Sullivan growled. He wiggled the muzzle of his gun at Neal. "Now let's go, Caffrey. You're coming with me. Albert, you can take care of Peter."

Nolano suddenly pulled out his gun and stood protectively in front of Neal. "No, you will not take him, Sullivan. I promised…" Before he could finish, Sullivan placed his finger on the trigger of his gun. Nolano roared and charged Sullivan. Both men fired at the same time. Both shots missed. Reaching Sullivan first, Nolano began wrestling with him. Shoving him towards the studio

With the guards gone and Nolano fighting Sullivan Peter saw his opportunity, he grabbed Neal's arm and tried to pull him out of the room. He released his hold on Neal and jumped back as Albert took a swipe with his sword. Grabbing the phone on the desk he charged Albert while throwing the phone at him. Slapping the phone away with the blade Peter pulled his left hand back and punched Albert in the jaw, he followed it with a right to his stomach. Dropping the blade, Albert clutched his face and stumbled back.

"Nice right," Neal said.

"Thanks, guess that training at Quantico paid off lets…"

Peter shoved Neal on the floor as he saw something flying towards him. He held his hands up as an enraged lioness pounced on him.

"Damn you! We need to get him out of here now," she snarled.

Peter had his hands full keeping her from scratching his eyes out. Neal used the wall to stand up. He stumbled to where Lilith had Peter on the floor. He tried to pull her off him when he heard a shot. He saw Nolano fall on Sullivan.

"Nolano, NO!" Neal shouted.

"You tried to fucking kill me?" Sullivan panted as he kicked Nolano off of him. "That's what you get." Standing up, he ran to Neal. Grabbing him, he held the gun to Neal's back. He could feel a burn from the muzzle of the gun. "Let's go, Caffrey, I don't have much time. We need to get away from this place now!"

Neal looked back as Sullivan shoved him towards the doorway. Peter was struggling to keep Lilith from scratching his face off, Albert sat in a corner nursing his jaw. He saw Nolano moving. He was relieved to see he was still alive, but he had no idea how badly he was injured.

Sullivan half dragged Neal through the hallways towards the back of the house. Entering the garage, he handcuffed Neal's hands in front of him.

"I'd like to see you try slipping those cuffs off when I can see them."

Catching his breath, Neal smartly grinned. "I love a challenge."

Grabbing a pair of car keys, Sullivan pressed a button to open the garage door. He opened the door to the red corvette.

"Might as well go in style," Sullivan said.

He shoved Neal on the passenger's seat and slammed the door shut. Getting into the driver's seat, he started the car, or tried to. It took him three tries before he managed to get the car started.

Shifting gears, he quickly drove the car out of the garage. It was pitch black outside. In the distance was flashes of lightning. Sullivan drove the car towards the back of the estate.