Everything Old is new Again
By Ldynwaitin
Chapter Twenty-Four
Burke vs Sullivan!
Peter held the small blade in front of him, he waited for Sullivan make the first move. It didn't take long, Sullivan roared as he lunged at Peter. Peter was thankful for the rain, the heavy mud slowed Sullivan's steps, it gave him the chance to dodge the blade as it whizzed past him.
But the rain also worked against him, the knife's handle was slippery in his hands. He just managed to slash his blade into Sullivan's sleeve, but it was a shallow cut. Sullivan dug his shoes into the thick mud. He was surprised that Peter managed to cut him. He felt a sharp sting in his arm, but he knew it wasn't deep.
Quickly turning around, he faced Peter. "I'll give you that." Sullivan knew he had to slow down, take it easy. The ground was slippery, his footing could cost him. He'd been in enough fights to know when to pick and choose a move. He could see in Peter's eyes that he was thinking the same thing.
"Look," Peter said. "We don't have to do this. You know I'm not leaving here without Neal. You're not going to get away with what you did, kidnapping, theft, murder. But if you agree to peacefully give up, I'll make sure to tell Kramer. We can make a deal to..."
"You'll make sure?" Sullivan roared. "Who the fuck do you think you are? I was working white collar for years when you were just wet around your ears at Quantico." He spun the handle of his knife in his fingers. "Take a look around, Peter. Because this is the last thing you'll see."
Sullivan realized it was a stupid move running to Peter. He let his emotions get the better of him. He had to take his time, look for an opening. He was always a street fighter, he would use whatever was around. The only thing around him now was corn stalks. Grinning, he thought that he would take what he could get.
Peter watched Sullivan slowly move to his right. Reaching a row of corn, he lashed out with his blade, slicing into two stalks of corn. Swiftly grabbing them, he threw them at Peter. As Peter batted them away, he heard Neal shout, "Peter, look out!"
Once Sullivan threw the corn stalks, he immediately followed them. Peter only had seconds to react. He brought his hand down and dug it into the mud. As Sullivan charged Peter, he saw him throw his hand out.
"Mother fucker!" he roared as he received a face full of mud.
As Sullivan wiped his eyes clean, Peter grabbed the wrist of the hand that held the knife. With his eyes cleared, Sullivan moved forward and did the same with Peter. They each struggled to get the other to release their knives. Peter saw a malicious grin, before he could react Sullivan's leg lashed out and booted Peter in the knee.
In the slippery mud Peter almost lost his footing. As he struggled to right himself his hold on the jackknife released and it fell from his hand.
Sullivan maintained his hold on Peter's right hand. Giving him another boot towards the same spot, this time Peter anticipated the move and slid away from the muddy foot. He gasped as he felt his grip on Sullivan weaken. The blade was getting closer, he labored to push it away. With a flash of lightening from above, he saw a small black object fly in the air in the direction of Sullivan. Rory arched his back and roared in pain. Peter immediately dug his fingernails into Rory's arm. He lost his grip and dropped his knife. Releasing his hold on Peter's right hand he grabbed his shirt and pulled Peter away from where the blade landed.
With their weapons gone, they were forced to fight hand-to-hand.
Peter pulled back his hand and threw a fist into Sullivan's side, he felt the muscles in his side stiffen. He knew how to protect himself, but Peter was also a fighter. He quickly turned as a counter blow was aimed at his side. Sullivan managed to just graze him. Instead of moving away Sullivan was shocked as Peter leaned into him. Pulling his head back, he butted Sullivan in the head.
Sullivan stumbled back, he shook his head to clear it, but Peter didn't give him the chance. He felt a hard punch to his gut, this time he wasn't ready. He gasped as another blow landed in his side.
"That one was for beating up my CI!" Peter angrily shouted.
Sullivan grunted and fell on one knee. As Peter fought with Sullivan, Neal was crawling in the mud. He searched for Sullivan's knife, finding it he shouted, "Peter!"
Hearing Neal shout, Peter saw him holding Sullivan's knife. Neal threw it to him. Catching it by the handle, he held the knife tightly in his hand. As Sullivan was starting to stand up, Peter panted, "It's done, Rory, it's over. I'm taking you in."
"Never," Sullivan grunted, he tried to lock his knees as he struggled to keep standing. Peter didn't know it, but he hit an old injury in his side. He was in pain. Grinning, he wiped his mouth. "This ain't fucking over, Peter. If you take me back, I'll find a way to get out. I'll look for Caffrey and finish what I started. Then I'm going to make sure you…"
While Sullivan was talking Neal got up and stumbled to him. "Just shut up," Neal said. He pulled back and punched him in the jaw. Sullivan fell back. He landed hard on the ground.
Neal looked shocked. He actually knocked Sullivan out. Shaking out his hand he said, "For such a hard head, I never thought he'd have a glass jaw."
Peter moaned. "Wish I knew that before all this started. Would have made this fight a whole lot faster." Rubbing his knee he added, "And a lot less painful." Peter took in a deep breath. He looked down at himself. He was covered in mud and his knee was really hurting him. Fortunately, the heavy rain was washing the mud away.
Neal looked at Peter. "Peter, you amaze me. I have no idea how you found me?"
Peter proudly grinned as he said, "My psychic agent powers." Seeing Neal looking at him as if he grew a third eye he said, "That and a little help with a tracker box that Nolano gave me."
Slowly nodding his head, Neal plopped down to kneel on the ground. "If you don't mind," Neal mumbled. "I'm just going to rest here for a while."
Peter saw Neal's head roll forward as he fell to the ground. Moving him to lay on his back, he quickly checked him. He saw Sullivan's hit to his shoulder opened his wound. He needed to keep an eye on Sullivan, and Neal needed medical help. He checked the time, it was one thirty. Standing up, he had no idea what he was going to do. His cure to his predicament came from Dr. Coleridge.
"AGENT BURKE!" he heard Mozzie scream.
Peter was surprised to hear Jones shout, "PETER!"
"OVER HERE!" Peter shouted back. "We're over here." In seconds he saw beams of light shine through the corn stalks. Three men with bullet proof vests rushed into the growth. All three had guns in their hands. A dark-haired man with bright gray eyes stepped up to Peter. He saw a marshal's badge on his vest. Peter was relieved to see Jones was right behind the Marshal.
"Boss!" Jones said. "I'm so glad to see you."
"Jones, what are you doing here? I told you I wasn't sure if this lead would pan out."
"I know you told us to stay at the office," Jones said in defense. "But Diana and I had a feeling that you were on the right track in finding Neal. We wanted to see this through with you, Diana's here too."
"Hello, I'm deputy Marshal Billy Dahl," the dark-haired man said. He stuck out his hand, Peter shook it. "We're from the St. Louis division. You must be Agent Burke."
Peter breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes, Agent Peter Burke. I'm so glad you guys made it here." Looking confused he said, "How did you make it here?"
"We had a visit in our office yesterday from Agent Jones here and Agent Diana Barrigan. They told us they work for the White-Collar division in New York city," Dahl explained.
"We told them that they may be getting an alert from Neal's anklet," Jones said. "That the signal would be close to Willow Groves. We went to Willow Groves police department. We were waiting there when we received the alert."
"Yes," Billy Dahl said. "The alerts position directed us to a mansion. It was from there that we received a call from a cellphone telling us where to find you."
"Diana stayed at the mansion," Jones said. "We found a Dr. Coleridge," he winked at Peter. Jones immediately recognized that Dr. Coleridge was Mozzie. As soon as he saw him in disguise, he went along with him. "He was on the road and led us here." Dahl turned around, he saw Mozzie was gone. "Where did he go?"
Peter knew how Mozzie felt about the law. He was probably halfway back to Willow Groves. "Don't worry about him," Peter said. "He doesn't matter. Jones, did you find anything at the mansion?"
"We found two dead," Dahl said.
"Two?" Peter asked.
"Yes," Jones said. "A large man and a woman."
"Damn it, Albert must have gotten away," Peter softly said.
Dahl saw two men lying unconscious in the middle of a cornfield. "Which one is Neal Caffrey?"
Peter pointed to Neal. "This man is my CI. He was kidnapped by the other man, Agent Rory Sullivan. He's also responsible for several art thefts and the deaths of four people. I need to take Sullivan back with me to New York. I also need an ambulance for my CI. He has a bad injury to his shoulder."
"I'll call for a wagon, you're lucky that they just put up a cell tower nearby. Otherwise, Dr. Coleridge wouldn't have been able to call us."
Peter squatted next to Neal. He saw his shirt was soaked in blood.
Jones squatted next to Peter. "Boss, what the hell happened. Is Neal all right?"
Peter pulled out a handkerchief and pressed it on the wound in his shoulder. "That is a long story. I'll tell you later For now, we need to get Neal's wounds taken care of, Sullivan did a real number on him."
Jones looked at the unconscious Sullivan. Already he could see bruises blossoming on his face. "Looks like you did the same to him, Boss." He smiled as he whispered, "I got a bad ass boss."
Staying by Neal's side, he spied something sitting in the mud. Reaching out he found a small rubber ball. He remembered seeing something flying towards Sullivan during their fight. It was then that he knew Neal must have thrown it at Sullivan. He gently patted Neal on his arm.
"Thanks partner." He tucked the ball into his pocket.
Neal and Sullivan woke up as the paramedics from the ambulance arrived. The paramedics first checked out Sullivan. They found bruised ribs but nothing serious. They told the Marshall's that he wasn't badly injured, the Marshal's put handcuffs on Sullivan and brought him through the field towards the main road.
One of the paramedics eyed Peter. "Are you alright, sir?"
Peter noticeably was favoring his right leg. He rubbed the knee that Sullivan kicked and brushed him off. "I'll be fine, you need to take care of Neal."
The paramedics quickly checked Neal out. They patched up his shoulder as best as they could in the middle of a field. Once they were done Peter really hated to see the Marshal's put handcuffs on Neal.
"Sorry," Dahl explained, as he saw how uncomfortable Peter looked. "We don't have a tracking anklet, so he'll have to be cuffed and watched. I read his file, they said he's a high risk for running. Actually, they worded it a super high risk."
"Super, super," Jones said with a grin.
"I understand," Peter said. He knew that was the rules, he just hated seeing Neal in handcuffs after being injured. Neal leaned on a paramedic as he helped him stand up. Peter suspiciously eyed Neal as he saw him looking at the handcuffs. He walked up to one of the paramedics.
"Could you check your pocket, please?" Peter asked the paramedic.
Digging into his pocket, the paramedic was surprised to be pulling out a muddy jackknife.
Once Peter saw Neal lean against the paramedic, he had an idea he planted something on him. He took the jackknife and tapped it on the handcuffs. "Neal, no picking or slipping."
He was relieved to see a sly grin part Neal's lips. He shrugged his shoulders and held his hands up in submission. "Peter, I have no idea how it got in there. I swear, it didn't even cross my mind to escape. Not surrounded by such a serious looking group of Missouri's finest."
Peter heard Dahl say to one of the Marshal's, "Keep a closer eye on him."
"Can you walk?" one of the paramedics asked Neal. It was going to be difficult carrying him in the muddy field.
"With some help, I think I can make it to the ambulance," he told him.
Flanked by a paramedic and a Marshal, Neal was escorted to the ambulance.
Peter and Jones walked behind them. "Jones, you go with Neal to the hospital. I'm going back to the mansion and talk to Diana, see what she found." Peter felt better if Neal was under Jones care instead of a possible trigger-happy Marshal.
"Don't worry, I'll watch him, boss," Jones said.
Reaching the ambulance as they helped Neal climb inside Peter told him, "I'll be at the hospital later."
Neal didn't answer him. Sitting on a gurney his head hung down. One of the paramedics was examining his shoulder, while the other was putting in an IV.
Peter rode back to the mansion in one of the Marshal's cars. There were four police cars, two ambulances and three SUVs parked in front of the mansion with U.S. Marshal on the rear of the SUV's and a five-star badge decal on their doors.
Diana was standing in the doorway. "Good to see you, Boss. Did you find Neal?" He could see the concern in her eyes. He was angry that both Jones and Diana came here. They were under orders not to come. But he knew they were just as concerned about Neal as he was.
"I found him and Sullivan. Sullivan is on his way to the Marshall's office. Neal is being taken to the hospital, don't worry, he should be fine. What do you have?"
"Two bodies found, boss. We also found this." She showed him Neal's anklet. It appeared to have been slashed by a sharp blade.
"Albert," Peter whispered. He must have used his cane sword to destroy the anklet. He didn't know that the location would have been saved.
Entering the mansion, she quickly led him to the parlor. He saw two men lifting Lilith and putting her on a black body bag. Her dress was drenched in blood. He saw a small red spot in her forehead. The other bag was closed. From the size of the bag, he knew Nolano was inside.
"Can you tell us what happened here?" Dahl asked.
Peter ran his fingers through his wet hair, "That is a long story." He stared at the studio in the other room, looking at the painting Neal was starting, he said, "While I tell you what happened here, can one of your deputies do something for me?"
