Author's Note: I've posted this chapter earlier in the day than the others so be sure not to skip Chapter 8 - won't make much sense without reading that first. I'll be away on a short five day holiday but promise to update as soon as I return. However, FEEL FREE TO LEAVE LOTS OF REVIEWS while I'm gone, I will get them when I return and it may cheer me up because not only will my holiday be over but I'll be having to return to work! :( Happy Easter.
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"He said I broke his wrist?"
"Yes."
"Why would he say that?"
"Well, maybe because you did."
"Yeah…but not like that. It sounds like I took him out back and snapped his arm."
"No. It doesn't sound like that…Okay, maybe a little. But this is the first time he hasn't factored Kate into his story. It's a start." Janice looked optimistic.
"Yeah. It's a start." Peter folded his arms and sat back hoping for something better.
"So let's look at what we have. There's a teenage boy, who's suffering silently the trauma of not knowing what's going on his head with regards to the whole mess with Matthew Keller six months ago. He knows bits and pieces but he's unable to put it all together. He's lost contact with the one person in his life that he feels is his link to those memories. We have his dad, who knows the boy is planning something dangerous and reckless, possibly illegal." Janice waited till Peter looked in her direction. "And let's not forget the FBI Agent who feels like a well planned con is slipping through his hands and has a good chance of succeeding despite his best efforts."
"Spot on, doctor. Once again I failed as an agent. I failed as a parent." He rested his chin on his knuckles and shook his head.
"Peter, you can only work with what you've got and if Neal kept it from you and Elizabeth, well you're not a mind reader and you're certainly not a miracle worker."
"But I am an FBI Agent."
"Did your son leave any bread crumbs? Was he careless or obvious about what he was up to?"
"No. Sadly, Neal is very good at everything he puts his mind to despite its legitimacy. And in this case, he came very close to pulling it off without a hitch."
-W-C-
"Neal, wake up we're almost there." Garry nudged the young boy in the passenger seat.
"How far?" Neal rubbed at his eyes. He hadn't planned to fall asleep but he'd been up all night going through the plan and was way too anxious to sleep.
"Only a couple of clicks up the road. We should be there in about ten minutes."
"Great. Let's go over the plan one more time." Garry nodded.
-W-C-
Neal walked into the visitor's common room and scanned for a familiar face. Almost immediately he spotted Kate sitting at one of the benches and made a bee line to greet her. 'Uncle Garry' trailed closely behind. "Kate!"
"Pip." She hopped up and gave him a very loving hug. "Thank you for coming."
"Kate, you remember Uncle Garry?"
"Hi Garry." She gave the older man a kiss on the cheek.
"Hi Kate." He pulled her in for an embrace. A little too familiar for Neal's liking. Garry slipped Kate's visitor ID down the front of her blouse. The blouse was mostly covered by a set of royal blue overalls. The type worn by all the residents.
Neal cut in between the two, clearly unhappy that he was not the centre of the girl's attention. "Kate you look good."
"And look at you." Kate inspected her young friend. "You've grown."
"A little." Neal grinned from ear to ear and stood a little straighter.
"And I see you got dressed up for the occasion." Kate indicated the casual clothes the teenager was wearing. "I don't think I've ever seen you in a t-shirt or sneakers."
"It was Mozzie's idea. He told me if I didn't want to bring any undue attention to myself, I should pretend to be a child.'"
Kate laughed at that. She always had a great sense of humour. "So how is our Mozzie. Still thinking the whole world is a conspiracy?"
"Pretty much."
"Okay you two, there'll be plenty of time for chit chat on the way home. You ready Kate?"
"Yes. You ready Neal?"
"You bet. Let's do this."
Kate and Garry sat back down on the benches. It was the corner table and Garry sat on the side with his back to the door where two female guards were watching over the rowdy room full of family, friends and the blue overall brigade. Kate took the seat closest to the wall.
Neal leant over and gave his friend a kiss. "Good luck, Kate."
"Good luck, Pip."
With that Neal moseyed on over to the opposite corner. He sat down on the end of a bench where a family with a couple of teenagers were chatting rather aggressively with a young girl in the centre-issued blue suit. There were many curse words being thrown back and forth across the table and they took no notice of the young arrival. Neal readied himself for the 'Arachnocon.' Kate had suitably named it after its first use a couple of years ago. It was one of their favourite cons because it was funny to watch the various reactions from the unfortunate bystanders.
"SPIDER!" Neal screamed at the top of his voice and stood on the bench. "SPIDER!" He started hitting at his shirt and dancing up and down on the spot. All activity in the room stopped while everyone focused their attention on the young boy dancing hysterically in the corner. The teenagers at his table had sprung from their seats and put a bit of distance between themselves and the scene playing out. One of the guards came over to put an end to the hysterics. "Calm down young man!" She looked around. "Where are your parents?"
"Spider!" Neal ripped off his tee. It was a WWW shirt with an image of some bald wrestler trying unsuccessfully to look menacing. "I'm allergic to spiders. One bite and I'm dead!" Neal continued to scream at the top of his voice.
Meanwhile, Kate had climbed under the table, removed her blue overalls and wrapped the lanyard with her visitors ID around her neck. Garry plus one, made their way past the guard at the door who scanned their ID's without too much care, way too concerned with the young boy screaming out that he was about to die.
The guard tending to Neal, checked the ID hanging around his neck. She turned back to the crowd, "Mr or Mrs Fowler?"
No one stepped forward to take ownership of the boy who'd stopped screaming and was beginning to turn red in the face.
"I think I saw his dad go to the bathroom." One of the cursing teenagers offered to the guard.
The guard was about to shout out when one of the bystanders pointed at Neal. "He's having a reaction!"
The guard returned her attention and grabbed Neal before he collapsed to the floor, foam seeping from the sides of his lips. "Someone get the centre doctor!" The frantic guard called out.
Neal grabbed her arm and sat himself up. "It's okay." He wiped away the foam. That had been a particularly nasty sherbet ball Mozzie had made for him. He must remember to let his friend know to tone it down for next time. "It's all fine. I'm sorry. I just panicked. I saw a spider crawl down my shirt and I just lost it."
"You didn't get bitten? Sure you're okay, George?" The guard referred to Neal's ID.
"Yes, thank you ma'am. I'll just sit here quietly and wait for my dad to return from the bathroom."
"Well, if you need anything I'll be right over there." The guard indicated the door.
"Thank you, ma'am." Neal pulled the WWW tee back over his head.
The room slowly returned to normal and Neal expected he'd have to wait just a little while before the next family headed off. He'd join them as they had their ID's scanned and if he was pulled up, he'd just tell the guard he was going to get some fresh air while he waited for his dad. He had it all worked out. It was perfect. Almost perfect.
While he was waiting, Lauren Cruz came down from her office after hearing that there'd been some commotion in the girls' visitor centre. She had a quick chat with the guard on the door before being pointed towards the young boy sitting with the family of teenagers.
Neal saw her coming and casually began to cross the room in the opposite direction. But when he looked over his shoulder, the new arrival was zoning in fast. He'd have to talk his way out of this one.
"George Fowler?"
Neal turned to young woman and gave a dazzling smile, "Yes ma'am?"
"George, come with me please." Lauren walked back towards the entrance with Neal reluctantly following on her heals. They walked down a corridor to a private office and Lauren indicated for the young boy to have a seat in one of the visitor chairs. "So George", she said the name like it didn't fit. "You had a bit of a scare, I hear."
"Yes, ma'am. I'm allergic to spiders. One bite can be deadly."
"Really?" The warden didn't sound at all convinced.
"Then I guess it was a good thing your dad was there to take care of you."
"Well…actually, he was in the bathroom. I was just waiting for him to get back so we can head off."
"You'll be waiting a while then." Neal raised his eyebrows in confusion. "We checked the parking lot. 'Dad' didn't bother waiting for you."
Neal remained silent. The plan had always been that Garry would only wait a short time before clearing out. They only had a very small window of opportunity to make it back onto the Interstate so plan B was that Neal would make his own way back if he got held up.
Lauren got up and headed for the door. "But don't worry. I'm sure I can find someone to give you a lift back… Neal."