(Chapter 8)
Neal walked with Jones to the utility van, the agent leading the way when he heard a familiar voice.
"About time you guys... Neal? I thought... I mean Hughes said you were back but I..."
She looked surprised if not tongue tied, standing up as Neal stood at the entrance to the van and suddenly pulling him into a hug. The con wasn't sure what to do or how to react finally putting a tentative arm around the agent before she pulled back a bit and just looked at him.
"I thought when they told us we were to come out here with you, they were playing some bad joke on me. It's good to see you again."
She was honest, Diana's face slightly pale from shock at seeing him after so long but glad to have him back. He felt a flush come to his cheeks, her eyes looking at him curiously.
"Jones, what's wrong with Neal? He's not talking. You sure he's alive?"
She was trying to lighten the mood but he just flushed a bit more as she grasped his arm gently in her own.
"I... I'm just surprised how everyone keeps acting like they're glad to see me."
He was trying to be funny too but he was telling the truth to some degree as Diana squeezed his arm and smiled gently at him.
"It really is good to have you back, Neal. Peter wasn't the same without you. The office wasn't the same."
He saw the shininess in her eyes and realized she was being honest with him as he hugged her lightly back.
"Thanks Diana. It's good to be back."
She smiled at him before he saw her expression change and he knew they were going to have to get to the business at hand.
"I have the wire for you and a GPS button. We're hiding it inside of your clothes. It's tiny so it can't be tracked unless they have specialized equipment and from what Hughes said, Lynkos is simple in his devices if he's going by the sea man's book of rules. We'll be here listening and a few men are hidden off shore not too far from where you're going. Be careful."
Neal nodded, pushing the small earpiece into his ear and opening up his shirt to add the small nearly imperceptible button that was a GPS tracker to his tee underneath. He pulled his jacket on again and buttoned it up as he prepared to go back out to rescue Peter. He shivered a bit but not from the cold as he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Diana.
"Neal, we'll be right here ok? Don't forget the safe word."
He nodded, trying to relax and think positive. Peter was going to be ok. He had to be. Neal was going to make sure of that.
"Break a leg, Caffrey."
They were smiling at him, warm loving smiles as he nodded to both agents and left the van. It was cold and windy now outside, a front coming in from the north off the ocean. He shivered in the darkening sky, watching the sun dropping to just above the horizon as he headed down the shoulder towards the beach below. The water was choppy, waves rolling in roughly against the shore, their roar obvious as he finally set foot on sand and trudged through. There was a small beacon fire in the center of the beach. It was exactly like the one they'd had that day of the celebration when he'd killed Lynkos.
The gun had gone off as they struggled for it and he'd seen Lynko's face pale. Neal felt sick seeing the man continue to smile though, face beading with sweat as his eyes continued to look at the con, one hand reaching up to press against his nose and mouth. Neal couldn't breath, his free hand still holding the gun which he felt Lynkos try to maneuver again towards him. He was struggling to breath and fight when the gun went off again, the captain noticeably shuddering with pain as the bullet entered his chest and his hand loosened from the gun but not his face. Those eyes stared down at him as they started to close as if to say: I die and you die with me. Lynkos hand continued to hold his nose and mouth shut as he tried to push the man off him but started to see his vision tunneling.
"Yankee!"
Andre and Jankov pulled the now dead captain off of the con, Neal still close to unconsciousness as his breath caught in his throat. He could hear them talking to him before a slap woke him up, knocking the wind back into his lungs and he looked up to see Jankov crouched over him protectively.
"He's ok."
Neal looked up to see the huge man pull him up to his feet, dusting him off and leading him to the shoreline to wash up.
"It will be ok. He is gone now. No more Lynkos."
The memory faded as he moved closer to the fire and looked around for any clues or signs as to why he should be here. Peter had to be nearby he thought as he looked around the slowly darkening beach. Lynkos or whoever was posing as him would have left him a clue as to what they wanted him to do. He kept looking till he heard it. The distinct sound of paper fluttering somewhere nearby as he looked around and saw an edge of a dirty white sheet of paper under a rock and partially under the sand. Neal moved closer to pull the paper out and saw it was written in blood again, holding back the feeling to be sick as he moved closer to the fire to read it.
Your guilt will lead you to my grave and your friend if you follow these directions.
He read the note, looking to see instructions like a treasure map telling him which way to go and how many paces. He read the letter aloud as if to himself so they could hear it as he turned to the West of the fire and started off at the first 100 paces. He ended up at a small little copse of shaggy brush that looked a bit like tumble weeds clustered against the edge of the dunes. Neal looked around, pulling out a small flashlight from his pocket as the sunlight dimmed lower and shined it around. He finally saw something reflect the light back, crouching down to pick up the object and falling back into the sand with a loud intake of breath.
His hand had touched skin, dead dry dessicated skin of a hand missing one finger as he looked down to see the long dead figure of Andre, eyes staring up dry and unseeing. Neal felt sick, turning to throw up in a nearby bush before he scooted away, far enough away the shadows hid the figure that he had partially unearthed from the sand. Lynkos if this really was the dead captain was doing his damnedest to freak him out. So this was where the finger had come from in the box. Neal felt anger fill him but the terror was still too much to leave until he realized he'd dropped his flashlight near the dead body. The con moved closer, gradually reaching out for the light when he noticed that there was something grasped tightly in the dead man's other hand. Neal reached cautiously over and grasped the note which was also drawn in blood as the last and read it aloud.
You are so much closer to my final resting place and the man you wish you were. Your friend waits for you but he may not be as talkative as you wish.
Neal's heart was racing as he saw the instructions on the note and a small map telling him which way to go. He read it out as if to himself for the agents to hear and started on the path along the shoreline and a rough bit of hilly rocks towards what seemed to be a cave. It was still very dark and the water not quite high enough to reach the cavern although with the front blowing around him he knew the tide would rise soon. It was a slippery path but he made it to what appeared to be a cavern of sorts just above the water line. Neal used his flashlight to lead the way seeing light at the end as he turned a corner. He found a small pot filled with flaming embers filling the cavern with an eerie red light and a figure laying still and bound with a sack over their head to a stalagmite.
"Peter?"
Neal ran forward, glad to see his friend there when he reached to free the man and felt cold waxy skin. Something was wrong here as he realized his friend felt stiff and cold like a corpse, pulling at the sack around the agent's head and scooting back in terror.
The face that met him was not Peter's but someone else he knew. Phillip had been one of the crew on the ship with Lynkos. Now he lay dead before the young man, eyes staring forward blankly and his mouth stuck open in a silent scream. Neal felt sick again not just from the scene as he tried to wipe it from his mind but from the fact he could see that the man's tongue had been cut out of his mouth. His eyes were closed, tears rolling down his cheeks as he started to panick. If Lynkos' ghost could do this, how was Peter safe? He might already be dead for all he knew as he found himself feeling faint from the horrors before him. Neal collapsed to the sandy floor, eyes staring blankly ahead as he felt his consciousness start to leave him.
Neal?
Did we lose him?
Neal answer us! NEAL!
He started to come back to himself, eyes fluttering beneath closed lids as Neal started to remember everything that had happened. Lynkos had been shot and killed by his hand and the men had gone crazy with the thought of the monster being gone, kicking at the body of the dead man and doing other things as he lay there trying not to think about what happened. Andre had cut off a finger from the dead captain and tossed it into the sea while Phillipe had cut out the corpse's tongue for all the cruel words said in the past. They desecrated the man's body, something even Neal wouldn't have thought to do but as they all participated he noticed a few stood back, Jankov one of the few who did not participate in the craziness. The huge man watched the scene with a strange sort of detachment that Neal took as a combination of shock and relief to know the man was really gone.
Neal?
He's not answering, we're sending someone in. Jones you and the two in the boat meet up at the campfire and follow the directions he gave us before.
Diana was talking to him in his head, Neal trying to figure out why he heard her when he realized where he was and why. His eyes fluttered open into the darkness of the cavern, the embers glowing less than before but still giving an eerie reddish orange glow as if from the darkest reaches of hell. His vision tried to focus on the surroundings, seeing the dead figure in the corner he knew was Phillip and then another, a shadowy form moving around the back with soft steps.
Diana: Neal, hold on. Jones is coming for you. Ok?
Jones: Neal? Did you get him yet Diana?
He heard them chattering in his ear like two random thoughts connecting, eyes following the shadow as it eased around the back of the stalagmite and those soft steps in the sand seemed to grow closer to him till finally someone crouched over him. A light was shone in his face, his flashlight he thought as he raised a hand to see around the light but could only catch a glimpse of the figure looming beside him.
"It has been a long time, Thief. You thought you could turn my men against me and be free but now is the time the guilty are punished."
Neal heard the voice, his memory going back to when he had been ready to leave on his own and the men were off to the ship and their own journey. Jankov was the last to talk to him.
"Lynkos got what he deserved. The guilty punished. Maybe we will meet again one day."
Neal's eyes looked up at the figure before him, flashlight turning from his face to the man crouched beside him. His eyes widened as he realized who it was looking down at him. Jankov!
"Come thief. Your friend waits for you."
Neal started to break out of his paralysis but large hands held him down, a heavy arm flanked across his neck and pressing hard against his throat. He gasped for breath, struggling beneath the bulk of the huge man until finally his vision started to gray and his eyes rolled back. A rough hand brushed hair from his face as another covered his mouth and nose, Neal's struggles growing weaker by the moment.
"Sleep my friend. When you wake up, revenge will be mine."
()()()
Jones and crew showed up at the copse of ragged bushes to find the body of Andre. There were signs that Neal had been there as one agent stayed behind to call for backup while Jones and another agent moved ahead to the next point they remembered Neal going to. It didn't take long to get through the slippery rock although it was slow going as they tried not to fall down the small precipice to the water below. The tide was coming in already, filling the inside of the cavern ever so slightly as it lapped up against the entrance. Both agents checked out the tunnel, cautiously moving along in the darkness with flashlights swarming around till they found the barely lit pot of embers and another dead body. Jones was wondering about the company Neal had kept while gone when he heard Diana over the comm.
Jones? We lost contact with Neal. Is he there with you?
The agent looked around the room finally spying what they were looking for as he crouched down and shook his head. There was some bad karma going down here from that supposedly dead captain Neal had told them about. Someone wasn't playing with a full deck but they'd been smart enough to do one thing right in their own favor. He sighed with frustration and answered her back.
"No. Caffrey's gone. Looks like whoever took him left the receiver from his ear but no sign they found the other bit. We can still track him. Anything on the radar?"
He heard tapping in the background through the ear piece as he and the other agent continued their look around, marking the place where the body was for future reference. They hoped the tide wouldn't take it out but they heard the water coming closer and knew they had to leave soon. They took as many pictures as they could with their phones having not expected to find this sort of thing, especially so gruesome as a man missing his tongue and headed quickly out of the cavern as the water started to get to ankle depth. They barely made it back to the shore as the tide began to pour into the cavern and cover it up as Jones and the agent with him gazed around at the lonely stretch of beach to find out where Neal may have been taken.
Nothing. It went dead although I don't know how. Maybe they have a jammer? I'm not picking anything up at all, Jones.
He nodded to the air waving for the agents to follow him as they met up with those by the first dead body. They took the few pictures they could of the scene and finally made it back to land and the van beyond. The wind was picking up and rain was starting to fall down in icy droplets, thunder echoing darkly in the background. He was more than happy be inside the van as were the other agents as Diana handed them all coffee and they sat in the crowded vehicle trying to warm the coldness that had seeped into their very souls. Neal had come back but he was missing as was Peter. The very weather seemed to foretell bad things but Jones wasn't a very superstitious person. It was just a matter of waiting and looking. Once they got more men on the ground and in the air they'd find both Peter and Neal.
"Whoever took him knew enough to jam the signal. This may not be our original mark that Hughes said Neal was taken by. We're dealing with a whole new animal now. Jones, I'm going to head back into the city and let Hughes know what's going on. Call me when you hear anything."
He nodded as he tossed her the keys to the cruiser and her and another agent took off for the vehicle as the rain started to hit the vehicle hard, wind rattling the vehicle as it rocked back and forth in the gale. This was going to be a long night he thought as they settled back for surveillance in the van, doors locked tight, heater on and a portable coffee pot brewing in the corner. Jones started to wish for the days when he went with Peter to visit Neal at his penthouse with June. What he wouldn't do for a cup of that coffee now as he started to upload the pics from his phone to the PC for evidence and forensics to look through. The crime scenes would be far from pristine by the time they got a crew out here so they were doing the job of the other department while they were out here. He heard the other agents gasp at the photos, even those that had been there.
"We need to be professional men. They're depending on us finding them. Look at these pictures for clues. Tell me if you see anything unusual that would be helpful."
The greenish looks didn't fade from anyone's face but they went about their jobs as necessary, a few men exiting to be sick outside before returning. The outside chill blew in with each exit but soon everyone as over their shock and surprise of the scenes and back to work. Jones kept hoping for some kind of miracle on the GPS uncertain as Diana had been how their mystery kidnapper would have known about the button unless it was just a lucky guess along with finding and removing the ear piece. It had been shattered, crushed under foot so the person knew they wanted it gone. Jones knew that he wanted the SoB found so he could kick their butts personally. If either Peter or Neal was hurt...
"Agent Jones, Sir... I think we have something. Right here..."
He turned to see there was a very faint blinking dot on the map now. Neal was broadcasting his location but it was too far away to get to in the weather that surrounded them. They would have to watch and wait for further orders and more men to get to the location.
"Keep a watch on it. I'll call Agent Barrigan and let her know."