Once again, I'm not claiming any nerd or scientific accuracy here, so...


Chapter 6: Struggling ( despite all )

Time was ticking, and Sarah couldn't help but think about it. Time was ticking, and Bryce – Neal Caffrey – wasn't waking up. Nothing in the video seemed to move – nothing had, not since a long, long time. Too long a time. Agent Jones had been gone for more than an hour, now, and Bryce hadn't woken up since.

They could see, on the video, his unconscious form, dusted in white everywhere – even the dried blood on the man's head had taken a spooky, mealy look. The only thing that was kind of reassuring was that, even though Neal Caffrey had been lying there for a while, they couldn't see anything that looked like a pool of fresh blood anywhere. Then again, the camera only had one angle, and he could still be wounded even without bleeding. But that was one relief, if anything.

If Bryce – Neal Caffrey – didn't woke up soon, though, that relief would soon disappear.

Sarah could see it, in the way Agent Burke was gripping the table each time he didn't have anything to do. Most people here cared, and it wasn't getting any better. No new leads, Jones hadn't been able to get anything useful from the places Caffrey hanged out at for now, and time was still ticking.

Sarah was having more and more of a hard time focusing, to be frank. She just didn't know what to focus on – and the only thing she did actually focus on, was something she didn't want to dwell upon. Especially not as it wouldn't do a thing to help Bryce.

Had Bryce ever existed? How much of him had been real? Or, worse, how much of him had been fake? Sarah knew a lot about con artists, her own father being one, and having herself conned more than once in her childhood. Yet she couldn't imagine Bryce being one. It just... didn't make sense.

Why would anyone infiltrate the CIA, just like that, for fun? Or had there been more to it? Had she really missed Bryce's true nature, all along? Had she been blind to that point?

Did Neal Caffrey even care?

Chuck's yell of victory – subdued, sure, but definitely recognizable – startled the former CIA agent out of her thoughts quite badly. She wasn't the only one, from the look on Casey's face, as well as from the wary stances of Berrigan and Burke.

Chuck gave them all a sheepish smile when he noticed what he had just done, while the smallish man who said himself to be Caffrey's best friend, though Burke seemed not to agree on that, but, anyway – while "Mozzie" reached for his phone, already texting several people in his mind, probably. Sarah was pretty sure the man had more contacts in the streets than the FBI had CIs in the country, which was probably the reason why Agent Burke had allowed him to stay; he could be useful. That, and "Mozzie" hadn't seemed very open to the idea of waiting on the sidelines.

"I've got an address! I'm not saying it's the place where Bryce is, but I'm certain it's where the feeds come from. Riggs could very well be there too."

Peter Burke almost jumped out of his seat, but Agent Berrigan put a hand on his shoulder.

"Boss, You should stay here to supervise. I can go there, with, say, Sarah, see what we find, and report. If Riggs isn't half stupid, he relayed the videos, and Neal isn't anywhere near that place; but, if we're lucky, we could get a hand on him..."

Sarah glanced at Casey, to see what he thought of that pairing, but the NSA agent only shrugged; he didn't seem all that convinced that the rogue agent would be there, and would rather wait for something a bit more substancial. And, perhaps, he had seen how restless she was. Sending her to look at this lead might be for the best.

As for Agent Burke, he slumped back in his seat.

"...And you don't trust me not to shoot Riggs on sight, right, Diana?"

Sarah frowned at the accusation – not bitter; resigned, perhaps. Burke didn't exactly seem like the kind of man to shoot first, ask latter. In fact, he was probably the less hot-headed of the bunch.

Berrigan winced a bit, but didn't deny.

"It's Neal we're talking about. You shot Adler dead, when he was holding Neal at gunpoint."

It seemed to do the trick, because five minutes later, Sarah and Diana Berrigan were outside, on their way to the address Chuck had found. Agent Berrigan was driving, and Sarah was bracing herself for a ride of silence, but it didn't go that way.

Diana Berrigan spoke only one minute after the start of the ride.

"If there's one thing to know about Caffrey, it's that he cares, a lot, but he never thinks the others do too. Not for him, at least. He didn't have the best childhood, and when he became adult, all he learned was that everyone lied and his father wasn't a hero. Broken mother, criminal father, and not even his name was real. Neal... He never wanted to be someone bad, I think, but to him, it was as if he had been told he wasn't worth it anyway. So he went for the thrill, and forgot about people."

Sarah remembered her partner, never smiling, and for a moment, she wondered if it wasn't in the persona Bryce Larkin that Neal Caffrey had chosen to let his general distrust of mankind show.

"He never trusts anyone, does he?"

"Neal does trust people to be who they are. Take Peter, for example. Neal trusts him to go after him if he leaves, he trusts him to try and help no matter what, he trusts him not to accuse him of doing something he'd never do, like, say, unwarranted murder... But Neal will never trust Peter to believe in him when everything points to him. Because Peter knows Neal better than anyone, and Neal's able to do a lot, and whether or not he'll chose to... Well, it always depends on many things."

There was a moment of silence, yet the FBI agent was the one to talk again.

"If you want to know whether or not Neal cared for you and your friends, you shouldn't look at how much of himself he let you see, but at how much he did for you. All in all, Neal doesn't trust people blindly, and he does everything not to have to ask them for things he knows they won't want to do, but he's able to sacrifice a lot for them when he cares. He'll even make himself look like the bad guy if it'll ease your feelings."

Sarah bit her lower lip, already seeing too much of Bryce in Neal Caffrey... or was it the contrary?

oOo

Something was pounding at his head.

Neal grimaced, eyes still closed, and the sound of his own blood making a ruckus in his head. He was hurting everywhere, to a point he wasn't really aware of his own body anymore. What he felt right now, wasn't his legs, his arms, his back, but the hurt and the pain in them.

He slowly opened his eyes, with difficulty; he wanted to sleep a bit more. He couldn't, though. He knew sleeping wasn't the solution, particularly not in his situation. He couldn't go back to sleep, no matter how tiring getting up would be. No matter how painful.

Everything around here was dusty, and he himself felt rusty. Wasn't that perfect?

Neal grabbed a broken piece of... ceiling? Floor? Who cared? – as he tried to push himself up and back on his feet. The whole space around him was littered with debris, he noticed, and he was almost happy not to be in pieces too. Almost, because while he wasn't, he certainly felt like it.

He closed his eyes more than once, as his knees touched the ground, making him deeply aware that there was a large tear in the left leg of his pant, and scratched skin undernearth, if not bleeding; as his hand slipped on a bit of torn metal, which tore open one good inch of skin across two fingers; as his shoulder reminded him, without reason, just like that, of the wall-breaking from earlier.

The pain was tolerable, of course, but it wasn't pleasant for all that. Neal did a rapid account of his various injuries and otherwise. Nothing terrible, nothing broken, and no big, bleeding, gaping hole anywhere, which, he had to admit, was a surprise. But everything still hurt, he had several minor injuries, scratches here and there, and the dog bite was itching more and more.

He didn't have anything life-threaening, granted, but the pain in itself might be enough to keep him from getting out of here if he wasn't quick enough. Neal gritted his teeth, and walked. Just... walked. He needed to get out, and walking seemed like the best – and only – option right now.

Or, of course, there was begging Riggs to let him out, but that was out of question. First of all, because there was no way the former NSA agent would agree to help him out, not after having done all this. Second, because Neal was ready to do a lot of things, but he had a very, very high self-esteem. And, granted, a rather low survival instinct.

So he walked. It hurt, it wasn't easy, but again, nothing had ever been in his life. Even if he often pretended not to care, even if he was able to enjoy the simplest joys of life on a daily basis, in the end, deep down, the distrust was still here. Even if he had learned to appreciate what he had, it didn't mean everything was easy.

What was easy was to pretend nothing mattered. The pain, right now? It didn't matter.

Neal wondered how long it had been since Riggs had gotten him abducted by some lowlife, who probably didn't even know who he was, why someone had paid him to do what he had done, and what was happening to him right now. Someone who didn't care, as long as they got the money.

If there was one thing he prided himself in, it was never having done things like that. He didn't really care for money, even if he liked having some, and things like that...? Neal wasn't deluding himself into thinking his crimes made no victims, but his victims deserved what was coming to them, or they could afford the loss, or, at the very least, they never died because of him.

What was Peter doing right now? Was he turning the city over searching of him? Was he cooped up in his office, trying to guess where, out of town, he could be? Was he... Was he even looking for him? Why should Neal believe Daryl Riggs when he said the videos were all sent to the FBI? After all... Neal had been planning to flee, and Peter knew him well enough to realize that. For once, even, the man might not hold it against him. After what they had both learned of the Bureau's plan for him... Did Neal really have another choice?

The thought almost froze him from the inside. Perhaps Peter wasn't looking for him, because Riggs had lied, and Peter thought he had gone of his own accord, and, for once, the FBI agent, since all other solutions had failed, was letting him leave. It didn't seem likely, but perhaps...

Perhaps no one was looking for him, and he'd just die here, all alone, to Riggs' pleasure.

A painful sneer parted Neal's lips at how history might be repeating itself.

The earpiece chose that moment to sizzle, as Riggs finally spoke into his ear again. Neal didn't even have it in him to wince or start this time. His mind hurted just as much as his body right now, and a bit more, a bit less, what did it change, really?

"Ah, you're awake, Larkin!"

"Not thanks to you, Riggs."

The psycho on the other end of the phone call ignored his latest jibe cheerfully, which resulted in Neal being even more annoyed with him than before. There really didn't seem to be a limit to it.

"I was worried you wouldn't wake up soon enough. Time was running out, you know."

Which didn't seem all that surprising to Neal, but the way Riggs was saying it... It didn't bode well.

"What do you mean, 'Time was running out'?"

"Well, technically, it is still running out, because, you know, the bomb hasn't been deactivated or anything, but since you're awake... Perhaps you'll be able to do something about it, who knows?"

Neal stopped dead in his tracks, the silence around him now even more ominous.

"You've planted a bomb in NYC, Riggs?! You're completely off your rocker! Riggs? Riggs!?"

But the man wasn't answering, and Neal suspected he didn't care.

With no idea of how much time was left before the end of the timer, and in no condition to do anything as dangerous as defusing a bomb... Neal needed to get out of here. Fast.

oOo

Peter threw his pen far, far away, across the room, not really caring where it ended up at this point, the moment he heard Riggs' declaration about, of all things, a bomb.

"This man is out of his mind!"

"Chuck" Carmichael was staring at his screen, unable to say a thing, gaping a bit at the last statement from the rogue NSA agent they were pursuing, the colonel was grunting something, probably aggressive and slightly insulting, into his phone, and Mozzie looked completely lost as to what to do, barely managing not to frantically grip the FBI agent and demand that something be done to find Neal and throw Daryl Riggs down a hole out of which he'd never walk. Peter had a sneaking suspicion that should Riggs ever escape them, he'd end up with a price on his head, just like Keller a few years ago – and for once, perhaps, Peter wouldn't disapprove, not that he'd ever confess to such a thought.

Carmichael was the first one to get a grip back – since, you know, the colonel hadn't ever lost it, though he had lost his tamper.

"Alright, alright, no need to panic. We have no idea how much time is left, which means we could still have the time to find Bryce and disarm that bomb. We have no idea how destructive that bomb is, so for all we know, it could just touch the building Bryce is in, and not have any... 'unpleasant' side-effects. We have no idea, finally, whether or not there's really a bomb. So perhaps that's just Riggs trying to rile us up, especially Bryce. I mean, he said things about gas, but so far I haven't seen anything in Bryce's behavior that'd let us think Riggs really let gas out. He might be just bluffing."

The colonel finished his phone call at that moment, looking grim.

"I wouldn't count on it, Chuck. Apparently Riggs is good with explosive devices, and while I think you're right to say he probably didn't make a dirty, or very powerful bomb, it's likely that this building will, at least partially, explode sooner or latter. As for the gas, apparently he likes to make small bombs, without much danger, and make them explode in gassed area. And it doesn't have to be something with an obvious effect on the human behavior."

There was a moment of silence, which Carmichael spent staring at the NSA agent.

"He does what with what?"

"Small bomb. Flammable gas. Everything goes boom. Is that simple enough for you, Nerd?"

Before anyone could question Daryl Riggs' sanity – again – Peter's phone rang.

"Jones. Found anything?"

"Someone recognized the photo in a coffee shop Neal likes. I'm sure Riggs found him by accident."

"Which means we probably don't have to worry about anyone else coming after Neal, if no one told Riggs where to find 'Bryce Larkin'. That's better than nothing. Try to get an address, or whatever you get, and then call before coming back here. Diana and Sarah Walker are on another lead."

Peter didn't mention the bomb right away, because that was something he felt he needed to tell Jones once he'd be there, and not just before he tried to get more information on Daryl Riggs' possible location. As long as Jones called back before doing anything, should he learn something...

The FBI agent took a moment to calm down, then thought about Diana, who was probably already near a bomber's hideout...

Her phone rang twice before she picked up the call.

"Boss, I was going to call you. We're in something that looks like a safehouse of some sort. Definitely Riggs', if the photos of Neal on the wall are anything to go by. No Riggs, but Sarah found the computer which is relaying the feeds. She's calling her husband, to get his help in finding the original location of the cameras. We should have something usable in no time."

And indeed, Carmichael had just taken a call, and was mumbling something unintelligible from where Peter was standing into his phone, typing frantically as he spoke.

Peter sighed, relieved for Diana and the other woman, if not for Neal yet.

"Glad to hear that, especially as it means you're alright. Riggs claims to have planted a bomb in the building where Neal is kept prisoner, and I thought..."

"You wondered if he had set up anything where we are. No, no, we're alright. But, Boss...

The hesitancy in Diana's voice awoke Peter's anxiety once again, and he knew it wasn't about the bomb. She wouldn't say anything about it, she wouldn't feel the need to remind him of the danger Neal was still in, because she knew very well how aware of it he was. Of the fact that even if they found Neal's location, it could be too late by the time they got here, and if it wasn't yet... They could be caught up in the explosion while trying to help Neal. But her wavering wasn't about that.

"An idea, Diana?"

A silence. Short.

"If Riggs isn't in his safehouse, watching the show, Boss, I see only one place he could want to be right now. He doesn't need a second safehouse, or at least, not one where he'd have the same tools to watch Neal's progression."

Peter closed his eyes, realizing all too well what Diana was implying.

"You think he's on site, just far enough that the explosion won't hurt him."

Meaning, just close enough that should Neal escape, Riggs would still be able to hurt him.