Chapter 2

"Honey, you've been staring at that door like you're waiting for Neal to come and walk into our kitchen." El says jokingly, trying to lighten up the mood.

Peter exhales and tries to smile at his wife Elizabeth. She had always been the one with the sunny disposition even though she, like Neal, had been abducted by the same man, Matthew Keller.

"It's been 27 hours El, and still no call for ransom. We don't even know if it's a kidnapping. And it's not like Neal to stay put for this long." Peter explains as his fingers twirled a pen back and forth.

"So what you're saying is Neal and Keller might be working on this together?" El asks her words filled with skepticism.

"That's what the bureau- Agent Kramer seems to be insinuating. I can't steer this case into kidnapping, unless there's a ransom involved." The heavy burden of emotional stress was evidently getting to Agent Peter Burke. The past weeks had not been kind to him, he had been kidnapped, developed suspicion that Neal was hiding the U boat treasure; only to confirm it was true, and then his wife gets kidnapped by Keller, and now Neal.

"Peter" El whispers, placing a delicate hand and leaning in closer to her husband. "No one knows Neal Caffrey better than you do. You've spent three years of your career trying to catch him and he's been your CI for the last two years. Do you think he's working with Keller on this?"

"No." came out Peter's flat reply. "There must be some motive behind this. Keller will make his next move, and then we'll be ready for him."

As if on cue, the Burke's kitchen door burst open and Mozzie casually entered the residence.

"Suit! Mrs. Suit" he adds, acknowledging the Burkes.

"I have come to you with invaluable intel. I for one have been making significant progress since Neal's kidnapping, unlike the suits, which I'm sure are pinning this whole ordeal on Neal. Am I correct, Suit?" the last word uttered with clear distaste.

Mozzie raises his fist in the air as if to emphasize his point. "Neal is in big trouble and if you think you can abandon him in his time of greatest time of need you've got another thing coming. I will personally see that the public knows about the 'stem cell' research lab hidden in the FBI building that is actually cultivating clones for every citizen in Manhattan- "

"Mozzie" Elizabeth interrupts, in a stern voice. "What's your intel?" Peter glances at his wife, silently thanking her.

"Time is of the essence! My contacts from the underworld have valuable information that may or may not tell us where Keller is hiding Neal. Thanks to a $6M dollar bounty I may or may not reinstated on his head, our target was seen along 339th Pearl Street this afternoon. It was like watching a bunch of pigeons piling up for seeds, or more like a school of piranhas, actually."

"Pearl St…that's…Sterling Bosch!" Peter jumps to his feet as he makes a connection between the street address and dials Agent Barrigan's number.

Before Mozzie could continue deducting his suspicions, Peter was already giving instructions to one of his demi-gods.

"Dianna, we have a lead on Keller. I want agents around the perimeter of Sterling Bosch right now. And keep an eye on Sara Ellis. Mozzie has bounty hunters on Keller, he'd be cautious to leave the area. Tell Jones to pull security tapes, and any video feed within a 2 mile radius for any sign of Keller. He's been marked he won't be showing his face around, unless he wants his head blown off. The moment he thinks the threats have subsided, that's when we get him." Peter hears Dianna's prompt acquiesce and turns his attention back to Mozzie.

"We're going to get Neal back." With an assurance said more for his own benefit.

Neal took note of his injuries from when he was at the warehouse with Keller. He had cuts to the left side of his temple and cheek a result of the crowbar Keller knocked him out with. His lower back ached whenever he tried to move, an injury he sustained from receiving another beating from his captor after he tried to escape the truck. The numerous aches in his body may have resulted from trashing and turning around the container truck as he was being transported to where he was now.

From what Neal could tell, he was being held at a building on the main street. When he had his first glimpse of Keller, it had happened at night. The noise from traffic had been distant, but now as he was sure it was sometime mid morning. The traffic noises were louder, more honking cars, and the telltale busy pedestrian footsteps. The noises subsided a couple of hours later, by then he was able to discern sounds coming from a construction site, or some kind of drilling taking place. Around lunch time Neal was able to figure out his location. The faint yet familiar scent wafting from the 'The Greatest Cake' bakery was the final piece to the mystery of his location. 17 months ago, when he first started working for the FBI, he and Mozzie had bought bakery on 500 Pearl Street at the Justice building as Neal went for a daring escape by jumping out the 3rd floor window and landing safely on top of the bakery.

Having confirmed his whereabouts, Neal silently thanked whatever force that kept him and Mozzie from selling that bakery. But his first problem is actually freeing himself from the shackles of Keller before he makes another dramatic escape. This piece of information would have to be his small win for now.

Before Neal could revel in his win, the steel door cracked open revealing another visit from Keller.

"You're little friend put a bounty on my head Caffrey." If there was any fear in Keller, he did a good job hiding it.

"Since your pals seem to want you back so bad, I guess I'll just have to rush things a bit." Keller crouches beside Neal and took a mobile phone from his jacket pocket. There's a short pause before someone picked up Keller's call.

"Agent Burke." Keller says, this time his tone was highly enthusiastic. "You gave my friend Caffrey here a pretty good deal. Maybe you could set me up with one of those too."

Keller laughs at something Peter said in reply. He turns to Neal and says "I got your boy right here." Keller moves back and stands a few feet away from Neal, he takes the phone in his hands and captures a video of Neal's lithe body shackled to the wall. "Like what you see Agent Burke?" A pause. "Central Park 3 pm. Look for the White Rabbit. And then we'll talk."

And before Keller could end the call Neal started shouting the words "Cake! Mozzie!" followed by a sharp blow to his cheek.

"I don't recall giving you permission to talk Caffrey" Keller billowed as Neal coughed out blood from his new injury.

A.N: heyitscp and this is craaaazy, but here's my tumblr. So prompt me maybe?