White Collar characters are not owned by me...-if I did own them I wouldn't have a hiatus! ;)-

Neal paced when Peter told him Jamie had been declared a missing person, he paced when Peter told him Jamie had been seen being dragged into the shadows by two men, he paced until he felt like he was going to pass out. All he did was get a drink of water, though, then he started pacing again.

"Neal, sit down, you'll burn a hole in the floor."

Neal didn't stop.

"Neal..."

He didn't even look up.

"Neal! Hey! Neal!" Peter said forcefully, stepping into Neal's path and grabbing his shoulders. "You need to pull yourself together or go home. I won't let you stay if you aren't going to help."

"Peter," Neal whispered feebly, "What if...what if we never find her?"

"Neal, we will find her."

Neal nodded and sat down, Peter knew he wasn't convinced, "Do we know what the number means, Peter?"

Peter shook his head, "For all we know, it isn't a number, just some gibberish that got typed out during a struggle. Her cell's signal has been cutoff, so tracking it won't help..."

"No, if there was a struggle, the text would've been cancelled, since the signal's cut off...Jamie must've deliberately sent that number...Wait...Peter! It's a license plate!"

"No, it couldn't be that easy could it?"

"Jamie's smart enough to do that, she waits until her captor's are busy, pulls out her phone, sends the text to me, then destroys her phone." Neal smiled sadly, "I've taught her well."

"We'll take any lead we got," Peter wrote the number down on post-it and called Jones in, "Run this through the system okay? Its a license plate number, give me everything you get on it."

The license plate number had been a dead end, they had found it, abandoned across town, with no evidence except a smashed phone. Jamie's smashed phone.

"Peter, what do we do now?"

"We wait for a ransom call."

"R-ransom call?"

"Yes, this obviously wasn't a random kid-" Peter stopped, he knew he'd said the wrong thing.

"Its my fault isn't it, Peter? If she had never met me, never dated me, this wouldn't have happened. She wouldn't be a missing person. Its all my fault..."

"Neal, it is not your fault! Don't you dare think that!"

"Why else would someone specifica-"

Ring.

Ring.

"Neal! Answer it!"

"H-hello?"

"Neal Caffrey?"

"Yes?"

"Put me on speaker, I know you're with Agent Burke."

Peter spoke up, "You're on speaker now, who is this?"

"This is Assistant DA Banks, and I have your girlfriend, Caffrey, so you better listen up."

"What do you want Banks?"

"I want a free pass out of the country, I want all the impending charges on me dropped, and heck, throw in a couple currency certificates. Do all that and you will get your girlfriend back. With no lasting damage done."

"Don't you dare touch her, Banks," Neal growled.

"Oh she's fine, Caffrey, don't get all protective. She'll be fine. If you listen to me, that is. Caffrey, I'm in a good mood today, I think I'll let you talk to her. Five minutes, no more."

"Neal?"

"Jamie?"

Silence.

"Jamie? Jamie please tell me you're okay! Did he...did he touch you?"

"No, Neal I'm fine." She sighed, "I'm fine."

"I will find you Jamie, I promise, we'll get you back soon, okay? I-I...I love you."

Jamie smiled in spite of her situation, "I love you too, Neal. I don't blame you either. Now pull yourself together and..."

"I said five minutes!"

Neal heard a cry of pain and the phone drop to the ground.

"You said you wouldn't hurt her!"

"I said I wouldn't commit any lasting damage. She's fine, just a little more bruised than before. Well my time is up..."

Peter slammed his fist against the desk, they couldn't track the call.

"Don't bother tracking the call, Agent Burke, I have signal blockers at work right now. Tomorrow Caffrey, the papers I need, Pier 49. No police friends. Just you."

Click.

Neal just stood there, staring at the phone.

"Neal? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, Peter, I think I am, what are we going to do?"

"We'll think of something, have any ideas Neal?"

Neal thought for a moment, "Actually, I have several."

Peter leaned back in his chair, "Indulge me."

AN: This chapter seems shorter than it actually is...but anyways, hope you enjoyed it :) PLEASE REVIEW your criticism/comments are really helping this story be the best it can be! -so cheesy! ;)- Chapter 18 up soon! XOXO