Sorry for the slight delay. I'm not sure if I like this chapter a ton, but I didn't know what else to do with it.
Probably good news for all of you, there's only one chapter left!
"HOLD IT, HOLD IT!" someone yelled. Finch and Mozzie both jumped as they heard the commotion, looking over at the site of the explosion. There were men scurrying around, and Finch could see a puff of dust coming up from the area they were digging around.
"Detective?" Harold called out worriedly. Joss turned to him, concern showing in her eyes as well. She didn't respond to him, and Finch watched as the crew members hurried to stabilize the dig site. Finch resisted the urge to storm over there and demand to know what was going on. Instead, he watched from the sidelines as they finally resumed digging.
After another few minutes, another shout came from the site, but this was a shout of excitement. "We're through!"
0-0-0
John shook his head, trying to clear his dazed head. "Neal? You okay?" he asked as the two of them sat up. Neal checked himself over, then nodded at John.
"Yeah, can't see or feel any new injuries. You?"
John shook his head. His ankle was killing him, but he pushed past the pain and glanced around, trying to assess their situation.
"What do you think happened?" Neal asked.
"Something must have shifted that wasn't supposed to shift." John grimaced in pain as a shooting pain went through his ankle when he shifted too quickly. A few minutes passed with the two of them sitting there trying not to move, when all of a sudden there was a stream of light.
Neal held his hand up in front of his face to block the majority of the light as he looked up, hearing someone up top yell, "We're through!"
John felt a huge sense of relief when he heard that shout. The two trapped men watched as a few minutes later, a harness was lowered down. "Alright Neal, you ready to get out of here?" John asked as he pushed himself to his feet and slowly made his way towards the contraption.
"What?" Neal asked incredulously. "I'm not going first, you're the one that's injured!"
John raised an eyebrow. "Do you know how to operate one of these?" he asked, gesturing towards the harness. Neal opened his mouth, but after a moment shut it again, shaking his head in defeat. "Thought so. Come on," John said, helping Neal get situated.
0-0-0
Finch watched in trepidation as the pulley slowly pulled someone up. A mop of curly hair made it's way up top, and Finch realized it was Mr. Caffrey. He watched as they pulled him out, inching closer. He was close enough to hear Neal tell the workers that they had to send the pulley back down, that there was an injured man still stuck down there. Harold's breath caught in his throat. Injured? How badly was John injured? He watched anxiously as the rescue team once again lowered the device into the hole.
Mozzie hurried over to Neal as the con man was led to a waiting ambulance. Agent Jones met them both there, looking more than relieved. "Caffrey," he said. "It's good to see you're okay."
"Where's Peter?" Neal asked as he tried batting the EMT's hands away.
"He's in the hospital," Jones explained, watching with a trace of humor as the paramedics finally won, beginning to clean Neal's cut and making the young man flinch in pain. "Which is where you're going, so don't worry. You'll see him soon," he promised.
The second time the pulley came up, Finch was relieved to see the familiar face of Mr. Reese appear. They immediately loaded him onto a waiting gurney and wheeled it over to the ambulance. Finch could see John protesting slightly, but no one one paid any attention to him.
Carter saw Finch looking at John in concern, and she hurried over to him. "I'll be there at the hospital with him," she promised. "They'll get him patched up and then I'll take him wherever he needs to go."
"Thank you detective," Finch responded. Bear whined, trying to get to John, but Finch held him back. "Not now, Bear," he muttered soothingly. "He'll be back soon." The two of them watched as the ambulances drove away, Detective Carter following in her car. Mr. Mozzie had walked with Neal to the ambulance, but as that ambulance drove away, the small bald man made his way back to Harold.
"Are you not going to the hospital?" Mozzie asked as he reached Finch.
"Not yet, I'm afraid. There's still some work that needs to be done to catch Franklin Delooney, and I'm going to find him. What about you? Are you not going to go with Mr. Caffrey?"
"Oh no, I'll go. I just don't like ambulances, and I don't trust the suits," he stated, jerking a thumb over at the man who had been with Caffrey on the walk to the ambulance. "You can never be too careful with the government. They're always watching and monitoring," he said matter-of-factly.
"If only he knew," Finch thought to himself, realizing this man was full of conspiracy theories. Unfortunately, some of them were true.
"I'm heading over there now," Mozzie continued. Finch nodded, and the little man hurried off. Finch looked down at the Malinois.
"It's just you and me now, I guess," he said quietly. He wondered if he should go to the hospital, but he knew John was going to be out of there as soon as he could, with or without his doctor's permission and Finch realized the trip to the hospital would probably be a waste of his time. The best thing he could do was to go back and track down Delooney, find out where he was and what he was up to.