Chapter 9
It was well over 18 hours! Elizabeth Burke was frantic. First she had to deal with her husband disappearing without any word. Then she discovered no one in the White Collar unit knew his location or had any clue where Peter might be.
She had called Neal last night. He had sounded distracted and worried, but being Neal, he had reassured her and promised to help. When she did not hear back from her young friend, Elizabeth knew the situation was alarming.
The next time she called Clinton Jones she told him Neal had not returned her phone messages. Jones had hesitated to disclose the news that Neal had disengaged his tracker. The entire division was back at the office trying to locate both men.
Peter's boss, Reese Hughes, contacted Elizabeth next. He did his best to try and reassure her that they would find out what had happened. He repeated all the standard clichés agents are suppose to tell spouses in this type of situation. She knew he would do all he could to find Peter and bring him home safely, but it didn't help calm her fears. The older agent gently asked her if she wanted some of the agent's wives to come stay with her. Elizabeth turned down the offer. She would call her mother and ask a close friend to wait with her.
El thought back on the previous afternoon. She and Peter had shared a wonderful picnic in the park. Their lunch "date" had been perfect. She had picked up some special sandwiches from Peter's favorite deli and surprised him with a corny Hallmark card about love. He had laughed and asked, "Sweetheart, what are you setting me up for?"
They talked about Neal's success with the agency and Peter joked that the young consultant was miffed about not being invited to lunch. Her husband told her how excited he was about some hockey tickets an old friend offered him. She remembered nothing that he had been concerned about. In fact, Peter was unusually boisterous that day. What had happened? He was her life. If anything bad happened to that man she would not be able to survive.
Where was Neal? The two were usually inseparable! Had he stumbled into the same danger as Peter? Elizabeth knew in her heart that Neal would have contacted her if Peter was safe. She prayed to God that she would soon see the two men come charging through the front door.
"Do the right thing." Peter's words still hung in the air. Even hours later, Neal couldn't absorb the full impact of the plea.
Even while the agent was injured, abused and suspecting betrayal he hadn't turned on his associate. Peter had every right to be furious and bitter in believing that his charge had callously abandoned him to his fate. His partner wouldn't even bother to remove his handcuffs when asked, not once, but twice.
Yet, Peter Burke hadn't railed at him, vilified him, thrown accusations that he should never have rescued Neal from prison. He had just intently observed him. It seemed Peter had been searching for some clue, some insight on his own failure within the situation. If Neal had possessed any doubt in the past about Peter's commitment toward his reformation it had vanished. This man never played him, used him, or sought his talents for some hidden agenda. He was as upfront as he seemed.
Now it was up to him to rescue the man to whom he owed so much. Neal was not about to fail at this mission. It was time to put his plan into action.
The White Collar Unit was on high alert. Peter Burke had been missing since the previous night and felon-consultant Neal Caffrey had removed his anklet. The majority of agents suspected Burke's disappearance was tied to Caffrey's escape. Jones, Cruz and, surprisingly, Hughes, did not necessarily feel that Caffrey had intentionally endangered his mentor. They didn't rate Neal very high in the honesty factor but all three agents knew that the two men shared an uncommon bond. Hughes relied on Burke's perception of Caffrey. He wouldn't leap to prejudicial conclusions. Not yet.
Hours were spent researching the cases Burke and Caffrey were presently investigating. Several involved high profile felons and one included underworld figures. Neither Jones nor Cruz remembered Burke being especially apprehensive about any of them. Peter had asked Neal to check on some classified documents but Jones didn't remember any urgency about them. They were old files of no significance. In addition, Peter had some young aides pull up an old case for him.
The agents began to make visits to all the people affiliated with Peter Burke's recent cases. With no evidence or clues where to focus they had to rely completely on procedural protocol. Most of the people they tried to interview refused to cooperate or immediately called their attorneys. It was going to be a long, drawn out affair. As the hours went by all of Peter's associates knew the danger incrementally increased.
Agent Clinton Jones was once more going through the paperwork left in his boss' office. It didn't help that Burke usually left his desk unusually neat before he left work each night. He cleared it of paperwork and stacked it all in a bottom drawer. He knew which ones he wanted to prioritize. Neal always teased Peter about his OCD desk habit. Jones smiled at the memory.
His cell phone rang with an odd caller ID. Jones answered the call and heard Neal Caffrey's anxious voice.