Unlikely heroes

Finally, the case reached a point where Neal was anxious to get into the field while Charlie claimed to need some more data that only he could collect as he needed to be there in person.

At first the agents in charge weren't certain about sending three untrained personnel out into the field alone. Then they decided to assign me to sit in the van while agents Don, Jack, and Peter worked in the field nearby as a team. They would be in regular contact with us just in case anything was to go amiss.

This meant that I was ordered into the van with all three of them alone in close quarters. Sue was in charge of watching in general, Charlie was looking out the windows and inputting his data into the computer, and Neal was simply taking advantage of a change in atmosphere. Fortunately, Levi was left behind at the office or we might have had a restless dog to crowd the little space even more.

For several hours there was little to do. Charlie would look out the window and mutter things before putting more data into the computer system. Sue would move about and scan various parts of the neighborhood as she watched for anything suspicious and occasionally helped Charlie look for something in particular. Neal had found a new place to kick his feet up while he simply moved and assisted as requested. Since there wasn't anything for me to do but be the only agent present, I found myself settled into the corner continuing my observations of their interactions. (The only change in their interactions was the location and size of the space as they were each as helpful and accommodating of each other as before).

After several hours things took a turn for the worse. The first thing to occur was when the computers started to glitch. Charlie tried to trace the source of the trouble with the computers while Neal helped. Turning to me, Neal ordered me to contact the agents and tell them that something was wrong before I was to help Sue on lookout just in case there was going to be an attack. Sue followed instructions and watched from the front where she would have the greatest view around us. I tried to message for backup only to find all communications down. Not even my cell phone would put through a call. Getting worried, I had no idea what to do or how to handle this kind of situation.

While they were battling that problem, Sue alerted us to a bigger issue. There were heavily armed men approaching from the side. As they went about their plans we were helpless to stop them so Sue read their lips and relayed what was going on (I didn't know a person could read lips backwards in a mirror). Apparently the group we were up against was led by some man named Tyrone Rex and he was determined to get his hands on some government project called the "Intersect." The men placed a box on the side of the van which made a point of contact close enough to the computers in the van that they were able to hack the system and began stealing a considerable about of data.

In an effort to block them, Neal worked to close off their access while instructing Charlie on how to tag things for later investigations. He said that what they were doing would provide a way of identifying the hacker, tracing what was lost, and hopefully getting a way to know what they would be trying next.

Then the hacking stopped. Sue suddenly ordered everyone to get down as gunfire erupted through the van. Armor piercing rounds made quick work of the upper area of the van. (Should anyone have been standing, they would have been killed instantly). Then as the shooters worked their way down, Neal barked orders like a trained soldier or field agent.

He grabbed a pack he had stashed close to hand. Giving us a sheepish expression, he pulled out a couple of guns and a badge. "The directors are going to kill me for breaking cover, but I'd rather them than these guys." Then making sure that we all knew what was going on, he instructed that he would dive out and provide cover while we were to run a short distance to a cement barrier. Moving us into position, Neal gave a fingered countdown before blasting out of the door.

While he laid down cover fire, we ran for safety away from the depleted protection of the van. Once we were past him, Neal started moving along with us keeping slightly behind as a rear guard.

Taking the lead, I started to kick into agent mode. Holding my gun out in front of me I checked to make sure we weren't walking into another trap before pushing the others to safety behind the concrete wall. Since Neal was right behind us, we all had to duck quickly before the retaliating fire opened up again.

Crouched low beneath the whizzing bullets, Neal checked us over and had us work to cover the bleeding from various minor injuries. Since the van looked like Swiss cheese, it was of no wonder that we found ourselves bearing several shrapnel wounds. Once Neal was sure we wouldn't leave a blood trail he took us for an army crawl further down the alley. From there we climbed up the back of an old abandoned building and fled the area.

After crossing several connected buildings, Neal decided to check the lay of the land. He instructed us to crouch down facing different directions so that no one would sneak up on us while he checked around. When he returned, he was dismayed to inform us that our attackers were running around in a literal little army. They were everywhere looking for us. It wasn't safe for us to keep moving with our injuries, but we couldn't just sit back and wait to be found either.

Neal chose to handle our predicament by hiding the two who couldn't fight, with me to guard them, while he stood guard and took down any patrols that got too close. This way we should be able to hold out until backup arrived while also reducing the odds of anyone getting killed.

When I tried to argue with him he gave me a short clipped command. "Currently, I am the ranking agent present who is trained and experienced in dealing with these situations, so stand down and follow orders agent Beckett."

I was shocked. He wasn't acting like a con man at all and there wasn't anything disgustingly pleasant or charming about him. Instead, he was all business on high alert with a dangerous look about him. This was the appearance, actions, and words of an agent. The turn of events had taken the rest of us by surprise, but the other two seemed to be less so than myself which was noted by Sue's comment. "You play a conman well but there is something about you that lacks that level of dishonesty. A secret agent fits the discrepancies."

That seemed to please Neal as he responded. "Thank you Sue. You're not that bad yourself. Now if you'll excuse me, they want the Intersect so, as guardian, I'll just have to give them a taste of its training capacity."

Charlie's eyes bugged out of his head in response to that. "I know who you are!"

As he finished settling us into our hiding place, Neal winked at him. "We just worked together twice and it took you this long to recognize me. Stay put and keep quiet, I don't want anyone to get hurt any worse." And with that last order he was gone.

It was eerie. Neal had cleverly hid us in a random hole in the wall so it looked like a pile of boards were leaning up against a wall with no place to hide when we were really located in the hidden space behind it. From our position, we could see the alley in both directions to the left and right while being able to see straight ahead down a third alleyway. The wind was channeled through the space rustling trash and carrying noise from a distance keeping us wound up.

Charlie took one side to keep watch, Sue took the middle, and I took the other side. As we hid, we watched several patrols walk by and poke at the trash. Once in a while someone would shoot into a dark space if they saw movement, but it usually just turned out to be rats.

Then after a while we started to notice some things. Each patrol wore identification to indicate which part of the group they were with. They always moved in groups of at least two and were heavily armed. Finally, they would report into their radio that they would do a sweep through our alley before changing places and combing through again, but they never did.

Another person kept showing up dressed the same and wearing identification like the others, but he didn't act the same. This one moved alone and bounced around instead of moving through with a purpose of finding us. He was hunting, but for different prey.

We decided that this was likely to be Neal after he had stolen some clothes to help him hide from the attackers. Playing one of their own gave him a better chance of surviving longer than being an obvious enemy.

One of the patrols started poking around our hiding spot and was bound to find us except noise around a corner farther down distracted them. When they moved on to investigate, we saw Neal slide through them before both men crumpled to the ground. As we continued to watch, Neal flipped them over, bound them, removed their weapons, hid them in a stash, and drug the men into a room before locking them in.

Another patrol rounded the corner and by the time we looked back to where Neal had been standing, he was gone again.

That was how our time continued.

The wait was driving me crazy. It was obviously that we were severely outnumbered and Neal couldn't take them all on alone. I checked my phone at one point to find no signal and the others followed my lead to discover the same. There was nothing that we could do so we followed orders and watched in uncomfortable fear while Neal crept about like a ghost defeating the enemy a few at a time.

Eventually the other agents could be heard approaching us. By the sounds of it, they were extremely worried and hoping we had found a place to hide. Despite their obvious optimism, we could hear the fear that they would find our bodies dumped in one of the random back alleys as there wasn't much likely hood that we would have survived such a full scale attack (indeed we probably wouldn't have if it hadn't been for Neal and Sue).

When they came into our portion of the alley, we watched as they approached us checking through each pile of trash with a caution that revealed how much they feared what they would find. As they got closer we reached a point where we felt comfortable calling out to them. Their heads whipped around and they hurried towards us eager to reassure themselves that we were okay.

Jack signed something to Sue who quickly signed that she was okay while Don hugged Charlie to reassure himself that his brother was alright. Peter got a very worried look on his face when he noticed that Neal wasn't with us. I was about to explain to him what I could about Neal when a number of patrols started popping out of the building around us showing that we were found, surrounded, outnumbered, and out gunned.

Those of us carrying weapons were ordered to place them on the ground while we were all to step out of behind the boards. When only three people came out, they demanded the fourth come out also. I told them that the last one had run for help so he wasn't with us. The leader spoke into his radio for another team to look for our "comrade" and when no one answered he told us that he "would take care of him" after he finished with us.

Standing in the open, it felt like we were facing down the firing squad. Sue placed herself next to Jack, Don tried to stand slightly in front of Charlie, and Peter was left on the end by me.

As the men raised their weapons we tensed in preparation for death, but before they could open fire on us, another man dropped in behind them drawing their fire his way as he was a direct threat.

While we watched, the man danced through them like they were no threat at all. Their guns proved useless as he simply dodged the bullets despite the close range. When they tried to hit him he used their momentum against them and redirected it into another opponent using them as weapons against each other. Even their numbers didn't help them as he simply took them on a few at a time while seeming to keep an awareness of where every one of them was at. That was proven when one of the back ones moved to point his gun at Peter only for the man to throw another man's empty gun at him. The weapon worked like a club knocking the attacker off guard and giving the man time to reach him before he could try his move again.

Although we would have loved to help, we didn't know what to do. I moved to take on one attacker, but he was downed by a discharged ammunition clip to the forehead before I could do anything. Peter moved to catch one before he could run away but he was downed by a trash can lid making him easy to capture. Don and Jack also tried to help with similar results. It was like the man was in a zone fighting and he didn't want us to leave anyone unprotected by helping him.

Then finally, when he had taken down the last man, our rescuer turned to us and proved our earlier theory correct. The man removed his head gear to reveal a sweaty Neal. He held up a hand to keep Peter at bay when he moved towards him. "I'm fine Peter, but like the others I have a lot of shrapnel wounds with the addition of a few bullet grazes. There aren't any injuries that can't be solved with a few stitches at most so relax, we're all okay."

We all breathed a sigh of relief when the next sounds we heard were that of SWAT coming around the corner with full back up. Seeing him dressed like the enemy, they tried to arrest Neal until Peter cleared him saying that he was one of ours.

With that cleared up, Neal started rattling off the locations and numbers of the attackers directing teams to go pick them up. As the numbers grew, everyone's eyes got bigger.

Then he asked to borrow Peter's phone. His call was to someone named Beckman and consisted of a warning that a breach of security had occurred with the FBI database. The target was project Intersect, its attackers led by Tyrone Rex, and he advised to take precautions accordingly. Ending that call, he dialed the FBI to inform someone that his cover was blown a little bit so they would need to arrange a meeting with Peter to create a new arrangement with him in the know. Returning Peter's phone, he gave our group a few answers while we continued to have a moment away from the rest of the agents swarming the area.

"I can't tell you everything, but I am a task force agent. My past includes projects like the Intersect and several other situations where being outnumbered is common which has forced me to become adept at extreme combat. Playing Caffrey isn't my favorite alias, but I have had worse, and it is the only safe one that hasn't been compromised by traitors." He was trying to tell us something while keeping from revealing too much.

Charlie muttered off to the side in response. "I have worked with you as yourself, and you're not even touching on several things."

"I'm sorry Charlie, but that name is on the books as dead again so you'll just have to keep what you know to yourself, that includes not telling Don." Then he switched back to being all business. "Peter, we're going to need to visit the local hospital for stitches." Shifting position he addressed us all. "When we get back to the office, Charlie and I will need to get to work on the hackers and the information that we tagged so we can see how much of a trail they created. Sue saw the name Tyrone Rex as being the leader of this so some of you can get to work on him and any of his associates to see what turns up. The rest of you can look into how he got such heavy weaponry and where he got himself an army for hire."

Thank you for reading, reviewing/commenting, leaving kudos, following, and choosing to favorite :)

We are down to two chapters left for this story full of the perspectives and reactions. Although I have a possible plan for what to post next, is there any requests for what you would like to see? There are some new additions to the list on my profile page if you would like to check that out.