What Happens When You Throw Out the Rulebook

By RascalFlattsS

Disclaimer: Still do not own.

After reading and reviewing, I decided the make divide chapter two and make it into two chapters instead of one. This chapter is written from Peter's perspective.

"You know that there are stairs, right?"

The moment Neal stepped off the elevator and walk past him back into the White Collar crimes division, Peter had suspected that something was up. He had seen Jones and Diana looked at Neal in confusion and amazement, which he was sure, matched his own expression. He knew that something big must have happen for Neal to skip lunch to work (which as long as Neal had worked with Peter, he had never seen Neal skip a meal to work). Peter was half tempted to march back into the office and demand what Neal was up to, but the desire to see his wife before she left was stronger than his curiosity to find out what Neal was up to.

Besides, Peter thought, how much trouble can Neal get into in one hour?

Peter tried to focus on the conversation with Elizabeth but yet his mind kept drifting back to what Neal could possibly be up to. His gut kept turning, telling him that something was wrong and that the younger man was in trouble, even though Peter didn't know how or why.

Elizabeth looked up and smiled softly at her husband. "Is everything all right?"

"Yeah," said Peter. "Why?"

Elizabeth smiled softly, "You've hardly touched any of your food." She sighed, "What did he do now?"

Peter looked up from his lunch, confused. "What?"

Elizabeth smiled slightly, "What has Neal done now?"

"What makes you think that Neal has done something wrong?" asked Peter.

"Call it a hunch," said Elizabeth. "You seem really distracted. I only know of one person who can do that."

"Neal," breathed Peter. He sighed and looked at his wife. "It's probably nothing. It's just odd. Neal got to the elevator first on the way to lunch."

"And that upsets you because?" asked Elizabeth teasing.

"He rode it all the way down to the first floor!" said Peter. "I know because it took so long for it to come back up. And when it did, Neal was on the elevator. He got off the elevator and went back into the office!"

"And this is suspicious how?" asked Elizabeth.

"It's Neal!" said Peter. "Skipping lunch to work? That's not like Neal."

Elizabeth sighed. "There's something else, isn't there?"

Peter ran his hand through his hair, "Call it a gut feeling. But I can't help but feel that Neal is in trouble."

Elizabeth nodded. She was about to say something when Peter's phone rang. They both looked at it for a moment before Peter answered it, "Burke."

"Agent Burke, it's Agent Ross," said Agent Ross. "I finished running the name Caffrey asked me to run."

Peter raised an eyebrow, "Neal asked you to run a name?"

"Yes," said Agent Ross, "A Gina De Stefano. Nothing popped up."

"Okay thanks," said Peter. He hung up the phone. He looked at Elizabeth. "Neal had Ross look up a name that has nothing to do with the case."

Elizabeth smiled. She could see the concern and worry written all over Peter's face. "Go. Take care of Neal."

Peter smiled. He got up and gave his wife a kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too," said Elizabeth. "Now go take care of Neal."

Peter arrived back at the office in about fifteen minutes. He had Diana and Jones run everything they had on Gina De Stefano.

"She's a waitress," said Jones. "She hasn't used any of her credit cards in the past twenty-four hours. I talked to her boss and he said she left on her break this morning with 'two scary guys'. She hasn't been seen since."

Peter nodded. "What about the video from the elevator?"

Diana nodded, "A man enters the elevator with Neal. He keeps his back to the camera the whole time."

Peter looked at the video and cursed.

"Look familiar?" asked Jones.

"Mozzie," breathed Peter. "Damn it! What is he doing coming here?"

Jones shrugged, "Must be something big for him to come down here. In our office."

Peter nodded in agreement. What in the world had Neal and Mozzie gotten into now?

"Here's something," said Jones, "Gina has a boyfriend, Tommy. And Tommy's got a record."

Peter grabbed the file and read through it. His heart stopped when he read the name on the bottom. "Call Neal! NOW!" He grabbed his coat and raced out of the room. Diana and Jones followed after him.

"What's wrong?" asked Jones.

"Tommy works with Navarro," said Peter quickly.

"Oh boy," said Jones. "That's not good." He sighed. "What are the odds Neal isn't on his way to meet Navarro?"

"Knowing Neal," said Peter, "Slim to none." He turned to Diana, "Any answer?"

Diana shook her head. "I sent him a text, but I'm not getting a response."

Peter cursed again. "Get me a location on Neal's tracker! NOW!"

Peter, Diana and Jones were in the car, driving to Neal's last location. With New York traffic, it was going to take them at least twenty minutes to get to Neal. And Peter had a bad feeling that Neal didn't have time to spare.

"Can't we get there any faster?" asked Peter frustrated.

Jones shook his head. "I'm going as fast as I can."

"I don't know why you wouldn't let me drive," said Peter annoyed.

"Because we wanted to get there in one piece," mumbled Jones. Luckily for him, Peter's phone had rang so Peter didn't hear what he said.

"Burke," said Peter. "WHAT?" Jones and Diana looked at him, shocked. Peter ignored him. "Okay, we're on our way."

He hung up the phone. "Neal's anklet has been cut."

The two junior agents shared a looked, knowing that if their favorite consultant wasn't already in trouble, he was going to be when Agent Peter Burke got a hold of him.

By the time Peter, Jones and Diana arrived at Navarro's smoking lounge; local NYPD had arrived and were processing the scene.

"FBI," said Peter, flashing his badge. "What do we got?"

The officer led them down the hall. "We've got some broken glass," he said pointing to the door. "The door knob is locked; my guess is whoever was on the other side shot through the glass to get in."

Peter nodded. He looked through the broken door. He felt his heart stop when he saw the small pool of red. "Is that blood?"

The officer nodded. "We don't have a match yet so we don't know who got shot, but someone got hit. We didn't find any slugs either so either the bad guy policed his brass or there was no exit wound.

Neal. Shot. Neal had been shot. Neal had been shot and had a bullet still inside him.

Peter took a deep breath, trying to keep the fear at bay.

"Did you find anyone?" asked Jones.

The officer shook his head. "No bodies. So either whoever got shot lived or they moved the body."

So there was a chance that Neal was still alive then.

The officer looked at the three FBI agents. "This belongs to one of your guys?"

Diana nodded, "One of our consultants was checking out a lead at this location. He's failed to check in."

"Is there anything else?" asked Jones.

The officer nodded, "We were just about to call you." He led the agents further into the house into a kitchen area. Sitting on the middle of the kitchen table was Neal's tracker.

Peter walked forward to examine the anklet when he saw something written on the side.

FINDERS KEEPERS

Cliffie karma! Horrible cliff hanger, I know.

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