CHAPTER TWELVE
It had been several hours since Neal last saw Alex back at his place. He had been walking around the island for hours, out in the rain, trying to find her but failing to do so. He looked everywhere, but it seemed as if she disappeared yet again...she was very good at that.
Neal sighed and shook his head. He needed to find her. He needed to reassure her that everything's going to be alright. But most of all, he needed to ask her a very important question. And her answer could very well determine their future together.
"There you are!" Mozzie interrupted his musings.
"Did you find out anything?" Neal asked him, as they walked side by side in the rain.
"Indeed, I did." Mozzie answered. "You didn't find Alex." he said, stating the obvious.
Neal shook his head. "I looked everywhere...scoured the island. She's nowhere to be found." he told his friend. He dialed Alex's cellphone number only to get the voice mail yet again. "She's not answering her phone either." he added, sounding defeated.
"Well, I hate to add more to the bad news...but this guy, Peluso, isn't just some 'suit' we can shrug off." he told Neal. "As it turns out, Special Agent Domenic Peluso is an elite member of the DSS. He's not just 'good'...he's one of the best there is. When the Feds want to find someone, they call him." Mozzie informed him. "Not only that, he also has special privileges, being an intermediary officer between the DOJ and the State Department, as well as an inter-agency liaison to US-NCB Interpol." he enumerated.
"So, you're saying we NEED to worry about this guy, then?" Neal said.
"Just a tad." Mozzie quipped. "Let's get out of the rain,shall we? I'm all water-logged and starting to chafe." he told Neal, as they headed to Mozzie's villa.
Once they arrived at his villa, Mozzie noticed that the door had been jimmied.
"Neal...didn't you say that you looked for Alex EVERYWHERE'?" he asked.
Neal was too preoccupied to care. "Yes." he answered, taking out his phone again.
"Scoured the island, did you?" Mozzie asked again, slowly opening the door.
"Mmmhmm." Neal replied, dialing Alex's number once again. He then heard a phone ring. Not just any phone, but Alex's phone. He turned around, just as Mozzie was opening the door.
"Well, that can't be right. Maybe you didn't look hard enough. Because if you really looked everywhere, then you would have found where she is. One place where you SHOULD have looked is HERE!" Mozzie opened the door wider, revealing Alex inside the villa.
Neal and Mozzie went inside. Alex just stood there, unmoving. There she was, dressed in all black from head to foot, eerily reminiscent of the old days back in New York, when they used to pulls jobs together.
"What the hell took you two so long?" she asked tersely. She took her hood off to reveal her face. She didn't look angry...she didn't look anything. Her face lacked any expression.
"Hello to you too, Alex." Mozzie greeted her. "Did you really feel the need to jimmy the lock? That was rude...you could've just asked Lima. She has a key." he told her. Alex just stood there silently and stoically.
"Wow...this is just like in my dream!" Mozzie announced. "Only you were wearing a latex Catwoman outfit and sporting a bullwhip and a-" he said playfully, before Neal cut him off.
"Not now, Moz! Not now..." Neal warned him. He moved closer to Alex. "Where have you been?" he asked her. "I've been looking everywhere for you." he told her.
"So I heard." Alex replied, her face remained expressionless. She turned to face Mozzie and took out a big, brown envelope hidden inside her jacket. "I've come bearing gifts." she told him, handing the envelope over to him.
Mozzie took the envelope and opened it. He was surprised to see the contents. Inside the envelope were fake passports and other documents for him and Neal. Basically, it was a packet containing their new identities. He took his 'paperworks' and passed the rest to Neal.
"Where did you get these? Your 'cobbler' works fast!" Mozzie told Alex.
"I had a life before I came to paradise, remember?" she replied cryptically.
Neal took out his new fake passport. "James Maine." he muttered.
"You're lucky. I got 'Jeffrey Coyle'!" Mozzie told him. He turned to Alex. "Now, do I look like a Jeffrey to you? Jeffrey Coyle...sounds like a nerdy name. I'm more of a Barry than a Jeffrey!" he complained. "Hi, baby doll...name's Barry." he said, his voice lowering down a few octaves, sounding very husky. "See? I can pull off a 'Barry'. I want to be Barry!" he whined in his normal voice.
"I don't give a shit what you want!" Alex snarled, the situation finally getting a rise out of here. She took a deep breath to compose herself. "Maybe in your next life, Moz. At this point, Jeffrey is the one you're stuck with." she told him calmly. She took out a white envelope from her breast pocket. "Here you go." she handed them over to Mozzie.
"What's this?" Mozzie asked.
"Exit strategy." she answered, as Mozzie opened the envelope. "Two tickets to Taipei, one way." she added. "Whenever you guys are ready, just let Charlie know. He's arranged a transport for you two, from here to Denpasar International Airport." she added, trying hard to avoid Neal's eyes.
Neal tried to reach out to her, but she quickly pulled away. "Once you've landed in Taipei Songshan Airport, you need to call Gong Wei and Huang Lei. They'll help you out...they owe me a favor. " she looked at Mozzie. "I'm assuming you STILL know how to contact them." she said.
"Of course, I do!" Mozzie answered indignantly. "Ahhh...'The Puppet Master' and 'The Crypt Keeper'. Those were the bad old days!" his eyes twinkled, as he reminisced. He earned curious looks from Neal and Alex. "What? That's what they called themselves back then." he said. "I was called 'The Invisigoth'!" he added.
"Whatever." Alex said. "Just pack your bags and let Charlie know when you're ready." she told them, as she turned to leave.
Neal grabbed her lightly by the waist, preventing her departure. He turned to Mozzie. "We need a moment." he told his friend.
"I can't believe this! You're kicking me out of my own place?" Mozzie complained. He saw the look on Neal's face...his eyes almost begging. "Fine! I'll be right outside! Let me know when you're done." he grumbled on his way out.
Once Mozzie was out of earshot, Alex pulled away from Neal. "What do you want, Caffrey?" she asked, very annoyed.
"We're back to Caffrey, now? I was just getting used to you calling me Neal. I like that much better." he told her.
"Well, you'll need to get used to people calling you 'James' pretty soon." she reminded him.
There was a long pause, until Neal broke the silence. "Why did you only get fake documents for me and Mozzie?" he asked.
"I don't understand the question." Alex replied.
"Don't play dumb, Alex. It doesn't suit you. You could have gotten yourself a fake identity as well. Why didn't you?" he pressed.
"Because I don't need 'em." Alex answered.
"Damn it, Alex! You know that I would ask you to come with us!" Neal raised his voice. He pulled her closer. "I'm asking you to run away with me." he told her in a softer tone.
"No." she replied. It was short and emotionless.
"No? That's it? NO?" Neal repeated.
"I'm not leaving with you, Caffrey." she told him.
"Why not?" he pressed.
"I don't want to." she answered.
"Why?" he asked again.
"I just don't!" she raised her voice.
"Give me a reason!" his tone matching hers.
"Because you're YOU!" she snarled at him. "You're like a child...you act on impulse and you do things on a whim!" she added.
"YES! And you've known this for how long now? Alex, you know ME! Flaws and ALL!" he reminded her.
"Yes, I DO know you, probably better than most of the women in your life. I know you well enough to know when to give up." she told him, sounding so defeated.
"Don't give up on me...don't give up on us. Please, come with me." he pleaded.
"Is that what you said to Sara? Did you ask her to come with you too? You know what? Forget I asked...I don't wanna know!" Alex snapped at him.
"Alex, Sara is in my past. Just like Kate is in my past." Neal tried to explain. "But us...we can have a future together. All you have to do is come with me." he told her.
"There is no 'US', Caffrey. There's no 'WE'. There's a 'YOU' and a 'ME', but there is no 'US', no 'WE'...not anymore." she told him. She turned away from him to wipe the tears from her eyes. She took a deep breath before she faced him again. "I'm not going with you, Neal. Unlike you, I can't just pack up and go. There are people here who I care about. And by some miracle, they care about me too. I can't just leave them behind!" she explained.
"Not even for me?" Neal asked.
"Not even for you." Alex shook her head. "Don't look at me like that. For years, I have been that one part of your life that was the easiest to let go off! Just leave! You've done it so many times before...I'm sure you can do it one more time. Leave...don't look back!" she said to him. She walked towards the door and motioned for Mozzie to come back inside. "We're done here." she told Mozzie.
"So, everything...is okay now?" Mozzie asked once he was back inside.
"As well as can be expected." Alex answered, without looking at Neal. "As I was saying earlier, Gong and Huang can help you once you get to Taipei. Whatever you do after that is entirely up to the two of you." she told them. "You can change aliases again...move to another country...do whatever you like. I can't know about it. It's for the best." she continued.
"Plausible deniability...we get it." Mozzie told her. "I take it this means you're not coming with us." he assumed.
Alex shook her head no. "Anyway...in case you're looking to change locations after Taiwan, may I suggest Macau...Casablanca...Moscow...Dubai...or maybe even Timbuktu. Just any place where-" she proposed.
"...There's no extradition treaty to the United States." Mozzie interrupted her. "We know! This ain't our first time at the rodeo, silly girl." he added. He turned to face Neal. "I'm thinking Cape Verde...or Brunei...or maybe Nepal! I've always wanted to go there! Hell, if the two of us can't get lost in a nation of 30 million people, we should probably just surrender!" he said excitedly.
Alex silently applauded Mozzie's enthusiasm. She knew that he was only doing it to distract Neal. She looked up and met Neal's gaze, and smile at him weakly. You could see the pain in both their eyes. Slowly, she turned around and slipped out of the villa, unnoticed by Mozzie...but it broke Neal's heart to watch her leave.
"Are you even paying attention?" Mozzie asked, breaking into his thoughts.
"Yes, Moz...Nepal sounds great." Neal answered with feigned excitement.
Mozzie looked around. "Where did Alex go?" he asked.
"She's gone." Neal answered.
"You okay with that?" Mozzie asked him.
"Not like I have any choice in the matter." Neal replied. "She said no, Moz." he added, the pain evident in his eyes.
"Maybe it IS for the best." Mozzie told him.
"Oh yeah? Best for who?" Neal asked him.
"For you." Mozzie answered. "Sometimes, people come into your life briefly...only to teach you how to let go." he advised him.
"Is that an original Moz-ism, or did you get that from a fortune cookie?" Neal retorted.
"Mock all you want Neal...but the truth is that you have a rather unhealthy way of clinging on to things...of clinging on to people. Tell me I'm wrong." he dared Neal, but was met with silence. "You, my friend, are in a really bad need of a lesson about letting go...more than any man I've ever met." he added. "So let go. Let her go. That way, you can both be free." he told his friend.
"It's not that easy." Neal answered.
"I didn't say it would be easy. That's why a change of scenery is an order." Mozzie said to him, clapping his hands. "You run, I run. Let's run." he reminded Neal.
Neal thought for a moment. Then he smiled. "Oh, we'll run." he told Mozzie. "But first things first..." he added.
"What do you mean?" Mozzie asked him, not liking the expression on his face.
"You wouldn't happen to know where Special Agent Domenic Peluso is staying, would you?" he inquired.
"Sure, I do. He's staying at that hotel near the resort we stayed back in Lombok." he informed Neal. "Why do you ask?" he pressed.
"I need to know what HE knows." Neal replied. "Knowledge is power, remember?" he reminded his friend.
"Yeah, but most of the time, ignorance is bliss." Mozzie told him.
"Just trust me, Moz. You have nothing to be afraid of." Neal tried to reassure him.
"You think this is fear, but it isn't. It's self-preservation...it's one of the most basic human instinct. Avoiding capture is how humans have survived for millennia after millennia. You think mankind would still be here if we didn't think, 'Oh, look, it's a saber-toothed tiger...let's run before it eats us!'" Mozzie replied exaggeratedly. "Peluso knows we're here. He's got our scent. We can't afford to waste time, Neal. If we're going to run, we should run NOW." he told him.
"I need to know what he knows about Alex, Charlie and Lima." Neal reasoned. "I have to be sure that they'll be safe after we leave. I need to be sure that Peluso won't make their lives a living hell once we're gone. I owe Alex that much." he continued.
"And then, we leave?" Mozzie asked.
"And then we leave." Neal assured him.
That night, clad in black, Neal left for Lombok. Thanks to Mozzie, he knew which hotel the agent was checked in at. It didn't take him long to find out which suite Peluso was staying in. It pays to be charming.
Stealthily, Neal climbed up to the balcony next to Peluso's room. After that, all he needed to do was wait. His patience was rewarded when he saw a man come out of the balcony next to where he was perched at. The man fitted Peluso's description. Neal smiled as he came out of the darkness.
"Hello there, Special Agent Domenic Peluso. My name's Neal Caffrey. I believe you've been looking for me." he told the stunned DSS agent.
~END OF CHAPTER TWELVE~
FOOTNOTES :
*US-NCB = United States National Central Bureau. A branch of Interpol based in Washington.
*cobbler - someone who makes fake passports, visas, and other documents.
*You're probably thinking "Neal! What the hell are you doing?" Am I right?
*Three words. Peter. Soon. Promise! =D
*Many thanks again for reading this chapter!