CHAPTER THIRTEEN
"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.
Agent Peluso tried to hide his shock when he saw Neal standing in the next balcony...merely a few yards from where he was.
"Neal Caffrey...nice to finally meet you in the flesh. Heard a lot about you." Peluso replied.
"Don't believe everything you hear...I'm actually a hell of a lot better in real life." Neal bragged. He noticed that the agent was trying to dial his cellphone from behind his back. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." he warned Peluso.
Agent Peluso looked at him. "And why is that, Mr. Caffrey?" he inquired.
"Because if you do that, then I'm going to have to do this." Neal took something out of his pocket. It was an oval-shaped object about as big as a silver dollar coin, with a blue button in the middle. He then pressed the button and smiled at the agent.
"What exactly did you just do?" Peluso asked, trying to mask the look of concern on his face.
"See, this little gizmo right here just jammed all cellphone signals within the 40 meter radius, oh let's say for a good couple of hours. That means no network. Ergo, no tweeting...no updating your Facebook status...no posting pictures on Instagram...no text messages...and, I can't really stress this enough...NO phone calls! Damn! A lot of people staying at this hotel are gonna be so pissed!" Neal taunted Peluso.
"If this little visit is an attempt to gain my trust, Mr. Caffrey, I'd say that you are failing miserably." Peluso said to Neal.
"I'm not here to be your new best friend, Agent Peluso. I'm here to see what makes you tick." Neal replied.
"That would be very unwise, Mr. Caffrey. Think of how that would affect your friends." Peluso warned him.
"Is that how you found me? By getting to my friends? Did you go snooping around my landlady's house? Or have you been badgering my ex-girlfriend for answers? Either way...that just earned you a slot on my shit list. So tell me...what's stopping me from stealing a Renoir, or a Van Gogh, or a Picasso, or maybe even a Da Vinci...and then leaving a nice little note saying 'Special Agent Domenic Peluso sent me here'. That would raise quite a few eyebrows with your pals over at Interpol, wouldn't it?" Neal provoked the agent.
"Granted you are one of the best thieves there is, Mr. Caffrey...but not even you could do that." Peluso told him.
"Don't tell me what I 'could' and 'could not' do, Agent Peluso...you don't know me." Neal admonished him.
"I do believe that we got off at the wrong foot, Neal...may I call you Neal?" Peluso tried to get on Neal's good side.
"No, you may not. Friends and family may call me 'Neal'...you're neither." Neal retorted.
"Very well then, Mr. Caffrey. I am not here to antagonize you...quite the contrary, I'm here to help you." Peluso told him.
"Oh! You're trying to help me...how, exactly? By bringing me back to the United States and having me serve a lifetime sentence at Sing Sing? No, thank you! I don't need your kind of HELP." Neal said.
"I'm not here to bring you back...okay, maybe I am, but not in the way that you think. Like I said...I'm here to help." Peluso tried to explain.
"This conversation is over. You'd do best to stay away. From me and from my friends." Neal said, he started to back off.
"Wait!" Peluso called him back. "We have a deal for you. I just need to call another agent...unfortunately, you've made that impossible at the moment. My friend could explain this a lot better." he continued.
"And who would that be, I wonder? Special Agent Kramer, perhaps? No thank you! I'd rather be the lap dog of Satan!" Neal spat back, before turning away.
"No, not Agent Kramer." Peluso denied. "It's Special Agent Peter Burke!" he blurted out.
Neal stopped in his tracks when he heard the name. He turned to face Peluso again. "You're lying." Neal accused him.
"I'm not. Think about it...who's the foremost expert in finding you? Burke found you on more than one occasion. Is it really that hard for you to believe that he found you again?" Peluso asked.
"Where is he? If what you're saying is true...then where is he? Where's Peter?" Neal pressed.
"Give me time and I'll go get him. Just promise me you'll stay right where you are." Peluso bargained with him.
"I don't think so. You think I was born yesterday?" Neal scoffed. "If there really is a deal, which I very much doubt at the moment...then I'll only talk to Peter. We'll talk...but not here, not now. If what you're saying is true, then you'll have Peter meet with me tomorrow. First thing in the morning, at the pier in Bias Tegul beach. I spot an agent other than you or Burke, and you'll regret it." Neal warned him.
"Caffrey, wait!" Peluso tried to stop him.
Too late...Neal had already jumped off the balcony. With the skills of an expert parkour artist, he swung from floor to floor, half sliding, half climbing down, until he reached the ground...his body rolling as he landed.
Peluso quickly went after him. He headed to the nearest fire escape and hurriedly climbed down. He chased Neal down the streets, a good several yards away from him, when a motorbike suddenly stopped in front of Caffrey.
"Going my way, Blue Eyes?" the mysterious man in a dark helmet asked Neal.
Neal grinned widely, before hopping in at the back seat. The motorbike quickly sped off, with Peluso still running after them. Neal laughed at the man's persistence, as he waved him a mocked goodbye.
When the motorbike finally stopped by the docks, Neal quickly got off. The man finally took off his helmet, revealing Charlie's face.
"In here." Charlie said, motioning Neal to follow him.
Neal nodded, and followed the older man. They stopped next to a speedboat.
"Hop in." Charlie told him.
"Where did you get this?" Neal asked, as he did what he was told.
"I know some people who knows some people that robs some people." Charlie answered, before starting the boat.
"Thanks for the assist, Charlie." Neal told him.
"You do what you have to do for family...whether I like it or not, you've become a part of my family." Charlie replied.
"I kinda grew on you, huh?" Neal said with a smile.
"You'll have Alex to thank for that." Charlie replied curtly.
Neal winced at the mention of Alex's name. "I asked her to run away with me...she said no." Neal replied.
"Firecracker always listened to her head first...her heart second. Well...almost always." Charlie said, looking at Neal knowingly.
Neal wore a hurt expression on his face when he looked at Charlie. "So everything we've had...what the two of us have shared...all that we've been through together...did it mean anything to her? Is it really THAT easy for her to just forget all about us?" he asked.
Charlie paused for a while before he spoke. "This reminds me of a story..." he said, with a sad smile that barely reached his eyes. "It's from a while back...probably when you were still serving time at the Big House." he added, as he continued to steer the boat. "Hale...someone gave him an offer he couldn't refuse. He was to steal this priceless...and by priceless I mean a LOT of zeroes here...Russian gem-encrusted dagger given by the Shah of Persia to Mikhail Romanov. Alex and I went along as back-up. Needless to say, we weren't the only one who wanted to steal the dagger. A struggle ensued, mayhem followed. Hale got shot in the leg...nothing major, but he was bleeding badly. Alex drove the getaway car while I played nurse and put pressure into Hale's wound. We get to the hospital, and they treat Hale...you'd think everything was fine after that, but NO! Alex keels over right in from of me...only then did we figure out that she got stabbed during the struggle...down at the base of her rib cage. Her black outfit hid all the blood. Firecracker nearly bled to death." he laughed bitterly as he told Neal the story.
"That's how she got the scar." Neal said softly, barely a whisper.
"That's Alex's style, Blue Eyes." Charlie said. "She gets hurt...she picks herself up, dust herself off, and pretend that nothing bad happened...afterwards, when no one else is looking, maybe find herself a dark place where she can bleed to death in peace." He turned to look at Neal. "But just because you can't see it, doesn't mean she's not dying inside. For years, she's built very high walls around her heart, and you've managed to tear them down. And when she fell for you...she fell hard. Now, you tell me...do you really believe that you didn't mean anything to Alex?" he asked Neal.
Neal was silent for a moment. In light of what Peluso told him earlier, Neal was faced with another set of choices. He shook his head and sighed. He wanted too many things in life...things he can't all have. "I don't know what to do." he said, mostly to himself.
Charlie smiled weakly. "Sometimes, life is a lot like a dark tunnel...you can't always see the light at the end, but if you just keep moving, you will arrive at a much better place." he told Neal.
"You sound a lot like Hale sometimes, you know that?" Neal told him.
"He was a wise man and a foolish one...and it's an honor to be compared to him." Charlie replied. "Speaking of foolish...you mind telling me what the hell that was all about? Going in there, confronting a Fed without back up...that was foolish!" he chastised the young con artist.
"I just wanted to find out what he knows...what brought him here...what his plans are." Neal explained.
"You want to keep your friends safe...you want to protect Alex." Charlie said. "Did you find out what anything helpful?" he asked.
"Not sure if what I found out is true or not." Neal answered, sounding very concerned.
"You don't have to worry about us." Charlie told him. "Don't stress about protecting her...at the end of the day, Alex can take care of Alex." he said cryptically.
"And if she cant?" Neal asked him.
"Well, that's what I'm here for, Blue Eyes." Charlie answered. He stopped the boat and turned the ignition off. "We're here." he announced.
Neal got off the boat. "Thanks for the ride, Charlie. And for the chat." Neal said.
"Don't mention it, Neal." Charlie replied, as he watched the younger man walk back to his villa.
Neal opened the door and flipped the light switch on, and was surprised to see Mozzie waiting for him in the living room.
"Jesus, Moz! You scared me half to death!" Neal exclaimed.
"I'm all packed." Mozzie announced, showing him his toothbrush and then shoving it back into his pocket. "When are we leaving?" he asked.
"About that...there's been a development." Neal told him. "I had a chat with Agent Peluso-" he said, before Mozzie interrupted him.
"You talked to him? Like face to face? The Fed who's after you, and you had a chat with him? Are you trying to play cat-and-mouse with him, like you did back then with the Suit?" Mozzie asked him frantically.
"Funny you should mention Peter..." Neal replied. He saw Mozzie's confused expression. "Peluso said that Peter's here...and he has a deal to offer me." he told his friend.
"And you believe him?" Mozzie asked.
"No...that's why I told him to have Peter meet me at the pier tomorrow morning, at first light." Neal explained.
"It could be a trap." Mozzie pointed out.
"That did occur to me...I'm NOT a rookie, Moz!" Neal answered. "Of course, I won't show up if there are other agents present." he continued.
Mozzie shook his head. "This is a bad idea. We should just leave. Just stick to our plan and leave now!" he said.
"We're staying." Neal told him. "For now. Just until we've figured things out." he added.
"I don't get it. I thought you wanted to run. You can get whiplash from changing your mind THAT fast, you know!" Mozzie yelled.
"YOU wanted to run, Moz!" Neal yelled back. He spoke again in a calmer tone. "We've tried running...and we failed. What is it the you used to say...if at first you don't succeed, then maybe you just suck at it." Neal said.
Mozzie smiled weakly and shook his head. "It's the Suit, isn't it? It's the idea of the Suit coming for you...fixing everything and making it all better. He TOLD you to run, Neal!" he reminded him. "If he is indeed HERE, it's because he wants to bring you back and maybe get back in the good graces of the FBI." he continued.
"You don't know that. He may have a deal in the table for us." Neal defended Peter.
"For you. A deal for YOU. There is no US here...you're the only one wanted by the Feds." Mozzie corrected him. "You've changed. You went from a world-class master criminal, to Suit Junior. All because of what? To gain Agent Burke's attention? His affection? His approval? His acceptance? Tell me, Neal, because I really am confused." he pressed.
Neal remained silent, at a loss of how to answer. Mozzie continued to speak. "You've grown content of your life as an 'FBI consultant'." Mozzie scoffed. "Really, it's just another word for 'snitch'. And might I add...quite a good little snitch you've become. What's worse is that you've managed to turn me into one as well." he tried to shame Neal. "Is this what you really want? You want to go back to wearing a dead man's clothes? Back to your civil servant job? Back to burning your fellow con men? Are you really willing to walk away AGAIN from millions worth of treasure? Sacrifice all that you can have, just to be with your G-man buddy again." Mozzie pressed, which again was met with silence. "Fine! Worship the ground that the Suits walks on...dream of having HIS life. See if I care." he said, as he headed for the door.
"Moz-" Neal tried to stop him.
"Go get some rest. We want you bright-eyed and bushy tailed when you get reunited with the Suit tomorrow." Mozzie told him sarcastically, before slamming the door behind him.
~END OF CHAPTER THIRTEEN~
FOOTNOTES :
*Peter may or may not be in the next chapter. Mozzie may or may not be happy to see him.
*I just felt that Mozzie's anger needed to be addressed. After all, he was kinda downgraded from being Neal's partner-in-crime to being Neal's sidekick once Neal started working with Peter.
*Again, many thanks for reading this chapter. Hope you enjoyed it.