He pushed his toes off the floor with a little jump allowing his weight to come down on his bruised, bleeding wrists with as much force as possible, stifling a choked scream… he swung from side to side, using the edges of the sconce to saw into his bindings. Agony ripped through him but his heart soared when he felt a tiny snap as a single strand of twine broke. He'd lost track of how many times he's repeated the painful process but at least it was starting to work. That thought gave him the strength to continue. Forcing air back into his chest he fumbled his toes back under him, legs shaking violently. A glance at the timer…20 minutes left… He jumped again…pain…the pop of another string. Again and again and again…he paused to breathe… wheezing. "Don't blackout" he told himself over the roaring in his ears and the darkening at the edges of his vision. His heart hammered furiously… 10 minutes… Neal glanced over his shoulder again… 3 more strands. His gaze turned across the room… Emily whimpered, her finger in her mouth… her beautiful eyes on him, her tiny lip trembling, watching his movements with trepidation. She pressed her back into the corner …putting as much distance between herself and Neal as she could. She was so young… just a baby…
"It's ok Emily… I'm going to get you home ..." he smiled at her… "I promise"
"You bad man." She responded "daddy says a bad man made mommy go away…" she hiccupped "you made daddy go away too…"
"No your daddy is fine… he's looking for you right now…" Neal drew a ragged breath…pushing up on his toes to get enough air to speak… "He's probably on his way here right now."
"Daddy said don't talk to you…" her finger found its way back to her mouth and she turned her back on him.
"It's going to be ok Emily…." No response… Neal sighed.
5 minutes… He pushed himself off the floor again… trying to stifle the cry that bubbled to his lips…
)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(
The only word to properly describe the demolitions foreman was solid… solid build, solid stance and clearly a solid head… solid stone. Peter stood less than 2 feet from him… trying to explain again… without losing his patience.
"There are 2 people inside the building I am certain of it… you have to stop the charges."
"There is no one in the building… we swept it not an hour ago."
"Please just give us time to do our own sweep…"
"I'm afraid I can't do that. Do you know how much it costs to put a project like this behind schedule?"
"There are 2 people trapped in that building… one of them is the three year old daughter of a federal agent… Do you know what it will cost you if you go forward without letting us find her?" the foreman paled…
"I have to call my boss on this."
"Call your boss? Fine… so get on the phone."
"It will take time."
"We don't have time… a young man and a little girl don't have time."
The man rolled his eyes and toyed with his phone. "I could get in trouble with my boss … calling him about something like this."
"You could get arrested if these people die."
"Ok …ok I'm calling."
Peter tapped his foot anxiously fighting the urge to run into the building. There wasn't time to search a building that size… he looked at his watch…8:50… 10 minutes… he looked at Reynolds… the man was slumped on the steps of the construction trailer.. Hands over his face. He looked up and shot a desperate look at the doorway, gauging the distance. 50 yards… Peter had make the same calculation when they arrived…he moved in front of the man
"Don't"
"You don't know what I'm thinking."
"You want to run into the building… Reynolds, I do too…" he swallowed "but getting ourselves killed isn't going to help them."
"You're so sure he's innocent…? What if you're wrong… couldn't possibly happen, right? You just remember my promise…if my baby is hurt…I don't care what his reasons for taking her… I will kill him"
"You're so sure he's guilty… WHAT IF YOU"RE WRONG!?" Peter fought to control his anger "what if he is innocent… what are you going to do if someone else took her… what if they used her to get to him? Are you going to admit you were wrong if we find him tied up in there? Or… " he gulped quickly he couldn't think about that.
"Why would someone take MY daughter to get to him?" Reynolds looked like he thought Peter had lost his mind. "That doesn't make any sense at all"
"Unless they knew how you would react if you thought he took her…" the younger agent glowered at him with disbelief.
"That's ridiculous!'
)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(
Neal dropped to the floor… free. "Get up" he told himself "you don't have time to lay here." But his body refused to move…his chest was on fire… his heart hammered a frenzied staccato against his ribs. His head swam crying out for oxygen… his legs folded awkwardly beneath him…apparently paralyzed… his lax right arm curled haphazardly beneath his body…his left arm wrapped around his throbbing ribs… he could track the exact path the bullet carved though his body last month… every inch of it was burning like someone had poured acid though the wound… "Come on Caffrey, get up!" his mind ordered… the timer ticked relentlessly…2 minutes… he needed to move! There was something else he needed to be doing too… Breathe... he remembered. He gasped…choked on the dust from the old carpet.
He struggled to his knees… using the wall, he lurched to his feet… Emily.
She was still watching him warily…
1 minute…
Still time to pick Emily up and get her through the broken window. He stumbled toward the little girl… She backed away fearfully…
"Its ok…" he tried to reassure her "Its ok…I'm going to get you out of here"
"NOOO! BAD MAN!
She darted to his right… for such a tiny thing she was incredibly quick. Neal dove after her… his fingertips just brushed her shoulder… as she twisted away… clearly terrified.
30 seconds…
Desperate he lunged forward again and grabbed her by the arm… she screamed. She kicked and bucked… she bit his hand… Emily slipped from his grasp
15 seconds…
He wrapped his arm around her waist holding her like a sack of flour… she slammed her little head into the half healed wound at the base of his ribs… he dropped her again, with a strangled cry.
5 seconds
He frantically wrapped his arms around the toddler… he staggered 3 steps…
0 …
Neal dropped to his knees wrapping his body protectively around Emily… miraculously even his right arm flopped around her small shoulders, he gripped the elbow with his other hand, sheltering her against his chest… He held her tight…
The ground fell out from under him… with a roar the world collapsed around him…leaving only darkness… the child's wail echoed endlessly through his mind.