White Collar: Double or Nothing ch 8
NOTE: No more making promises...yet another chapter that took matters into it's own hands. Although this one I like. ;)
Chapter Eight
"Damn, Dog." Frost chuckled. "You are looking sharp, Neal."
"Do they just not have sexual harassment training at the CIA?"
"Hey, that get up is the most expensive thing you've ever worn by a long shot, and yes I am aware that at one point you wore a 50 thousand dollar Kiton tux to a Royal wedding that you weren't invited to."
"How can you possibly know that?"
"I'm in the CIA, Neal, I know everything."
"Seriously, Frost, how…"
"Royal weddings in Slavic countries pique the CIA's interests and you tend to stand out in a crowd, doubly so when you're better dressed than the groom. You were looked into by Agents there to make sure you weren't a threat and luckily they deemed you harmless."
"Harmless?"
"I mean they knew you'd come to steal something and by the end of the night you'd taken off with the sizable diamond that the Duchess had been wearing, but still harmless as far as they were concerned."
"You could have prevented that. You could have arrested me on sight, I was on the run from the FBI at the time."
"Not our problem." Frost chuckled. "You were not on the CIA radar at the time, that was long before the Special Recovery Operation had been put together. The CIA had bigger fish to fry that night."
"Doing what?"
"I don't actually know, I had nothing to do with the mission." Frost admitted. "I was still a Ranger in the Army, it was before my CIA paramilitary career let alone my new role, and even now my clearance only gave me access to the part of the file that said you were there and that you took that shiny rock." Frost said casually before giving Neal a concerned look. "I'm sorry, I'm doing that thing where I'm not respecting your privacy again, aren't I?"
"It's just a little unnerving to have someone know so much about me and my…past."
"I don't hold any of it against you if that helps."
"It does actually." Neal replied honestly.
"Good." Frost smiled brightly, feeling he'd been forgiven. "I know that you're not exactly proud of who you were, Neal, but trust me you can be proud of who you are now. We're all good guys here, even if we don't play by the rules. With that in mind…are you still interested in helping out tonight or have you changed your mind?"
"No, I haven't change my mind."
"Then perhaps you can actually get in the car?" Frost asked. "We are starting to look suspicious."
"Right."
Neal had opened the passenger side of Frost's black SUV but hadn't actually taken the step to get inside. Getting in Neal closed the door and pulled his seat belt on. Frost waited another short moment to make sure that his passenger really was willing before pulling away from the curb. Neal noticed that Frost hadn't even seemed to check to make sure that it was safe to pull out into traffic before doing so.
"Should you be driving with your…uh…"
"My glass eye?" Frost finished for him. "It's fine, the driver's side has all sorts of sensors and indicators built into it to let me know if anyone's in my substantial blind spot."
As if to prove Frost's point the display on the dashboard flashed as a car passed on their left. Hearing a gentle snoring sound Neal looked over his shoulder, he hadn't even noticed that Bryant was sprawled out in the back seat, he blended in perfectly with the black leather seating in his clothing that matched Neal's perfectly. With his eyes slightly open Bryant looked more passed out than simply sleeping.
"Is he okay?"
"He's fine." Frost assured. "Bryant can sleep anywhere, anytime, it's like a super power."
"That does sound like a useful skill."
"As long as I'm on watch he never misses a chance to close his eyes. It's actually kind of annoying on road trips, but he earns the sleep by always being ready at a moment's notice to spring into action."
Neal looked back at Bryant again finding that the man's peaceful slumber put his own nervous stomach at ease. If tonight were anything other than the simple heist job that it had been advertised as Neal doubted that Bryant would be comfortable with just taking a nap on their way there. Frost was just as calm as he navigated them through the twisting and confusing roads of DC towards the highway. It would take about two hours for them to reach the target on the north side just out of Baltimore near the Loch Raven Reservoir where Bashiri had his mansion home out in the woods. The three story modern design home was set in the middle of a three acre clearing at the end of a half mile driveway.
Although Neal had usually found Frost to be fairly chatty he was being quiet as they drove North. Neal wasn't sure if it was to keep from waking Bryant or if it was because so far all of his recent conversations with him had all gone down hill rather quickly. Noticing that Bryant seemed to sleep fairly heavily Neal decided that Frost had decided that not talking was just the safer option right now.
Neal allowed the silence for about an hour, however there was topic of conversation that had been bothering Neal since his last talk with Frost that was increasingly on his mind now. The next day Neal had been seriously tempted to ask Peter about Ethan to see if Frost had just slipped a fictitious person into the conversation to create tension between himself and Peter or if there really was an Ethan in Peter's past. In the end the risk of upsetting Peter not only with a possibly painful memory but also with the fact that Frost knew about it Neal had kept it to himself. Now that he was with Frost again his curiosity was getting the better of him again.
"Who is Ethan?" Neal asked suddenly.
"Nope." Frost shook his head. "Just forget that name."
"You know I can't."
"You're such a hypocrite, Neal." Frost said bluntly. "You want me to respect your privacy, but you don't seem as interested in respecting Peter's."
Neal wanted to retorted, but he realized that Frost did have a point. Neal was about to apologize when Bryant suddenly whimpered. Neal looked back over shoulder at Bryant who was twitching slightly as his eyes tracked back and forth through half open lids in REM. Curling his lip Bryant growled a few incoherent words under his breath.
"He always has nightmares." Frost said.
"Should I wake him?" Neal asked as he turned around in his seat slightly so he could reach over it.
"No, don't touch him, he'll punch you in the face if you startle him." Frost warned wrinkling his nose showing that he was speaking from experience. "He'll be okay. He tends to settle down after a few minutes of this."
"Carter…" Bryant muttered sounding desperate.
Neal recognized the name from when Frost had shared with Peter and him about the mission that only he and Bryant had survived. Neal wasn't surprised that Bryant had been left with nightmares and from the sympathetic look on Frost's face he was willing to bet that Bryant wasn't the only one who struggled with the memory at night.
"It was my team, my responsibility to keep them safe…but Bryant was on point when it happened." Frost said quietly as he glanced up into the rear view mirror at his restless partner. "Being on point means being on constant alert to keep not just yourself from getting shot but to make sure you don't lead the others into a trap."
"Bryant can't think that you blame him for what happened."
"I wish he thought I blamed him, then I could forgive him and maybe he could get past it. However, I don't blame him, I never have, and he knows it. Some traps are set too well to avoid and that was one of them."
"But he still blames himself."
"He does. I have given up trying to tell him that none of us would have done any better or even any differently that day if we'd been in his position." Frost sighed. "He doesn't even remember the actual blast or minutes leading up to it, but he insists that he missed something that lead to disaster."
In the back seat Bryant started panting heavily for breath, grinding his teeth he truly appeared to be in pain. Neal could see Frost debating on if he should wait for the nightmare to pass or if his friend needed help. When Bryant whimpered in fear rather than pain Frost purse his lips and whistled twice in rapid succession. Neal was a surprised that the noise woke Bryant even though the whistle hadn't been much louder than their talking. Bryant jerked awake ready for a fight with every muscle pulled tight and his eyes dilated wide.
"All clear." Frost assured.
"Roger that." Bryant acknowledged automatically as he instantly relaxed.
"You've got about forty-five minutes til go time."
"Sounds good."
As quickly as he had woken Bryant settled back in and fell asleep again, this time remaining peaceful. There was no denying that Bryant trusted Frost with his life. Although as much as Bryant trusted Frost Neal knew that was still no guarantee that he could do the same. Bryant had signed up to work with him, Neal had been targeted to join the team with little other options. The closer they drew to their destination the more Neal felt like he was just another expensive piece of equipment that the well trained pair had brought along for the mission at hand. At the same time he couldn't help be somewhat flattered by the fact that they had chosen him, they clearly only used the best of the best when it came to their equipment. He also couldn't deny that he had been a little annoyed to hear that the CIA had deemed him 'harmless' all those years ago out of pure professional criminal pride.
By the time they arrived on the far side of the woods that the mansion lay on Neal was having a hard time sitting still from a combination of excited and nervous energy from his conflicting feelings. Taking a deep breath he released it slowly to slow his racing heart and help him focus. It had been half a year since he'd done anything like this and he had almost forgotten the euphoric feeling that came along with the danger of being caught, although he did recall that it didn't even compare to the rush of actually getting away in the end.
"Excited?" Frost asked knowingly.
"A little." Neal admitted.
"Nothing wrong with enjoying a little 'mission high'."
"Might as well since I'm here."
"That's the spirit." Frost beamed. "This is going to be fun, it's been a while since I've officially been in the field myself. There really is nothing like it, is there?"
Realizing that Frost had caught him in a good mood Neal didn't reply, he didn't want to give Frost the wrong idea about asking him to do this kind of thing in the future. Not minding not getting an answer Frost turned in his seat he woke Bryant up with the same quick double whistle and asked him to pass over a cylindrical case with a strap on it which he offered to Neal.
Taking the case for the painting Neal got out of the car and looked around at the dark woods. With only a sliver of a moon out the trees cast heavy shadows on everything. Neal knew from the file that Frost had given him at the Tavern that the house was just over a half a mile to the North through the woods. The lonely dirt road that they had parked on was mostly used for access to the trails that ran through the State Park that was off to the South.
Neal didn't dare think about taking the painting as his 'one last heist' knowing that that would just invite bad luck. Instead he focused on it being his first act with the CIA in hopes of courting some beginners luck. Having enough skill to over come luck either good or bad Neal slung the painting case on his back and stepped towards the tree line.
"Where are you going?" Frost called out. "Hold your horses there, Neal."
Neal turned around and found that Frost and Bryant were digging around in the back of the SUV as they collected up a few items including a heavy duty set of night vision binoculars. Bryant strapped on a heavy utility type belt with a leg holster attachment for carrying a handgun that he took a moment to check. Frost pulled out a telescoping dull black hiking stick that he extended and used it to help with his limp as he caught up with Neal.
"What are you doing?" Neal asked.
"What do you mean? We're coming with you."
"What?"
"You didn't think I was going to make you do this without back up did you?"
"As a matter of fact I did."
"No wonder you don't trust me, thinking that I was just going to sit in my car while you did my dirty work. I'd hate me too." Frost said seriously as Bryant stepped up and joined them. "Neal when it comes to working with Bryant and I there are two things you can always count on. I hope the first one is fairly obvious by now seeing as I'm living proof of it."
"No man gets left behind." Bryant provided brightly as he slung his arm over Frost's shoulders.
"Damn straight." Frost said proudly.
"And the other?" Neal asked.
"No man goes alone."
Chapter 9: http://phoenix-cry79.livejournal.com/21508.html
Chapter Eight
"Damn, Dog." Frost chuckled. "You are looking sharp, Neal."
"Do they just not have sexual harassment training at the CIA?"
"Hey, that get up is the most expensive thing you've ever worn by a long shot, and yes I am aware that at one point you wore a 50 thousand dollar Kiton tux to a Royal wedding that you weren't invited to."
"How can you possibly know that?"
"I'm in the CIA, Neal, I know everything."
"Seriously, Frost, how…"
"Royal weddings in Slavic countries pique the CIA's interests and you tend to stand out in a crowd, doubly so when you're better dressed than the groom. You were looked into by Agents there to make sure you weren't a threat and luckily they deemed you harmless."
"Harmless?"
"I mean they knew you'd come to steal something and by the end of the night you'd taken off with the sizable diamond that the Duchess had been wearing, but still harmless as far as they were concerned."
"You could have prevented that. You could have arrested me on sight, I was on the run from the FBI at the time."
"Not our problem." Frost chuckled. "You were not on the CIA radar at the time, that was long before the Special Recovery Operation had been put together. The CIA had bigger fish to fry that night."
"Doing what?"
"I don't actually know, I had nothing to do with the mission." Frost admitted. "I was still a Ranger in the Army, it was before my CIA paramilitary career let alone my new role, and even now my clearance only gave me access to the part of the file that said you were there and that you took that shiny rock." Frost said casually before giving Neal a concerned look. "I'm sorry, I'm doing that thing where I'm not respecting your privacy again, aren't I?"
"It's just a little unnerving to have someone know so much about me and my…past."
"I don't hold any of it against you if that helps."
"It does actually." Neal replied honestly.
"Good." Frost smiled brightly, feeling he'd been forgiven. "I know that you're not exactly proud of who you were, Neal, but trust me you can be proud of who you are now. We're all good guys here, even if we don't play by the rules. With that in mind…are you still interested in helping out tonight or have you changed your mind?"
"No, I haven't change my mind."
"Then perhaps you can actually get in the car?" Frost asked. "We are starting to look suspicious."
"Right."
Neal had opened the passenger side of Frost's black SUV but hadn't actually taken the step to get inside. Getting in Neal closed the door and pulled his seat belt on. Frost waited another short moment to make sure that his passenger really was willing before pulling away from the curb. Neal noticed that Frost hadn't even seemed to check to make sure that it was safe to pull out into traffic before doing so.
"Should you be driving with your…uh…"
"My glass eye?" Frost finished for him. "It's fine, the driver's side has all sorts of sensors and indicators built into it to let me know if anyone's in my substantial blind spot."
As if to prove Frost's point the display on the dashboard flashed as a car passed on their left. Hearing a gentle snoring sound Neal looked over his shoulder, he hadn't even noticed that Bryant was sprawled out in the back seat, he blended in perfectly with the black leather seating in his clothing that matched Neal's perfectly. With his eyes slightly open Bryant looked more passed out than simply sleeping.
"Is he okay?"
"He's fine." Frost assured. "Bryant can sleep anywhere, anytime, it's like a super power."
"That does sound like a useful skill."
"As long as I'm on watch he never misses a chance to close his eyes. It's actually kind of annoying on road trips, but he earns the sleep by always being ready at a moment's notice to spring into action."
Neal looked back at Bryant again finding that the man's peaceful slumber put his own nervous stomach at ease. If tonight were anything other than the simple heist job that it had been advertised as Neal doubted that Bryant would be comfortable with just taking a nap on their way there. Frost was just as calm as he navigated them through the twisting and confusing roads of DC towards the highway. It would take about two hours for them to reach the target on the north side just out of Baltimore near the Loch Raven Reservoir where Bashiri had his mansion home out in the woods. The three story modern design home was set in the middle of a three acre clearing at the end of a half mile driveway.
Although Neal had usually found Frost to be fairly chatty he was being quiet as they drove North. Neal wasn't sure if it was to keep from waking Bryant or if it was because so far all of his recent conversations with him had all gone down hill rather quickly. Noticing that Bryant seemed to sleep fairly heavily Neal decided that Frost had decided that not talking was just the safer option right now.
Neal allowed the silence for about an hour, however there was topic of conversation that had been bothering Neal since his last talk with Frost that was increasingly on his mind now. The next day Neal had been seriously tempted to ask Peter about Ethan to see if Frost had just slipped a fictitious person into the conversation to create tension between himself and Peter or if there really was an Ethan in Peter's past. In the end the risk of upsetting Peter not only with a possibly painful memory but also with the fact that Frost knew about it Neal had kept it to himself. Now that he was with Frost again his curiosity was getting the better of him again.
"Who is Ethan?" Neal asked suddenly.
"Nope." Frost shook his head. "Just forget that name."
"You know I can't."
"You're such a hypocrite, Neal." Frost said bluntly. "You want me to respect your privacy, but you don't seem as interested in respecting Peter's."
Neal wanted to retorted, but he realized that Frost did have a point. Neal was about to apologize when Bryant suddenly whimpered. Neal looked back over shoulder at Bryant who was twitching slightly as his eyes tracked back and forth through half open lids in REM. Curling his lip Bryant growled a few incoherent words under his breath.
"He always has nightmares." Frost said.
"Should I wake him?" Neal asked as he turned around in his seat slightly so he could reach over it.
"No, don't touch him, he'll punch you in the face if you startle him." Frost warned wrinkling his nose showing that he was speaking from experience. "He'll be okay. He tends to settle down after a few minutes of this."
"Carter…" Bryant muttered sounding desperate.
Neal recognized the name from when Frost had shared with Peter and him about the mission that only he and Bryant had survived. Neal wasn't surprised that Bryant had been left with nightmares and from the sympathetic look on Frost's face he was willing to bet that Bryant wasn't the only one who struggled with the memory at night.
"It was my team, my responsibility to keep them safe…but Bryant was on point when it happened." Frost said quietly as he glanced up into the rear view mirror at his restless partner. "Being on point means being on constant alert to keep not just yourself from getting shot but to make sure you don't lead the others into a trap."
"Bryant can't think that you blame him for what happened."
"I wish he thought I blamed him, then I could forgive him and maybe he could get past it. However, I don't blame him, I never have, and he knows it. Some traps are set too well to avoid and that was one of them."
"But he still blames himself."
"He does. I have given up trying to tell him that none of us would have done any better or even any differently that day if we'd been in his position." Frost sighed. "He doesn't even remember the actual blast or minutes leading up to it, but he insists that he missed something that lead to disaster."
In the back seat Bryant started panting heavily for breath, grinding his teeth he truly appeared to be in pain. Neal could see Frost debating on if he should wait for the nightmare to pass or if his friend needed help. When Bryant whimpered in fear rather than pain Frost purse his lips and whistled twice in rapid succession. Neal was a surprised that the noise woke Bryant even though the whistle hadn't been much louder than their talking. Bryant jerked awake ready for a fight with every muscle pulled tight and his eyes dilated wide.
"All clear." Frost assured.
"Roger that." Bryant acknowledged automatically as he instantly relaxed.
"You've got about forty-five minutes til go time."
"Sounds good."
As quickly as he had woken Bryant settled back in and fell asleep again, this time remaining peaceful. There was no denying that Bryant trusted Frost with his life. Although as much as Bryant trusted Frost Neal knew that was still no guarantee that he could do the same. Bryant had signed up to work with him, Neal had been targeted to join the team with little other options. The closer they drew to their destination the more Neal felt like he was just another expensive piece of equipment that the well trained pair had brought along for the mission at hand. At the same time he couldn't help be somewhat flattered by the fact that they had chosen him, they clearly only used the best of the best when it came to their equipment. He also couldn't deny that he had been a little annoyed to hear that the CIA had deemed him 'harmless' all those years ago out of pure professional criminal pride.
By the time they arrived on the far side of the woods that the mansion lay on Neal was having a hard time sitting still from a combination of excited and nervous energy from his conflicting feelings. Taking a deep breath he released it slowly to slow his racing heart and help him focus. It had been half a year since he'd done anything like this and he had almost forgotten the euphoric feeling that came along with the danger of being caught, although he did recall that it didn't even compare to the rush of actually getting away in the end.
"Excited?" Frost asked knowingly.
"A little." Neal admitted.
"Nothing wrong with enjoying a little 'mission high'."
"Might as well since I'm here."
"That's the spirit." Frost beamed. "This is going to be fun, it's been a while since I've officially been in the field myself. There really is nothing like it, is there?"
Realizing that Frost had caught him in a good mood Neal didn't reply, he didn't want to give Frost the wrong idea about asking him to do this kind of thing in the future. Not minding not getting an answer Frost turned in his seat he woke Bryant up with the same quick double whistle and asked him to pass over a cylindrical case with a strap on it which he offered to Neal.
Taking the case for the painting Neal got out of the car and looked around at the dark woods. With only a sliver of a moon out the trees cast heavy shadows on everything. Neal knew from the file that Frost had given him at the Tavern that the house was just over a half a mile to the North through the woods. The lonely dirt road that they had parked on was mostly used for access to the trails that ran through the State Park that was off to the South.
Neal didn't dare think about taking the painting as his 'one last heist' knowing that that would just invite bad luck. Instead he focused on it being his first act with the CIA in hopes of courting some beginners luck. Having enough skill to over come luck either good or bad Neal slung the painting case on his back and stepped towards the tree line.
"Where are you going?" Frost called out. "Hold your horses there, Neal."
Neal turned around and found that Frost and Bryant were digging around in the back of the SUV as they collected up a few items including a heavy duty set of night vision binoculars. Bryant strapped on a heavy utility type belt with a leg holster attachment for carrying a handgun that he took a moment to check. Frost pulled out a telescoping dull black hiking stick that he extended and used it to help with his limp as he caught up with Neal.
"What are you doing?" Neal asked.
"What do you mean? We're coming with you."
"What?"
"You didn't think I was going to make you do this without back up did you?"
"As a matter of fact I did."
"No wonder you don't trust me, thinking that I was just going to sit in my car while you did my dirty work. I'd hate me too." Frost said seriously as Bryant stepped up and joined them. "Neal when it comes to working with Bryant and I there are two things you can always count on. I hope the first one is fairly obvious by now seeing as I'm living proof of it."
"No man gets left behind." Bryant provided brightly as he slung his arm over Frost's shoulders.
"Damn straight." Frost said proudly.
"And the other?" Neal asked.
"No man goes alone."
Chapter 9: http://phoenix-cry79.livejournal.com/21508.html