Neal

By the time they stopped at their destination, Neal was barely walking. He was practically dragging his right leg behind him. He could barely catch his breath and he felt like puking. But that didn't seem to matter to his abductor. He just forced him along, muttering insane things under his breath. Apparently he had left his cell phone in the SUV and had no way to call for a pick up and they certainly could not flag down a cab.

Neal was just grateful for a tiny rest. He knew that he wouldn't be able to move on if he had to keep up the pace. He couldn't feel his feet anymore. The thug dragged him to an abandoned warehouse, pushed him into a supply closet and locked him in. the pain that swarmed him as he hit the ground was pure agony and soon he was lost to the darkness.

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He stared at his wife. He wasn't sure he heard her correctly. Go after Neal? He thought about it for a while. Peter knew that he would do almost anything to help his friend, as long as it was legal. Could he leave Neal to his fate? Of course not. There was no way he would abandon Neal. Neal was his friend, but to involve Elizabeth? This could get dangerous and they had no back up.

"I'm going Peter." His Wife said. What she could read his mind now? Then he looked away. Though he knew she couldn't read his mind, she did know him. Knew how he worked, how his mind worked. He sighed.

"El..."

"No Peter, Neal is family and he needs our help." She said in that tone of voice that he always gave into. Again he sighed. Knew he was defeated by his wife once again. He saw her smirk out of the corner of his eye. He sat sullenly in the passenger seat. Things were quiet for a while as Elizabeth let her husband thought things over. But she knew she had won as Peter settled into the seat.

Nine plus hours later, after pit stops and gas ups they finally made it to the outskirts of Lima, Ohio. They debated some on what to do once there and by a small margin Elizabeth's practical side prevailed and they checked into a motel that was not too far from the scene of the accident. Peter was chaffing at the bit. He wanted, no needed to find Neal but he knew his wife was right; he needed all the rest he could get if he wanted to find and be there for Neal. After a few hours of non-sleep the Burkes rose with the sun, ate a drive thru breakfast as they headed for the local police station.

El stayed in the car while Peter was talking to the person in charge. She looked around her. Lima looked like any other city in the world. Though it's bigger than say Forks, Washington, Lima still had that small town feel to it. She looked at the one story building that housed the Lima Police department. It didn't inspire trust and safety. It was run down and dingy. She'd have to remember to slather sanitizer on her husband after they get back home. She was brought out of her thoughts when Peter walked back towards the car. His long strides ate up the pavement. She didn't like the look on his face. Elizabeth waited till he was settled behind the steering wheel.

"What's going on?"

"There's no sign of Neal."

"So where do we go from here?" she asked.

"To the abduction site then to the hospital." He replied

"Hospital? Why?" El asked. Peter sighed.

"You know the SUV that was crushed?" he asked. El nodded.

"There was a survivor"

"Someone survived that?" Els asked in disbelief. Peter nodded his head.

"He was still trapped in the car at the last check in. They are hoping to get him out soon. So we go to check out the crime scene then head to the hospital to question the survivor if he is able. Elizabeth nodded and thought about that poor soul trapped in the wreckage.

"Do we know who it is?" She asked

"Witnesses said that they saw a kid pulled from Neal's car and put into the other vehicle before it was hit. So far there is no personal info on him. I don't think he's a bad guy, but we don't know who or what he is to Neal." Peter said. Silence ensued for the rest of the way to the scene. Elizabeth gasped as the wreckage came into sight. How could anyone survive that?

"Jesus" Peter whispered. "How could anyone live through that?" Peter unknowingly echoed his wife's thoughts. They were passed through the blockade around the scene. They got out of the car and headed toward a group of people near the fire truck. Peter flagged down the man in charge of the rescue crew. He explained why they were there. Elizabeth was drawn to the wreaked SUV that still held someone within its embrace. As she drew close she could hear a whimper come from the crumpled up SUV.

El glanced over toward Peter then back to the SUV. She noticed a blanket or something lit it placed near the wreckage. After only a moment she deduced that it was used as a protection for someone to sit or lay on in order to talk to the person inside from glass and other debris. With determination Elizabeth strode forward, knelt down on her knee then laid flat out on the ground. She could only just see dark curls matted with blood.

"Hey, what's your name?" she asked softly. She waited for a reply. but she got nothing.

"My name is Elizabeth, I'm an event planner with Burke premier Events in New York."

Elizabeth continued to talk about everything she could think of but got no response other than a whimper or sniffle. A bottle of water appeared on the ground in front of her. She glanced up, a paramedic stood there, smiling gently down at her. He motioned to her. She nodded then turned back.

"Hey, i'm just going to step away for a moment." She said. She moved to get up but froze when she heard a pain filled voice.

"Come back. Please?" He sounded so young, her heart went out to him.

"Of course I will." She replied. She grabbed the water and drank half the bottle before following the medic away from the car.

"Your doing a great job mame."

El snorted "Elizabeth"

He smiled at her.

"Scott. Your husband went to follow the trail into the woods. He asked for you to remain here and keep doing what your doing. It really is helping the kid." Scott said.

"Of course I'm staying. What can you tell me about him." She replied.

"Not much. We believe he's between sixteen and eighteen years of age. That's all. We can't even get close to know his injuries and he won't speak to us. We were able to get a monitor on his finger. He is too wedged in." he replied. El looked back at the SUV. She faced the medic once again.

"How are you going to get him out?"

"At this time we just don't know. Being wedged like that is probably what is keeping him alive. He no doubt has punctured something and more than likely internal bleeding. We have a doctor in route who will accesses and monitor him. The doctor will then advise the firefighters on how to extract the young man. But right now we need to keep him calm and he seemed to take to you."

Elizabeth nodded. "I can do that" She drank the last of the water and headed back to the wreck and the boy inside.

TBC