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[conning]

"It's Caffrey. Remember the value of plausible deniability. I'll get back to you."

Comments

[conning]

My current plan involves getting to Malcolm’s cabin where the pointy things are so, in short, yes.

[cactusy]

You alone right now?

[conning]

[A long pause, then in a slightly fainter voice:] Yes-ish if you don’t count the dog things at the end of the hall. I think I prefer the bat things on the deck.

[cactusy]

Stay focused, Caffrey. What level are you on?

[conning]

[Focused, stay focused, he can do that, he can.

All of this said silently to himself as he tries to get his words to work again, his shaky breathing the only indicator for a moment that he’s still there.]

Which… Right. Right, I’m on…

[His brain won’t work. This isn’t the adrenaline rush of a heist going wrong, this the fear of someone looking at a monster from from another dimension and even after the better part of a year still not being able to slot it easily into his lived experience. This is the reaction of someone who knows they’ve just slipped into the category of prey animal.]

They’re moving. They’re going… some of them are going away. Some of them… aren’t.

[cactusy]

[There's a rapid burst of gunfire from Shaw's end of the line, and it's a few seconds before she answers - but she hasn't hung up so far, and she doesn't know.]

What level, Neal.

[Her voice isn't reassuring, at least not in any normal sense of the term. But it's focused, and it's steady.]

I'm coming for you.

[conning]

Dining Hall. I'm near the Dining Hall. I'm going to go that direction, because they're coming my direction.

[And he can't be more articulate than that. There's a panicked shit and he disconnects.]

[cactusy]

... Neal?

[Goddammit, she'd been hoping to keep him on the line with her. At least she has a location.]