Neal opened his door. Mozzie stood one arm at his chest clutching a stack of newspapers. "Every government is run by liars and nothing they say should be believed."
"I.F. Stone, if I remember correctly." Neal said smiling, "What brings you here on a Sunday?"
"I take it you have not read the papers then."
Neal looked at the stack Mozzie sat on the table.
"No, I haven't. What should I look for?"
"The second page." Mozzie said pulling the New York Times from the middle of the pile.
"Right here." Mozzie pointed to a headline. It read, "Appleton makes bail."
"Nooo" Neal's voice trailed off. How could this be? Neal tried reading the paper.
Mozzie quoted Tennessee Williams, "There is time for departure even when there's no certain place to go."
"You're right, Tennessee Williams, I better go." Neal said and turned to grab his hat and coat.
As they walked out the door Neal turned as if he was forgetting something, looked across the apartment and closed the door.
Peter was looking at the Paper and saw the story on Appleton. He jumped up knocking over the dining room chair he was in.
"What is it, Honey? Elizabeth asked.
"I need to call Neal and Hughes and, …and… everybody." Peter had a hand in his hair. He was still looking at the paper, then moved quickly to the coffee table where his phone was sitting.
Neal's phone rang, "Hello"
"Neal leave the house, have your little friend hide you, Appleton's out." Peter spit this out almost as one word.
"Slow down, Peter" Neal knew that Peter kept Mozzie's name off the phone for a reason. He would have to lose the phone. "The little guy saw it and we've already left.
"OK, lose your phone but call me in the office in two hours." Peter instructed. They both hung up. Neal looked at the phone saw the time 9:12
Mozzie said, "The little guy?"
"Peter thinks this phone is compromised, didn't want to give our your name." Neal said as he dropped the phone into a trash can near the corner.
Mozzie nodded.
Both continued walking quickly down the street, bundled against the cold, collars up and hats on.
"As a well known Senator, it was deemed he was not a flight risk" Hughes said.
"What about the safety of those he has threatened?" Peter asked.
Hughes sighed, "His attorney claimed the charges were 'preposterous and insidious' and said in court that they plan to file suit against us.
Hughes continued, "While you did everything , I will need to check with our lawyers in case something was missed by the D.A."
"Thank you sir." Peter said.
"I'll be in later." Hughes said.
They both hung up. Peter was pulling into the parking garage and he could see Jones was already there.
Appleton was handed a phone, "Hello, I don't trust these any more, you're going to have to come here." He hung up and handed the phone back.
His lawyer stuck his phone back into his pocket, "You realize that if we don't already, you will have a tail by the end of the day."
"I know, I'll have be careful and I have to hurry."
Mozzie led Neal in and out of stores, up and right back down escalators, stopped at a corner and back tracked a whole block. Walked across all four corners of an intersection.
Every so often they would stop and look up and down the sidewalks. Neal thought about Mozzie's paranoia and was glad for it.
Mozzie looked at Neal and said, "Sometimes Paranoia's just having all the facts."
"Burroughs, reading my mind?"
"William Burroughs, you had that look."
At a solid door with no address between two shops Mozzie stopped, satisfied they had not been followed, he leaned against the door looked up and down the street one more time and slid in backwards pulling Neal with him.
Peter had assembled his team on a Sunday, something he didn't expect to do.
"First off, thank you all for coming in on your day off." Peter was sitting at the head of the conference table, he looked over his team, amazed at their dedication.
"As you all know now that Appleton was released. We need a tail on him, we need a wiretap, we need to know where he has been, who he has talked with. We need to fill in all the blanks."
Jones slid a page of details to Peter, "Appleton was released last night at eleven thirty. Night court judge and Appleton supporter, Edwin Charles, presided. I have pulled surveillance and traffic cam footage. He gets into his lawyer's car." Jones slid a picture to Peter, " and heads North. We lose him mid-town, but pick him up again two blocks from his home in this traffic cam. Time line would give little time for any stops." He slid another picture across the table.
"Great, we can send a team to his home and verify he is still there."
Diana looked to Jones and then to Peter, "I have put together a request for the wiretaps, but being Sunday we'll have to drive over to Judge Hartwig's house and convince him." Diana said.
Peter looked at the clock, then checked his watch. "OK team you make this easy on me. Jones setup surveillance and then go with Diana to Hartwig'. The Judge is familiar with you." Peter looked at his watch again, "OK everybody let's go." Neal should be calling any minute Peter thought, he headed to his office.
Mozzie walked across a large brightly lit, sparsely furnished, room. Three television screens were on in the corner, each had an empty hallway leading to Mozzie's hideaway.
He was carrying his satchel full of his necessities.
"What's in there today?" Neal asked, seated on a small couch looking out upon the city.
"Everything that's always here." Mozzie said as he started emptying it. He sat these items on the table. Night vision goggles, Leatherman multi-tool, an new unsharpened pencil, a small leather packet with lock picking tools, rubber gloves, an unused paint brush, a small triangular file, an old fountain pen, a telephone repairman's yellow and red phone, chop sticks, a digital recorder, a roll of duct tape that is half used and smashed, a can of WD-40, a small package of toothpicks, a small dish like device with wires and what looked like a tape recorder for listening.
Neal leaned over to see what was still in the bag, "Are you planning to show me something?"
"Got to get to the secret compartment." Mozzie smiled.
Neal didn't believe him.
Mozzie tried, "The gum always go to the bottom?"
Neal still didn't believe him and shook his head.
"Yes I'm going to show you something." Mozzie saw it and reached in, Here it is." Mozzie pulled out his voice modulator, a device to disguise his voice. "We're going to call Appleton."
"Oh, what time is it?" Neal asked
"It is..."Mozzie looked at his watch, "Eleven twenty..two"
"I need to call Peter."
A car drove around the block twice. Having spotted the car watching the house and the utility van across the street, no more circling was needed.
Two blocks from the back side of the house the car parked and a man in black got out and started walking toward Appleton's home. Which of the plans would he act upon? Didn't matter, a job was a job.
Peter sat at his desk staring at his phone. Come on Neal call, he thought to himself.
Peter looked at his watch again, it seemed like hours, but had only been fifteen minutes. Eleven thirty eight.
Peter jumped when the phone rang and he pounced on it and in his official FBI voice he answered, "Peter Burke"
"Hi Peter."
"You're thirty minutes late."
"Were you worried?" Neal asked.
"Appleton put a hit out on you once, nothing says he wouldn't do it again."
"You were worried!"
Peter tried to brush this off, "No, it's the paper work if something were to happen to you… OK, yeah, I was."
Neal repeated himself, "You were worried." Neal was surprised and a little embarrassed and maybe even a little happy.
"My friend took excessive precaution to ensure my safety, I am happy to say. He is very good at this kind of thing."
Mozzie heard this and turned his attention to Neal
"Paranoia?" Peter asked.
"Yes, very much so."
Mozzie looked proud that the Suit must have given him praise, little did he know.
"If I asked you to stay there would that make you go?" Peter asked.
"Depends on how safe I am as too how long I stay." Neal said.
Peter thought, that's not really an answer, "Stay safe, we're watching him." That should keep them away.
Thanks, Peter." Neal said.
They both hung up.
The man in black went through a yard hopped over a wall and walked up to Appleton's back door. The Senator had been waiting on his arrival.
"Did anyone see you?" Appleton asked.
Mozzie and Neal walked across the street and into the basement of a large apartment complex. In a corner a sign said 'Utilities'. Neal picked a lock and opened a metal door to the telephone lines coming from the phone company. Mozzie pulled out the telephone repairman's handset, clipped into a set of wire and said, "This one is clear."
Mozzie dialed the number.
"How did you get his number?" Neal asked.
"I have my ways." Mozzie responded, not really considering the question, busy getting the voice modulator ready.
The man in black sat on the edge of his chair, ready to run , if necessary, but listening to Appleton's request.
"I need Caffrey dead. I need Burke dead. I want them both dead. Tonight."
His private phone rang.
Mozzie held up the voice modulator.
"This will not end well for you." and then hung up.
Appleton looked at the phone and then hung up.
Neal asked, "You're just planning on prank calls?"
Mozzie had already packed up his tools and closed the metal door.
"No, just giving a little at a time. We'll call him again in an hour from somewhere else and I'll give him a little more."
"Sounded like a prank call." Neal said as they jogged up the basement stairs.
Jones was now in the van, listening to the phone line. He called Peter.
"Peter, I think you need to get over here. Appleton just got a cryptic phone call from someone disguising his voice."
"I'm on my way, Jones, should be there in five minutes."
Peter pressed a button on his dash to increase the volume and wondered out loud, "Who would need to disguise their voice?"
Appleton said, "That sounded like your boss."
The man in black said, "He told me if he called then it was plan B.
"Plan B? Appleton asked.
"Yes, plan B. This means that your services are no longer needed.
I have this gun registered to you." Then he shot Appleton in his head, put the gun in Appleton's hand and slipped out the back door.
"Did you hear that?" Jones said to everyone on the team.
Peter did and said, "Get in there. Now! Go!"
Monday's headline read, "Appleton Suicide Shocker"
The man in black set the paper down and said to his boss, "I was following your plan, the phone rang and Appleton said it was you. So I did what you wanted me to do if you called…."