Chapter 2 - Deals To Be Had

Peter arranged for Jones to take McKay back to the office, allowing Neal to travel in the back with his friend despite serious reservations. Neal had proven in the past that he could be protective of his criminal friends, which meant Peter would need to keep a closer eye on Neal than normal to ensure he stayed out of trouble. Something Neal didn't make easy.

Back at the office, he had Diana lead Price's interview and organised a warrant for the arrest of Jack Davison. Hopefully he would be in custody before the day was out.

Walking into Hughes office, Peter had to admit that McKay's claim of giving them Newman was exciting, though he couldn't help being sceptical as well. Others had claimed they had enough information to put Newman away in the past and yet Newman was still very much free. That said, McKay did seem very confident that he could deliver, and Peter's gut was telling him that McKay was no conman. Which meant that either McKay really could deliver, or that he was better at the art of the con than Neal - which seemed unlikely.

"Diana mentioned a friend of Caffrey's turning up," Hughes said. "Any trouble?"

"No, he gave himself up. Claims to have a lot of information about Price and Davison's operation - paperwork they thought was destroyed, emails and files they thought they'd deleted, that sort of thing."

"I'm taking it he wants a deal?"

"He wants full immunity."

"Unlikely," Hughes stated. "Though if the information he provides is useful, less time in jail may be on the table."

"He claims he can give us Thomas Newman," Peter said.

"What do you think? Is he trying to play us?"

"He seems very confident in his claim," Peter told him truthfully.

"And what does the infamous Burke gut say?" Hughes asked, leaning forward.

"That he genuinely believes we can take Newman down with his information."

"Okay." Hughes looked thoughtful. "If the information he provides gives us is enough to arrest Newman, with a good chance of a successful conviction, then full immunity can be offered."

Peter nodded and headed to a second interview room just as Jones arrived with Neal and McKay. Peter motioned to Jones to meet him outside, letting Neal lead McKay into the room.

"Anything I should know about?" Peter asked quietly.

"McKay's got quite a way with insults, but Caffrey seems immune to them. Actually, I get the feeling Caffrey enjoys provoking McKay. Like some sort of game they play." Jones shook his head, clearly amused. "It wasn't a quiet ride, that's for sure."

"Okay. I'll take it from here."

Jones nodded and headed back to his desk.

Peter entered the interview room. Neal was leaning against a wall to one side, looking as nonchalant and unruffled as always, while Rodney had already taken the seat on the other side of the desk and was now looking expectantly at Peter.

"Full immunity is dependent on there being enough to arrest and convict Newman."

"Oh, there'll be enough for that," Rodney said confidently, a smug smile on his face. "I was going to hand it all over next week anyway, once I'd followed the original painting back to Newman. I want him in prison where he belongs."

"So where is the information?"

"I split it over two safety deposit boxes, one at Midtown Mutual and one at First Unity Bank, plus a storage unit at Manhattan Mini Storage on Spring Street. You could send Neal to get them if you wanted," Rodney said. "I used one of his aliases for them."

"Which one did you use?" Neal asked idly, not seeming at all concerned or surprised about it.

"Nick Halden. I knew the Feds already knew about him, so hoped it wouldn't get you into too much trouble."

"You wanted Neal to be able to access the information in case something happened to you," Peter stated, figuring that to be the most likely reason. Rodney gave him an assessing look.

"He's smart," Rodney said to Neal.

Neal shrugged. "He caught me."

"Twice," Peter couldn't resist adding.

"I know, but I never figured out if it was because you were smart or because Neal made mistakes," Rodney said.

"I don't make mistakes," Neal protested. Rodney merely raised an eyebrow. "Rarely make mistakes," Neal amended with a slightly embarrassed look. Peter wondered exactly what story lay behind that particular exchange - and how he could prise it out of Rodney later.

"Anyway," Rodney continued, "Yes, I wanted Neal to have access if anything went wrong. I set up a program to send an email to Neal at a set time and date. Each morning I log on and move the date to the following day. If I don't alter the date, the email is sent."

"And I receive a cry for help," Neal finished.

"I never cry for help," Rodney quickly corrected. "Consider it as insurance. The closer I came to bringing Newman to justice, the more I needed a backup plan. When I found out you were working as a consultant to the FBI, I knew you were it." Rodney shrugged. "I was hoping you would pass the information on."

"Which I would, if only to rescue you and kick your ass for going after Newman on your own. Assuming you weren't dead by then."

Neal still sounded upset about Rodney going solo on this. Peter wondered how well the two of them knew each other. Was Rodney another Mozzie in Neal's life? Because despite his drug induced confession of not totally trusting Mozzie, Peter knew Neal relied on him and would go to great lengths to help his friend - and vice versa from what he could tell. He wondered if Rodney was in that same category of friendship? Now wasn't the time to explore that though, so he pushed those thoughts to one side.

"I'll send agents to collect the evidence and start going through it. In the meantime, we're placing you into protective custody," Peter told Rodney.

"Can't I just stay with Neal? Or maybe with Mozzie - no one would find me at one of his hideouts."

"Including us," Peter pointed out mildly. "We want you where we can keep an eye on you."

"Fine," Rodney grumbled, looking anything but happy. "Just put on my tombstone that I died of boredom."

"I'll send you a stack of board games and puzzle books. And I'm sure Mozzie has some science journals you can borrow. I know how you love to scoff at the articles in them."

"Hmm." Rodney didn't look convinced. "What about a laptop or iPad?"

"I'm sure you'll survive without a computer for a while," Peter said dryly. "You mentioned you knew Neal was working with us, how did you find that out? It's not generally well known."

"I'm a hacker, one of the best," Rodney said, looking smug again.

Neal groaned slightly, making a chopping motion across his neck to tell Rodney to shut up.

"You saying you hacked the FBI?"

"Um..." Rodney suddenly looked very unsure of himself and went quiet. Peter gave him a hard look and Rodney shifted in his seat looking incredibly guilty and Neal put his face in his hands. Peter stifled a smile. Clearly, Rodney was no conman.

"You better hope you get that immunity," Peter said, sitting back. "Hacking the FBI is a serious felony."

"I didn't say I hacked into the FBI," Rodney quickly protested. "And you'd never prove it if I had."

"Rodney, maybe now would be a good time to stop talking," Neal advised in exasperation.

"Okay, shutting up now," Rodney said, crossing his arms and looking at Peter defiantly.

Peter rolled his eyes and then stood, indicating that Neal should come with him. "I'll organise transport to a safe house."

"I'll talk to you later," Neal told Rodney as he followed Peter out of the room.