Chapter Two

Operation Caffrey

Safely ensconced in the apartment at June's, with my security additions guarding the premises, it is a good opportunity for me to relax and do an original, by me painting. No one is around to catch me doing work without the Caffrey personality and it will be quickly tucked away without hesitation when it is finished. I intend for no one to have the opportunity to study the strokes and recognize it as a Neal. It would not be helpful for the office to know that I can do modern works as well as the classics. That would simply open up the possibility of a new investigation and an inquiry into my work which could have disastrous effects if it is connected to the concept that I am playing Caffrey.

As I sweep my brush across the canvas, the resulting streak of color adds to the abstract of the image. My mind is wandering which restrains me from doing my usual, more detailed work. I can't help but reminisce back through the details of meeting my brother and joining him in Operation Caffrey.

Growing up I had watched my cousins, the identical quads, and even after Will was taken, they had a great camaraderie and could mimic each other to perfection. We always had to work to figure out which one was which when they got to playing their games. A part of me always envied them that ability. I had an identical twin brother too, but I was denied the chance to get to know him, the opportunity to play games and switch places. They were down one, I know, but three remained. For me, down one meant only one remained, and that was a tragedy.

Then Nick discovered that Nate was alive and I got my second chance!

That first night I knew who he was, Nate was still unconscious in the ICU and we couldn't visit him just yet. Still, through the glass I could see a perfect replica of myself hooked to so many machines it was terrifying. My parents weren't doing any better than me as they also paced the waiting area. Here they discovered that their oldest was alive after all, and no one had been looking for him. For eighteen years we had the opportunity to get to know him, but we missed out believing him to be dead. Well, we weren't wasting any more time now that the truth had been discovered.

After Nate woke up his doctor, our cousin, Nick gave him a little time to recover. Once his patient was ready Nick pulled out the files we had compiled while Nate slept and began to fill him in. Nate learned about the Antagonist, our family, our role in the families, and everything else that he would need to know to begin to fill him in on the life he lost. I was later told that Nate was silent for a few minutes as he absorbed the information, then he grinned from ear to ear. It was heartening to know that he was happy to discover who he really was, and that he didn't blame us for our mistake in not looking for him.

Our first meeting didn't go with two of us happening to pass in a random place and then doing the mirror image thing as we waved our hands or did jumping jacks looking like idiots. Instead, it was in a hospital room with me standing eagerly, yet awkwardly, and my brother laying in the bed fidgeting with the sheets nervously while staring at me. I decided to start the conversation with a cheesy joke.

"The downside of being identical twins is being mistaken for each other."

He chuckled and told me that it could be an upside as well. With smiles we began to catch up.

For those first few days we were inseparable going over who we were, where we had been, what our family was like, and anything else we could think of. Nothing was unimportant, no detail too small. Gradually, we had a simple foundation of who we were and it was time to focus on where we were going.

After a few weeks in recovery, and some down time to get things settled officially, we started looking at Operation Caffrey again, but together that time. The task force was DEA and FBI each having our own goals but the same approach. It was arranged that Nate and I would both be playing Caffrey. With Nick's help we set it up so that Caffrey's appearance was different than Nate and I. This was to give us the option of being agents as ourselves and criminals as Caffrey, without our physical appearances giving us away again. We set new targets with the Кузнец экипажа, or the forger ring for the Antagonist and moved the operation to New York City.

Here our team got more interesting with the addition of a street con named Mozzie. He had no idea that his new buddy Neal Caffrey was actually twin DEA and FBI "suits" undercover to catch some of the very forgers they competed with. However, he has helped us make great strides in our efforts. Working with him we got a better idea of how to do the job and Caffrey started to adapt into a legend instead of the local go to guy.

Mozzie's first target was a big city business man named Vincent Adler. Since there was a DC team who had followed contacts into his office we teamed up with another FBI crew. The undercover FBI agent was posing as Kate Moreau. She and Nate hit it off quickly and began building the guise of a growing office romance. He took lead working opposite of her, and I used my skills as a professional artist, before joining the FBI, to do the forgeries and work with Mozzie. We managed to make this work to our advantage for the most part but, occasionally, I would get caught in a situation where I would have to take lead, and it was awkward having to flirt with my brother's girlfriend.

Everything was progressing nicely. Caffrey had a set reputation as a criminal to the point of having a White Collar FBI team chasing him, Mozzie remained unaware of the truth, and Kate was getting close to Adler. Then things slipped. It turned out that Adler was onto Caffrey and three teams failed to realize or prevent the giant, billion dollar Ponzi scheme he was pulling off.

Nick came to our rescue. He has been consulting since we teamed up a few years ago and has been building contacts in agencies all over the world and used his resources to take Caffrey to the next level.

At that point we expanded to include the CIA, NSA, and even MI6 to the task force. We were infiltrating the Antagonist all over the world, searching for Adler, and laying ground work to take Caffrey international. Kate was assigned to another task force and Nate followed, working the DEA side. While the love birds strengthened their relationship I was "pining" for Kate and growing the legend of Caffrey.

While Mozzie and I were traveling around the world I was faking crimes and spreading rumors. Alex Hunter was my DEA contact and we made Mozzie an unofficial analyst for our team. Over the years we uncovered nine operations of the Antagonist's projects, took down several single criminal operations, even made a few enemies like Keller, but no one found a single clue as to where Adler had disappeared to.

Nate and Kate secretly married and we moved Operation Caffrey back to New York. We wanted Caffrey to serve time so that we could transition the operation into our next phase. The White Collar, FBI team who had been chasing us were the perfect means, especially since they were a key part to where we were heading. So, we let them know where Kate was and Nate pretended to fall into the trap, all for the sake of love. Working cases out of the DEA office Nate and Kate kept up the charade that Caffrey was in prison while not breaking cover with the FBI office.

I used an alias with the Antagonist forgery ring and infiltrated the organization. My cover was that I got a look alike to distract the FBI, and paid him well to serve my time. This gave me a clear run to go underground with a clean name. We had knowledge of nine divisions working for this project and I was now inside of the last one…or so I thought.

A signal from my phone alerts me to June's approach before she reaches the door. In seconds my painting is secreted away into my hiding spot, even Mozzie can't find it there.

She has reached the door and her gentle knock has me striding across the room to greet her. I am to join her for the evening downstairs. That is a much better way to spend my time than sitting up here thinking about the past, so I agree with a smile and escort her down the stairs. My painting is in no rush to be completed after all.

Thank you for reading :D

This is the third chapter out of seventeen with an estimated seventeen chapters of excerpts to follow as an additional story posting later.

Also, as a heads up. I am adding a warning in the description of the story for some general reference (not detailed because I can't think like that) to violent harm to children later (the reason for such drastic efforts to protect and hide the children growing up).

Please let me know what you think as this is my first story, and I would like to know what I am doing well and where I could use improvement. :)