I do not own White Collar. This is all for fun.

2 Chapters in one day…go me. Procrastination from real life at its best!

Chapter 4

Silence filled the small conference room as the impact of Neal's words hit home. Neal was shot and buried with this girl. How did he survive? Peter was once again mentally connecting the dots that is Neal Caffrey and now fully understood where his aversion to guns originated. To be shot as a child, buried with another child and left for dead…that would be quite the trauma.

Hughes sat in the back of the room observing the scene from afar. Initially he wondered if Caffrey was faking the entire fainting episode to either avoid discussing his past with Taggert, but seeing him now, still shaking and pale yet offering information, he shut down his initial impressions. Caffrey was a mystery to Hughes. He liked him well enough, as much as he liked any CI that has worked under his command, but Caffrey is so good at conning someone who it almost seemed like he was born a con and it was his only nature. Every smile always seemed to have a secret behind it that Hughes couldn't figure out, and he worried about Burke over the years getting too close to him when it wasn't clear if Neal was sincere about his rehabilitation or was pulling the long con.

There was nothing of that con man sitting at the end of the conference room table now. In his place sat a frightened young man who had clearly witnessed more horrors than even Reece in all his years of service could imagine. He realized that the con man WAS the con. Neal's façade and behaviors became the ultimate con, except the victim was himself.

After promising himself that he would spend more time dwelling on these conclusions later, he spoke up to get the meeting back on track.

"Neal, I understand this is very difficult for you to discuss and I imagine you never thought you would have to face this again, and I am sorry we are asking you to. But there is a little girl missing and we only have a short window before he disappears with her and the next time we see her will be after she is killed. Anything you can give us to give us a starting point would be helpful."

Neal jerked his head when Hughes began speaking. He nodded his head, grateful to be discussing anything other than his own experience with Master, and considered Hughes's question.

"Do you have any information on the boy that was taken too?"

Agent Rice looked at Neal in confusion, "Neal, we just said a little girl went missing. 3 days ago. For all we know he already has moved her outside of the city."

Neal gave her an annoyed look. "I heard you the first time. He takes them in pairs and usually from the same general area. As for moving, he is probably still here in the city. He will lay low with them for a while until things calm down. It gives him time to scare them into listening to him and time to break them in. By the time he takes off with them, they will walk by his side without question and to anyone who didn't know any better he will look like their guardian."

Neal snapped his mouth shut as he remembered his own orientation to life with Master. Before he could get too lost in the memory he felt a strong hand on his arm and heard his name called. Peter was right in his face trying to get his attention.

"There you are. Good. Stay with us. So he will take another child? We can work with that. The team will start checking into any missing person report for the last week. Is there anything else you can tell us? Will he take them to a warehouse or a hotel?"

Neal sighed and tried to focus on the here and now instead of the memories that were assaulting his consciousness. "I remember I was in a house like set up, but it was off. There were no windows to show me where I was. I would search warehouses and boarded up homes. There was nothing run-down about the inside of the place, so maybe check any areas where some major interior renovation is going on; he sets the stage very well. He will want to show his new acquisitions off and will auction them off to the highest bidder. Only a select few of his most prestigious clients are invited to that." He said the last two sentences with disgust.

"Auction them off? He sells them off?" questioned Jones.

"He is only auctioning them off for a night," answered Neal after a slight pause. "He is auctioning off their innocence."

Peter had to swallow the bile that worked its way into his throat at Neal's last comment. More to stem off thinking about what will happen to the kids if they weren't found in time, Peter asked, "Neal, it is obvious that Ellen Parker was killed by Taggert or one of his cohorts. Either way, she was made. Is there any possibility that he knows you are alive and could ID him? We can move you to a safe house."

Neal's expression changed to one of fear as he considered the implications of Peter's question. "No, no one can know about me. Who outside of this room knows about…me?" Neal looked around the room frantically, the fear evident in his eyes.

Agent Rice spoke up, "Outside of the people in this room, just my supervisor. Neal, it's okay, we are going to find him."

Neal laughed but it was a fearful, half crazed laugh, "No, no, no, YOU don't understand. We hid for a reason. Ellen was an adult when we moved here so her appearance didn't change. Mine did, so I should be safe. She was killed after she came on to the FBI's radar a while back. Someone in the FBI or the Marshall's has to be working with him if he found her after all these years."

Neal's breathing became more erratic as guilt plagued him. He went to her to get the painting knowing the FBI could track him. By doing so, someone working with Master found her and reported back to him. It was his fault.

Peter knelt in front of Neal after seeing he was becoming hysterical. He tried to tell him no one in the FBI would help Taggert; that they wanted to see him go down. Neal started laughing again at the absurdity of Peter's statement. This time he couldn't stop.

Confusion swept the room as the Agents watched Neal laugh in disbelief at Peter's words. Peter became annoyed and in frustration asked what was so funny.

Catching his breath, Neal responded. "You all think the FBI is so innocent? Still? After Fowler and Kramer?"

Trying to help Peter out, Hughes spoke up, "Neal, those were difficult incidences, I agree; however this is a case that the FBI has wanted solved for decades. I cannot imagine any agent helping Taggert."

Neal shook his head, his laughter calming down. Tears were beginning fill his eyes as he remembered one of the worst days of his life. Worse than going to prison, losing Kate, or even losing Ellen.

"I don't share your optimism, sir," Neal replied as a single tear dropped down his cheek, "because the person who won my auction all those years ago had a FBI badge."

With that, Neal got up and made his way to the door of the conference room. No one had the heart to stop him as he walked across the office to the elevators and left. Peter simply pulled out his phone and began tracking the anklet, assuring the team he would watch him and they would reconvene later.