Free Write #6

Disclaimer: I don't own White Collar, and am not making any money off of this fic. I am trying to make a grade in my class, but that is no reason to sue me. Thank you

"What do you mean you can't prosecute him." It was four hours after Peter and Jones had left El and Cruz in the hospital to watch over Neal. Cruz had offered to wait outside the door, in case Neal had woken up and said something else incriminating, but El had nixed that idea. She had reminded Lauren that if Neal started saying something he shouldn't all El had to do was put her hand over his mouth until he stopped. Peter and Jones had left after that and with a quick phone call, met with Hughes and a few evidence techs outside Neal's apartment.

Burke and Jones had hung back as the older agent directed the techs to collect the case file Neal had left spread out on his bed. Peter knew that he had to stay out of this part of the investigation, since any two-bit defense attorney could use his involvement with the victim to get White off. That knowledge didn't stop Peter from wanting to take that doctored case file and shove it in White's face along with his fist.

That had been three hours ago, and since then, Hughes had and White's superior, Special Agent Carter via video conference, had examined the file Neal had been given. There were five witness statements included in the file, each one supposedly given by one of the victims. White's superior had confirmed that all five had died before being found by police and/or neighbors. He also confirmed that the file Neal was given did not contain the statements from the original informant, Freddy. The techs had also confirmed that the only prints on the file were Neal's and White's.

Then Carter told them of the statement that had not been included in the official report. Freddy had identified and even photographed the head of the gang before his murder. Carter said that White had thought the man, Berengeur Islava, might have connections to an old drug family he had heard of during his time with the DEA. He thought White might have made a few calls, but he had never mentioned it again.

Jones himself, had a friend with the DEA, so he had called and discovered that White had called and been told all about Islava's uncle, the failed marriage alliance, and about the rumors of Caffrey's involvement. "According to my friend," Jones had reported an hour and a half ago. "The man who kidnapped the daughter was never positively identified, but he did resemble Caffrey. Also, a valuable Monet went missing from the Islavas' collection at the same time. The head of the family and Berengeur's father died at the hands of the rival family. White was told all of this, including the fact the few remaining family members blamed and wanted revenge against that man."

Hughes had inquired if there was any evidence that the man in question was Caffrey. Peter had told him that there was no legal evidence supporting the theory. White had most likely taken the chance that Caffrey's resemblance to the man would be enough to set off Islava. Neither Jones nor Burke mentioned Neal's drug induced confession, since as Cruz had pointed out, Neal had no idea what he was saying.

This is what Burke, Hughes, and Carter had spent the last hour explaining to the District Federal Attorney. From what they had gathered, it was clear that White had used Neal as bait to draw out Islava, record the man attacking Neal, and arrest him. White had then used that arrest to find the evidence to connect the man to the home invasions. Now the DFA was telling him that they couldn't arrest White for setting Neal up to be attacked, if not murdered.

"I am not saying that I can't prosecute him," the woman explained. She had been listening quietly while the whole case had been laid out before her in the White Collar Conference room. It was clear to her as well that White had gone too far to close his case, and something had to be done. Still she knew that it would not be as easy as Burke obviously wanted it to be. "I'm saying that it will be tough to prosecute him without opening a very large can of worms, starting with that gang."

"Once word gets out that White faked evidence in this case, every case he ever worked on will come under review," Hughes said, his hand reaching up to rub at his temple, as if in anticipation of the headaches to come. "The members of the gang will have just have to say that White set them up and the judge will dismiss all the charges."

"And the same thing will happen with all his other cases," Burke finished, with a sigh. "A can worms indeed. Why did White do this, especially since Neal would have helped him anyway."

"So we have two options here," The woman began, standing up and beginning to pace back and forth across the enclosed room. "The first option isn't really an option since the option is just to ignore this and go on with the case."

"And thus set the precedent that it's okay to set up our CIs as tin cans on a fence," Peter snapped. "Thus inviting anyone and everyone take a shot at them."

"I can assure you Agent Burke, I am not about to set up a sharpshooter demonstration," The DFA quickly assured him. "That is why I said it is not really an option. What is an option is a round of deals."

Carter cut in at this point, "Wait a minute, these guys are animals, you can't deal with them."

"I don't have a choice," she said before stopping and looking directly at Peter. "It's your choice. I can try to convict White along with these men or I can deal. I offer them all immunity on Caffrey's assault. I make it plain that White set Caffrey up and used these guys as smoking guns. With that in place, I can make a case that the evidence tying them to the home invasions were uncovered during a crime where they too were the victims. I then go on to get at least two out of the five men involved to agree to testify, three if I am lucky. I'll take the death penalty off the table, but it will still be hard to convict."

"Several of the victims were young children. They may jump at the chance if you offer protective custody as part of it," Hughes offered.

"A point I will be sure to bring up." She conceded. The DFA looked carefully at Burke as she spoke. "The only way I can get White and this gang is to go ahead with this plan. It will cause a lot families to get angry at not seeing all the members of this gang fry, but since Islava was most likely the main instigator, they may be happy at seeing him get the death penalty."

She looked into Peter's eyes as she leaned on the conference table to ask him, "It's your decision Agent Burke. Your CI, your choice. Do I deal, or take the chance on a sympathetic judge."