Jones and Diana were not surprised when Peter burst into the van. He'd called a few minutes ago and said he'd heard about Neal. But he refused to discuss it over the phone. It was Saturday, but with an agent missing, weekends off didn't happen. Unless of course, you were at a dead end job in the evidence warehouse.

"So what do you know?" Diana asked as he shut the door.

"Mozzie showed up. He says he got a woman who said "Neal is her property. She'll sell him to the highest bidder."

Jones cursed. "Well, he's got to be in there. No-one's been out but there's a lot of movement by the few windows. And we can hear motors."

"How did they get him?"
"Tailing a woman. The storm broke hard. He probably wouldn't have seen the guys watching the building. We only did because it let up." Diana said.

They stared at the large doors.

"Any other way in or out?" Peter asked.

"Two small side doors. We have people on them. But we think they're more likely to hide him in a crate."

The last lock slipped away. A man with a large needle and two more with guns were standing around the warehouse's garage. But they weren't prepared for Neal to leap out before the fork lift stopped, let alone lowered him to the ground. Neal bolted for the exit. His eyes caught glimpses of canisters along the way. He shot past people setting them up along the halls. The yells of 'stop him' rang out behind, but he was past before anyone registered he was the target. He ducked as a shot rang out.

"Don't shoot you fool! That's flammable!" Sweating and yet chilled at the same time, Neal slammed into the big garage style door and yanked up. Sheer adrenaline gave him strength to force it open a crack. He rolled out underneath as the guards came to cut him off. He raced into the darkness.

"Look!" Peter cried but they all saw Neal racing away from the building, dodging and weaving through a hale of bullets.

Diana jumped into the van's driver seat, cranked the engine and floored the accelerator. They zoomed forward and Peter threw open the back door. Bullets bounced against the van as Neal leaped in.

"Guys, I think their going to blow the warehouse and the workers are still in it!"

"They've explosives?"

"That's how I got out. If they'd been able to shoot in there I'd have never made it!" He was breathing hard, running a hand through sweat streaked hair.

"I think we have a hostage situation on our hands..." Jones said worriedly. "They know someone is watching now."

"Yeah...what's that?"

There was a violent outpouring through the gates, a battle to exit with a mass trying to leave and a mass trying to stop them. None of the onlooking feds dared fire, not knowing who was the good guy or who was the criminal.

Neal sighed with relief. "They believed me."

"Who?"

"The workers. I warned them these people wouldn't leave any witnesses."

It proved messy. Far fewer were hurt than expected, because the villains didn't dare use the weapons inside the building. It was mostly bruising and twisted limbs. The workers just wanted out. They fled into the surrounding neighborhood, though the agents did give chase. There was one explosion and the building started to burn, but everyone was out by then and since fire and the bomb squad had already been called, they gained control quickly.

"We don't know if we got them all." Diana frowned, watching the mop up. "They may have tried to run pretending to be sweatshop workers."

"Well, you got the queen snake." Neal pointed at the woman.

"That's Anita Dargon."

"I should've known. She has her brother's charming attitude." Neal shook his head.

"And still no sign of our agent?" Peter asked.

Neal winced. "Actually...yes...I think they sold her."

"Sold her! To who?" Diana spun to stare at him.

"They didn't say. Hector's aunt told me she was in the same situation I was. They drugged her and took her away."

"So she's probably alive somewhere."

"Somewhere." Neal said grimly. "She'll know." He nodded at Anita Dargon. The woman's eyes spat hatred at the agents cuffing her and reading her rights.

The woman, Anita Dargon, sat smugly in interrogation. She refused to say anything and the lawyer denied all charges.

"She's counting on the illegal workers not coming forward." Jones looked disgusted.

"Where's Caffrey?"

Jones looked around. "I don't know...there he is."

Neal came in with Hector's aunt. Her head was high and she had a firm step.

"That woman killed my Hector. He found out about your missing agent. He had his visa to go back to school. He said he would go to the police. He was legal and was less afraid. He said he would find a way to protect me. Then there was 'the accident.' But it was no accident. I found him when he was dying. He said one threw the snake at him. I would have gone for help, but there was no time. He told me to hide. When I came out he was gone." She closed her eyes tightly. But I was close enough to hear his last breath. I know they killed him.

"Ms. Dargon was sure no-one would come forward."

"She was sure I had no papers and feared immigration. And the others as well."

"We can help with that, but it's hard to get a word in edgewise when the people flee."

"We have been deceived before by governement agents offering help, only to betray. But … if you will help, I will help them come forward. I have papers now. I'm safe."

An agent took the woman's statement. Diana stared hard at Neal. "Just like that, she now has papers? Twenty four hours ago she didn't."

"She has a green card. Desperate times, desperate measures. It's not like she's a terrorist. She's a victim." He didn't admit that he'd forged it.

Diana shook her head, glancing at Jones. Plausible deniability. It wasn't hard to guess Caffrey had forged the green card. But at least it gave them time to find legal ways to help their witnesses overcome their fears of immigration long enough to testify.

Two nights later, Neal stopped over at Peter's house with the news. "She rolled in a hurry when the sweatshop workers lined up against her and her own men started rolling. Cut a deal to avoid the death penalty for telling where Agent Salmoro was."

"They find her?"

"Interpol rescued her from a slavery ring in Spain." Neal gave a tight smile. "She on her way home. Traumatized, furious...but she'll live. The only loss was the tiger." Neal looked grim. "They didn't think it was safe to re home since it...ah..well all the other animals found more appropriate homes. Even the snakes."

"Speaking of trauma...I have something to show you. You were right, they didn't get all the snakes. One crate got knocked over when our guys were retreating. Fortunately there weren't any poison ones in it."

Neal's eyes widened. "So you've had to chase snakes all over evidence."

"As well as clean up why the mess Diana made of the last batch. But it wasn't all bad. You're good at keeping secrets." Peter called up a picture on Elizabeth's laptop. "Here."

Neal's smile started slow and then he started to laugh.

"El added the caption."

"I want one!"

"Later. I'll get you a copy when I'm safely out of evidence. I wouldn't want him to know I took it."

Agent Patterson was on his desk, leaning back and holding up a chair, looking horrified. Below a common black snake reared up and looked back. The thought bubble caption read: Hi, if you see someone without a smile, lend him one of yours."

Neal could hear Elizabeth laughing in the kitchen.

"This is just one more reason to get you back to White Collar in a hurry. I have got to have this picture and show it around the office!"

Thanks for all the nice comments!

And also thanks to for the photos used in the cover image

And of course, to White Collar! Happy viewing!