Peter watched as Max Gehen, a corporate embezzler desperately tried to deny the confession he'd just inadvertently made on tape to an undercover Diana.

"This isn't legal!" The bespeckled man shouted. "This is entrapment! I didn't know she was a cop."

Peter's mind suddenly supplied a dialogue from Neal. "She isn't a cop. She's a federal agent and there's no way that sting could be misconstrued as entrapment. This is amateur hour, unworthy of my time."

Neal. It had been almost five months since the night they'd reviewed the tape from Neal's watch and Neal was still a ghost.

If Neal's a ghost. Peter thought sadly. He's haunting me.

Jones smiled as he led the handcuffed Gehen to a waiting black sedan. Peter tried to shake off the foul mood thinking of Neal had brought. After five weeks of no leads and no prospects he'd been taken off the case and the US Marshalls had officially taken over. Peter had asked for updates and thought they'd been stonewalling him at first but soon realized that wasn't the case. It was simply that there were no updates.

There were no clues, no hints, nothing. Neal Caffrey had vanished like a morning fog.

Peter had continued an unofficial investigation with Mozzie for months after the Marshalls took over but even Mozzie hadn't contacted him in over two weeks. There was nothing to say.

"Hey, Boss." Diana called. "You okay?"

"Fine!" Peter called and held up a hand.

"Yeah, I'm just dandy." He muttered under his breath and then headed for his car.

Peter wasn't surprised to see Special Agent in Charge Reese enter his office. Gehen had been a pretty decent collar. It was unusual but not out of the question for Reese to offer a congratulations…but Reese didn't look like he came bearing good news.

"You have a minute?" He asked and Peter gestured to one of the empty seats opposite his desk.

"Of course," Peter answered. "This have to do with Gehen?"

"Uh no." Reese frowned. "It has to do with Caffrey, Peter. I'm sorry but, well, it's not good news."

Peter felt his stomach flutter a bit but found he couldn't answer.

"Someone matching Caffrey's description was identified in a failed bank robbery attempt."

Peter was genuinely shocked.

"I'm sorry, Peter. I know it's not the ending you wanted but it looks like Caffrey's back on the other side of the law."

Peter still couldn't think of anything to say but mumbled something like thank you and after a long silence Reese got up to leave. At the doorway, he paused.

"You did everything you could for that kid, Peter. You gave him every chance. This isn't your fault."

Peter simply nodded and Reese took a step forward but stopped short when Peter called, "Sir?"

"Yes?"

"I'd like to run point on this bank robbery."

Reese seemed to consider that for a moment.

"As I understand it, the evidence is a slam dunk against him; prints, DNA and even video footage but he is in the wind." Reese considered. "And you're the only person to have ever caught him."

"Twice." Peter reminded him.

Reese smiled. "Twice." He paused for another moment then seemed to come to a decision. "Okay, Peter. It's your show."

"Thank you, sir." Peter said with true gratitude. He quickly called a team meeting but it seemed Jones and Diana were a bit ahead of him.

"We pulled the surveillance footage while you were still talking to Reese." Diana apologized.

"How did you know?" Peter asked.

"Word travels fast in the pit." Jones explained. "But you need to see this."

Peter was amazed to see that both Diana and Jones seemed to be excited.

"What? What is it?" He asked, feeling impatient.

"We think Neal botched the robbery on purpose." Diana blurted.

"Well, with prints, DNA and video footage left behind I certainly hope he was acting deliberately." Peter said with a grin.

"That's the good news." Jones said soberly.

That caught Peter's attention.

"What's the bad news?"

Jones and Diana exchanged glances.

"C'mon guys, what is it?"

"That DNA evidence?" Jones began and then paused as though searching for the right words.

"Yes?" Peter asked anxiously.

"It was blood."

After reviewing the surveillance video Peter agreed with his junior agents on both issues. Neal had definitely made two obvious mistakes. He'd short circuited the video but only momentarily and he'd tripped an alarm. And several times he'd looked directly at the cameras he should have assumed weren't working.

"He's sending smoke signals." Peter murmured.

As he watched, the two thieves in the video went about their business until a third, much smaller thief joined them. It became clear that the new player was making them aware of the tripped alarm. The man with Neal; a tall, thin and balding man seemed to be shouting. He pulled a weapon from his bag and shot Neal who spun a full 360 degrees before falling to the grown. Peter flinched at the silent scream caught on tape.

It never ceased to amaze him the perception people seemed to have that being shot somehow didn't hurt. People were shot on film all the time, often with little to no reaction and the public just accepted it, especially if it was 'just in the arm' or 'just in the leg'. However, if you showed a person being stabbed people expected more of a reaction. It didn't make sense.

Neal appeared to have been hit in the right arm and it had been the force of the shot that had spun him around so unceremoniously. As he screamed the small thief rushed toward the shooter and slapped the weapon down just as the shooter fired off another round.

Peter kept his face carefully blank but a thin sheen of sweat broke out on his brow as the second shot embedded itself into the bank floor inches from Neal's torso. The balding man viciously struck her with the butt of the gun. After she was down, he raised the gun for a third shot and Peter's teeth clinched.

But after what seemed an eternity, a very large man entered and grabbed the gun from the balding man. They argued for a few seconds before the large man seemed to dismiss the smaller. He helped the girl to her feet and then picked up the now unconscious Neal, swinging the slight man easily over his shoulder.

Within seconds all four thieves were off camera.

Peter tried to process what he'd seen. Neal was alive. Neal hadn't gone crooked. Neal was in trouble. As happy as he was to finally know for certain Neal was alive, Peter was angry and scared.

"So," he said at last. "Neal is still with his old gang. It's probably safe to assume he convinced them he was back on their side long enough to run a heist with them with the intention of signaling us. But he didn't see the gun coming and now he's in even more trouble."

Peter paced for a minute, trying to think.

"What do we have here that we didn't have before?" He asked aloud. "We have pictures of his captors. Pull photos from this footage and try to pull all traffic footage in the area. We'll see if we can find a traffic cam trail back to where they're holding Neal."

Diana and Jones nodded.

"Get every available agent on that." Peter continued. "Neal's shown his hand and he's probably in a lot of trouble. Guys," Diana and Jones had been bustling out of the office but paused solemnly, "we've got to find him this time."

"Don't worry, Boss." Jones said with a forceful nod. "We will."

Peter nodded. "I'm heading down to the crime scene. See if maybe Neal left a breadcrumb or two."

Peter arrived at the First Fidelity and Trust branch and ducked under the police tape, flashing his badge to the uniformed officer who approached him saying, "Special Agent Burke, FBI. I've been appointed lead investigator on this case."

The uniformed officer looked bored and simply waved Peter forward.

Peter entered the branch and looked for someone who might be in charge. His eyes fell on a plain clothes detective who seemed promising and he approached him with his badge out.

He introduced himself. "Special Agent Burke, FBI."

"Detective Cross, NYPD." The detective said with a proffered hand that Peter eagerly shook.

"What brings the FBI to my crime scene." The detective asked amiably.

"It's been connected to a missing persons case I've been working on. The Bureau has jurisdiction and I've been assigned lead due to that connection."

The detective shrugged. "It's a better reason than most you Feds give." He gestured around. "It's an odd set up. On the one hand, these guys come across like pros. They knew right where to gain entry, exactly where and how to disable security measures, and they knew just what they were looking for."

"Basement entry?" Peter asked.

"Um," The detective checked his notes. "Yeah, it was a basement entry. How'd you know?"

"I know one of the players and he likes basements." Peter replied.

"Okay. So, the plan is good but this one guy, he seems determined to foul things up. Like I said, they knew exactly how and where to disable the cameras. Pretty boy, that's what we're calling him, pretty boy goes to the box with his mask on and the feed goes dead but next thing you know its back up and there's pretty boy staring right at the cameras." The detective shook his head. "He damn near winked at 'em."

Peter nodded.

"Uh, Agent Beard was it?"

"Burke." Peter's reply was brisk. He'd just spotted a distressingly substantial pool of blood in the place he'd seen Neal go down in the surveillance footage.

"Yeah, Burke." The detective took a step toward him. "I don't have any hard and fast evidence of this but it just feels wrong. I can't prove it but I'll be damned if pretty boy didn't botch this thing on purpose."

Peter shook his head. "You're instincts aren't off detective. His name's Neal Caffrey. He was a member of my team until he was kidnapped five months ago. He's a reformed thief who's been serving out his remaining time working on my team as a consultant, and he was a damn good one too. We have evidence that players from his former life took him under duress to get him back on the crooked path, so to speak. This is the first break in the case we've had almost since Neal went missing."

The detective smiled. "See, that's why I'm a cop. I don't even want to think about all that crazy stuff you Feds get yourselves into." He shook his head. "Well, from what I've seen here it looks like you're boy's still on the straight and narrow."

Peter's momentary smile slipped away at the detective's next statement.

"His friends aren't gonna be happy with him Agent. I hope you find him."

He looked pointedly at the pool of blood and added.

"Fast."