Chapter 7

As soon as Neal was left alone he placed the counterfeit card that he had made in his breast pocket and left the office. It had been easy to switch the cards while he was talking with Peter. He had taken the Ty Cobb card from Stanton's home during the arrest and that was the one he had given to Peter. His fiend hadn't been all the observant when he put the Ty Cobb card in the folder he had only noticed the size and weight of the card and assumed it was the counterfeit one. Neal knew his plan would work, but he needed a means of taping the conversation so they would have the evidence needed.

Neal went into the communication section of the white collar unit and very discreetly lifted a small listening device which he would hide on his person. He knew he had to hurry before Peter realized that he had been duped and figure it out. He slipped out while Jones and Lauren were busy running down information and hurried to the shop pausing only when he received a call from Mozzie.

"Mozzie, I'm kind of busy," Neal greeted his friend.

"What are you up to?" asked Mozzie.

"Trying to solve our robbery, if you must know," snapped Neal as he got closer to the shop in question. "Look I call you later and we will talk, but not now…bye," and hung up before the small man could quiz him further.

"What are you up to now?" Mozzie muttered to himself before sighing and calling El once again.

"El," he greeted the suit's wife, "its Mozzie…I feel that Neal is about to do something stupid again…see if he's with your husband and call me back, my number is 555-4789."

All El had to hear was that Neal might be in trouble for her to pick up her phone and call her husband and caught him in the midst of interrogating Stanton again.

"El, I'm kind of busy now…let me call you back," Pete said as he picked up the phone.

"Is Neal with you?" asked Elizabeth quickly.

"No I left him in my office with instructions to stay put," replied Peter curiously.

"Are you sure he's still there?" asked El, "I just got a call from Mozzie and he scared that Neal is up to something."

Peter turned to Stanton and said, "You just continue to think on how your help can get you a reduced sentence and I'll be right back," and hurried from the room.

"El let me check on him and then I'll call you back," requested Peter as he hung up and hurried to his office to find it empty. "Neal," he muttered angrily as he tried to guess where he might be.

"Jones, have you seen Caffrey?"

"I think I saw him lave about thirty minutes ago; I just assumed he was on some errand for you," he replied.

"Check around and see if anyone else might have noticed him in the last few minutes before you saw him leave," requested Peter as he recalled their talk. It was then that he looked into the folder and realized that the card he had wasn't the one that Neal had forged and suddenly realized where he was and what he was planning on doing and called Jones back.

"I know where he is…he's gone to confront he owner of that baseball shop we rescued him from yesterday…he's taken the counterfeit card with him," Peter informed his subordinate angrily.

"And he's taken one of the Bureau listening devices with him. He's planning on taping his conversation so we will have evidence to convict," added Jones.

Peter swallowed the curse he was about to uttered and hurried instead to Hughes office to get his approval for a sting on the owners of the Stadium Baseball Shop, Jacob and James Simmons. When asked when the sting was to take place Peter had to reply, "Now, sir…Caffrey's already in place and for us to be able to use any information he gathers we need your approval on this sting," explained Peter tersely.

"He went off without permission again, didn't he," guessed Hughes?

"Yes, sir, but if we can get there in time we can put these two away and recover the stolen baseball cards," urged Peter.

Hughes nodded and signed both his name and date of the approval and hoped that everything would turn out alright. "Peter," Hughes called out before his agent could leave, "I'm also approving two days leave for Caffrey after this OP is over and I want you to make sure that he spends it lying on his stomach for the duration of the leave," he added sternly.

"Don't worry sir, I will handle that personally, but can you make it for the remainder of the week just to make sure he learns his lesson this time," Peter said as he requested the extra leave.

Hughes nodded as he watched his agents leave the office.

About the time Hughes had affixed his signature to the approval document Neal walked into the Stadium Baseball Shop and requested to see one of the Simons brothers.

Jacob walked out and Neal addressed him with, "Remember me? You busted me for trying to pass this counterfeit card, but were only too happy to sell it to me as genuine."

Jacob exchanged a look with someone behind Neal before replying ,"Oh, yeah, I remember you; smartass kid trying to cheat me with a counterfeit card. Stanton was supposed to sell this card to a prospect…I take it that it was you…what happened did he blow the deal?"

"No I recognized my card and called him on it. I took my money and the card and left," replied Neal. "I came here in hopes that I could get a job in supplying you with more…what do you say?"

"What do you think James, can we use the kid?" Jacob asked his brother who was behind Neal.

"Yeah, you do good work…I'm sure we can work out a deal that will benefit all of us. What would you consider working for?"

"What about the same sort of deal you made with Stanton?" asked Neal.

"You want a baseball card? Which one?" asked James carefully.

"How about the real one this one was based on?" asked Neal.

"That is too expensive of a card for the work you do; choose another."

Neal then said, "how about a Mickey Mantle baseball card."

James and Jacob exchanged a glance before James said, "Agreed…you wait here and I'll get it," leaving Neal waiting with Jacob.

"So kid, what is your name?"

"Neal."

"Neal, when can you get started producing those cards?" asked Jacob.

"Just as soon as I see them…I need to take photographs of them so I can copy them…and as an added bonus I can forge their signatures as well," replied Neal as he sold his services to the Simons brothers.

James returned with the card and handed it over, "This is the Topps 1952 Mickey Mantle card; now this isn't as valuable as the 1961 Topps Dice Game Mickey Mantle baseball card, but it is a valuable card none the less worth $20,000."

Neal smiled as he looked the card over and said, "What card do you want me to copy first?"

"Take him to the back room and show him the collection," Jacob ordered his brother and soon Neal was gazing at the stolen baseball card collection of Justin Scott. "These are excellent specimens; I shouldn't have any trouble copying then…which one do I copy first?" he asked the brothers.

"Honus Wagner card…it's the most expensive of the collection," replied Jacob as he heard commotion coming from the front of the store and went to investigate. He hurried back quickly, "It's the FBI…we've got to leave…Neal, grab the cards and….what's that," he interrupted himself as he caught sight of Neal's GSP anklet.

Neal followed Jacob's gaze and bolted towards the front of the store with James in hot pursuit who caught up with Neal just as Peter came into view with gun pointed and yelling, "Freeze…FBI!"

James released Neal who went to Peter and said, "You got her just in the nick of time. The collection is in the back room."

Peter nodded and directed his agents to arrest all here and turned to Neal and said quietly, "Get in the car and stay there…we have a lot to discuss about this," which did nothing to assure Neal of his ultimate safety.