A very big thank you for the reviews, which are really encouraging and help me to move this story along. I appreciate it. The last chapter was probably way too long, but once my fingers start they sometimes can't stop! I'll have to likely edit this whole story again once it's complete :) Speaking of moving along, we are leading up to more action in coming chapters...
Peter scrutinized him once more. "Go back to your desk. I'll call you up when we meet with Hughes."
Peter watched as Neal turned and left without another word. He leaned back in his chair, feeling undecided and skeptical. On one hand, Neal's quietness all day was unsettling. Neal was normally an animated chatterbox. An attention-seeker. The fact he sat at his desk all day with his head down indicated something was going on. Peter could think back on other times Neal had avoided him and all those times had resulted in Neal in trouble. But the tracking data showed Neal was indeed at home all night. And that he'd gone directly home from the office as well. The video footage Diana had from the night before at Messier's office, though dark, didn't look like Neal, though the person of interest did wear a mask and dark clothing. Peter reminded himself that not being present didn't mean Neal had nothing to do with it, but he tried to convince himself it was unlikely.
Unfortunately Peter could think of more than one instance where Neal had earnestly claimed innocence with angel-like expressions of surprise at being suspected when in reality it was simply a matter of him not physically being involved, but being an accomplice from afar. A game of semantics.
Goddamn semantics. Always goddamn wordplay games with this CI. It frustrated Peter to no end. He didn't know how to teach him to stop doing that. It was almost ingrained in Neal to communicate that way.
He hadn't even told Neal about the break-in. Now he wondered if he should have taken that approach instead. Given him the news and then watched his reaction to see if there was anything suspicious or any pretense in his response. Now if he told him, he would likely just get a tirade from Neal about Peter suspecting him, given the question of his activities the prior night. Walls would come up and accusations of trust would be thrown at Peter, causing him to turn the conversation into a defensive one rather than focus on the true topic at hand.
Neal definitely had something on his mind. His direct eye contact had been scarce, even for Neal, and he looked… bothered. He looked flushed, and Peter felt that there was something distracting him. He just didn't know what and hoped it didn't lead to trouble or derailing the case. When he pressed was when Neal seemed to return to normalcy with a smile or a jest, making virtuous eye contact. It was hard getting under those walls when you were dealing with a professional con artist who had been trained to have those walls.
Peter glanced at his watch. Hughes would be ready soon. Hughes was in favor of sending Neal in, keeping him close. When Peter started to suggest a delay, or other alternatives, Hughes frowned and continued articulating the course to get the undercover route starting as soon as possible.
Getting Neal in was good for the case but… Peter couldn't help but continue to feel a bit uncertain.
However, Peter had to admit the dialogue exchanged with Messier that Neal had just shared set them up somewhat nicely…
He would have to extend his trust on good faith that Neal wasn't holding something back. He hoped he wouldn't regret it.
Neal sat at his desk distractedly after his discussion with Peter, one leg bouncing out of sight. He couldn't help but dwell on the thought that he'd just been given an open window to come clean with Peter yet hadn't. Now the case was picking up, and they needed his help, but he hadn't shared anything on his potential connections. In fact, on the contrary; he'd provided statements that would be criticized once (if?) the truth did come out.
Peter seemed to suspect him of something, and while Neal felt himself bristle at that, he also had to admit to himself in hindsight that sitting at his desk the whole day was a bit out of character. The first thing he usually did each morning at the office was to look for Peter.
He didn't have time to dwell on it or change course before he got the signal to join them in the conference room. That signal of course was a whistle and two fingers pointed at him and then the conference room, but it was a signal nonetheless. And he followed it, making his way slowly to the conference room where he could see Peter and Hughes already moving to sit down.
He took a deep breath before entering the room, ensuring he took on a clear-headed and focused persona. He always felt himself automatically reverting to 'best behavior' when Hughes was around. Not that he purposefully was less adherent to roles and policies with just Peter, but he did often found himself letting his guard down with him. There were questions he would only ask his handler, and opinions he would only share with him as well. Peter had shown patience for real questions, sometimes proactively trying to teach him. He wasn't sure what Hughes opinion really was of him. While their mutual respect had grown over the course of his agreement, Neal wasn't so sure a fraction of the same patience was there.
Settling into a seat in the conference room, choosing one purposefully close to Peter, Neal quickly scanned the room. Diana and Hughes were the two additional familiar faces, while there were another two he was less familiar with. He was somewhat sure he'd seen them floating around the office. He assumed they could be from Cyber Crimes, and he was thankful they weren't the faces from when he'd visited Messier's office during the stakeout...
He then noticed the whiteboard in the front of the room and the photos and words that filled it.
He felt the need to go look at it more closely, but remained in his seat patiently. He could tolerate waiting and knew he'd get a chance to look at it in more detail shortly. From the distance, he scanned each photo, from Messier to the other photos around his.
He quickly found the face he knew. Jason Hilks.
His heart skipped a beat and he forced his expression to remain stoic.
He couldn't place the feeling he experienced next. On one hand, he had almost expected this. That's why he had asked Mozzie to look into Jason. On the other hand, it made him nervous. He was going to possibly be playing a role here, and if that were the case, it would have to be on his terms if he was going to see Jason again. He couldn't risk losing credibility in the role following the FBI's idea of what should happen versus taking a strategy based on his previous relationship with the man.
He also felt a stronger personal desire to be on the case now, and he sensed the adrenaline pickup in his pulse. Despite his concerns, his connection would help them, and he could also hopefully control how his past indiscretions with this circle would be reflected (if they had to be…) versus having it discovered independently. But he wasn't sure if the Bureau would see any of that as a liability, especially since he'd concealed all of it.
He broke his gaze from the board, and then quickly looked around the room, particularly to canvas the unfamiliar faces. He was always apprehensive of those he hadn't met before. He had frequently found the average agent's opinion of CIs not to be very high in the Bureau. So he knew to be cautious around less familiar co-workers, especially without Peter with him. He had to work harder to prove himself to them.
One of the two unknown people was currently speaking. He gestured towards the whiteboard as he spoke.
Neal forced himself to listen. He glanced at Peter and noticed the man looked a little impatient. A lot of what the current speaker was saying was old news to most of them. He was essentially relaying a summary what they already knew on the case so far. Much of this was what Neal had already read in the original case file.
This recap continued for just a few minutes longer before interruption.
"So as you can see, we don't have much…" Hughes spoke up, tone dry. "And after last night…" he paused, clearing his throat as he continued, "we've got a pretty clear indication that it's more than Messier at play here…"
Neal frowned. He originally intended to wait to make any comments, but he couldn't let that detail go unexplained. "Last night?" he asked. "Why? What happened last night?"
There was a short pause in the room.
"Break-in," Diana supplied. "At Messier's office. Not sure who it was."
Neal's mind immediately backtracked to his discussion with Peter just a half hour before. To Peter's insistent questioning on whether Neal had anything he should tell him. About what he had done the night before. He turned his eyes slowly towards his handler, narrowing them slightly. Neal felt a reprieve on his anxiety, at least slightly, as it was replaced by irritation. Had Peter really suspected he might have had something to do with a break-in?
"Was anything taken?" Neal persisted, smoothing out his expression and returning his focus to Diana. He tried to keep his voice calm as he clenched his hands in his lap. Dammit, Peter. He needed more information, and to do that, he needed to focus and ignore the sting he felt from being a suspect. But his mind still went there even as he willed it not to. Did Peter really not trust him? Was he so quick to consider he might do something like that? Sure he'd gone slightly… what had Peter called it… 'rogue'… in visiting Messier himself on the stakeout, but seriously?
"Nothing taken," Diana responded with a shrug. "That we can confirm, at least. It was quick."
Neal didn't say anything else. His mind was too busy processing.
"Has all the art been moved by now?" Peter asked, directing the questions to Diana and altering the focus of the conversation.
"Yes…" she said slowly. "And we have a full, however high-level, inventory of it. Everything was photographed, itemized, and catalogued before moving like we discussed." She paused. "All two hundred and sixty three pieces…"
Neal whistled in surprise. "Two sixty three?" he repeated.
"Yeah, it's a big number," Diana continued, giving him a small smirk. "That's why it took all day. And we have the piece that was in transit as well."
Neal reflected on that. They'd estimated a couple hundred pieces, but it was still a large number. And possibly some of it was real. What had been anxiety and then irritation was now shifting to excitement….
And then quickly back to anxiety.
Some of these pieces could be his… With that large number, he feared that the possibility increased that some of his work from ten years ago was part of it.
He tried to rationalize the best approach to take if that were the case. He didn't have to identify himself as the artist… Just whether it was real or fake.
He tried to recall whether or not he'd hidden signatures in any of them. He wasn't always consistent with that back then…
He straightened in his chair and tried not to look distracted by his jumbled, incongruous thoughts.
"Good. So it's all there. We can go over there this afternoon," Peter continued. "Neal." Neal raised his gaze to meet his handler's, unable to fully mask a partially resentful look that aligned with the earlier frustration he felt, but Peter either didn't register it or didn't care to entertain it at the moment. He met Neal's eye without much expression himself. "You and I will go later today."
"Okay," Neal responded stiffly, unable to think of much more to say. He heard Peter's tone, all-business, and he didn't react. Was Peter not going to acknowledge that he had just interrogated him over this? Neal dismissed the complaint in his head. He wasn't about to address any of his annoyance with Peter in front of an audience. Plus, he did really want to see the art.
"The art, yes. But more importantly, we need names," Hughes continued. "As we discussed, Peter… I think the undercover role here is going to be critical." His eye contact also shifted to Neal. "Identifying the validity and origin behind the art is one thing. What we really need is accountability. And to do that, we need to have someone carefully integrated with either Messier or his team. We need evidence of their operation. With Messier directly, it might be too obvious. Given the attention on him after the initial arrest. But we need to find out who his team is and get close…"
"What do you suggest?" asked the second unnamed Cyber Crimes individual.
"We're already sorting out a background story to use…" Hughes said slowly. He continued to keep his eyes on Neal. "Caffrey… We're going to need you in on this one. If you go undercover, and play your cards right, we could get what we need. Once we have the dossier built out for this with the right documentation in a day or two, you'll have the right identity to– "
"No," Neal spoke up, objecting. He froze as he did so, as the word slipped out before he had fully processed his rationale.
All eyes turned to him now.
"I…" he started hesitantly, particularly feeling Peter's intense stare. He suddenly regretted sitting so closely to the man but refused to look his direction and put his focus on Hughes instead, who looked slightly taken aback. Neal forced a slightly chuckle, as though dismissing what he'd just said, and tried to recover quickly. "I don't mean 'no' in that sense of the word. I mean, I'm fully onboard. I agree we need to go undercover. I'm happy to do it. But… I can't use your backstory. I just think… It might be more appropriate to actually leverage some of my past… some of my past experience here."
"Neal," Hughes continued, voice laced with skepticism. "Let's be thoughtful about this. If we control this, and the details, we can govern the access we give them and how we integrate you. No loose ends."
"Agreed." Neal paused, swallowing to pace himself. He needed to convince them of this so he would have control, and to do that he had to be careful with his words. "And that could work— I just think…." His eyes glanced toward the whiteboard as his mind raced. Their way would never work. He had to do this his way or not at all. "Now that I'm involved, if you don't object…." He paused. "Some of those names I'd like to look into more. I think some of my past… uh, experience, might actually have some overlap." He felt silly repeating the phrase 'past experience' but wasn't sure how else to describe it at the moment.
"Neal," Peter said, his tone just slightly laced with warning. "What do you mean 'overlap.' What specific 'experience' are you referring to?"
Great, Neal thought. Peter didn't appreciate the phrase either. "I might have some industry connections," Neal persisted, keeping his voice slow and calm. "I remember hearing about some operations like this. I might know some people." He didn't want to appear anything other than a team player here, and he absolutely wanted to avoid suspicion. "In which case… there is some consistency in leveraging an identity I used to go by."
"Which one?" Peter asked cautiously.
"Not one you know…" Neal admitted. He briefly met Peter's eyes then, feeling like Peter usually reacted better if he made that contact, but when he noted the wariness in Peter's expression, he then turned his point of view back to Hughes to gauge his reaction. He actually seemed to look thoughtful. That was good.
"If we don't know about it, then we don't know what strings it comes with," Peter spoke. "Or what it was associated with. You can still do what you're describing with the identity we give you."
"No. I need to use mine," Neal insisted, his tone firm. "I need to use my alias. That's the only way to do this." Or else I won't do it, he thought to himself. He didn't want to risk an adverse reaction by saying that out loud. His job was technically to do what they wanted him to do.
"We can talk about it, Caffrey," Hughes responded, raising a hand to cut Peter off when it looked like the man was about to interject. "What name you go by is only part of this, and if you're partial to one…. And if it's one they might trust, then so be it… We'll look at it and figure it out. Let's talk about some more of the other tactical details."
"I need everything you have on those other people up there." Neal pointed to the whiteboard. He glanced again at Peter, who looked slightly unsettled but was now opening up a case file and not looking up. Neal started to feel apprehension over the man's follow-up questions for later. There was no way he wouldn't have some. But Neal ignored that for now and returned his focus to the whiteboard.
"Tony," Hughes said, gesturing at one of the Cyber Crimes guys, the one that had given the opening overview. "Give us what you've got beyond Messier. And get all of these files for Caffrey. He needs everything we know about them."
"We have four suspected connections to Messier," Tony stated. "You have their photos in front of you as well as names and what the connection we know about is."
As Tony started to talk, Neil quietly pushed his chair back and got to his feet, walking over to approach the whiteboard more closely. He looked picture to picture. There were four other individuals listed. He felt a chill as he looked at the face he knew up close.
Neal scanned the notes on the whiteboard, eyeing the connections stated. A cousin…. An accountant…. A tennis club partner… He focused on Jason's picture, under which it said 'Jason McCarthy.' Different surname, but there was no mistaking the person's identity. His connection read 'assumed associate.'
"What makes you think this one's an associate of his?" Neal asked. He pointed at the picture and then turned to view the others still sitting at the table.
Tony nodded. "That guy. Yeah, he's the one we're most suspicious of having a real business relationship with Messier. Over the course of our investigation leading up to this, they were spotted together frequently. He went into his office a few times, and they met in other locations as well."
"And… He's got a more questionable history," Diana spoke up. "At least on paper."
"Yeah, that's right…" Tony agreed. "Among a number of other arrests, he was one of the suspects in a kidnapping-murder trial a few years ago…. Though nothing stuck to him personally, and he walked." He paused before continuing, "We initially suspected he might be behind the break-in, but if he was, it wasn't directly. Guy on the video looks completely different."
"You have a video?" Neal asked. He briefly mulled over the mention of a kidnapping-murder trial and tried to brush it off. There shouldn't be violence in this case. Even if Jason had allegedly been involved in something else. This was white collar. Forgeries and fraudulent sales. Besides, if his involvement hadn't been proven, well… Well, Neal hesitated… He knew that meant nothing. But he wasn't sure he could see Jason actually doing something like that, even if he did recall the man's rumored short temper. Neal looked at Tony. "Can I see it?"
"Sure. Yeah, we'll set-up everything we have in here so you can go through it."
"Thanks…" Neal turned back to the board and stared at the picture of Jason as Tony continued talking, moving onto the other contacts.
Mr. Hilks… Neal thought to himself. A blast from the past.
"The most important piece of this," Hughes said stiffly, "is we can't lose Messier once he's released. Let's talk about how we make sure that doesn't happen."
