White Collar: The Eye of Sita

Chapter Thirty Six

"Well, well," Sara chuckled "you clean up well, Peter."

"Don't tell, El, she'll expect me to take her out to places that are above my pay grade."

Sara chuckled as Peter self consciously straightened the tie of his rented tuxedo. He ran his hand over his jacket where his gun would usually be in its shoulder harness. Sara could see that he felt uneasy heading out to the Embassy without it. He slipped his badge into his breast pocket. After a brief moment of hesitation Peter picked up his hand cuffs and put them in his back pocket.

"Who are those for?" Sara asked.

"I don't know yet."

"Can you arrest someone on Embassy property?"

"I can, if I have the permission of the Embassy." Peter confirmed. "However right now I'm more concerned about finding Neal and getting him out of there."

"What about Daniel?"

"I only have enough patients left to deal with one Caffrey at a time."

"Understandable." Sara nodded knowingly. "I haven't decided what I think of Daniel yet either."

"Shall we?" Peter asked as he offered Sara his arm.

Flushing slightly Sara accepted Peter's gentlemanly offer. Dressed in an elegant white dress with gold accents Sara certainly looked ready to rub elbows with the DC elite. Inside, however, her stomach was twisted in a knot. They had no idea what they were walking in on or even who had invited them. It was convenient to think that Michelle was trying to help them, but it could just as easily be whoever had forced Daniel to take Neal.

They took Sara's car to the Embassy since her BMW blended in better than Peter's Ford at the high class event. The evening was just getting started and the guests were still trickling in through the lush garden that lead up to the large Embassy. Peter tensed slightly as he handed over their invitations to the doorman. There was always a chance that the invitations were forgeries. If the invitations were fake they were good enough to fool the guard.

Inside was bustling with glitter and glam. Sara spotted Congressmen, Senators, high ranking Military personal, along with the heads of the wealthy families who's money put most of the men around them into power. Most of the rooms on the main floor had been opened up for guests. Peter scanned the crowd with a critical eye as he spotted several of the people who had been in the information packet.

"These people practically run our government and not one of them looks like they live in the real world." Sara commented.

"Yeah, 'politics': comes from the latin 'poly' meaning 'many' and 'ticks' meaning 'blood suckers'. Not that New York doesn't have its fair share of obscenely wealthy."

"True."

Peter reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. Looking at the 'Fido Find' application he furrowed his brow before putting the phone away.

"According to the tracker Neal is 'within 50 meters', but that could several floors up or down. It's not very accurate."

"I'm guessing that the service expects you to be able to call your dog to 'come' from this distance."

"Neal's not big on commands."

"You know they always say that misbehavior is the owner's fault not the dog's." Sara teased.

"I might be better results if I could use a shock collar."

It was a little hard for Sara to tell if Peter was joking or not. As they moved deeper into the mingling crowd of guests it became clear that all of the rooms and exits were being carefully watched by posted guards. The men were dressed in tuxedoes like everyone else, but they did not act or carry themselves like guests.

"I wonder who they work for." Peter commented as he watched one of the guards.

"At least they haven't escorted us out yet."

"No, but one of them took off in a hurry when he spotted us. So any hope of a cover we hoped to have is probably already blown."

"So what's our next mo..."

Sara was interrupted as the lights sudden dimmed and raised the way they did at the opera to signify that intermission was over. Everyone else seemed to be expecting the announcement and moved into the large main room. In the middle of the room was a small circular stage that had been set up that held what Sara assumed was Neal's statue of Sita under a sheet of black silk.

Ambassador Bhatt stepped up onto the stage to the polite applause of his audience. Out of the six profiles Peter had been given he had already ruled out Bhatt, mostly due to his long history of humanitarian work. His profile didn't match someone who would work with a blood diamond dealer. However, when Bhatt invited Glass onto the stage with him Sara could see that Peter was mentally re-adding him to his list of suspects. Bhatt gave a brief introduction and turned the stage over to Glass.

"I'd like to thank each and every one of you all for coming tonight." Glass greeted warmly. "As promised I have a unique gift for the people of India tonight."

Glass turned and pulled the black silk from the life sized statue of Sita. There was an audible gasp from the crowd as the art work was revealed. Sara had already seen the half completed statue, but her breath was still taken away by the beauty of the completed work. Frozen in an eternal dance Sita stared out at the audience with her sightless eyes that held an expression of ultimate serenity. Her detailed dress had been studded in several thousand glittering diamonds.

"The diamonds that adorn this magnificent statue are all available in sets of one hundred through tonight's silent auction." Glass announced. "One hundred percent of the proceeds go to the India chapter of The Hunger Project to help fight India's devastating hunger problem. So enjoy the evening and bid generously."

Glass stepped down off the stage and shook hands with the Ambassadors, Senators, and the other powerful people in the room that had been given front row view of the unveiling. Four of the tuxedoed guards stood careful watch over the diamond studded statue as guests came in for a closer look. Glass and his small entourage of Indian delegates excused themselves and moved towards a private room in the back.

"Am I the only one who gets the feeling that there is more going on here than philanthropy?" Sara noted.

"Something here certainly doesn't add up." Peter agreed. "Walters was right, somehow all of this has to do with Glass aligning himself with an Indian diamond mine to wash African diamonds. What I don't understand is why Glass had Neal brought here rather than just finish it at the house."

"Glass must have a partner that was getting impatient?"

"Maybe." Peter replied unconvinced.

"Do you think the Hope Diamond is here?"

"If it is, it's lost for good. It would take a miracle to get a search warrant for a foreign Embassy. Particularly for a stone that hasn't been officially reported stolen."

"I can see where that could be a problem."

"Stay here." Peter said suddenly.

"Where are you going?"

"To rattle Glass' cage."

Before Sara could ask Peter if confronting Glass directly was a good idea he was already making his way across the room. Peter fought through the crowd like a salmon trying to swim upstream. Feeling a little out of place Sara looked around. She had to look twice when she caught sight of Daniel's unmistakable scar across the room. Standing in the far corner next to a large potted palm Daniel and Neal were perfectly matched with the rest of the party in their hand tailored tuxedos.

The pair were arguing quietly with one another, or rather Neal was arguing with Daniel. Whatever Neal had to say it was clear that Daniel's opinion on the matter was unchanged. Daniel listened to Neal politely, but only responded with one or two words and a the occasional casual shrug. Sara could tell from his body language that Neal was quickly becoming increasingly frustrated at Daniel's refusal to even engage in a proper argument.

Sara was sharply reminded of all the times she'd argued with her older brother to no avail. Moving towards them Sara was only able to observe their interaction for a minute before Daniel's trained eye spotted her. Daniel leaned in to whisper into Neal's ear. Jolting slightly in surprise Neal didn't turn to look for her.

Someone stepped past Sara's line of view, when they moved Daniel and Neal had melted into the crowd and disappeared. In the blink of an eye they were both simply gone. Looking around she noticed that several of the men serving as guards around the room had gone into high alert mode when Neal and Daniel performed their disappearing act.

Neal silently appeared at Sara's side in seconds. Without a word he took her by the wrist and practically dragged her over towards one of the small alcoves that pitted the walls. They didn't have absolute privacy against the wall, but they weren't exposed in the middle of the room the way they had been.

"How did you get in here?" Neal demanded.

"Nice to see you too, Neal."

"Sara, please, how did you get into the Embassy party?"

"We were invited."

"Invited? By who?"

"We don't know. Invitations and some info on the Ambassadors was waiting for us at Peter's hotel."

"Where's Peter now?"

"He went to confront Glass."

"Damn it." Neal growled. "Daniel, stay with her."

"Will do."

Sara was startled by Daniel's voice, she hadn't even noticed him sneak up behind her. It was a little frightening to see how well Neal and Daniel moved and blended in with the crowd. Like sharks that swam effortlessly and unnoticed by their prey the pair certainly seemed in their element. Neal leaned in and kissed Sara's cheek before merging into the party once more.

Turning around to face Daniel Sara forced a smile. She wasn't very happy with Neal leaving her alone with him. He was taller than Neal by a few inches and had a far more substantial muscular frame in comparison to Neal's lean body. Although Sara had to admit that Daniel wore the classy tuxedo every bit as well as Neal did. He took a step closer, but when Sara visibly tensed he backed off once more.

"Is my son safe?" Daniel asked anxiously.

"He's fine, he's with his mother."

"I can not thank you enough." Daniel replied with a slight bow. "If you ever need anything, I am at your service, M'lady."

"So you're the one who taught Neal his charm?" Sara asked as she relaxed slightly.

"It was the other way around actually." Daniel admitted.

"Under any other set of circumstances I would love to talk to you about what Neal was like growing up."

"Not much to tell, he hasn't changed much."

"Really?"

"Really." Daniel smiled.

"Daniel, we came in here thinking at least Neal needed rescue. What exactly is going on here?"

"Nothing Neal and I can't handle." Daniel replied dismissivly.

"That doesn't answer my question." Sara said firmly.

"I like you, Sara." Daniel chuckled. "I bet you see right through all of Neal's charms and cons."

"Most of them." Sara admitted. "Still waiting for an explanation."

"Do you want the short version or the long version?"

"Let's start with the short one."

"Glass is planning to kill us after this little party of his."

"What?"

"Don't worry about it."

"Murder is something I tend to worry about."

"Don't. If you weren't safe Neal wouldn't have left you here." Daniel smiled brightly. "Glass is playing with fire, and that never ends well. One way or another he will no longer be a threat come midnight."

"You're kinda scary." Sara said seriously. "You know that right?"

"I certainly wouldn't want to have me as an enemy."