Computer Chat

Neal sat at his desk, keeping his eyes on his computer and his paperwork. There was a hidden chat window up in his computer, where he was chatting with the person who had the box.

[Don't bring the box back to June's.]

[Yeah, I heard about Alex. What did Mar'i think of being mistaken as Kate's replacement?]

[I never dated Kate.]

[But people thought you did. Mar'i's pretty good at clearing up misunderstandings like that though. She tells me her parents often ended up in sticky situations so she tries to correct people when they make mistakes like that.]

Neal frowned. But she hadn't corrected Alex at all. That was confusing. Because he wasn't opposed to being involved with her.

"Did you find something interesting in that case, Caffrey?" Jones asked.

"Pardon?"

"You're staring at the paper like it's a tricky puzzle."

Neal looked at the case that was open in front of him. All he was doing was authenticating some documents. Certainly not a tricky puzzle, which was why he was taking the time to chat to Tim.

"If you want to take it, go ahead."

Jones back up with a laugh. The joke landed at least.

[Do you have a plan for what happens next?] The words waited on the screen for a while. Neal stared at them. He had a few plans, it was just a matter of choosing one and deciding what bridges he was going to burn.

He was only here to avenge George's death. Not to make friends.

[Figure out why someone wants this box enough to kill.]

Neal quickly authenticated the stuff in front of him and wrote up the reports. Easy stuff he had done a lot after coming to White Collar. He packed up the file and walked over to the desk of the agent in charge of the case.

"Thanks Caffrey! This is so much easier than lodging a request for an authenticator and waiting for them to be available! We might be able to get this guy before he vanishes."

"That's good." Neal was still getting used to people thanking him for this stuff. His father certainly didn't. A 'good job' or 'well done' might be tossed his way on rare occasions but almost never a 'thanks'. He supposed it made sense when none of these agents were able to do this job.

Neal's phone dinged with a message from an unknown number. It was a coded message from Mozzie and it made his blood go cold.

"Peter, Mozzie needs some help with something."

Peter looked up from his work. "Is it something illegal?"

Neal gave him a look that hopefully communicated 'do you really think I'd answer that?'. "He sent a code for something personal so I don't think so?"

"In that case, I'm coming with you."

Neal internally cursed. He suspected this had something to do with the music box, something he didn't want Peter to know he had. Especially since he had admitted to Peter that he didn't have the box. The agent would realise that he stole it recently. Not to mention the other stuff he had been trying to keep the agent out of.

Neal shot Mozzie a text to warn him that Peter was coming.

Moving Along

When they reached the apartment, Mozzie was not the only one waiting. Tim sat next to him, in full Red Robin regalia. Neal choked. Peter pushed him out of the way and reached for his gun.

Only for his hand to meet air. Neal had lifted Peter's gun the moment he passed him. For all he didn't like Tim, he didn't want him to be shot.

"You know who I am?" Red Robin asked from his place next to Mozzie.

"Ye-"

Neal interrupted. "What are you doing here?"

Red Robin gave him a smug look. "I asked Mozzie to get you here, with or without your agent."

Neal glared at Mozzie, who threw his hands into the air. "He has a logical plan! Besides, you failed to tell me about the vigilante element being present."

"You're mad about that?" He had thought Mozzie moved past that after being given access to his vigilante stuff. It wasn't Neal's fault that Mozzie didn't try to keep track of them.

And now Peter was glaring at him.

"Agent Burke, don't worry too much about Caffrey. I came to him," Tim lied. "I was already investigating Agent Fowler and Fowler's interest in Neal makes him a valuable CI."

Peter stiffly took a seat across from Red Robin. "Neal, I hope you know how much extra paperwork we're going to have to do after this."

"A lot?" And Neal would probably have to be creative with over half of it.

"Now why are you butting your head into my investigation?"

"Your investigation is off the books Agent Burke," Red Robin pointed out. "Making it similar to mine. We're on the same ground here."

"No. We're not."

"Certain US states recognise me as a vital source of information, therefore my word may even have more weight than yours when legally arresting Fowler."

"Why was I called here again?"

Mozzie was the one to answer as Red Robin was glaring at Peter, with Peter not giving an inch. Which was pretty impressive since it was a toned down version of the Batman Glare, but Neal was just irritated with this whole situation.

"I heard from Kate."

Neal didn't know what to say to that. Neither did anyone else as Peter and Red Robin looked at Mozzie in surprise.

"She knows you have the music box-"

"I have the music box," Red Robin interrupted.

Mozzie rolled his eyes. "She thinks Neal has the music box now and has asked him to bring it to a new location."

"What location?"

Mozzie pulled out a piece of paper he had written the address down on. It was a simple carpark so nothing special. Easy to make exchanges in as there wasn't much in the way of monitoring.

"You're not going," Peter said. "This is a trap."

"Probably. But I'm going. The music box for Kate."

"Well, something like that," Red Robin said.

"What's your plan?" Peter asked Red Robin.

"Free Kate, because this idiot," Red Robin pointed at Neal, "set that as his goal, and arrest Fowler and keep the music box."

Almost a good plan. Peter especially agreed with the idiot and Kate parts. He was also more willing to entertain having Red Robin help. "What are you going to do with the music box?"

"What are the chances of me figuring out what it's for?"

"You haven't already?" Neal questioned in surprise.

"I'm trying to not destroy the artefact, thank you very much."

"Any chance it could go into FBI custody?" Peter asked.

Red Robin smirked and Peter felt a chill go down his back. "Aren't you just going to intercept it anyway? Whatever it is, we can't guarantee that the FBI would be safe."

Peter didn't like how he was right. But, Red Robin was right. Fowler's presence in the FBI showed that not all agents could be trusted. And whomever was controlling Fowler, because Peter doubted the man was going this for himself, would still be able to get the box if they took Fowler out of play.

"Yeah, there are probably more corrupt agents in the FBI," Neal pointed out with a sigh.

Peter wished that was a surprise but there would always be corrupt agents. Their job was to make sure they didn't rise through the ranks to positions of power.

"You're going to detail a plan for me," he said, crossing his arms. "And if I don't like it or it puts Neal at unnecessary risk, then the plan is off and we do things my way."