I do not own White Collar or Leverage

Nathan Ford's POV

I was planning a con for the team. I knew that they needed this break so I wouldn't bring them back early unless it was absolutely necessary (The con would hold a few weeks unless something drastic changed for the parties involved). I wanted to have a con ready so that we could get back into the swing of things as soon as they got back. I knew that I still had some time so I planned to watch some murder mystery movies after I finished up what I was working on.

"RING! RING! RING! RING!" went my phone. I wondered who was calling me as I rarely got calls. I wondered if one of the team members got in trouble. That would mean I would have to call back the rest of the team. They would certainly not appreciate it as I tended to keep going unless someone threatened me into letting them take a break or we had to break up for the heat to die down. I glanced at the phone and saw that it was a number in Canada. I knew that Eliot had a layover in Canada under the name Jimmy Black but he would cause no trouble as he had used the alias before. I liked to keep a running record of the names that the team used when we spilt up so if I needed to bail them out, I could do so without blowing their cover.

I finally answered the phone. "Hello, to whom am I speaking to," I told whoever was on the other end of the line. I truly was curious but I was not quite sure what alias they wanted to speak to (I currently only had one phone on me as the other had met a fatal end in the washer and Hardison was busy).

"I am looking for a Mr. Jimmy Papadokalis," The voice on the other end spoke, not saying who he was but giving me the information I needed nonetheless.

"This is Jimmy Papadokalis, do ya need a lawyer, or do ya have one of my clients in custody?" I asked, playing the role of a lawyer to the tee.

"None of that applies to me. I am a customs officer in an airport in Canada. We have a Mr. Jimmy Black in our custody. I was wondering if we could ask you a few questions about your friend. He currently does not need a lawyer as he is not accused of a crime yet" I was silent as I thought about what Eliot could have done. I figured the best thing to do was to ask the man.

"I am willing to answer the questions if it does not get in the way of attorney-client confidentiality. If I may ask, what do ya need to know about Jimmy?" I figured that was the safe route to follow. I would act agreeable and only give the bare minimum information unless they specifically asked for more. I waited for the man to ask a question.

"Well, the White Collar division of the FBI in New York told us to stop a Mr. Black coming off the plane that your friend arrived on also. There were two of them on that plane and we are trying our best to clear up any confusion on which one is actually the suspect here... So far, your Mr. Black has cooperated a lot better than the other Mr. Black did (he had not said a word and just stared at the official when a question was asked). We are doing our best to clear your friend so that he may just be able to make the connecting flight that he has a ticket for currently." Well, that was a surprise. It seemed like Eliot was the one that got into trouble for the weirdest reasons.

"Thank you for explaining it to me, sir." He answered my question so I would try to answer his quickly. Besides, I need to clear Eliot. I can not have him stuck in Canada. He is too important to the team. The others would kill me if I left him to rot and I enjoyed what we did too much to take such a risk.

"What were Mr. Black's traveling plans?" Well, that was an easy question.

"Jimmy was planning on spending a few days in New York. While there, he was planning on attempting to visit a few friends. Then, he was planning on driving back to Boston and meeting up with me to check in on a few things with me at my apartment. By the time our discussion was done, our other friends would arrive to hang out for a bit before we would all head our separate ways and go home." I probably told him than needed, but I wanted to seem helpful and only wanting to clear my friend, not suspicious of the officials' motives. I was hoping the others floated back soon after Eliot but you never knew with some of them.

"Okay, why is he driving from New York to Boston? Why not just get another flight?" That was a valid question, but it was a good thing I knew the answer.

"Well, Jimmy hung out with the wrong crowd for a while when he was younger and made a lot of enemies when he finally got out. He doesn't want to risk any of them ruining his new life." I told him a half-truth. Eliot did have enemies from working as a hitter but he never did drugs. If asked I would tell them more but I felt like that would be enough.

"Is he an addict?" I figured that would be a question with my vague information.

"No. He never did drugs though that doesn't mean he never hung out with bad people." The man was silent for a while. He seemed to be thinking over what he was going to say next to me or if he had enough information to clear this misunderstanding right up.

"Well, that should be enough to clear your friend, hopefully. I thank you for all the helpful information as you have given me a lot to think about. Goodbye."

"Goodbye." With that, we hung up. I was glad that this conversation was over. I hope that all the information I gave was good. I wonder if I would get a call from Eliot. Probably not. That man keeps to himself and you can never quite tell what he is thinking.

AN1: Well this one is shorter but I thought this was a good place to end it. I didn't want to draw it out and have to end it at a weird spot. If you have any comments or suggestions, leave a review to tell me. No flames ever, please Thanks ~jenn008

AN2: Chapter 2 has been edited. I would like to think that I made it slightly more realistic than the first time around but that is up to the reader. I hope you enjoy it. Comment if you have any suggestions or concerns about the chapter. Thanks ~jenn008

A3: More minor edits were done. Expect a new chapter later today or tomorrow. ~jenn008