Chapter 3
It was the weekend. Neither Chuck, Sarah or Bryce had work and there were no missions.
With a click and a snap, Bryce opened the lock puzzle.
"Done!"
Chuck pressed the timer, stopping it at 36:21:49.
"Not too bad," Bryce mused. He should have been able to do it faster next time. The gravity locks had been tricky to get right. "Although it's interesting that a puzzle we bought on the internet is trickier to break than a safe."
"The puzzles were made from passion; the safes from greed."
"It's strange. You'd think there would be less pay off to the puzzle," Sarah commented. She hadn't intended to watch the whole thing but she hadn't been able to look away.
"Safes are designed to protect while puzzles are designed to befuddle," Chuck said. "That difference is probably the reason for the increased payoff."
"I'd still prefer a good mission to this," Sarah's comment saw unanimous agreement from the others.
"Welcome to the off-site install," Chuck said as he motions towards Castle's impressive computer set up and conference screen.
Bryce snorted despite himself and the numerous times Chuck had made this joke. He liked Chuck's enthusiasm and found it contagious.
"Let's just find out what the mission is."
"Can't wait to get out of this hellhole," Casey grumbled.
"He doesn't mind it, truly," Chuck whispered to Bryce.
General Beckman appeared right away, looking as grave as always.
"This is a different mission to usual. Someone is looking into Bryce Larkin."
They exchanged worried looks. Even Casey looked disgruntled.
"Do they know he's alive?" Sarah asked.
"That's what we need you to find out. They've been good at hiding so far but we got a ping from the FBI building in New York."
White Collar. The name alone was enough to make Bryce's heart stop and an unwilling smile twitch onto his face.
"Do you have an idea who it might be, Agent Larkin?" Beckman demanded to know. Her voice shattered Neal's daydream.
"No."
"You were smiling," Sarah pointed out. Their gazes burned and Bryce wished he could disappear.
"Uh… I heard there's ex-NSA at the head of White Collar; a Reece Hughes."
Beckman's head snapped to attention. An interested noise hummed through the screen as she typed away; checking this information.
Every second that dragged on made Bryce sweat.
What if he was wrong?
What if he was RIGHT?
Beckman stopped typing.
"Hmm. So that's where that crafty man went."
"What?" Chuck sensed a story there.
Bryce ignored Sarah's inquisitive stare.
"I had to go through their FBI servers," Beckman said. "I could only get in thanks to the Piranha's backdoor into their systems."
Chuck preened. Bryce was certain Chuck hadn't given them all his ways in.
"Bryce is right?" Sarah questioned.
"Why would NSA go FBI?" Casey growled.
"He was FBI first. Then they forced him to retire and he came to us. He must have used his NSA position to get back into the FBI."
Bryce had heard it all before. But, he questioned his dream's ability to know things Bryce hadn't learnt.
He didn't have an Intersect, it would have done something before now.
"Reece Hughes was a legend during his time with us. That man had a way of getting things done."
"So, if he's looking into Bryce for some reason, he'll find him?"
"Sarah, you sound worried," Bryce pointed out.
"Of course, I'm worried. You don't know why he's looking for you."
Bryce suspected Hughes wasn't looking for him but Neal. Neal had given Peter his name.
"We don't even know if Hughes is the one looking for Bryce," Chuck pointed out.
"I vote we go find out," Bryce said.
Casey stayed behind. He had no interest in this case, not even if there was an ex-NSA involved somehow.
That meant that Chuck, Sarah and Bryce were on a plane to New York together. Bryce spent that time obsessing over the FBI files Chuck had downloaded for him.
Special Agent Clinton Jones;
Special Agent Diana Barrigan;
And Special Agent in Charge Peter Burke.
Everyone Neal remembered was there, except himself. Neal Caffrey wasn't real after all but… Suddenly curious, Bryce searched for files on the cases he remembered.
They were all there.
Every case.
Every note and translation Neal has made as well.
All credited to an 'unnamed CI'.
"Are you okay?" Chuck asked.
"I'm not sure. This is a puzzle."
"I'm sure it's not the Ring or any of our other enemies."
"That's not as reassuring as you think, Chuck," Sara said. "An unknown enemy can be dangerous. Better to deal with the known than the unknown."
Chuck shrugged. He wasn't even certain it was an enemy. He reckoned that the FBI was just curious about Bryce Larkin.
While Bryce agreed that it didn't feel like the actions of an enemy, he also didn't voice it. He didn't know how to explain about Neal Caffrey, the ghost life Bryce had while in the coma.
They sent Chuck in. Bryce showing his face would be their last plan, only implemented when they needed to draw their opponent out. Besides, Bryce made himself useful forging Chuck's FBI ID. Chuck dressed in an FBI suit and Bryce bit back any complaints about the quality.
Was June also a real person? Did she have a wardrobe of suits from Bryce's fondest dreams? He hoped so.
Chuck didn't find anything interesting while searching.
"If someone from the FBI has been looking into Bryce, I don't think they've been doing it here," he mused. "There's no files on it."
"If there had been files, we could have found them during our computer sweep," Sarah reminded him.
Chuck sighed. "Then where am I meant to find physical files?"
Bryce gave him the instructions and was thankful that the Cyber Crimes division had a similar layout to the White Collar division.
Chuck looked through the files, glad that no one seemed to give him more than a cursory glance. He didn't have long and no flies gave him any information.
"This seems like a dead end."
"Do you want to try and meet with Reece Hughes?" Bryce asked.
Chuck didn't get a chance to answer. "Not today," Sarah said. "It's still too risky. We'll gather more information and then arrange a meeting."
Chuck slipped into the elevator. Standing next to him was a much shorter man in a hat. The man was tapping with nervous energy. Chuck tried to get a look at his face without the other noticing but the man was shifting too much for him to see.
Chuck was almost certain that this man's face wouldn't even be caught on camera.
"Which floor do you work on?" the man suddenly asked. Chuck jumped in surprise. He had thought that this man would remain silent while in the elevator.
"Uh… Cyber Crimes." Bryce had thought it would the easiest division for Chuck to fake being a part of.
"Don't talk to him!" Bryce's voice suddenly pierced through Chuck's earpiece.
Chuck couldn't respond without the man hearing so he turned away a little and pretended to be checking messages on his phone. And he sent a question mark to Bryce.
Bryce's response sent a chill down Chuck's spine. The man suspected that Chuck wasn't FBI.
