Chapter 3:

After realizing that Neal was nowhere to be found by the storage building, Peter decided the best course of action was to go to work. He picked up his phone and dialed Diana's number.

"Yes, boss?" Diana answered.

"Can you pull the records on Neal's tracking anklet from last night until now."

"Sure. What do you think Caffrey's up to?" Diana asked, somewhat taken aback.

"I have no idea. But I sure hope to find out."

After Peter had driven back to the office, perhaps more quickly than was strictly necessary, he walked up to his desk.

"Diana?"

"I have his tracking record right here. He was at June's, then he was at a warehouse, and then, it appears that the tracking data goes offline after he's gone about two blocks. He didn't take it off; it looks like it shorted out."

"Shorted out?"

"It just stopped working."

"Neal could have disabled it," Peter sighed. He didn't want to jump to conclusions. "He's done crafty things with the anklet before. I believe he put it on June's pug when he went after Fowler. We really need to find him. Something is going on."

"I suppose it's a long shot, but could we try to track the GPS on his phone?"

"That's not a bad idea. And why don't we try calling June, Mozzie and Sara? And maybe Alex. See if they have any idea what Neal's up to."

By lunch time, Peter, Diana, and Jones were almost as in dark as they had been. June and Sara both said that Mozzie and Neal had been acting a little more strangely than usual the past couple days, but they had no thoughts on why. None of the numbers listed for Alex Hunter were working ones. Left with a feeling of unease and uselessness, Peter went to meet Elizabeth for lunch.

"Hey," Elizabeth greeted Peter as he sat down next to her, "Can you maybe explain this text from Neal to me?"

"Neal texted you? El, we've been looking for him all morning."

"He's missing?" Elizabeth looked concerned.

"Well, I don't know about missing. Disappeared perhaps."

"Honey, Neal trusts you. Maybe for once you should have some faith in him. I'm not saying that he fully deserves it, but at least reserve judgment until you find him. Anyway," she handed her phone to Peter with Neal's text displayed on the screen.

Peter's face fell. It was a nine digit phone number. "El, this is what he had me text him when Keller had me kidnapped."

"Why did he send it to me and not you?" Elizabeth asked, looking more concerned.

"It probably wasn't safe to send it to me. Which means it was probably only slightly safer to send it to you, but he knew you'd show it me. In any case, it's a nine letter code."

Peter pulled a sheet of legal paper out of his briefcase and began trying to work out Neal's puzzle.