I want to thank everyone for reading the first chapter of this story. Special THANK YOU goes to everyone who reviewed! You guys have been amazing and your reviews mean so much to me! Keeps the muse alive and keeps new chapters and possibly new stories coming up. THANK YOU SO MUCH! :) Although I would like to see a few more reviews this time... Every author wants to know how their work is liked by their readers, so please do take the minute to write a few words.

This is for my Spanish readers, since I got a few reviews that were written in Spanish :)
A todos mis lectores españoles: muchas gracias para tus comentarios! Significan mucho para mí. Español y inglés no son mis idomas materno, pero lo apredí hace muchos años en la escuela.. (sadly I'm not very good at Spanish anymore :( but I still understand mosz of it :))

So now ENJOY this chapter!

Chapter 02: First Steps

It got late that day for Neal at the office. He spent most of his time, either on the phone with Mozzie or researching all the information about Barry Maloney that he could get. Something told him that this case was going to be a lot more difficult and a lot different from what Neal was used to. From what he had heard about Maloney, trying to take him down could get dangerous for almost everyone involved. It was all hearsay to Neal, as he didn't know anyone who worked with Maloney before and had actually witnessed any of what they said he was capable of. Neal had no idea if Maloney had in fact killed someone and made the body vanish, because that sounded a little too much like some sort of mob. Nobody knew if maybe Maloney belonged to the mob, or if perhaps he had belonged to it at some point in his early and managed to make a break out of it and start his own business, but Neal didn't really believe that could be true. Yet he wasn't going to deny that he indeed thought it could get dangerous. Those evil green eyes and the way he was looking on that picture in the case file made him believe that Barry Maloney was capable of almost anything. Maybe even of killing someone and making the body disappear and nothing stick to him, like nothing ever stuck to him before.
"Don't meet trouble halfway, Neal... you have no idea if those rumors are true and IF something is going to happen at all... you've managed dangerous situations before..." Neal told himself as he walked up the stairs to his apartment. It was way after 8 PM, not his usual time to get home, but his research had taken him longer than he had expected. And he had also been meeting with someone from the past, who had worked with Barry Maloney once. He knew all he needed to know for now. Barry was ruthless, yet he was fair to those who deserved it. And yet again, nothing would stick if someone looked into it. Neal unlocked the door to his apartment and stepped inside. The apartment was dark, only the city lights shining into the room. Mozzie wasn't there yet. But Neal knew it wouldn't take him long to arrive, they had just talked on the phone and Moz said he was already on his way over. Neal walked right into his walk-in closet and stripped down to his underwear, then put a pair of sweat pants on and walked out of the room and up to the kitchenette, where he took two wine glasses out of the cupboard and walked up to his dining table and put the glasses down. Then he made his way over to the wine rack and chose a bottle that was to his liking. Back at the table he opened the bottle and poured some wine into both glasses and let them on the table, bottle opened so the wine could breathe. Neal walked over to the patio doors and opened them, standing at the same spot again as this morning. A few minutes later he heard a knock on the door.

"Come on in. Door's open." Neal called out, turning around to face the door, only to watch Mozzie coming in, closing the door behind him. Neal walked back to the dining table and handed him one of the glasses, while he took the other one.

"Did the suits find anything?" Moz asked, holding his glass of wine and looked at Neal, who shook his head in reply.

"Nothing about what he's up to. They don't even know where he's been since he disappeared. What about you?"

"Well, as far as I could find out, he's planning some sort of investment fraud through a company that he made up three years ago." Moz said, now sipping at his wine. "As far as the word spread, he'd been in Europe for the past couple of years, where he came up with that company. He seems to be successful enough to come back and try the same fraud here in New York."

"But why hasn't the FBI come up with this information?"

"He created a new alias overseas and hasn't been caught, yet. He goes by the name Allan Little now."

"Nice. Anything else?" Neal asked, taking a sip of his wine before he sat down at the dining table, followed by Mozzie doing the same. Mozzie looked at Neal, silent for a few seconds.

"He's always looking for a few good men to hire... Nicholas Halden may fit his criteria perfectly, but I'm not sure you really want to do this whole undercover thing. Last one who tried to fool him ended up at the bottom of the ocean. Unknown to anyone of course."

"How'd you find out?"

"I may know someone who witnessed... something." Mozzie replied reluctantly. "What's your plan Neal?"

"I'm thinking, maybe Nick Halden may be able to get a job with Allan Little... that way he can look around for proof." Neal replied, looking at his friend, as he took another sip of his wine.

"I could ask around and see if I can get you a meeting. But if he gets suspicious or catches you snooping around, it can get ugly real fast."

"I know. I just gotta be more careful then." he replied. "It's not the first time I stick my nose where it doesn't belong. Plus I'll always have contact to Peter and the guys in the van. He's never let me go undercover without being able to keep track of me and he won't start doing so anytime soon."

"All I'm saying is Maloney's not stupid." Mozzie said, looking at his friend. "Just watch your back, okay?"

A small smile appeared on Neal's face as he heard the concern in Mozzie's voice. Usually Mozzie would be providing him with more details now but the fact that he simply warned him, reassured Neal that he indeed needed to be careful and that Maloney wasn't to be underestimated. "I will."

xXxXxXxXx

The typical ding-sound of the elevator indicated that it had arrived on the 21st floor. The doors opened and Agent Peter Burke stepped out of the cabin and turned to enter the office through the glass double door. He was a little stunned to see that Neal was already sitting at his desk, working on his computer. He began to wonder whether it was a good sign or not, but he figured that maybe Neal found information about their case and was doing additional research. Neal didn't even look up when Peter entered the room. The young man had a frown on his face and seemed to be a little frustrated as he typed something into the computer and then hit the enter button a little harder than necessary. His blue eyes looked up at Peter, when he stopped in front of his desk. Neal offered Peter one of his usual sunny smiles, hiding his frustration perfectly.

"Morning Peter." he greeted the older agent, sounding as cheerful as could be. If Peter hadn't seen the frown on his face before, he'd say Neal was in a good mood, as usual.

"You're in early." Peter replied after a small nod, eying his younger partner curiously. "What ya up to?"

"Research. Well, trying to at least." Neal replied with a small sigh. "Mozzie provided me with some information about Barry Maloney and I was just checking what I could find out on my own."

Peter raised his brows, intrigued. He was curious to know what they were able to find what the FBI couldn't. Sometimes it was fascinating to see how they always came up with information when no one else would. But Peter mostly didn't want to know how they got their information. When it came to Mozzie, he was better off not knowing. Besides, that little man had strange ways about him anyway. He was quite... secretive and yet a conspiracy freak at some points. But he couldn't deny that said strange man had successfully helped them out of trouble every now and then, so he wouldn't dare to complain. He was like a part of the package. Neal without Mozzie was almost not imaginable, if not impossible. "I'm listening."
Neal pulled his chair back from the table and got up. He needed another refill of coffee. He grabbed the empty mug from his desk and mentioned to Peter to follow him over to the kitchenette. "He's created a new alias in Europe. Ireland and France to be exact." Neal said as they walked to the kitchenette, where Neal set his mug down and refilled it, while Peter got a mug for himself and watched as Neal filled that one with the black liquid, too. "He's in the states as Allan Little, he just expanded his company, "Little Investments". Now speaking of Maloney, there's nothing honest behind this company I guess. I was trying to find something about it, but there's nothing illegal to be found. Same goes for his alias, too."

"So that's what had you frustrated." Peter said arching his brows a little.

Neal looked up, surprise in his blue eyes. He didn't think that Peter would have seen that when he entered the office, but obviously he had. He shrugged a little. "I guess. He's been careful and smart."

"But not smart enough for us. We knew he was in town but... why didn't we know his alias?"

"Maybe he didn't use it when he entered the country." Neal replied, picking up his mug and taking a small sip of hot coffee. "After all, you wouldn't have known he was here if he did. And Allan Little isn't listed as known aliases in the FBI files. And even Interpol doesn't seem to have anything on Allan Little. Not the tiniest disrespect of the law."

"Hm. Guess he really has been careful." Peter replied as he looked up and into the office, where Jones and Diana had just arrived. Perfect timing, like usual.

"Yeah and we should be, too." Neal said, taking his mug. He walked back into the office, greeting Jones and Diana with a smile and nod. Peter followed close behind, his own mug in his hand.

"Meeting in the conference room in 5." Peter told his team and then headed up the stairs to his office, where he took his coat and suit jacket off and thought about what Neal just told him, then ran a little search on Allan Little, coming up with the same knowledge Neal did. Well, if no one had caught Mr. Little yet, then Peter was glad to be the first one to add a new alias to one of the FBI's most wanted criminal.

xXxXxXxXx

Peter and Neal had shared their information with the team and they had been discussing possible plans right after that. Of course, one of them was to get Neal into the company and have him retrieve information, but since everyone figured if he got caught it was going to get dangerous, they tried to find an alternative, which they didn't find as easily as they hoped, so they gave Neal a shot, trying to get a job at the company. And since he was supposed to get people invest their money that should be easy. Neal could sell a used pair of socks if he needed to. But still, after Neal confirmed that Maloney may be capable of killing someone and expose of the body, Peter wasn't too happy about Neal going undercover on this one.

"You wear that watch at all times, got it?" Peter told him seriously. "At the slightest sense of danger you give us the sign to move in."

"Peter, relax. First, I'm not even undercover yet and this isn't the first time we do this." Neal said, being his usual calm self. Sure, he was going to be tense once he got into the company, but right now, he had other things to worry about: getting into it, for example. Mozzie hadn't called him yet on any meeting point or suggestions how he could get a meeting with Barry Maloney, so until then, he'll be relaxed as always. Right now it was just another day at work. However, he knew that could change in a heartbeat.

"I know, but when you are. Not another Jimmy Burger, got it?"

"Yeah." Neal said, his voice having a slight bit of annoyance to it. "Yeah, I got it."

Peter opened his mouth to say something else, but he didn't get the change to. Right in that moment, Neal's phone rang. Peter watched as the younger man got his phone out of his pocket and looked at the idea before he excused himself and left the room to take the call. Peter watched through the glass walls, as Neal stood by the railing, his back to the conference room as he listened to whoever called him. Peter figured it was probably Mozzie. Who else would it be at this hour if not Mozzie. A few minutes later Neal hung up the phone and walked back into the conference room, a somewhat serious look on his face.

"Allan Little is interested in meeting Nicholas Halden. I'm meeting him at 5 this afternoon at the Bethesda Fountain." Neal said as he sat back down on the chair he had been sitting on before. Peter was still standing at the end of the table. He now looked at Neal and knew this may be their only chance. Neal wouldn't get caught, right? He never did, well mostly he didn't.

"Alright. We'll get the van close... 5th Avenue on the corner to Terrace Drive should be perfect. It may raise suspicion if we park it inside Central Park. Two of us will be staying close, just in case."

"I can live with that. But make sure you don't scare him off. He may have a trained eye for cops or feds." Neal replied, looking up at Peter. Part of him was serious, part of him was teasing.

"You do what you do best and let us worry about the rest." Peter replied seriously but he gave the younger man a small nod. He meant it well and he was right, Barry Maloney may know what undercover cops or feds acted like, so they had to be extra cautious.

"Yes sir." Neal replied with a small grin, earning a serious face from Peter that instantly made his grin vanish.

xXxXxXxXx

Neal entered the location at Bethesda Fountain in Central Park wearing the watch he always wore when he was undercover. He was without his anklet and it always felt like a piece of freedom to him. Everyone knew that he could run at any time if he wanted to, but over the years they've learned that Neal wouldn't run. Not if he didn't need to. And he never ran before, except once when Peter merely gave him a signal to run. Neal wouldn't have been free, even if his sentence had been reduced. He would have been taken away from his home to Washington D.C. Agent Kramer would have done everything to ensure that. Well, he would have arrested Neal for something so small that it almost felt like they had arrived back at kindergarten. But now everything was back to the way it was before Neal had taken off to Cape Verde. Neal was happy to be back. New York had become his home and although he did leave the Big Apple in the end, he was devastated to know that he had to. He had to leave everything behind and he couldn't come back. But in order to protect his friend from Kyle Collins, Peter traveled to that island himself, because he knew how ruthless and reckless Collins could be. Like Mozzie had put it so very right: "He rather brings his captures home in a body bag than not at all." But it didn't matter anymore. Peter had brought him home again. Home to New York where he belonged.
After walking through the arches Neal continued down the wide path toward the fountain where he was supposed to sit at the edge of the basin. The dark-haired male walked down the few steps of the stairs and up to the big fountain, letting his bright blue eyes wander around the area, trying to spot the man he was looking for in the small crowds, but he failed. He was probably in a disguise of sorts or kept himself very well from Neal's view. Neal sat down on the edge of the fountain, so the way he came from was to his right and the water of The Lake to his left. His blue eyes were still scanning the crowd. On the stone bench by the water he spotted Jones and Diana acting like a couple on a date, while they were watching the space around the fountain. Then finally he spotted a man Barry's age, height and looks, coming from the same direction he came from. Neal looked down to his left, pretending to scratch his neck so he could let Peter in the van know that he saw Barry, or Allan Little as they had to call him now.

"Showtime." Neal said, staying put and raised his head again. The older man sat down next to him, his green eyes almost boring themselves into Neal's as he looked up at him. That was Barry Maloney, there was no doubt about it. Those penetrating, yet evil green eyes were the giveaway for someone who had looked at them in case files one too many times. A second later however, that evil glare disappeared and interest started to show through those eyes. He was a little taller than Neal was, so Neal actually did look up to him. Despite his alias' last name Little, Maloney was anything but little.

"You're Nick Halden." Allan Little stated more than he asked. Of course he'd know what Nick Halden may look like. After all, he'd do some research before he'd meet with someone who wanted to meet him so desperately.

"I am." Neal replied.

Allan Little extended his hand to Neal, who took it for a manly, strong handshake. "Allan Little." he said, his thick Irish Accent still to be heard, although he tried to sound British. "Your friend said you're looking for work."

"That's correct. That's why he set up this meeting for me. I was caug..."

"Uh-uh. That's enough already." Little interrupted him. "No details about personal things. The less others know about you, the better. Besides, there's only one thing I need to know."

"What's that?"

"Have you ever worked in an investment company?"

"I've sold stock before."

"Well, this works similar. You good at selling?"

"I can sell used socks if I need to." Neal replied with a slight grin. "That's what I've been told, however."

"Well, used socks is not what this is about. Your job would be talking people into sending their money to us for investments that would have a great return for them. But I like that attitude."

"Thanks. I can do that." Neal said quickly. He wasn't quite sure he'd actually get a job with Allan Little, but he realized they only had this one shot. Allan touched his chin, his green eyes once again almost spearing Neal. It felt like he could see right through him and Neal didn't like that feeling at all. It made it quite a bit uncomfortable.

"Well... I just expanded my company from Europe to New York, so I could use a few good men..." Allan finally said, his tone calm and almost friendly. "I'll give you a shot, don't mess it up."

"I won't." Neal replied with a slight nod, his mind exhaling a sigh of relief.

"Good. Here's my card, you call any time. Address of the company is the same where you will be at tomorrow at 8 AM. The office's on the 5th floor."

Neal took the business card Allan Little aka Barry Maloney was handing him and nodded a little as he listened. "Thank you, Mr. Little."

"Don't thank me too soon, boy." Little replied, getting up from the edge of the fountain. "8AM, don't be late." he said before he turned on his heels and walked away, blending in perfectly. Neal watched him leave for a few seconds before he looked down at the business card and studied the address and name.
"Little Investments – what a nice name for a scam." he quietly said to himself as he then got up himself and made his way back to the van.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to read this! Please remember to take a moment and leave a review, okay? It means so much to me. Thanks
blackrose538