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Chapter 03: Showtime

Early that Wednesday morning, Neal had talked to Peter on the phone. He had assured him that he'd wear his watch at all times and that he'd keep it on, no matter what. Unless he had to turn it off for his own safety, for example if he was checked with a weapons detector or something like that. After that was settled Neal knew that Peter and the team would stick close with the van, so they could hear what was going on, so Neal would make sure to stop by when he was done with his day at Little Investments. Of course he'd have to do that very carefully, assuring that no one saw him getting into that van with the Feds inside. He didn't want to blow his cover before he got what they needed. Five minutes after hanging up with Peter, Neal headed out of the door and made his way to work. He had exactly 45 minutes left and it would be more than enough time to get to the office building. The handsome young man wore a dark blue suit, like usual and his favorite tie. He was good-looking like always. Well, at least he was satisfied with himself. Neal had left his hat at home, though. That was Neal Caffrey, today he had to be Nick Halden. And somehow that worked better without a hat.
Once he reached the 20 stories high office building he stopped and looked up, cautiously checking the exterior with his bright blue eyes, which had a touch of gray in them this morning. They could have been the perfect reflection of the sky, because this morning the sun wasn't shining. In fact, it actually quite cool outside, every exhaled breath turned right into grayish clouds of fog. It looked like he was smoking, when in fact he wasn't. Once again Neal realized just how close Winter actually was. He pulled up his shoulders a little before he walked into the building, again letting his eyes take in as much details as possible as he walked past a reception table, giving the beautiful female receptionist a charming smile as he continued to the elevators, one of them was already down, doors open and waiting for a passenger to get on. Neal walked up to that elevator and got inside, pressing the button for the 5th floor and watched as the doors of the elevator closed in front of him. Within a minute he reached his destination and stepped off the elevator. The door to the office area was closed, but a sign on the door read "Little Investments – Investments and Stock Marketing."

"Stock Marketing, huh? He didn't say that about his company." Neal murmured to himself, pulling the business card out of his pocket. The business card only said "Little Investments" and the address of the office building, plus the name of the owner, Allan Little and his phone number. "Clever..."

Neal walked up to the door and rang the bell to it's right and waited for an answer. There was not a sound to be heard through the door, it seemed pretty quiet around him. However, despite all the quietness the door opened only a few seconds later and in front of him stood a beautiful brunette, whose dark brown eyes suspiciously eyed the man standing in front of her. She wore her hair in small curls, the hair from the sides pinned to the back of her head while the rest fell loosely onto her back and shoulders. Only a few stray curls of hair hang down the side of head. Some hair was simply brushed behind her ear, also covering her forehead. Her skin had a golden tan, making her look Latin or Mediterranean. After a few seconds her lips cracked into a small, but friendly smile and her brown eyes sparkled a little mischievously.

"You must be Nick Halden." she said with slightly Spanish accent to her soft voice. She stepped aside and let Neal enter the office space. Neal gave her one of his charming smiles and extended his hand to her for a handshake, which she accepted.

"Indeed I am." he he said with a slight nod as he walked into the room.

To his right was the reception desk, the workspace of the nice woman who opened the door. There were a few rosewood filing cabinets behind, a computer and a phone. A few small paintings graced the only walls that weren't made of glass. To the left was a big, separate office which belonged to Allan Little. The blinds to the reception desk were only partly closed so Neal was able to see inside and spot Little sitting at his desk. Ahead of Neal the entrance area opened into the big open-plan office where a few of Neal's new co-workers were gathered around one of the desks, talking. From what Neal could see it seemed like this office had been active for at least a week or two. Thin half walls were separating each workspace from the other. Each one of those booths had a desk with a computer and writing material. Calls were made directly via the computer and probably recorded.

"Nice to meet you, Nick. I'm Elizabeth, boss' secretary and basically woman for everything in here. But you can call me Liz like everyone else does." Elizabeth replied, still wearing her friendly smile. "You mind me calling you Nick?"

"No, not at all."

Elizabeth, as in Elizabeth Little, or Elizabeth Maloney, Barry's wife and probably also Allan Little's wife. She was 32 years old, very beautiful and from what Neal remembered from her file, she was also quite a skilled thief and been playing cat and mouse with the police and the feds for almost a decade now. However, she hadn't always been a thief and felon. In fact, she had had training for the other side of the law, wanting to become a NYPD police officer at some point in her life. She even had specialized training to become a sniper for the SWAT or Special Response Unit. But then some sort of tragedy must have happened that made her change her mind and quit with the NYPD, when she had been on duty for a little more than two years. Whatever it was might remain a mystery to everyone else as she had managed to get her files sealed. Even the FBI had been locked out. If they knew what the sealed record was about or not remained a mystery to Neal, too. There was nothing in her FBI file and Neal didn't really care about that right now. He had his own life changing events in his past and he was sure whatever reason had them seal that record, it had been bad enough for Elizabeth to quit with the NYPD and join the other site.

"Well, come on. I'll show you around and then Allan wants another word with you." Liz said, but just as she did Allan came walking out of the open-plan office and up to them.

"Well Mr. Halden, you're in early." he said, shaking Neal's hand. "I like that already."

"Thank you Mr. Little." Neal replied with a small but charming smile. "Figured I may need some showing around and learning the ropes before I get stared so might as well be here early. More time for potential customers."

"Good attitude." Allan said with an appreciative nod. "And please, call me Allan."

"Alright, Allan then. Call me Nick."

Allan nodded a little. He couldn't help but notice Nick's sunny attitude and yet being eager to start. He actually liked that, but still, his trained con senses were on alert. He wasn't a man who easily trusted strangers anyways. No, Nick Halden had to earn his trust and that wouldn't be too easy on him. Together the three of them started their way into the open-plan, where Allan Little introduced Nick Halden to his new co-workers. The first he met was Louisa Clayworth, a quite young woman, with long blazing red hair and sapphire blue eyes, who came from England, as Neal could tell by her thick British accent. Next to her stood André Rousseau, one of two employees he took with him from France and also one of two trusted employees. André spoke English well, but his french accent was very noticeable and he seemed to really like Louisa, that Neal could tell from the way he looked at the young woman, when he thought he was unnoticed. André had short dark brown hair, which he wore quite messy, and hazel eyes. He also had a thin mustache. The second trusted employee that Allan Little had taken with him from France was Abigail Vos, or Abby as she wanted to be called. Abigail, so Neal was informed, came from Netherlands before she started to work for Little in France. Abigail was about the same age as Elizabeth and had honey blond short hair and light blue eyes. Abby was a little overweight but still beautiful, the short blond hair suited her perfectly. There was only little left of her dutch accent. The last of his new co-workers was sitting a little aside at his desk. His name was Johnny Davis, a man with dirty blond, messy hair and greenish brown eyes who mostly kept to himself. His face seemed familiar to Neal, like he'd seen him before somewhere, but he couldn't quite point his finger. After being introduced to everyone, Neal was shown to his desk and Allan excused himself and left for his office. Elizabeth taught him how their program worked, how to make a call and other important things he needed to know, then she gave him a test run on a potential customer. It was like back in his first year working with Peter, when they took down a boiler room fraud.

xXxXxXxXx

A few hours later Neal pushed back his chair and stood up. He had managed to get quite the score in the past four hours but now he desperately needed a coffee break and maybe some fresh air, if he was allowed. In the corner of the room, right next to Allan Little's big office was a quite spacious kitchenette with a dining table for six, a microwave, coffee maker and a small fridge. It was a perfect break room, just what Neal needed. On the right side of the kitchenette was a door that led to a small balcony, which was as long as that side of the building. Neal grabbed a mug from the counter and filled it with the black, steamy liquid and then added a bit of sugar to it, before he took it into his hands and opened the door to step onto the balcony. Neal walked up to the railing, breathing in the crisp air around him. The sky was still gray and it felt like it could start snowing any minute. But the weather report didn't say anything about snow for the next couple of days. But who knew? It wouldn't be the first time they got it all wrong.
Neal let his gaze wander over the busy city, as he took a sip of his hot coffee and then smiled a little. That wasn't a bad roast they had here. Not as good as his Italian roast he got at June's but way better than what the bureau had to offer. He didn't get a chance to check either the reception desk nor the big office yet, but he hoped that maybe lunch break at noon until 1:30 PM would provide him with an opportunity. Neal closed his eyes for a moment, letting the cold air and the traffic sound taking over. It was a nice feeling hearing something else than people on the phone and actually feeling the cold fresh air on his cheeks as a mild breeze gently lifted some of his dark hair. But he wasn't alone for very long. Only a few minutes later, Neal heard the door open again and so he turned his head to see who it was. It was the honey blond Abby, who joined him with a cigarette in her hand.

"Mind if I join you?" she asked him, as she stopped next to him at the railing. Neal offered her a small charming smile.

"No, not at all." he replied in his usual cheerful, yet soft voice. Abby returned his smile and lit up her cigarette. She inhaled two times before she looked back at Neal and sighed a bit.

"Bad habit." she said, nodding down to the cigarette in her hand.

"We all have 'em."

"Yeah... well I stopped two years ago, but when I came back to work a year later I started all over again..."

"What made you stop?"

"I got pregnant." Abby replied. "Some pounds are still left..."

"Well in your case very beautiful pounds." Neal replied with another charming smile. Yeah, that was the easiest part of his job.

"Thanks." Abby replied and Neal could notice her blushing a little.

"How old, if I may ask?"

"They're about to turn 2 in January." Abby replied and noticed Neal's look on his face change to surprise. "I had twin daughters. So... what did you do before you started here?"

"Uh... you know I've kept afloat with smaller jobs here and there, nothing too interesting really."

"Well, I'm interested." Abby replied, giving him a slightly demanding look. It almost seemed like Little had told her to question him a little.

"Well, most of the time I'd be gambling for some money. Sometimes I did jobs, that I can't talk about, sorry."

"I understand... been there, too."

"Why are you still here? I mean a business like that and having children..."

"Allan pays me good money and I've worked with him almost a decade now. Never had a better job than this one."

Neal nodded a little in reply. A stronger blow of wind made shiver slightly and he decided he spent enough time out here. After all, getting sick wasn't what he had in mind. "I better get back to work." he said to which Abby only nodded, raising his hand signaling him she'd be finishing her cigarette.

Neal walked back into the open-plan and to his desk, seeing that Elizabeth was now in Allan's office. He couldn't tell what they were talking about but from the gestures he figured it was more personal than it was business. From where Neal was sitting right now, he noticed a small bump on Elizabeth and a small smirk formed on his face. He hadn't noticed this before but he knew quite well what that bump was about. Yet he could still be wrong. Neal set his mug down on his desk and sat back down, leaning back in his chair, watching Allan and Liz in the office until Liz walked out and back to her desk about two minutes later, a small smile on her face. That was when Neal got back to work, too. Although this time it was a little more detective work he was doing on his computer. He had a list of people, potential 'customers' that he had wanted to safe on a small USB flash drive, hidden in his cuff button. But as long as someone could notice it, he couldn't do it. But that didn't mean that he couldn't snoop around the computer and see what else he may be able to find out, although he figured he'd find nothing on his computer but he'd find more on Liz' or Allan's computer. But those were two spots he couldn't reach right now. Two more hours to go before lunch break, he had to make the best of it. And time would pass sooner than he expected.

Two hours later everyone shut down their computers for lunch break. Neal leaned back in his chair and watched. He had only switched off the monitor so it looked like he'd be leaving, too. Johnny was the first who left the office for lunch, followed by Louisa and André, who were already wrapped up in another conversation. Abby met up with Allan and Elizabeth at the door. Elizabeth turned around and looked at Neal with slightly raised brows. "You not coming?" she asked in surprise.

"Nah, I'll follow in a minute, gotta make a phone call first." Neal replied, resting his blue eyes on Liz.

"Alright... make sure to close the door behind yourself."

"I will. Thanks."

And within a few seconds Neal was all alone in the office for the very first time that day. He quickly removed his cuff button and got the USB flash drive out and plugged it into his computer, wanting to safe the list first, while took his phone out, in case someone came back into the room. After downloading the list, Neal put the flash drive back where it belonged and quickly made his way to the office. It wasn't locked. Obviously Allan thought no one would snoop around this room. Maybe no one dared before. Neal left the door open so he'd hear what was going on outside. The first thing he checked were the filing cabinets. He quickly scanned through the drawers not finding anything that would catch his eye, besides files of numbers. In another cabinet he kept a few files about former employees and those currently employed. However, he didn't find a file with his name in it. Maybe Maloney hadn't had the time to make one yet, or he wasn't sure if Nick Halden would be staying longer than just one day. Neal didn't have much time to worry about it as he walked to the computer on the desk, but it was password protected. Neal sat down and looked around the desk. There was a wedding picture of Barry Maloney and Elizabeth on his desk. He tried the first combination that came to his mind but it got it wrong. He looked around again, thinking of another possibility, but he was interrupted by a sound coming from outside the office. He quickly turned Barry's computer off again and left the office. But he didn't notice the set of eyes watching him from Elizabeth's reception desk and seeing him leave the office. Neal didn't stop at the reception desk, but left the building this time. He didn't want to risk his cover, so he decided he'd try and check Elizabeth's desk and computer later. Maybe he'd even find a way to get Allan's password for the computer.

xXxXxXxXx

"And you are sure he was in the office?" the man with the evil green eyes asked the blue eyes woman sitting in front of him in the small diner they were having lunch together.

"Absolutely, yes. I saw him leave. He musta heard me coming back, cause he left the building straight away." the woman replied.

"Well... we'll keep an eye on him and see what he's up to. Maybe he's a spy from another company."

"Yeah, maybe. But we should find out what he's looking for or if he found it already." another woman with a Spanish accent added, earning an appreciative nod from the man.

"We'll take care of him. Whatever he knows he won't be able to share it with anyone."

With that the three got up from the table, two of them watching the blue-eyed woman leave the diner.

"You keep an eye on Halden. I don't trust him... and him snooping around my office isn't helping him getting any trust." the man said to his wife, who nodded in reply.

"I'll make sure he won't find anything. I'll provide him with an opportunity to try, though. See if he bites."

"Oh, he will. He's a charmer, can't resist a beautiful woman, trust me, babe." the man replied, keeping his voice low. "And tomorrow... am gonna take him for a nice, little ride..." he said and an evil grin appeared on his face, making his green eyes look even more evil and mean.

xXxXxXxXx

The rest of the day went by slowly. Neal made calls over calls, some very successful, some not successful at all. But it wasn't like he was counting scores. He was just doing his job and he was good at it. The rest of the team behaved the same way they did before, but still it felt like he was being watched. A feeling that gave him the creeps because he didn't notice anyone watching him. Yet again, he was certainly working with professionals again, they made sure you didn't know who was watching you. Neal considered waiting to check Liz' desk till the next day, as getting the opportunity to do so was going to be tough. He couldn't stay longer than anyone else – again. So he would need another excuse. Or maybe he could come back later. Neal didn't know that his problem would soon be solved by Elizabeth, but he also didn't know that it was only the first step of a plan to get rid of him. Of course after finding out what he was looking for and who he was working for, if he was a spy of sorts.
It was the end of a long day for Neal. He picked up his suit jacked which he had hung over his chair and headed to the front desk, where Elizabeth was packing up her things. She noticed him and walked up to him, stopping closely in front of Neal. She held up her hand, a key dangling from her fingers. Neal looked at the beautiful brunette, slightly raising his eyebrows. "Newbies have to clean after their first day of work." she said with a mischievous smile. "You gonna have to stay longer."

"What?" Neal asked, still raising his brows. He had heard what she said, but he wasn't so sure whether it was a joke, or not, but when her face got serious he realized it wasn't a joke.

"You stay and clean after us. Cleaning staff isn't coming today. It's the ritual you know?" she repeated. "You better do it, if you wanna keep your job. Would be a shame to loose you, you've done well today."

"Thanks... just doing my job."
"Well, cleaning tonight is one of your jobs now."

"Yes ma'am." Neal replied seriously. He got the hint. Yet it provided him the perfect opportunity to check her desk, too. Yet he had to proceed carefully. There was a lot at stake after all.

Neal leaned against the reception desk and watched as everybody else left the office space, Allan Little and Elizabeth leaving last. The two of them glanced at Neal, as he looked up. He felt like their eyes were boring themselves right through him, a feeling that he gladly got rid of by walking into the small storage room behind the reception area. He was surprised to see a vacuum cleaner, broom and other cleaning stuff inside. Usually, he thought, the cleaning staff brought their own stuff with them, but in this case he wasn't so sure if there was a cleaning staff at all. He guessed there never was one, Barry Maloney wouldn't let some cleaning staff into his office, where he kept important documents and things that weren't supposed to be found by anyone but himself or his wife. But then again, why would they let him stay and clean for them tonight? What was their plan? Would they stay and watch him, or what would they do?

"Be sure to lock the office before you leave. And no snooping around, got it?" he heard Liz call out to him, as he grabbed the vacuum cleaner and turned around. Housework... this almost felt like when he was a teenager and had to help out with stuff like that. And he still didn't really like it, but it was part of his job now and a part of life anyway. Unless you were rich and could afford a maid to do all the work for you.

"Got it." he replied, although he didn't sound very happy. Cleaning for others wasn't exactly his favorite task.

"Good." Allan replied, his green eyes still focused in Neal, as if they wanted to stare wholes into his body. It gave him creeps, but he wouldn't show. He simply put his poker face on and started his cleaning job right as Allan and Liz left the office.

Neal started the vacuum cleaner. He figured he might as well clean the open-plan office first before he started snooping around in Allan's office once again. A little more thorough than last time. Maybe he could find something he couldn't find earlier this day, because he didn't have much time to look for anything else. Maybe he could find some evidence now, or even the password to Allan's computer. Although Neal doubted the latter. After vacuuming the open-plan office Neal turned it off and walked into Allan's office with it. He'd clean the office alright, but after he looked around again. He went through a filing cabinet he didn't get to check last time, but he found it empty. Much to his surprise, because he figured some files would be stashed in there, but nothing was inside, which made Neal frown a little. He sat down on the chair in front of the desk and started the computer, looking through the desk as he waited for the computer to be ready to work with. He tried finding anything that could help him crack the password. He went through receipts, letters, some pens and even through a few matchbooks he found, but nothing caught his eyes. Allan wouldn't be that stupid to choose a password written on a matchbook or pencil, would he?
Neal frowned. There was nothing he could remember from the files that would help him choose a combination to try. This wasn't his game. He could pick just about any lock, but he wasn't a computer guy. How was he supposed to crack a password? Then he saw it. A small sculpture of the Eiffel Tower, standing on a shelf behind him. He got up from the chair and took it in his hands, turning it around to look at it from every direction. But there was nothing written on it that Neal could see. He put the sculpture back where it belonged and sat back down. Eiffel Tower. Maloney had been in France, right? The Eiffel Tower was in Paris, now he needed to know when Maloney had been in Paris and he'd have three different combinations worth trying. Neal's gaze wandered to the wedding picture on the desk, it was taken in front of the Eiffel Tower, as he noticed right now. Neal grabbed the frame and carefully removed the picture from it. If it was an original he'd find a date printed on the back. And he did: June 2003.

Neal put the picture back into the frame and tried the first combination, paris2003, but the computer beeped as a result of a wrong password. He tried again. He didn't want some sort of mechanism to start after he typed in the wrong password three times, so this was his last try. Eiffeltower2003 was Neal's second try and this time the desktop started to load. A small smirk appeared on his face as he waited a few more seconds before he started looking through whatever he could find on that computer. He found a few references to his company in France and he also found a few financial documents which he downloaded onto the flash drive hidden in his cuff button. But he knew that wasn't the evidence he was looking for, yet it may be helpful.

After finishing his search, Neal shut the computer down again and quickly finished his cleaning before he went back to the storage room and put the vacuum cleaner away. Then he walked back out and checked Elizabeth's computer. Little did he know, that he had unseen eyes watching him snoop around the space. But this time he wouldn't be as lucky with cracking the password. He tried twice, but he came back without being able to find the right password for her computer, so he tried the cabinets, but there were only a few financial files and some customer information. He took a few pictures with his cell phone and then made sure everything was exactly the way Liz had left it, before he walked out the door and locked the office behind him.
Outside Neal slowly walked down the street and rounded the corner, seeing the van parked between other parking cars. He slowly wandered over and knocked on the door, before he opened it and climbed inside. Ugh, there was that smell again. He hated the van. Although the equipment they had inside was rather fascinating, but still, that smell and the lack of daylight and fresh air, that was nothing for Neal Caffrey. At least he wasn't the only one hating that van. Peter and Diana were inside, talking to each other, when Neal entered the van. Neal took off his cuff buttons and handed them to Peter.

"Whatever is on that flash drive was all I managed to find. I didn't find any bank activities saved on the computer in Maloney's office, but I saved some financial records... I couldn't get onto Liz's computer though. Couldn't crack the password." Neal said as he watched Peter taking the cuff buttons from his hands.

"Still better than nothing, Neal." Peter told him. "Maybe you'll get your chance tomorrow."

"I dunno."

"What does that mean?"

"I dunno." Neal replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "After lunch break was over today, I had the feeling that they were on to something, they were watching me carefully. They didn't do that before."

"Think they suspect something? Did anyone see you do something you shouldn't have done?"

"I didn't see anyone watching me in the office before I left for lunch, but I did hear something outside that may have been the front door being closed quietly. I don't know if someone saw me inside Barry's office when I shouldn't have been there. Maybe they're just more cautious now. After all, they weren't looking at me when I looked at them."

"Well, no matter if they suspect something or not, you have to be careful up there tomorrow. Maybe you should lay low for a few days, just do your job, use your charm and see where it gets you."

"Yeah. I'll try that." Neal replied with a slight now. "By the way, looks like Elizabeth's pregnant."

"One more reason to catch them and make sure they don't raise another criminal." Peter said seriously. "Go home and get some rest, we'll talk tomorrow."

"Alright." Neal replied, nodding a little, before he left the van. He was happy to leave that vehicle and go home to his wonderful apartment and enjoy the view with a glass of wine.

THANK YOU for taking the time to read this chapter! :) Please take the time to leave me a review, too. It means a lot to me knowing what you guys think!
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