Fortunately, the trip from Brooklyn to Downtown Manhattan took as long as usual. Thanks to traffic jams, red lights and obviously suicidal pedestrians the ride took 45 minutes like almost every morning.
Enough time for Peter to reflect about Elizabeth's words. That's not who you are.
Somehow, he knew she was right. The unanswered question was ... who was he actually?
A long way back, he had just been the archeologist. A lot has happened since then, changed him. Who would have expected Agent Burke to cover up for a criminal, fly across half the globe to find and protect named criminal, or deceive the FBI authorities to clear the name of a corrupt cop? Only to find out named cop was dirty, culminating in his own imprisonment, being falsely accused of murdering a senator.
He had let his wife down. She hasn't deserved to be married to a failure who was risking his job regularly for a criminal. That was not what he had promised her on their wedding day. She needed stability and security, not only financially but also emotionally wise.
Caffrey on the other hand, relied on him, even trusted him – as far as he might be able to trust anyone at all. Burke remembered talking to his wife once. Neal doesn't lie to me. He hides the truth, he withholds it, but he... doesn't lie to me. And if he is, there's got to be a reason for it.
Peter would never go high and dry on a friend. Though, as a federal agent, he would never become friends with a convicted criminal either. So what went wrong, yet even more important, what was the right thing to do now?
The question wasn't answered when Burke arrived at the FBI. So he decided to go back to the basics. Being the archeologist, he had commanded the skill of gathering facts and analyzed them to come up with the solution of any problem. That's what he would do now, bringing the archeologist back to work.
When Neal's desk was still deserted at 9 am, he asked Seigel about the consultant's whereabouts.
"He called in sick. Must have eaten bad clams. The poor guy really sounded awful. I guess we will have to cope without him for a couple of days." The handler didn't seem worried, just feeling a bit sorry for his suffering charge.
This can't be good. Neal wasn't sick, but probably at home or wandering around, preparing the next crime. No doubt, there was no time to waste in collecting information.
He summoned Agent Barrigan to his office and asked her to shut the door. "Diana, since you're confined to desk work, I hope you might be able to help me out. I need some research to be done. It's pretty urgent. We don't have any time too loose. "
Diana was bored stiff with all the cold case files she had been working on and eager for something more meaningful. "Sure, boss. Fill me in with the details. If we need more manpower, I could ask our new probies."
Burke fidgeted on his chair, obviously ill at ease. "I want this research to be kept off the books. At least for the moment. It's possible that we have to involve other FBI resources later on. But for now, I want this between you and me."
This sounded a bit strange to the younger agent, yet she nodded, waiting for further instructions. She trusted her boss unconditionally and wouldn't question his orders.
"I have a list of phone numbers for you. I need information about any activity on these numbers, starting the day I got arrested. I want text message, phone call details as well as missed calls. Anything you can come up with."
After Burke had passed the list to the pregnant agent, she stared at it in disbelieve. "Boss, this is Caffrey's regular mobile phone, the others are his burner phones and June's landline. What's going on?"
Her boss chuckled. "You've even kept track of Neal's burner phones while I was locked away. Good work. As for your question, I don't know for certain. But I'm afraid Caffrey is tangled up into something illegal, and I need proof – even more important, I need to know for what reason reason. Will it be any problem for you to get the data without attracting any attention?"
Diana sighed frustrated. "Not at all. People stopped taking notice of me. I'm just the agent with a baby bump sitting in front of a computer. They all take it for granted that I'm not burdened with any exciting work. Just as if I were demented, not pregnant!"
Peter reassured her that he knew what she was capable of, and one day soon she would be able to go back to field work. The team needed her expertise very much, so she was only temporarily excluded from those investigations.
When Peter had been locked up awaiting his trial, Diana had watched how Caffrey struggled to cope with the situation. He had blamed himself and came up with increasingly desperate ideas how to free him. Shortly before the trial started he had stopped chewing her ear up with his crazy plans.
But thinking back, she realized he hadn't actually eased up. Even after Peter's discharge he seemed nervous and withdrawn at times. Even though, he has tried to cheer her up. Considering his experience at being confined to a federal building, he offered her coaching to adjust to the new situation.
Diana hoped that the consultant hasn't gotten into any trouble. She cringed at the implications for him. However, even if he was a cheeky bastard at times, she was convinced he wouldn't let Peter down. Therefore, the best way to help him was to find out the information needed and sort things out.
Meanwhile, Peter checked Neal's tracking data every 30 minutes. The consultant seemed to be at home, pacing through the small apartment and the roof-top terrace. That was both good news as well as bad news all in one.
Caffrey being still at home meant he was not at the auction house. Therefore, he was not actually committing the projected crime. On top of this, moving GPS data were more reassuring than these stock-still data on the day of the coin heist.
On the other hand, if he actually would have had an upset stomach, he would have stayed in bed or been in the bathroom but not walking around. Logical conclusion was he had needed an excuse to skip the office day. That didn't bode well.
Diana came back with news only a couple of hours after she had started the research. She seemed quite agitated when she entered the office.
"Boss, I guess I found something. There was a text message sent to Neal's phone instructing a time and place to meet. Sender was a burner phone which went out of service shortly after."
Burke wasn't impressed. "That was probably Mozzie. You know him; he's using burner phones all the time. I guess, he won't even use the same phone twice to order pizza."
"No, this is different. I checked the meeting details. It's a municipal building. They do have a fantastic Chagall over there. I've seen it once. It's a huge, very impressive piece of art. During the week the meeting was scheduled, restoration work was done to the painting. No-one else but Curtis Hagen was sent over to do the restoration as part of a work program for prisoners. Something like earn your keep and serve the society. So it's not unlikely that this was Hagen's phone."
Now, Peter was stunned. "Curtis Hagen? The Dutchman? I don't get this. Why would Neal meet with him? They can't be on friendly terms. Not after Caffrey's creative contribution to Hagen's arrest."
Diana had no explanation either and shook her head. "I can't answer that yet. But I'm going to dig into it. Let's see if I can find out something more. If he really met with Hagen, there must be a very pressing need." She left to continue her research checking out more background information.
Peter was left alone with his thoughts. Neal has helped to take down the Dutchman. It has been their first joint action. The FBI wouldn't have solved the crime at all without Caffrey's help. It has been the start of a very successful partnership.
Apart from closing the case, Peter had taken to actually like the convicted criminal. He had already admired his cleverness when he was chasing him. But working together with him was different. Caffrey was creative, bold and intelligent. To name only a few of his characteristics. Albeit, Burke had sensed that there was more hidden under the con man mask. There was a hurt and forlornness beneath the handsome exterior. Somehow, this had aroused his protective instinct.
Ever since then, he had tried to keep the CI out of trouble. Until recently. The ASAC was still somewhat perplexed when Seigel knocked at his door late in the afternoon.
"Peter, I'm sorry to interrupt. Do you have a moment? I've got a tip-off from a street contact. I need your advice at this."
The ASAC concentrated on the task at hand. "Sure, come in. What can I do for you?"
The younger agent looked uncomfortable. "Apparantly, there is a heist due to take place tonight at an auction house. Supposedly, it's a contract job to steal some very expensive gems. They will be shipped in seafood containers out of the country. Everything is planned very skillfully." Hearing this, Peter cringed but tried hard not to give away his shock. Only, Seigel wasn't finished yet with his report.
"Now, I would set up a stakeout to observe the building. Probably, two teams watching both sides of the building. So far, business as usual. However, I was informed that it will be someone called Nick Halden who is about to carry out the job. And as far as I'm informed Nick Halden is just another name for Neal Caffrey.
I'm wondering if Neal might be involved in some FBI undercover operation, something I'm not informed about due to security precautions or other restrictions. Because if he's not, I'm going to catch him in the act and take him down. You seem to be friends with him. I don't want to interfere with any of your operations. I need your instructions, Sir."
Peter took a moment to think this over, but he didn't really have an option. "I can assure you that he is not working in an FBI undercover operation right now. Apart from that, we were partners, not friends." Wow, has he just heard 30 pieces of silver rattling in his pocket? At least, it felt as if he has just betrayed a friend.
Seigel asked to reconfirm. "So you give your approval to arrest him?"
Agent Burke nodded. "If you catch him in the act, you will have to arrest him." And Neal would rot in prison for good. May justice prevail. Oh my god, how he hated the thought of sending the consultant back to prison. He felt sick.
After Seigel has left, Peter was thinking about his alternatives. He could warn Neal. Or he could go over to Neal's house and stay there for the evening using any lame excuse to prevent the younger man to leave the house and commit the crime. Or maybe, he would do what was expected from an FBI ASAC and help to take Neal down.
Peter couldn't make up his mind. Was he still willing to redraw the lines for Caffrey to make him stay within them?
He was lost in thoughts when Diana came up with new information.
"Boss, this is getting more and more confusing by the minute. I checked the calls which were made with Hagen's burner phone. Before he has sent the message to Neal, there were several calls made to a phone number registered to Andy Crawick. I checked the FBI databases for that name, but it didn't come up with a criminal."
"So we've got nothing?"
"Well I expanded the search and didn't look only for criminals. Finally, our database did come up with something. Though, it's not really the sort of information I had expected."
Diana fell silent. Peter could see that she was shaken by the information she had found. His curiosity was stirred up, and he urged her to continue.
"Andy Crawick is an undercover alias used by an FBI agent multiple times. The alias is not active anymore, but it hasn't been burnt and is still intact. The agent's name who used this alias on several occasions is David Seigel. What's going on? I don't get this."
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Author's Note:
Thanky you all for your reviews. It's great to get such a great response.
As you see, I made up my mind that the new handler is not so nice. Since I don't own White Collar, or have any insights to future episodes, this is no spoiler but just a product of my imagination.