Chapter 5

Peter and Jones stared at Neal in a questioning way. Neal just shrugged his shoulders, and continued to stare out the window. "Surprise, I have a sister." He then chose to look over at the stunned look on Peter's face and burst out laughing. "You know my shoe size, but you have no clue I have a sister." He managed to choke out, before collapsing into another fit of laughter.

This comment caused Jones to start laughing too. Peter waited impatiently until the two had calmed down, before he began with the questions. "Raven is your sister? How come you didn't say anything earlier?"

Neal sat up straighter in his chair. "I guess so, but I never really pictured her as one to have an alias. I didn't say anything earlier, because I didn't know. I haven't seen her in at least 6 years."

Peter shook his head and looked over at Jones. "Find out everything you can about her." He ordered.

Jones took off towards the door, but turned around before leaving. "What's her name?"

Peter turned to Neal, expecting him to answer the question right away. But Neal avoided his gaze and looked back out the window. "You won't find anything, she is a ghost. My sister never uses her real name and if she does she keeps those things extremely close."

"Her name, Neal?" Peter barked, getting annoyed with his lack of cooperation.

Neal sighed and looked Peter in the eye. "You won't find anything past junior high, so just drop it."

"Her name?" Peter asked again, getting more and more frustrated with each passing second.

Neal could see he wasn't going to drop this. With a sigh he answered, "Maureen."

With a nod Jones left and Neal got up and started towards the door, but Peter stopped him. "Why are you protecting her, Neal? Like you said, you haven't seen her in 6+ years."

Neal looked down to the F.B.I bullpen and felt a small, sad smile form. With Maureen so close and on the run, he couldn't help but feel like a caged animal. "Blood is thicker than water, Peter. I wasn't there to protect her then, but I can make up for it now."

Peter stared at his friend's back, with a confused and shocked expression, "What happened?"

Neal turned his head to look over his shoulder at him. "I don't know, she never would tell me." And with that he turned back around and left.

Maureen slowly walked towards the docks, pulling her jacket to her tighter. It pulled slightly at her gunshot wound, but she quickly brushed it off as a chill ran up her spine. It was cold out tonight and it put Maureen on edge a bit. "Hello? Is anyone there?" She called, but there was no response. "Great, being out, alone, in the dark, at night, that so doesn't scream, come kill me." Maureen grumbled to herself.

That's when a streetlight suddenly came on to Maureen's left. She quickly spun around and spied a man standing there. CREEPY! All of Maureen's sense told her to turn and run as fast as she could, but her feet wouldn't listen.

"Miss Caffrey, this way please." The man stated, before turning to walk away. Maureen was shocked a moment at hearing her real name, but she hurried after the man. Most people involved with this line of work normally just knew her as Raven. So it was a bit of a surprise that someone knew who she actually was.

The man led her to a warehouse and disappeared inside. Maureen hesitated a moment, before also heading in. It was completely dark and empty, save one lone light that shone down on someone lying on the ground.

Maureen moved closer to the figure lying there motionless. The closer she got, the more about the figure Maureen discovered. First it was a girl, second she had long black hair that was spread out around her. It struck Maureen as odd that this girl looked a lot like her.

Maureen gasped as she saw the steadily growing pool of blood and because she recognized her. "Mina!" She exclaimed as she dropped to her knees next to the injured girl. She gently turned Mina over, so that she was lying on her back.

That's when Maureen saw the two bullet holes, surrounded by blood in Mina's stomach. She applied pressure to the wounds, which caused Mina to groan in pain and her eyes to flutter open. "Owww." She moaned.

Maureen smiled down at her it was nothing short of a miracle that Mina was still alive. "Hey, sweetie, I'm going to need you to stay perfectly still for me, ok?"

Mina just nodded and brought her own hands down to her stomach. She then brought them up to her face. The sight of her now blood soaked hands caused tears to slowly trickle out of her eyes. "I'm gonna die, aren't I Miss Raven?" She choked out, staring at Maureen desperately.

Maureen took one hand and gently pushed back the hair from Mina's eyes. "Not if I have anything to say about it. We're going to get you some help and please, sweetie, call me Maureen."

Mina just smiled, nodded and reached up to cup Maureen's cheek. "Thank you, for everything."

"Aww, now isn't this just sweet." A voice called from the shadows.

Maureen turned to glare at where the voice had come from. But this slight distraction was enough to cause Mina to fade even more. Her hand slipped from Maureen's cheek and left a trail of blood. Even with Maureen's best efforts, the puddle of blood kept growing. "Why her? I'm the one that screwed up, why didn't you kill me?"

The man came into the light and stared down unfeeling at Mina's body. He was very tall, dark hair and had almost, black uncaring eyes. "Because she couldn't get me what I want. You still can, think of her death as an incentive to get the job done. Or otherwise next time it'll be that brother of yours on the floor, surrounded by his own blood."

Maureen turned from Mina's body to stare at him. For the first time in years there was genuine fear in her eyes. The mysterious man appeared to enjoy this, for he smiled and started to back away. "I'd leave now Miss Caffrey. The authorities are on the way. Call me when you have the egg." He said before disappearing again into the shadows.

Maureen looked down at Mina. It appeared that she was just sleeping, but Maureen knew better. "I'm so sorry." She cried into the poor girl's hair, before kissing her forehead. She could hear sirens in the distance as she left the warehouse.

Chapter 6

Neal angrily got out of bed and walked into the kitchen. He couldn't sleep even though it was well after one in the morning. Neal walked around the apartment; he just couldn't turn his mind off. He kept replaying his earlier conversation with June over and over again, as he went over by the window and looked out.

It had been late when Neal got back to the house. He had to move quietly so not to wake June. She is a very light sleeper and went to bed early. So it was shock when no more than 5 steps inside that June flicked on a lamp in the living room. Neal quickly recovered though and sent her a weary smile. "Evening, June. Waiting in the dark, very devious, Byron teach you how to do it just right?"

June smiled back, but it wasn't as amused as it normally would have been at the remark. Her face was filled with concern; she cut to the chase right away, offering no pleasantries. "A young woman stopped by today, Neal. She was short, had ice green eyes, and long black hair the same shade as yours. Does she ring any bells?" Neal opened his mouth to speak, but quickly shut it again. When no words came out, June continued on, "She was looking for you, and it came as a great shock to her when I told her you worked for the Bureau. That girl left here in quite a hurry after that, anything to say now?"

With a sigh Neal lowered himself into the seat across from her. "She really came here, when?"

"About half past 7 this morning, not long after you left." June answered then looked closely at the exhausted conman across from her. "Who is she, Neal? She looked a lot like you." She said in a gentle voice.

Neal smiled and mentally rolled his eyes at June's train of thought, he wasn't that old. "She's my sister, Maureen, but she is so short that she looks younger than she really is."

He saw the brief look of relief cross June's face, but it was quickly gone and replaced by the concerned/confused one again. "I don't understand, why haven't you mentioned her before?"

The smile slowly slid off of his face as he sat back in the chair. Neal didn't like talking about the past, but June had always been so nice and caring to him, that he didn't want to leave her in the dark about this. With a deep breath Neal began talking, "When Maureen was 12 our parents died in a hostage situation. And at the time I could barely take care of myself, let alone my baby sister. A couple months after the funeral I went out to a friend's and left Maureen home alone. I got back at around 3 and she wasn't there. I waited and about an hour later she comes home, covered in blood. I tried to ask her what happened, but she wouldn't talk." At this point Neal got up and went over to the window. He stared outside, lost in the memory. June watched as he stood stiff as a board and continued. "Without a word, not as much as a glance toward me she went upstairs and locked herself in the bathroom. I heard the shower turn on and waited out in the hall for 45 minutes, before the water finally shut off. Then she comes out and rushes to her room. I tried to catch her, but Maureen was always fast. I always told her it was because she didn't have enough height to slow her down."

June smiled at his little memory, but it quickly turned back into a frown as Neal continued on with his story. "I went into the bathroom and her clothes were a pile of ashes in the trashcan. She burned them with a lighter from the medicine cabinet. I give Maureen an hour, before I banged on her door. She didn't answer, so I broke it down and found her gone. No note, no nothing, just a bunch of her stuff missing. About a month later I get a postcard from Toronto, all it said was "Marco." But I knew it was from her, so now it's what we do, whenever we find out where the other is we send a postcard, "Marco Polo." I sent her one last week, but I never expected her to come, she only did that one other time, but met Kate instead and things did not go well." Neal finished taking a deep breath. He had never told anyone that, except Mozzie, but that only because the little guy had found out a lot of it on his own.

June stood and walked over to Neal. The hug she gave him was a surprise, but he returned it nonetheless. "Thank you for telling me that, Neal. I know it couldn't have been easy for you." June then gave him a motherly kiss on the forehead and headed for the stairs. But she stopped on the bottom stop and turned back. "Try to get some sleep Neal; it won't help for you to obsess over the past."

Neal smiled. "Thanks for listening June, good night." She smiled back and wished the same, before continuing up the stairs.

Neal tried not to obsess over it, but he just couldn't help it. His mind kept racing and he wondered for the 100th time, "Why did Maureen come to see him now, after all these years?" Neal wondered at loud.

Outside it was completely empty, except for one lone figure at the end of the street. From studying the person Neal could tell that it was a woman and that she must be drunk, from the way she was swerving on the sidewalk. The woman was heading towards June's. He could tell she was aiming for June's only by the fact that she was on the building's side more often than not.

Quickly pulling on a shirt Neal headed downstairs. Whoever was coming this late at night could not have the best intentions and Neal didn't want her anywhere near June. When he reached the front door, he peeked out the window. The woman was standing out on the sidewalk in front of the building, staring at her hands. After a moment Neal recognized Maureen and threw the door open.

He dashed down the walk and over to her. She was covered in blood and shaking. Maureen looked up at the sudden movement and tried to smile at Neal, but her mouth wouldn't seem to work.

The slight twitch of her mouth worried Neal almost as much as the fact that she was covered in blood. Her hands were stained red, her jeans and shoes drenched in it. But the scariest part was the bloody handprint on her cheek that dropped down along her neck. Gently grabbing Maureen by the elbow Neal tried to lead her inside, but she resisted. "Come on, Maureen. Let's go inside and get you cleaned up."

He tried to get her to move again, but Maureen shook her head and held her ground. "No, June is a nice lady. I don't want to bring my issues in there. Can you take me to agent Burke, please?"

Neal was shocked by her request; Maureen seemed the type to shy away from all law enforcement, like Mozzie. "Are you sure, Reenie? June won't really care about a little blood." He tried to persuade her. Neal was concerned; she didn't look like she should be standing at all.

With a bit of her old strength Maureen semi-glared at her brother. "First, don't call me Reenie, Neal; I'm not a child anymore. Second, do you really think I would ask to go to a feds house, unless it is my only option?" Maureen's expression softened though as she saw the worried look on Neal's face. "Calm down, it's not my blood."

Neal felt some of the tension, he didn't know he had, leave his body when she said that. With a smile he said, "After you then, milady." Maureen rolled her eyes at him, before taking off down the street.

Elizabeth Burke woke with a start and quickly sat up. She listened carefully and heard the noise that woke her up again. It was an insistent pounding. "Peter?" She asked quietly.

"I hear it too. " He said, answering her unasked question and reaching for his gun. Peter had woken up just after his wife. "Stay her, while I go check it out." Silently Peter got out of bed and out of the room. Elizabeth waited a moment, before pulling on her robe and followed. She was half way down the stairs when Peter reached the door.

Someone was frantically pounding on it. "Who's there?" Peter called, tightly holding his gun by his side.

The pounding stopped. "It's Neal. Open the door, Peter." Neal called back in a very agitated voice.

Peter hurriedly swung the door open, still holding a death grip on his gun. Elizabeth gasped at the sight in front of her and rushed down the stairs. Neal was bent down next to a short, black haired girl, who was covered in blood. She was staring at her blood stained hands and muttering over and over, "Not again."

Maureen had started the long walk to Peter's in stride. She had wanted to walk, even though Neal said that he could hail a cab. Maureen had just glared at him and kept on walking.

With the way she had been acting anyone passing by would have thought she was just going for a midnight stroll. On the trip to Peter's Maureen had asked Neal to tell her what had happened to make him work for the feds. So Neal told her everything, about Kate, escaping, the deal, Fowler, and the music box.

His tale lasted until they reached the street where Peter and Elizabeth lived. That's when the shock came back. She wasn't tired from the trip; the walk just reminded her of a similar one she had made when she was 12 years old. When they reached the door, Neal loudly knocked, and Maureen fell to the ground muttering. That was when Neal started to pound on the door, his normal calmness gone. It was a slight relief when the door opened and Elizabeth came rushing over.

"Neal, what the hell is going on?" Peter asked exasperated, as he watched Neal pick Maureen up. Neal shook his head and brought Maureen inside. He put her down on the couch, but as soon as he backed away Maureen came back and jumped up.

She looked down at the couch and then turned toward Elizabeth. "I'm sorry for getting blood on you couch, Mrs. Burke. I'm also sorry for the intrusion, but I need to speak with your husband about something important." Maureen finished with an apologetic smile.

Elizabeth smiled back. "No problem at all, I'll go make some coffee." She sent a questioning look towards Neal, before leaving the room.

With her out of the room Peter turned to Neal. "Alright, explain. Why did you bring your blood soaked, wanted sister to my house at 2 in the morning?"

Neal opened his mouth to speak, but Maureen cut in. "I asked him to." She said, turning to face Peter. A dark smile made an appearance on Maureen's face for a moment. "You're the one that shot me. Now were you just firing a warning shot that accidently grazed me, or were you trying to hit me and accidently missed?"

Peter and Neal looked stunned at this sudden change in her personality. Elizabeth coming back into the room saved Peter from answering the question. She turned on the lights and stopped in her tracks when she caught sight of the bloody handprint on Maureen's cheek.

With the new light Maureen looked down and saw all the blood. Her hands started shaking again as memories came flooding back. Elizabeth grabbed her elbow and started to lead her upstairs. "Come on sweetie. Let's go get you cleaned up, and then we all can talk." Peter tried to protest, but quickly shut up at the look Elizabeth sent him.

5 minutes later Elizabeth was back downstairs and listening as Neal told them what he had told June earlier and also what had happened earlier. "Then we ended up here." Neal finished, turning back towards a stunned Elizabeth and a thinking Peter.

"So you don't know what happened back then, or what happened tonight to make her covered in blood?" Peter asked staring at Neal.

He shook his head no. Just then Maureen cleared her throat from the stairs. "Maybe I can shed some light on what happened." She said walking in and taking a seat on the floor by Neal's knees. All the blood was gone and she looked like a child in a pair of Elizabeth's two sizes too large pajamas.

Maureen played with a loose thread on the carpet as she leaned against Neal's knee and began. "When I was 12, mom and dad were killed by some son of a bitch robbing a convenience store, they were inside. A couple months later Neal went out with some friends and left me home alone. I was bored, so I went over to my friend Stella's. I convinced her to sneak out with me and we went over to the park. It was late when he came, we were just leaving too, because it was cold and I knew that Neal would be home soon. The man was tall and dressed all in black; he had a ski cap on too. Stella and I didn't think much of him, so we just kept on walking. Bu then all of a sudden he pulled out a knife stabbed Stella in the chest and then just kept on walking. He just kept on walking like he never did anything, he didn't look back. I tried to call for help, but everyone was asleep and I didn't want to leave her alone on the sidewalk. It took her a little over a half an hour to die, but after I just stayed with her for awhile, just holding her."

Maureen quickly wiped the tears leaking from her eyes before continuing. "The man didn't hurt me, he barely looked at me. I didn't find out why, till a couple years ago. Stella's dad was a cop and he had killed the man's son in a drug bust when the son attacked him. So the man wanted revenge, he wanted Stella's dad to feel the same pain that he did."

Peter's cell phone rang, breaking the silence that had fallen after Maureen's story. "Hello."

"Hey, boss, sorry about calling so late, but Caffrey's out of his zone." Jones toned from the other end.

"Yeah, I know he's here." Peter replied.

"Alright, also the local cops found a body in and abandoned warehouse at the docks. It was Mina, the Raven decoy."

Peter's eyes widened at the news. "Thanks Jones, see you tomorrow." He said, before hanging up.

"He told you about Mina, didn't he?" Maureen asked staring up at Peter, guilt in her eyes.

Burke nodded. "I need to know exactly what happened at the warehouse tonight, because starting tomorrow Raven becomes our number 1 suspect."

Maureen had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes at the name. it helped her remain under the radar, but it was so annoying. Elizabeth wore a look of confusion, but Neal quickly explained everything to her that had happened in the past 2 days.

When he was finished Maureen told them of her plan on how to get the egg, of how she bailed Mina out of jail, and of what happened at the warehouse. "So either I get him the egg or people start dying." She finished.

"Like you?" Elizabeth asked worried.

Maureen shook her head no and Peter saw her eyes flick worriedly to Neal. "He still needs me to get the egg for him. That's the only reason I'm here and Mina's dead." Maureen spat out viciously.

"So what is your master plan to get out of this one?" Neal asked staring at the back of his sister's head.

She smiled an evil little smile at him, before turning to Peter. "Bury him under the full force of the F.B.I, of course." Peter smiled back at her.