Caffrey Flashback

Chapter 15: Mind Games

New York hotel room. Tuesday night. February 24, 2004.

When the meal ended in Graham Winslow's luxury hotel suite, the diners wandered into the massive living area to discuss the case and revelations. Neal watched as Graham cornered Reese Hughes, and Tricia talked to Jones and George Knightley. Henry pulled Peter aside. Neal could guess what they were saying, but he used his cat burglar skills to approach them silently, anyway.

"I know how his mind works. I can talk him out of this," Henry was saying.

"It doesn't mean you should," Peter replied.

"Do you expect me to believe you want Neal to take an assignment this risky? There's no way. Remember, I saw your reaction when that guy tried to hold Neal hostage in January. You couldn't handle it when he was in serious danger."

"Well, it's my job to come up with a plan that mitigates the danger, with protocols in case anything goes wrong. If you can convince Neal to stick to the plan this time, I'll be fine."

Neal took a step closer, and he let the sound of his footstep against the tile be heard. When Henry faced him, Neal said, "You don't think I can do this." Henry tried to reply, but Neal cut him off. "You have this idea of me stuck in your head, where I'm still the semi-innocent, semi-helpless teenager you rescued in Chicago. You're forgetting that I learned a lot of survival skills from you, and a lot from the criminals I worked with. Just once can you stop playing my big brother long enough to let me take the lead?"

"It's not a lack of faith in you. But Peter doesn't know you like I do. He needs to know..." Henry paused, seeming to gather his thoughts. "You're one of the least selfish people I've met. That means when it comes to this case, you'll take risks that most people wouldn't. You'll take those risks to close the case, to make people like Peter happy, to prevent Highbury from preying on their clients. You'll tell yourself it's worth it, that all of those things together are more important than your safety. But you don't realize..." He trailed off as Tricia approached.

She looked at the trio warily. "I feel like I'm interrupting something."

"Go ahead," said Neal. "Please."

"Peter, I've been talking to Jones about the latest developments on this case. Now we have two people – Seamus Bickerton and Kate Moreau – who have asked Neal to break into the safe. And each claims to be acting on orders from Adler. Do we believe them both?"

"I see where you're going with this," Peter said. "Based on our profile of him, Adler plans carefully and doesn't waste resources duplicating efforts. Which could imply that either Kate or the lawyer lied about wanting the contents of the safe for Adler. It's likely one of them has a personal interest in what's inside."

"Exactly," Tricia said.

Neal grabbed Henry's arm and led him away while Peter became absorbed in this latest puzzle. "I appreciate the concern," Neal said when they were out of earshot, "but you have to let go of this. I need to prove I can handle undercover work in a case this complex, if we want the Bureau to let me work on your case."

"I'm not taking the Masterson case to the FBI," Henry said. "I can handle it on my own."

"You can't pull it off alone. You need Angela and you need me. And I can't do what you have in mind without the FBI figuring it out and intervening, so you might as well bring them in from the start. Use their resources."

"There has to be another way to convince the FBI to let you help me. Maybe if you took some vacation time when I'm ready to take Masterson down, they wouldn't notice what we're doing until it's too late?" Henry ran his hands through his hair, reminding Neal of where he had picked up that gesture. "I just need a little more time to figure it out."