White Collar: An unofficial novel - part 14

Your secret is safe with me

Neal knew he was in trouble. Peter emphasized that by taking him to a hearing room. The same room Peter had questioned him in after his first arrest six and a half years ago. He wondered if his handler remembered. As an FBI agent, he questioned suspects in this room all the time.

"Sit down." Neal did, and Peter turned on the equipment. Neal got a silent stare across the table, Peter holding his watch, the one he had turned off when he was not supposed to. "Why did you run? Talk."

"Keller escaped. I went after him."

"You had a dozen federal agents at your side. Why did you cut your audio feed and your GPS? What did Keller want with you?"

"You were right. He thought I had the treasure. I led him to the palace, the kind of place he'd believe I'd hide it, I turned on the GPS so you could follow me—"

"After you escaped," Peter pointed out.

"Otherwise you would have shown up before I got there," Neal returned. "Keller would have fled. Peter, it worked. We had him."

Peter was silent, letting it sink in. He nodded.

"Until she took a shot at him."

"I don't know why she did that." That was the only part of the story where he did not need to use another perspective on things. Peter knew, though.

"Maybe because someone put a six million bounty out on Keller."

"Six million?"

"I guess we're not the only ones who want him."

"Guess not."

Peter sighed and rose.

"Bring her in," he said, with a glance at the observer's window. "Give me your foot." Neal pushed his chair back and rose. He put his left foot on the edge of the seat as he put his suit jacket on. Peter put the anklet on. "You can go."

Outside the hearing room, he met with Raquel and Diana. For being a shooter, Diana had been surprisingly liberal, not cuffing her.

"You had me, Caffrey," Raquel said.

"Look, Peter's a good agent. He wants Keller more than you do."

"That bastard took my scarab."

Not entirely true. He thumbed it in his pocket. He sent Raquel a smile that puzzled her. Then she got it and smiled back. The next thing he knew was her hand grabbing his neck, pulling him into a kiss.

He was glad he happened to have the scarab in his right pocket so he could pass it to her pocket where nobody was watching.

She let go of him. He watched a strong, independent woman.

"See you around, Raquel."

Peter took his pet convict to a hearing room. The kid had formally run, and he could not just overlook this. He needed to make it formal.

"Sit down."

Peter turned on the equipment. How long has it been since the first time? More than six years. Was the kid any wiser? "Why did you run? Talk."

"Keller escaped. I went after him." A simple and truthful answer, but:

"You had a dozen federal agents at your side." The man had no reason for doing what he did as Peter saw it. "Why did you cut your audio feed and your GPS? What did Keller want with you?"

"You were right. He thought I had the treasure," Neal said. "I led him to the palace, the kind of place he'd believe I'd hide it, I turned on the GPS so you could follow me—"