HACKED: a White Collar fanfic

Chapter Seventeen

Blair's POV

"You did what?!"

Yep.

Agent Burke was mad at me. I had pictured him red faced with flames coming out of the sides of his face originally, but now I saw that my imagination had run a little wild with that imagery because he was only red faced with a scowl.

"Neal!" He glared at Neal. "I thought you were watching her?"

"Well, How was I supposed to know she'd created a virus?" Neal asked.

"Don't you criminals usually consult about these things?"

Neal and I looked at each other and shook our heads.

"Part of how I avoided you guys was keeping to myself. I guess you could say it's still a bit of a habit?" I raised my hands and shrugged to portray an appearance of innocence.

"Good job, Sherlock." Agent Burke muttered.

"Thank you."

He lifted his head. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Being called 'Sherlock' is the best compliment I could receive so thank you." I enunciated the last two words. "But anyways, I said I was sorry-mostly- and now can we move on? Are you guys even slightly concerned that I heard Carter talking about this?"

He ran a hand threw his hair. "So you think Carter is Enigma?"

"No. It sounded like he was talking to someone. If I were still talking to him I could get his phone, trace the number and..." I trailed off, deep in thought.

"Blair?" Neal asked.

I glanced up. "I think I need to go reconnect with Carter."

Twenty minutes later, I found myself standing in front of my old workplace.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Neal asked me through the mic in my ear.

"Oh sure. It's not like he still abandoned me when I went to jail or something. It'll be perfectly fine." Sarcasm dripped off my voice. I glanced over at the iconic white van they always used. It just sat there with no indicating that there were FBI agents sitting with computers in there.

"Blair." Agent Burke scolded.

"Sorry, dad." Did I just call him that? The silence on the other end told me that they were just as taken back by my sudden comment. "I'm going in." I made it sound like I was going into a battle field when in reality, it was just Starbucks.

I walked in. No one recognized me. I guess what was good because I didn't want to be noticed by anyone except Carter.

However, I didn't see him anywhere.

"Excuse me?" I asked an employee I didn't recognize. "Where May I find, Carter Maston?"

"he's in the back room. Why do you need him?" The employee asked. He looked skeptic on why a random girl would need his boss.

"Tell him..." What could I say that would give away who I was to Carter not anyone else? "Tell him that Fallon is here. Please."

He shrugged. "Okay, I guess." He left the room and a moment later Carter came out.

I guess it definitely was Carter I saw earlier. He was still wearing the sunglasses and had a buzz cut that wasn't as flattering on him as I would've thought it would be.

"Blair?" He walked towards me. "What? Why are you here?"

"I'm sorry, Carter." I lied. I wasn't sorry, but I had a job to do. "I shouldn't have been like that."

"And I should've visited more."

I gestured to his hair. "I see you got a haircut."

He rubbed his hair instinctively. "Yea... Do you like it?"

"I think..." I paused for a split second to try to think of a way on not to hurt his feelings. "I think you looked better with your old hair but this isn't bad either."

"Let's sit for a minute." He guided me over to a table in the corner. "So what've you been doing, Blair?"

"Nothing really." I vaguely replied. "Just working and I might start exercising more and spending more time with makeup."

"Oh, yea, that's right! You work for the CIA? FBI?"

"I just consult."

"What cases are you working on now?"

Man, he did not want to let up with the questions. I started fabricating a story, making sure my eyes didn't dart to anywhere besides his face. If i broke eye contact, It would be an indication of lying.

"Well, I usually just help with getting passwords to things and it's all confidential. I can't actually tell you the exact stuff." I think that was a pretty good story.

"Oh." He seemed disappointed, and then perked up a bit. "Hey, since you're here, can you take a look at one of the computers in the back? It hasn't worked in days and the technician hasn't come in yet. I'll even pay you."

I wasn't going to say no to that, and an incentive of a payment was nice as well. "Of course."

As he led me to the back room, he asked, "Are you still computer savvy?"

Did he really doubt me? I gave him a look and raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, Okay, forget I asked." We came to the computer. "It hasn't turned on in days."

I knelt to get a good look at wires and immediately saw what was wrong. "Carter, it was unplugged." I held up the plug.

He chuckled sheepishly, "I guess I'm just that bad with computers."

So that's what he was doing. He was playing all innocent with not knowing how computers work. Even a toddler could've figured this out.

But I played along and laughed at his forged stupidity. "That's why I'm here." I plugged in the computer, which turned on promptly, and stood up. "Well I'm sure you have stuff to do, and I have to go. Bye, Carter." I gave him a hug, which startled him slightly and dropped a listening bug in his pocket.

He said his goodbyes, gave me a twenty dollar bill and left to go talk to someone.

As I walked out, the employee that had gotten Carter for me, winked at me. I rolled my eyes and strode out to the white van where Neal and Agent Burke were.

"I greatly appreciated you guys keeping quiet while I was talking to Carter." I said, sitting down in a chair.

"You did great." Neal smiled.

"Thanks."

"Did he really ask you to fix a computer that was unplugged?" Agent Burke asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Yep." I popped the 'p'. "It could've been a good distraction from what I heard earlier. Also, the bug is placed. Next time I see him, we should have Neal get his cell phone. I can get into it then and figure out who he's called, who's called him and all that jazz."

"Yes, we'll have to do that."

"Do you still want me awake at 3am tonight?"

He paused, thinking. "No. Can you get coffee here in the morning? We can try to see if Neal can swipe his phone."

"Carter always keeps it in his back right pocket."

"I can work with that." Neal said, leaning toward slightly. "You want to keep him distracted, Blair?"

"I'll ask him about my new hair color and what he thinks of it."

Everyone in the van frowned. "What new hair color?" Agent Burke asked.

"Oh yea, I'm dip-dying the ends of my hair blue."

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-Julia Stone